Using Christian Celebrities as Shibboleths
Essays, Featured — By Larry Shallenberger on August 6, 2010 at 2:00 pmThey said to him, “Say Shibboleth”, and he said “Sibboleth” because he could not pronounce it. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Edomites fell. “ Judges 12:6
I’m fascinated and a little saddened by a habit I see Christians practice, myself included. We tend to use Christian leaders and authors as points of reference to define our own tribes. Last week, for example, Anne Rice made waves in the Christian blogosphere by announcing she was quitting Christianity. She was careful to say that she was not quitting Christ, or even the church; but she had enough of the divisiveness and judgmental attitudes she experienced since her return to faith ten years ago. Reflexively, bloggers have evaluated her story and use it to define their own tribe.
“She’s Christian, not religious (like me and my people)” or ”She’s shipwrecking her faith with an arrogant individualism (unlike me and my people.)”
Anne has become, for a news cycle, anyway, a “shibboleth” to define our in- and out- groups.We do this with others, don’t we? Years ago, I held an organizational meeting about a college ministry we were starting. I mentioned that we were using the “Nooma” videos in our meetings. A few in the room decided that we had abandoned the faith and had succumbed to the emergent movement, all because we use used a video series by Rob Bell. Rob Bell was a shibboleth to those people, and I found myself lumped into a tribe, irrespective of what my own convictions actually were. Brian McLaren has been flattened into a shibboleth and so has Mark Driscoll. It’s too much work to see these pastors and leaders as having complex personalities, strengths, and flaws, so instead we create overly-simplified versions of them. Nuance does not lend itself to black and white thinking. So bloggers cast Donald Miller as liberal and emergent; Don’s reminders that he attends a theologically-conservative church be damned.
I suppose we do this out of necessity. Celebrity Shibboleth is a time saving practice that allows Christians to quickly assess how they should relate to other believers. If I ask you your thoughts about Ted Haggard’s new church or John Piper’s Calvinism, I can make fast opinions on your theological makeup. Differentiation is not a bad thing. But we don’t seem able to stop at noticing our differences, we divide into factions.
This, ironically, is not the outcome that the objects of our “sibboleth-ing” hope for.
This post originally appeared on www.larryshallenberger.com.
15 Comments
As a member of Mars Hill (Michigan) I always find it fascinating when people who do not attend Mars Hill claim that Rob Bell is a part of the emergent movement. I find this fascinating because he talks about NOT being a part of that very movement while we are having church.
It’s too bad he has to spend valuable teaching time dispelling myths and rumors to us.
Great article, thanks :0)
Larry, you are now my Shibboleth. I slaughter those who cannot pronounce our last name.
Seriously, great article – and important corrective to so many of us.
Sibboleth. S-S-Sibboleth. dangit.
It’s a Monty Python sketch waiting to happen.
Devotion is to Jesus. My view in my travels, many seem to be devoted to their preferences, clubs, etc, over Christ. I understand preferences and such and don’t particularly see them as wrong, even can be beneficial for a season. What irks me is when we start advocating our preferences and clubs over Jesus, then looking down on others in their differences and their allotted portions. Not just a theological statement either, it is how I feel.
It can often come across “to me” as pride, although I don’t doubt at all that ignorance plays in with some too. I try not to assume I know what is going on in others’ hearts, and know I am not perfect of myself either.
It’s everywhere, false measuring scales, something the Lord repeatedly tells us in his word that He is against.
May we all grow in the awareness of looking up to Christ-our measuring scale, instead of side-to-side.
As a sidenote: I’m not particularly fond of criticism as it “to me” can come across as pride in our false measuring scales. Not always, just saying…
All I know of Rice’s comment is what I read here and “for me” it didn’t sound negatively critical as in some prideful thing, but someone over it (probably painfully over it) and looking for something deeper in their relationship with Jesus and others. Transitions regarding these things can be a vulnerable place and if I were to tell her anything it would be to stick close to our Lord during this time, pouring her heart out to Him so that she can come to a brighter place in Him rather than be ensnared by the powers of darkness.
And I like the picture with the crack as it reminds me of something I like to say regarding preferences.
It can be like walking into a place and looking to re-arrange the furniture to our preferences while ignoring the large hole in the floor that one can fall into.
Personally, I couldn’t care less if my pastor was behind a pulpit elevated 50 feet off the ground or at a round table with us because I feel I know him well enough to know what even on an elevated platform, where it counts-his heart, is in the right place.
I think you’re right.
I also wonder how much it divides us, and how much it simply exposes divisions that were already there. I’m still chewing on that in my head.
Then there’s the fact that I find myself defending Anne Rice, even though I pretty much disagree with her. Stll working on that too…
Great thoughts. This is a subject that deserves much more material… maybe an idea for your next book.
What’s interesting is that this seems to be particular to the Protestant Church. There is the Emergent Church. Calvinism. Baptist. Presbyterian. Nazarene. Etc, etc, etc. While I know certain people follow certain priests at Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches, on the whole it seems as if their tradition keeps them rooted in a more singular viewpoint on and understanding of Christianity.
I never considered that. That’s a fascinating theory.
Yeah, but they also get exocommunicated if they don’t toe the line, to a certain extent.
It helps that Catholics have a book which outlines their beliefs in incredible detail, and every confirmed Catholic has agreed to accept all these teachings (before they’ve even read them). For better or worse, there’s less wiggle-room, and thus less need for Shibboleths.
Unity in the church is a strange beast. We don’t want to be divided over silly squabbles and form too many factions, but we don’t want to let our faith be watered down with weird, unbiblical mutations. For me the test is whether or not a teacher or group teaches the real gospel, proclaiming Christ as the son of God who died for our sins, instead of reinterpreting the gospel to suit their own little agendas. (I’m looking at you, Rob Bell.)
And, for the record, exocommunicated is excommunication, but with bugs…?