Does a “Christian” Label Mean Anything?

I wish I could attend “Big Tent Christianity” next month and see how this plays out. Clayton may be dreaming a bit with the Colbert Report petition, but this event brings out an important issue in the language we have been using for thousands of years, and that is what does “Christian” even mean? Could it be that we equivocate every time we use the word as an adjective?

For starters, the word “Christian” has historically been used to denote a set of propositional beliefs about the fundamental  structure of the universe, in some way involving the deity and supremacy of Christ. Rarely is this word (which derives from “little Christ”) applied to someone who does not hold these beliefs but whose actions remind someone of Jesus. You just don’t hear people say “That imam is such a Christian in this community.” At least we can say the label has to do with who you think Jesus bar Joseph of Nazareth actually was, if you believe he was the one supreme God of all, then you call yourself a Christian. Problems? I think so. Some believe Jesus hates those enough who don’t think the right things about him to send them to eternal torment in Hell. Some believe Jesus will use his love to save all of humanity. Some believe Jesus is coming back to make his enemies (human beings included) bleed (eh hem Driscoll), some believe Jesus taught a way of peace that he won’t undo whatever the cost. Some believe God preordains people to saved or damned, some vehemently defend the “free” choice of individuals to accept or reject God. One God takes pleasure in destruction, one in redemption. The dichotomies go on, the obvious point being that this term Christian, which is supposed to be indicative about beliefs, really only indicates an incredibly broad belief about various images of Jesus that would be unrecognizable to one another.

I’ll go out on a limb and say the Jesus I belong to has more in common with many Hindu Gods than he does Reformed Jesus, as I also think Reformed Jesus has more in common with certain Babylonian war deities than the Jesus I know. So to say “I follow Christ” could mean “I follow a God who will destroy all those who do not believe in him at the end of time” or “I follow a God who is the Prince of Peace and would never harm a human being.” One side says the other is primitive and blood thirsty, the other side claims the opposition worships a limp wristed hippy.

It’s as if the word “Pookah” referred to a person that is a war monger and also a person who is a pacifist. It’s confusing, the war mongers don’t like being associated with pacifists and vice vera! The case with “Christian” is much worse because it could not only refer to one of two types of things, but myriad types of people, beliefs, and actions. How many Christians have believed it is their duty to kill for Christ and how many have believed it is their duty to refrain from violence in the name of Christ? It would be one thing if we were only speaking of beliefs, but the rubber certainly hits the road when it comes to something like violence. This word describes any kind of person, and has!

My questions are what ecumenicism will look like in this century, and what the body of Christ is actually supposed to refer to? Is the qualification simply a profession that Jesus is Lord, even though “Jesus” hardly ever refers to a God or person with consistent characteristics? How do we link communities which cannot agree on interpretations that are diametrically opposed? How could we possibly choose Whose Community? Which Interpretation? is to be  privileged? At a time when we have so many thousands? How do we maintain the meaning of our faith’s language? Jesus implored us all the stay together, what does this look like, how? Have we failed? Is it always a case of spotting the “real” Christian in the pairing? Regardless, I’d love to hear what would happen if John Shelby Spong and Jerry Falwell walked into a big tent…

*I know these dichotomies may seem extreme or even false, but they are meant to be more hypothetical than anything, surely they exist in some forms, but you  can think of your own. Think people, McLaren/Driscoll, Piper/Rollins, Osteen/Packer, etc.