Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.01.2007, Blaðsíða 39

approach has been characterized by great confidence in discerning the will
of God for public, institutional life. On the right it has meant direct biblical
blueprints for what God wants in the world. On the left it has meant “read-
ing God’s agenda in the world.” Both right and left enthusiastically view their
activities as cooperating with God in building his kingdom on earth, which
is to be the salvation of all.
This form of “constructive Christianity,” to use H. Richard Niebuhr’s
phrase, has had enormous effects on American public life, many of which
have been positive. Generating great movements for social reform, planting
and nurturing myriads of institutions and shaping the general public cul-
ture of America are cases in point. However, there are liabilities, which show
up dramatically when the deeper religious roots of the Reformed spirit are
eroded. Then, bereft; of humility before divine transcendence, human arro-
gance with all its fallibilities and follies becomes overbearing, if not downright
dangerous.
What remains of this “constructive” attitude when the great Reformed
theological themes are gone is the following: a crusading spirit to remake the
world according to its vision; strong confidence and clarity about what is to
be done; a secular version of redemption in which what is possible for the
individual soul is applied to public life; and a certain kind of totalistic hope
for full transformation of human life and society.
The Reformed posture in its religious mode is now being carried more
by Southern Baptists and other religious conservatives than by the mainline
churches. They, however, are required to share public space with the Catholic
voices that have become stronger and more frequent. Indeed, expressions of
Catholic public theology may well have superceded Protestant ones in terms
of public audibility and visibility. Catholics, too, however, have a long history
of exhibiting many of the same characteristics that Noll identified among the
Reformed. Direct, aggressive and confident are adjectives that apply as well to
Catholic interventions. Further, the Catholic bishops have been able to speak
with more authority and clarity than their Protestant compatriots, though
in recent years their influence has been dramatically curtailed by the sexual
misbehavior of priests and the scandals that have resulted.
Noll, in the article already cited, calls for a stronger Lutheran voice in the