Tools for Monday: What’s Your Stance? (Part 4)
Last week, we defined and briefly described the stance of Christian realism. The term “stance” refers to a particular way that a Christian may practice or apply biblical teaching and doctrine. Numerous stances may be based on a strong biblical foundation. In fact, we’ve noted four primary stances thus far: synergy, integrity, realism, and liberation. For a more detailed description of these stances, make sure to check out parts 1 and 2 of this blog series. You can also check out the helpful book An Introduction to Christian Ethics by Robin Lovin.
We’re concentrating in this article on the benefits, weaknesses, and applications of Christian realism. In a nutshell, Christian realism is a practice of living in a tension between idealism and pessimism, or between the infinite and the finite. A famous Christian realist, John C. Bennett, defined Christian realism as “the avoidance of the illusions of both the optimists and the pessimists.” The great Baptist ethicist, T.B. Maston, referred to the tension as a “both/and.” In other words, we live our everyday lives as believers in the tension between both law and grace, both freedom and duty, and between both ideal and real.
Consequently, Christian realism can be quite important and helpful in our present context for a number of reasons—two of which we’ll examine here.
Reason 1: Our neighbors are experiencing great hopelessness. The dreams of idealists have been shattered in recent years by multiple wars, a pandemic, and global political turmoil. Meanwhile, the cynicism of pessimists has been reinforced. The church is therefore living in a prime era of history to advocate boldly for a leap of faith towards Christ. Such a leap is the only hopeful way to deal with the tensions of life.
Reason 2: Christianity is watered-down when it is focused more on the illusions of idealism or pessimism than on Christ. Idealism easily leads us to the illusion that we ourselves can fulfill our imaginative dreams. Realism tempers this idealism with the biblical faith that we must depend on the omnipotent yet personal God. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1). Yet, we also recall from the Bible that God has given human beings a great calling to steward the creation and love our neighbors accordingly. This means that God has a will for all of us, and Christ even uses the weak to confound the strong. Our hope in Christ drives away pessimism and shame.
So, what does realism look like in actual, everyday practice? Let’s talk about it next week.