C S Lewis,
the Christian popular apologist, in an essay, On Reading Old Books, accused
those impatient with history of being guilty of chronological snobbery. The Prophet Isaiah dealt with a different
problem, chronological amnesia. Speaking to the people of Israel about their
exiled loneliness and dislocation, disorientation and spiritual confusion, Isaiah urged
them, “Look to the rock from which you were hewn”. By which he meant study the past, find there
clues to understand the present and give imaginative energy to create visions
for the future.
History can
be boring, mind numbingly, soul sappingly uninteresting. By definition it deals
with what is past. It has a crisis of relevance in an age of fast, immediate
and instant. In a pragmatic can do world the crudely utilitarian question what
is the use of history asks precisely the question history can only answer if it
is, indeed used.
Historical
precedent, the perspective of another age, and the keeping alive of cultural
memory, are essential strands in human knowing. Learning with a humility given
backbone by intellectual integrity, and fuelled by curiosity, history helps us
come to understand who we are by answering first, how, why and when we got here;
what is our place in the world; and then to recognise the reality and dignity
of others whose history is different from ours, but with whom we share a common
humanity, in theological terms the image of God.
The history
of a Christian tradition is what gives it roots, explains its distinctive and
peculiar identity, and places its followers in the broader context of Christian
tradition and cultural change. Such self- reflection gives us a sense of
humility, a critical openness, and makes our voice worth hearing. It also makes
other voices more obviously worth hearing, and attending to with a listening
spirit.
When we
understand our own story, with critical faithfulness and the wisdom of
hindsight, we can then acknowledge the validity and integrity of other people’s
faith story, those whose history makes up another tributary in the river system
of the Christian tradition. Baptists
have a history, or should we say there are Baptist histories. Britain, the
United States, Europe, and Russia, each have their history. Amongst the
distinctives of Baptist spirituality is a passion for religious liberty, a
profound sense of the sovereignty of the individual conscience before God, and
an historic aversion to all forms of external compliance in matters of belief
and worship.
In times when Baptist Identity is either a contested series of questions, or a denominational irrelevance in a post-modern world impatient with particularity, it is imperative for the integrity of a Christian tradition that its adherents know who they are, understand the source of their convictions, and be visibly committed to the living practice of a tradition which is essential to the overall wholeness of the Christian witness of the Body of Christ, the Church.
Baptist is not a pseudonym for Evangelicals who happen to immerse believers, nor is it a euphemism for a generic evangelicalism, and it isn't a vaccuous denominational label either. It is a description of a specific way of being Christian; it is christologically centred, rooted in the life and mission of the Triune God, earthed and embodied in a community of believers committed in covenant faithfulness to discern the mind of Christ together.
Our history is chequered and splintered; our story is still being written and told; the witness to which Christ calls us remains a vital and vitalising discipleship of faithfully following after Christ. Only as we cherish and value our own tradition, explore and reflect critically on how far we have been faithful to Christ's calling, and listen carefully to what the Spirit is saying to us, only then will we be humble enough to listen with the same receptive care and an appropriate respectful questioning, to those other followers of Jesus in other Christian traditions. And then we will learn, and be enriched, and pray God, perhaps bring some gift of our own to an already laden table.
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