CAREFUL students of church history and doctrine should not be overwhelmed by the current challenges to the Church, according to Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, who spoke to a gathering of more than 40 Methodist students and faculty at Trinity Theological College (TTC) on Sept 20, 2005.
The semestral gathering focused on threats to the Christian worldview from such contemporary films as “The Da Vinci Code” and “Did Jesus Die?” and popular books like His Dark Material. While reflecting current philosophical trends, these challenges are but the latest forms of old controversies and heresies.
“These threats are not new,” Bishop Dr Solomon said, assuring the students that the Church has dealt with similar issues before. In order for the Church of today to properly address these old errors, Christians must know what is true. Hence, it is important for students to read widely, not only the Bible, but also the doctrine of the Church and the early Church Fathers. “Read the books in your library while you have time,” he said.
Bishop Dr Solomon presented an overview of the history of thought. Modernism has prevailed since the 18th century European Enlightenment. Whereas Christendom had always been bound by the external authorities of Scripture and tradition, the Enlightenment broke away from those authorities and elevated reason. This influenced science, technology, art, philosophy and theology for several centuries with values of individualism, democracy and market forces.
A prevailing trend in the 19th and early 20th centuries was Positivism, which has been characterised by the assumption that everything is naturally progressing towards greater harmony. Such optimism was dashed with the great wars of the 20th century.
If Modernism emphasised reason as the final authority, Postmodernism utilises the “hermeneutic of suspicion”, Bishop Dr Solomon said, which is to say that every authority and every claim to truth is questioned. The results are complete moral relativism.
The students expressed appreciation for Bishop Dr Solomon’s sharing with them. “His presentation was very comprehensive,” one student commented. “We need to have more discussions on these issues.”
“He pushes me to think a lot,” said Ms Lim Chye Peng, a Chinese department student from Malaysia. “I ended up taking a lot of notes.” Ms Jenny Tiew, from Ang Mo Ko Chinese Methodist Church, said: “I always enjoy his talks.”
A new student from Fiji, Mr Lewatoro Apenisa, was happy for the opportunity for fellowship. “It’s really great to get together like this.”
Besides the Bishop’s presentation, the students shared a meal together at the TTC cafeteria, spent some time in worship and considered a future retreat.
The Rev George Martzen is Minister Attached to The Bishop’s Office.
