Dead-End Dialogue

This young Korean exchange student, newly arrived on campus, looked up the church of his baptism. The first Sunday was confusing: rock music, and many huggings and so forth. But also some fairly violent denunciations of “the Establishment,” and “this vicious racist society,” et cetera. Timidly he inquired as to whether he was in the right place. Oh yes, was the reply. He tried again a second Sunday, only to discover that the only time the name of Jesus Christ was likely to be heard was when the janitor banged his thumb. At the door he summoned up his courage and asked what kind of church it was. “This,” the pastor replied grandly, “is a Christian-Marxist church.” He left, wondering what a Christian-Marxist church was.

A question that will be asked more than once in the months and years ahead, for Christian-Marxist dialogue is the coming rage. It has been going on for some time in academia, of course, but it is now reaching out to the parish level.

SS

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Sheldon Moody Smith

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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

This young Korean exchange student, newly arrived on campus, looked up the church of his baptism. The first Sunday was confusing: rock music, and many huggings and so forth. But also some fairly violent denunciations of “the Establishment,” and “this vicious racist society,” et cetera. Timidly he inquired as to whether he was in the right place. Oh yes, was the reply. He tried again a second Sunday, only to discover that the only time the name of Jesus Christ was likely to be heard was when the janitor banged his thumb. At the door he summoned up his courage and asked what kind of church it was. “This,” the pastor replied grandly, “is a Christian-Marxist church.” He left, wondering what a Christian-Marxist church was.

A question that will be asked more than once in the months and years ahead, for Christian-Marxist dialogue is the coming rage. It has been going on for some time in academia, of course, but it is now reaching out to the parish level.