from the site : silouan
What will American Christianity look like in 50 years?
I was asked this in an online forum, and my answer got too long to manage.
Here’s my infallible prediction. How did I do?
* Orthodoxy: Little visible change, zero substantive change.
Increasing numbers and cultural impact. Progress toward a single American
Archdiocese, but still not there yet.
* Catholicism: Neither women priests nor married priests will
happen. Increasing disaffection among liberal American Catholics leading to a
significant decrease in attendance. Identification as Catholic will be
increasingly cultural rather than creedal. This trend, combined with
decreasing
numbers of men seeking the priesthood, will force additional parish churches
to close. This will be slightly offset by conversions from Protestantism,
resulting in American Catholic liturgy and pastoral care becoming
effectively more traditional. In northern Europe, Catholicism may fade into a
cultural memory, but in North America, a leaner, more boldly traditional
Catholicism will recover its equilibrium and continue to be a voice of
conscience
and stability.
* Reformed Christians: Continuing personality issues, but overall
the hardcore Reformed will still look and act a lot like they do today,
because (almost uniquely among Protestants) Reformed folks know and value
their
tradition. The edgy/emergey segment will contribute a few cultural
differences.
* Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, UCC: Increasing
convergence so that they resemble each other almost interchangeably, while
de-emphasizing troublesome doctrinal issues until their emphasis on social
issues
rather than personal salvation turns them into Christian-branded social
service agencies. In each movement the conservative outliers will continue to
peel off in schisms embodying a previous generation’s norm. Many of these
etremely conservative daughter groups will identify strongly with the little-o
orthodox “_Great Tradition_
(http://www.inhabitatiodei.com/2007/11/13/the-great-tradition-of-the-church/) ”
(cf. _Tom Oden_
(http://www.acton.org/pub/religion-liberty/volume-21-number-1/bringing-forward-tradition-interview-thoma
s-c-oden) )
* Anglicanism outside the US and UK: Few significant or visible
changes, except increasing numbers, especially in Africa and Latin America,
where Anglicanism is conservative in liturgy and ethos.
* Conservative Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists in North America: I
foresee growth and prosperity for individual parishes and dioceses, but
overall a continuing fragmentation. Fifty years ago, these groups were
culturally relevant and could provide nostalgia for returning Christians; now,
in
increasingly-unchurched America, they’re culturally unfamiliar but not yet
old enough to make a virtue of ancient weirdness the way Eastern Orthodox
do.
* Non-charismatic nondenominations will find their kids growing up
effectively charismatic nondenoms, with more affinity for styles of
contemporary music than for their parents’ doctrinal self-definition. The
trend of
people choosing congregations based on music and childcare will continue to
grow. In-depth teaching of historical doctrine will continue to be a
novelty.
* Baptist will continue to be a useless word for describing a set of
beliefs or practices, as practically every form of Christian belief and
worship can be found among self-described Baptists.
* Charismatic nondenominations: Same story. In the absence of
doctrinal accountability, these will continue to generate new approaches and
practices every decade or two.
* Old-school Pentecostals (e.g. Foursquare, Assemblies of God,
Church of God in Christ, Church of God of Prophecy) in suburbs and wealthy
areas
will continue to develop in unpredictable ways, ensuring that every
generation is nostalgic for a lost experience and baffled by what their
churches
have become. In the 90s and 00s, the _Toronto Blessing_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_blessing) , _Brownsville Revival_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville_Revival) , _Kansas City Prophets_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Prophets#Kansas_City_Prophets) , and
new prosperity
teachings revisited mid-20th-century phenomena such as the _Latter Rain_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Rain_(post–World_War_II_movement)) ,
_Manifest
Sons of God_ (http://op.50megs.com/ditc/kingdom4.htm) , and the _earlier
health-and-prosperity_ (http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissar51.htm) movement
springing from _EW Kenyon_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._W._Kenyon) .
But the more recent iteration was characterized by a new cultural ignorance of
Christian belief or history, which freed it to become crazier, faster. By
contrast, change in urban, inner-city contexts and in rural areas will be
minimal: Urban churches will continue to be matriarchal and rural churches
patriarchal.
TL;DR: in 50 years you’ll see recognizable Orthodox, Catholics and Reformed
… and a vast spectrum of Everybody Else, many of them changing in
significant ways and seeing that as a virtue.
--
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