Book Review: Strangers and Pilgrims Once More

Last updated on: July 24, 2014 at 6:35 am by Michael F. Bird

Book Review: Strangers and Pilgrims Once More 2014-07-24T06:35:21-04:00 Michael F. Bird

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Addison Hodges Hart

Strangers and Pilgrims Once More: Being Disciples of Jesus in a Post-Christendom World
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013.
Available at Amazon.com

Pilgrims, but what do we leave behind?

A review of Strangers and Pilgrims Once More, Addison Hodges Hart, Eerdmans, by Kara Martin

Addison Hodges Hart is an American living in Norway, and he uses his own experience of feeling like a stranger and pilgrim as a metaphor for what the church is becoming in this world. Christianity and the church are no longer at the heart of power and decision-making, our heritage is quickly becoming forgotten. As Christians we are no longer comfortable citizens within our society.

Hart describes us as “disciples living in a dying Christendom”. We are living in a place that increasingly feels foreign to our values and background. We struggle to live and speak openly, since often that is seen as an attack on the new norm, on the prevailing wisdom. We must find fresh ways to articulate what we believe.

However, this is not actually a new experience for Christianity. The “once more” in the book title reminds us that this is the way Christianity began: at odds within society, challenging the norms and often persecuted as a result.

This book describes five affirmations that Hart feels are necessary for Christians and the church to adapt to this new/old reality.

Saying Yes to Christianity, and No to Christendom
Christendom is dying with the rise of a dogmatic faith in science based on evidence and a materialistic view of reality, as well as greater ‘freedom’ of expression via sex and pornography. Christians need to separate our faith from our culture, and to embrace a kingdom with different values to our earthly kingdoms.

Saying Yes to Dogma, and No to Dogmatism
We need to embrace orthodoxy, right belief, but beware the exaggeration and complication of those beliefs into exclusive doctrines. He compares it with the danger of moving from authoritative to authoritarian. We need to be pragmatic.

Saying Yes to the Bible, and No to Biblicism
Hart warmly embraces the Bible, but fears biblical fundamentalism. This is possibly his most controversial chapter since he describes the Bible as being the word of God not because it comes from God but it is “a collective testimony about God’s existence… and brings us the word about God… it is inspired… but not dictated.”

Saying Yes to Sacramental Unity, and No to Sacramental Disunity
Hart believes that increasingly all churches must rely on our communion with Christ, rather than focusing on doctrinal discord. He sees the death of Christendom as an opportunity for new expressions of unity, rather than enforced uniformity that proved divisive.

Saying Yes to Evangelism, and No to Polemicism
There is a danger that we lose the passion of the message as we attempt to blend in with society, becoming like mainline liberal Protestantism that he describes as “bland, ineffective, graying, vague in message, spineless in matters of sexual morality, and doctrinally vaporous”. On the other hand, getting caught up in arguments, polemics, debate may distract us from the fundamentals of building and expressing our relationship with God. We need humility and an eschatological perspective.

There is much to like about Hart’s book. I think the image of pilgrims and strangers is a helpful one for the situation the church finds itself in. He has some wide advice and thoughtful challenges, but he might have strayed too far for some by rejecting that the Bible is inerrant, as well as the call for interfaith dialogue.

His gospel presentation toward the end of the book is a useful way of pointing people to Jesus as a way of understanding the mystery of God, and dealing with that which distances us from him. Its simplicity and focus on God’s love, mercy and generosity are helpful, as are its avoidance of jargon and threats. He does not shy away from Christ as judge, but points out that we need not fear his judgment since he is also our saviour, advocate and support.

KARA MARTIN is the Associate Dean of the Marketplace Institute, Ridley Melbourne, has been a lecturer with Wesley Institute and is an avid reader and book group attendee. Kara does book reviews for Eternity Magazine.

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