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Archives: May 2010
The Golden Age
By Craig Borlase
People ask me a lot about what period of Christianity I find is the most fertile source of inspiration.
Actually, nobody has ever asked me that. Never. Not once. Not even when I’ve tried to get them to...
Me: ‘So, I bet you’re wondering what period of Christianity I find the most fertile source of inspiration?’
Them: ‘Nope.’
But you’re different. I can’t hear your ‘nope’ and I don’t know that you’re just about to click off. So, here’s what I think is the best chunk of time that the church has enjoyed…
The Great Awakening
There was genuine cause for optimism within the Church, in spite of the usual errors that always seem to trip us up. Having evangelised the slaves for the better part of a century, it was time for a shift in Christianity. The old arguments in favour of slavery gradually lost their grip as the Christian opposition spread from the fringes in towards the centre. While the Quakers and Mennonites were vocal opponents in the previous century, eventually joined by the Baptists and Methodists, it was not until 1807 that the much-needed change began to emerge.
On 25 March the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act, abolishing the trade in slaves throughout the then rather sizeable British Empire. The campaign was led by William Wilberforce (a Christian politician and founder of the Church Mission Society) and influenced largely by Olaudah Equiano, an ex-slave turned author and anti-slavery campaigner. Together they managed to combine faith and politics to produce a righteous outcome.
Yet it was not enough. The Industrial Revolution was lining the pockets of those wealthy enough to be able to afford the tools and the factories, but for the poor souls who had migrated from the country to the cities in order to work among the cogs and the coal smoke, life was pretty terrible. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of education and crushing poverty combined to make life unacceptable for external observers. Friedrich Engels was outraged enough to trash the ruling classes in his 1845 work Condition of the Working Class of England, and eventually play a key role in the formation of communism.
Equally life-changing was the birth of Victorian social activism. One part evangelism, one part social concern, the renegade believers flew in the face of Anglican disinterest and took the gospel into the congested heart of the slums.
The results were significant thanks to the work of groups like the freshly created Salvation Army – founded by Methodist breakaway William Booth in the 1860s. Booth endured the ridicule for the uniforms and quasi-military approach to inner city mission, but there was no doubting his impact. Drug addicts, prostitutes and alcoholics were ‘General’ Booth’s first targets. These undesirables of society had been comprehensively overlooked, and Booth provided them with employment and an explanation of the need to follow Christ.
Booth was not alone. Thomas Barnardo established homes for thousands of orphaned children while Lord Shaftesbury founded the Ragged Schools Union and provided the children trapped in poverty with a sound education.
Shaftesbury also pushed for legal reform to benefit those working in factories and mines, while in Parliament he was joined by William Gladstone, the eventual Prime Minister. His concern for social reform led him to tackle what he saw as social ills – in particular drink and prostitution. The temperance movement grew as a result, with not only British but continental European and American evangelicals urging others to give up alcohol in favour of good Christian living.
Whole communities in industrial cities sprang up thanks to the work of philanthropists’ intent on using their wealth to create pockets of utopia based on Christian ideals. Chocolate magnates George and Richard Cadbury happened to be Quakers, and like Sir Titus Salt in the 1850s, built houses, schools, hospitals, parks and leisure facilities for their workers.
This was a move pioneered – and powered – by largely English speaking evangelicals, yet it would be wrong to apportion all credit to the British. Social reformers were at work in pockets across Europe, and in spite of the errors of the attempted Orthodox reform, the Church in Russia enjoyed something of a boom.
Already impacted by the advances of the Industrial Revolution – and some time before the chaos of their own political one – Russians were increasing in number. The introduction of elders (startsy) brought with them a focal point for Christians to be drawn to. Frequently monastic in their approach to life, nevertheless these men showed just what it meant to reconnect with the roots of Christian spirituality.
Others headed off to the east, reaching the very edge of the Russian lands, hopping in boats and evangelising to islanders of the north Pacific. Some made their way to Alaska, creating an affection for the Russian Orthodox Church there that remains to this day.
Perspective does funny things to history. I’m tempted to see the social action of The Great Awakening as one of the high points of the Christian story. What could be better than these days of God-sparked revolution and social change? Only those years of the early Church come close, when subversion took on a different form, albeit with similar results.
Why does all this appeal so much? It’s the contrast with today. Where many in the Church today are choking on over-consumption and living life as small and as well-camouflaged as they possibly can, the social reformers of those days – much like the martyrs that came before them – had none of it. Theirs was a faith painted in blood; ours seems to be wearing rags by comparison.
But while I’m tempted to believe the idea that it was all so much better back them, it just doesn’t feel quite right. Why? Because if looking back at the history of Christianity teaches us anything it is that the threads of the very best of our faith weave throughout the whole of its story – through the best and the worst bits alike. In every century – and, I’m guessing every year and month and day too – there are the signs of us at our best.
And our worst.
Just like each of us.
What if we ditched the rose-tinted views of the past and stopped thinking it was all better/easier/simpler back then? What if we did away with pondering the reasons why the Church is quiet and concentrated on making our own noise to break the silence? What if we stopped reading articles that go on about ‘what if’ and charged headfirst into injustice with all the passion of a Barnado, the integrity of a Quaker or the grace of a Cadbury?
About the author...
Craig is a lovely chap who lives in Reading. He's a writer, think and all round creative tinker! He has a lovely family and back in the annuls of time used to work for Soul Survivor (in fact he was the one who invented the idea of a Soul Survivor Magazine... so you owe him a lot... well, we do).
Soul Survivor is a Christian charity that puts on events for young people. Our registered charity no. is 1080720. We are also a company limited by guarantee in England & Wales. Our company registered number is 03991111, which is nice. Thanks for caring.
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