Since we have reviewed several of Tim Keller's articles, I trust that, for those who are interested, one has read his bio if one wants to. So we might as well get to the article.
After having seen a tv interview with a fellow Christian, Keller felt compelled to write on how Christians should interact with a public that could very well be hostile to our faith (click here for the article). In his article, though Keller didn't agree with everything that the fellow Christian who was being interviewed said, his first comment was to shows empathy for a fellow person for how they might have felt about the interview. Showing empathy for someone with whom one disagrees is not a usual tactic we see in Christian reviews. I know that it is a tactic that I should use but most often do not when reviewing what fellow Christians have said.
Next, Keller aligns with how we should speak to the public; it is with the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5. Unfortunately, showing the fruit of the Spirit when speaking to the public about the faith has been called 'winsome' by some Christians who feel that fellow believers who do that are losing their edge when speaking to the public. Those Christians feel that being winsome to people who are hostile to you will not work. But 'work at what?' is the all important question here.
Keller is righty firm in telling us that we must show the fruit of the Spirit even to a hostile audience. Keller goes on to say that part of persuading people to believe the Gospel is to show them why they should believer in Christ based on their own values. And though that approach has both benefits and costs, a Christian should be hard pressed to object to the spirit of the tactic. In addition, Keller suggests that, when we can, we should point out the inconsistencies between what an unbeliever proclaims and their own professed values.
In all of that, Keller is correct. So where is he wrong? He is wrong by not pointing out the particulars of what Christendom got wrong. Because of Christendom, because of its countless atrocities and oppression of others, we Christians have a lot of damage control to contend with before we should share the Gospel in some settings. We need to point out what Christendom got wrong so that we can change what we are doing. Christendom caused great unjust pain for many who came from marginalized groups. And Christendom taught Christians that they should seek a place of privilege and supremacy in society so that they can, in paternalistic way, "guide" (a.k.a., impose our values on others) society and its culture in terms of what and what not to do and treasure. However that "guiding" has often included the marginalization of others.
What is apparent with this present post-Christendom times is that Christians want the public to actually listen to what we have to say. And there is only one way to honestly get others to really listen to oneself. That is to listen to others as one would have them listen to oneself. And just perhaps, that is an approach that we can more fully seek to practice in this post-Christendom era. And if that is the case, then perhaps we Christians should join fellow citizens who are unbelievers in celebrating the end of Christendom. For there is no way by which we could practice this Golden Rule of listening under Christendom, under a hierarchical society in which one group achieves supremacy so as to exercise unwarranted control over others. Not addressing the damage control that is necessary for us believers to engage in during this post-Christendom time and not celebrating the end of Christendom because it could open new avenues in how we communicate the Gospel with others are what Keller doesn't mention.
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