A Socio-theological Lens: A New Vantage Point for the Church

Media ads, supermarkets, and convenience stores are inundated with chocolate and peanut butter each spring. Why? Combining chocolate and peanut butter makes them better! I eat chocolate and peanut butter separately. A smooth milk chocolate or a rich 70% dark chocolate melts in my mouth and makes me happy. If I need a quick afternoon snack or crave a simple dessert, peanut butter on a spoon hits the spot. Peanut butter on a spoon keeps my teenage athlete fueled most days during the cross-country season. But combining chocolate and peanut butter creates something that outshines the sum of its parts and opens the doors to new ideas, like peanut butter fudge ice cream!

In 2019, a team led by Gina Zurlo combined some things and created a new way of understanding the Church that is better than the sum of its parts. Her team also developed a predictive model of the growth of the Christian Church in the Global South and the decline of the Christian Church in the Global North. How did they create this new vantage point? Combining information from various disciplines, including missiology, religion, political science, and sociology, created a new and clearer picture of the differences between the Church in the Global South and North. Learning from different disciplines can create a new or different vantage point, which might provide a more accurate view of what is happening to the Church in the United States.

Mark Juergensmeyer combined theology and sociology to help Sociologists study how humans behave and act in society since much of human behavior overlaps with religion. Combining theology and sociology produces sociotheology. Sociotheology might create a new way of viewing the Church as human and divine. In a basic sense, humanity and the Church are deeply theological. Humans are created in the Imago Dei (image of God) for the purposes of God (Ephesians 2:10), and the Church is started, held together, and led by Jesus himself (Colossians 1:16-18). Theology helps us understand humanity and the Church's identity, belonging, and purpose. Sociology helps us understand how humans and institutions behave and interact. Combining sociology and theology may best inform our understanding of the issues facing the Christian Church in the United States.

Embracing the divine and human, or theological and sociological, natures of the Church may give us a path to move forward. It's a spoonful of peanut butter covered in chocolate sauce! The need for a new perspective and approach has been rumbling for some time now. You can hear it in the lyrics from Keith Green to Rich Mullins and Andrew Peterson. The rumblings of our need to look at the Church differently are out there. We find the rumblings in blogs and podcasts ranging from NT Wright, The Gospel Coalition, and Together for the Gospel. In a groundswell of authors such as Leonard Sweet, Alan Hirsch, Aubrey Malphurs, and Will Mancini address the Church and the writings of Skye Jethani, Bill Hull, Rebecca McLaughlin, and Kevin DeYoung seek to help Christians flourish in their church communities and their culture. In the constantly changing Western culture, the Christian Church is struggling. We need to gain a new perspective, see the Church as fully divine and human, and allow our new perspective to revitalize our passion and participation in our local church.

How might embracing the human and divine natures of the Church awaken you passion and participation in your local church?

 Does sociotheology affirm or challenge your understanding of the Church and God's redemptive mission in our world?