WORD STUDIES

The word of the day is “ideology”

Why study “ideology” at church?

Pope Francis: “The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology. And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought...” --Pope Francis, homily, October 17, ( calls_for_greater_openness_/in )

Is this statement shocking?

Does Christianity exhibit the characteristics of an ideology?

A dictionary definition for the word “ideology“: the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group." (Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015)

George C. Lodge suggests two useful definitions for ideology: An advocative definition of ideology: a value orientation that advocates a relationship of political power or economic interest between social groups; an advocative ideology usually entails a program of political action, e.g., communism, socialism, capitalism. A non-advocative definition of ideology: a collection of ideas that underlie a good community, i.e., the society's values that govern the ways in which its members behave and relate to one another. (George C. Lodge, The New American Ideology, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1975).

Christianity can meet both the dictionary definition and the requisites of a non- advocative definition of ideology: Christian ideology contains a body of doctrine, myth, and belief that guides both Christian individuals and Christian groups such as denominations and churches. Christian doctrine entails a collection of ideas that underlie a good community, e.g., a church's community of believers and the church’s relationships to the larger community.

Does Christianity also play to the advocative definition of ideology?

1. A basic tenet of Christianity is advocacy of belief in Jesus as the son of God. 2. During the first century of the Common Era the Apostle Paul advocated an understanding of the "Christ" that differed substantially from that of the "Jesus Movement" in Jerusalem. 3. In the fourth century C.E., the bishops meeting at Nicaea forged a specific "orthodox" (right thinking) understanding of the natures of God and Jesus. continued...

continuing The "Inquisition" was launched by the Roman Catholic Church in the twelfth century to root out heresies relative to the advocated orthodoxy. 5. The activity of the Jesuit Order began in the sixteenth century to establish "colleges" throughout continental Europe to educate Catholic clergy. 6. The Catholic Church's Counter Reformation response to the Protestant Reformation during the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century revealed the advocative natures of the ideologies espoused by the Roman Catholic Church and the emerging Protestant denominations.

There are yet other advocative aspects of Christian doctrine: 7. There is an implicit power relationship between believers and the deity that they worship and expect to obey. 8. The Roman Catholic Church itself exercises a power relationship with its individual parishioners who are expected to "toe the line" of the Nicene Creed. 9. Evangelical Christianity today, whether Catholic or Protestant, is strongly advocative of spreading their variants of Christian ideology and securing the belief of yet non- believers with programs of action to a. plant new churches, b. witness to the unchurched, and c. mount missionary efforts to spread the faith.

How has the ideology of Christianity been transmitted through the ages? 1. Through the centuries since the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.) settled Christian orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church ensured the transmission of the orthodox ideology of Christianity with its system of priests and missionaries. 2. By the 16th century, the Jesuit Order of the Roman Church conducted the ideology through its many "colleges" dispersed throughout continental Europe to educate priests in orthodox doctrine. continued...

continuing The Catholic Church itself enforced the transmission process via the Inquisition to eliminate heresies. 4. The Protestant Reformation, ensuing in 1517 with Martin Luther's 95 "theses" nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, launched a process intended to avoid the perceived abuses of the Roman Church and transmit an ideology more authentic to the first century church. continued...

continuing Whether Catholic or Protestant, Christian churches have employed bible stories, sermons, liturgies, rituals, hymns, and anthems to communicate, instill, and reinforce the complex of facts and myths that comprise the ideology of Christian doctrine. 6. Belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus may have persisted for nearly two thousand years because of the heavy investment in the idea by successive generations of Christian theologians, ministers of the Gospel trained by them, and the laity to which they preach.

Conclusion: Virtually all aspects of Christianity are now (and always have been) ideological and advocative by their very natures. Pope Francis may be right that advocative religion is devoid of Jesus' tenderness, love, and meekness, but the Christianity that has survived to the twenty-first century is substantially different from the teachings of the itinerant preacher who lived and taught in Palestine during the first century of the Common Era.

This presentation may be viewed in essay form on-line at: Click on “Selected Essays” Click on “Christianity as Ideology”