It is common today to read or hear
someone claim to be representing “the Christian view” on any, frequently
controversial, topic. A recent example
is the statement that Richard Land, newly appointed president of Southern
Evangelical Seminary, made in an interview published July 25th in
The Charlotte Observer: “I’m an apologist in the culture for the Christian
world view.” Notice that he speaks of the
Christian world view, not a Christian world view. The clear implication is that there exists
only a single Christian world view, and that Land, a Southern Baptist who lost
his previous position last year when he was exposed as a plagiarist, represents
it completely and accurately.
There are estimated to be 41,000
Christian denominations worldwide. The
2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches lists 217 denominations in our
two countries. Pew Forum studies
completed since 2006 indicate that, in addition to denominations, there are in
excess of 35,000 independent or non-denominational churches, representing more
than 12 million adherents. Given such a
multiplicity of Christian groups, with their wide variety of creeds, doctrines,
and belief systems, the idea that there is but a single Christian world view
becomes an easy one to challenge.
The question then becomes, Who speaks
for Christianity? I would argue that the
only logical answer is that no one person or group can make such a claim. Despite that logic, however, many try to do
so. How well do those claims hold up to
scrutiny?
