I heard on a talk show this morning a guest saying that we Christians need to be “bilingual” in today’s world.
He wasn’t referring to speaking a foreign language, even though I personally believe that is an increasingly important skill to have nowadays.
He was talking about Christians need to be able to dialogue with secularists and atheists about our faith. We need to use one language in worship and liturgy (the language of the Scriptures and theology) and another language when speaking to the broader culture, with those who do not have faith.
Seems to me St. Paul did just that with the Greeks. He had mixed success in the immediate moment. His speech in Athens almost got him killed, certainly misunderstood. But he persisted with the basic idea of making Christianity “hearable” to the pagan Greeks by speaking their language and using their conceptual constructs.
A challenge for those of us ordained and sent forth as bearers of the Word, heralds of the Gospel of Christ. Just as needed today as in the 1st Century. Seems to be especially true in the interface between faith and science; in the interface between moral teaching and the realities of modern life; and in the meeting of politics and religion.
Dinesh D’Souza has written a book entitled, Life After Death – The Evidence . I haven’t read it, but I am informed that in it he attempts to bridge the language gap between faith and science in dealing with what we know from physics and from our faith regarding eternal life.
I’ll see if I can get a copy and peruse it, reporting back later.
