“Salvation”
I have been watching the current season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
It’s a horror show.
It is terrifying and dystopian and psychotic. I’ll write more about it sometime.
One of the elements that is most psychotic about The Handmaid’s Tale, and the fictional society which it describes, is that the terror perpetrated is by a theocratic (religious, non-democratic) government that purports to be Christian. Talk of goodness and redemption and salvation is everywhere. The Bible is quoted constantly, and some of the worst horrors are committed in the name of saving people and society. Some of the most terrifying moments occur when words including the following are spoken; “blessed day”, “under His Eye”, “praise be”, “blessed be the fruit”, “may the Lord open”.
It is a disturbing thing to consider that terrible things could be done in the name of “salvation”. The word most often translated as “salvation” in the Bible is a word that means “healing”. Salvation is about heading towards something. It is always bigger than “personal” salvation. When salvation is used to divide up the world into “saved” and “unsaved” it is a demonstration of a lack of understanding about the word.
I’ve got a bonus Word of the Week today. Many people are aware of the word “evangelical”. You may have heard that it basically means “good news”. A similar word that has not been heard or used as much is “dysangelion”. It is the counter to evangelical and it refers to “bad news”.
Theologian Karl Barth argued that the church could, unfortunately, become the bearer of bad news, that God could be presented as disappointed in humanity, as against humanity. This kind of God would be,
“…divinity without humanity, could only be the God of a dysangelion, of a bad news instead of the good news. He would be the God of a scornful, judging, deadly No.”
Part of my struggle with the evangelical understanding of salvation as mostly “personal”, about being saved from some kind of destruction or terror, is that it actually winds up promoting an idea of Jesus that is astoundingly small. If salvation is mostly “personal”, and most people are not saved, then the mission of Jesus is almost entirely a failure. That is not what I believe. The fifth chapter of the book of Romans outlines the matter.
Here is the flow of the argument of the chapter:
sin came through Adam (concept of first human)
death came through sin (to all people)
death thus reigned, many (all) died
SO THENIf sin came through one and then to all,
HOW MUCH MORE will the free gift of abundance and grace through One (Jesus) come to ALL?
In other words, Romans chapter 5 presents that Jesus is bigger than Adam. An understanding of salvation that is about relatively few people being saved from terror actually believes that Adam (humanity in sin) is bigger than God. See how Jesus becomes smaller? Humans messed everything up for everyone and for all of creation, and Jesus rescued a few. That’s a small Jesus.
The caution that some people immediately raise at this kind of talk is the fear of what has been called “universalism”. Universalism, according to those who argue against it, is the idea that in the end everyone will be “saved”, but the term depends upon the semi-psychotic view of eternity and salvation. The world is almost always used as a derogatory accusation against people. A key problem with arguing about universalism is that the argument exists because of a misguided view of salvation. I think that salvation in proper Christian understanding is about the renewal of all things. Salvation is personal in as much as you and I get to participate in that renewal, to reflect it, to bear witness to it, and to look forward to it.
I have been accused of being a universalist. I reject the accusation, but mostly on the grounds that it comes only from a small view of salvation and a small view of Jesus. I am mostly uninterested in the terrible game of determining who is saved and who is not. As Will Willimon (Duke Divinity School) has said, “The interesting question is not who is saved, but rather who is the One that saves?”.
Here is one of the ways that Karl Barth responded to being accused of universalism:
“I don’t teach it, and I don’t not teach it.” AMEN!
The supposed salvation being upheld by the theocracy of Gilead (another Bible name) in The Handmaid’s Tale works from a small and ultimately terrifying view of God and the world. Salvation as the renewal of all things is hopeful, affirming of humanity, and even truly loving. I am reminded of another Barth quote:
“Christian faith does not come before the world as an accuser, as a prosecutor, as a judge, as an executioner. It comes before it as the herald of the Yes which God has spoken to it”
Now, that’s better.
You are a great communicator Todd. Love your writing. Love your theology of hope and love.
Thanks for your constant reminder of the truth.
Even I, even you, even all....will be renewed. Amen.
(There is hope, even in The Handmaid’s Tale.)