BETWEEN RELATIVISM AND FUNDAMENTALISM
Religious resources for a middle position
Edited by Peter L. Berger. Alban Books. 213 pages. £11.99
ISBN 978-0-8028-6387-4
This book consists of nine essays which grew out of a consultation of the Institute of Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University. The working group represented the Judeo-Christian tradition and there are essays by a Conservative Rabbi along with members of a wide variety of Christian traditions.
Peter Berger, the editor, defines the scope of the project in his opening essay. ‘Contemporary culture … appears to be in the grip of two seemingly contradictory forces. One pushes the culture toward relativism, the view that there are no absolutes whatever ... The other (fundamentalism), pushes towards a militant and uncompromising affirmation of this or that (alleged) absolute “Truth”’.
Both Relativism and Fundamentalism make civil discourse impossible. The essays seek to plot a middle course which avoids the dangers of both extremes.
After the introduction, three essays give a sociological analysis and five essays give a theological perspective.
Disorientated culture
I found the sociological essays to be the most stimulating. James Davison Hunter traces the genealogy of Relativism back to Descartes and on through Hume and Kant to Nietzsche. This results in a culture that is ‘disorientated’, ‘weightless’ and nihilistic. Fundamentalism on the other hand, is not a return to a former age of certainty, as is sometimes imagined. On the contrary, it is a very modern reaction of dissent, which manifests itself in a variety of ways, but is just as nihilistic.
Craig M. Gay analyses the American scene beginning with Carl F.H. Henry’s critique of Fundamentalism. Henry argued that it failed to see that ‘the redemptive message has implications for all of life’. He then analyses ‘For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility’ (this valuable text is contained in an Appendix). Finally, he engages with the Neo-Calvinism of Abraham Kuyper and the political theology of Oliver O’Donovan. The conclusion is that the church cannot disengage from culture and must act as a ‘loyal opposition’.
I found the five essays which represent theological perspectives a little patchy. I enjoyed Berger’s Lutheran view with its ‘two realm’ emphasis. Os Guinness presents the evangelical view, affirming that Christians must be simultaneously world-affirming and world-denying.
No creativity
This is a stimulating book. Its critique of Fundamentalism is very telling. ‘Fundamentalism can point to no creative achievements, it offers no constructive proposals for the everyday problems that trouble most people, and it provides no vital solution to the problems of pluralism and change.’ Like Relativism it can only produce a ‘weak culture’. There are implications here for Christian ethics and cultural engagement, as well as for our evangelistic and apologetic preaching.
Stimulating
As a conservative evangelical, I want to maintain a high view of Scripture without falling into some of the reactionary pitfalls of Fundamentalism. I want to affirm a Christian engagement in a pluralistic civil society and defend the freedom of religion, without falling into the nihilism of Relativism. Although not written from an evangelical perspective, this book stimulates our thinking in this area.
Paul Mallard,
Director of Training and Development,
Midlands Ministry Training Course
