The Sacred-Secular Split
Ever asked yourself the question
after engaging someone “I thought they were Christians?”
It is common among believers to
operate one way in the world and another within church circles. It’s almost
like changing into one set of clothes for work and another to go to the gym. I
recall dealing with this issue at work – one of the biggest challenge of my
adult life came at the hands of a Christian brother who does missionary work.
Because I was his boss, he was required to sit down and talk it through
(otherwise, this would not happen). I remember taking him to MacDonald’s for
lunch (had to do this in a public space as he was notorious for twisting words
and giving alternate facts. I said toward the end “You’re a Christian, right?”.
He said “Yes, and I apologize for all this”. Then I asked “What were you
thinking? I was only looking out for you and your staff”. He said “I don’t
know. I guess I just got caught up.” One thing is for sure, If I had a dollar
for every time I was disappointed with a Christian hire, I’d have a good sum in
the bank. The root of this bent toward two different worldviews, is referred to
as “The Sacred-Secular Split”. We will unpack this further at a later date. For
now, I’d like to give an overview.
The sacred/secular split originated
from Greek thought. This was based on materialistic philosophy that “matter was
pre-existing and eternal” and that “matter contained the ability to resist the
creator” (Pearcey, 274). “Because there is no hope of life beyond this present
physical world, the secular humanist declares that man's highest end is
happiness, freedom, and progress for all mankind in this present world. To this
end the secularist “assigns to man nothing less than the task of being his own
savior and redeemer” (Turner). Turner goes on to describe the divide: “While
secularism takes the short view, Christianity takes the long view. While
secularists talk about the here and now, Christians speak of an eternal life
beyond the grave. While secularism, which teaches man is the product of
evolution, validates narcissism, hedonism, materialism, and pluralism,
Christianity, which teaches man is created in the image of God, refutes all
man-made isms with the admonition, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for
this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).” Essentially, Christians live a dichotomy of
worldviews – “We live fractured and fragmented lives. Church and family rarely
speak to our work and public life. We navigate between two separate worlds”
(Lecrae in Pearcey [page 273]).
Breaking this concept down, think
of the believer having two worldview that govern their daily living. There’s
the Secular world – everything outside of church: music, arts, entertainment,
politics, education, government, food, shopping, literature. This is the world
where we spend most of our lives and with unbelievers, yet it is the part of
our lives where we believe God is absent or we are called to be separated from.
Then there’s the Sacred world – essentially
Church and church life. This involves our relationship with God. In this world,
we feel and find God. It is here that we pray, read our Bibles, congregate with
other likeminded brothers and sisters, sing Christian songs, play Christian
games, attend Christian lock-ins and conferences and seminars. This is the
place where the secular community comes to find God.
Interestingly enough, I feel we
have been brainwashed to think that the secular world has nothing to do with
the sacred world. Because we are called to be separate, the idea flows that we
are “in the world, but should not be a part of the world”. Hence, the
secular/sacred divide.
This is sad, because life happens
in the secular world. This is where we work (most of us), play, attend schools,
consults therapists and psychologists, spend our money, workout, make investments
etc. It is to the secular world that we focus our evangelistic missions. It is
the secular world that makes policy decisions that affect our world and our
churches. Yet, we mostly remain separated from the metanarrative building
process.
I like what Dayo Adewoye stated in
his article “The Sacred-Secular Split”: It seems so logical (and convenient) to
partition our lives thus. For we have grown up with the notion that religion
has to do with just our relation with God. When it comes to dealing with the
external world and other human beings, however, we have passed beyond the
bounds of religion.” He goes on to quote Nancey Pearcey in another of her books
Total Truth (Page 65): “Modern society is characterized by a sharp split
between the sacred and secular spheres – with work and business defined as
strictly secular. As a consequence, Christians often live in two separate
worlds, commuting between the private world of family and church (where we can
express our faith freely) and the public world (where religious expression is
firmly suppressed).”
Fortunately, the God of the Bible
is sovereign and He is concerned about the whole of creation. This means every
detail of our lives. It is therefore unwise to separate both world. For how can
we show love and display Christian character if we isolate ourselves from our
world? Dr. Christopher Wright said, “We seem to think that people can be saved
from something going on in their heads without worrying too much about what
happens in their lives” (274). Our lives should be missional and we must make
every effort to “marry” both the secular and the sacred worlds with
compromising the Gospel which is our responsibility to share.
References:
Wright, C. The Mission of God’s
People. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan (2010)
Adewoye, D. The Sacred-Secular
Split. Retrieved from: https://thechristianmindng.org/2015/07/23/the-sacred-secular-split/
Turner, A. Christianity: Counterculture
or Subculture? Retrieved from: http://allanturner.com/secular.html
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Written by Kevin A. Hall 10.02.17
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