Cultural Christians Slow Read, Chapter 4 (Apostasy)
What happens to the ones who leave? And why did they leave anyway?
I want to start by mentioning this truly lovely First Things essay this week by John Wilson, the legendary book review editor and book reviewer who has been a kind friend and mentor since I became Current’s book review editor. John reflects in his essay on my book alongside Nijay Gupta’s excellent new book, Strange Religion. I always enjoy reading John’s columns, and it was a special treat to read his thoughts on my book.
On to this week’s topic of discussion: apostasy. One of the most powerful books that I read last year was Daniel Nayeri’s memoir, Everything Sad Is Untrue. It’s about apostasy of a different sort than I consider in my book, but bear with me for a minute.
Nayeri was born in an aristocratic Muslim family in Iran, but his mother’s unexpected conversion to Christianity forced his mom to flee the country for her life, together with her two small children (her husband, who didn’t convert, stayed comfortably behind and married someone else). Eventually, they ended up in the U.S., destitute and troubled, having traded a life of comfort, wealth, and privilege for poverty and hardship in a new country where they had no family or friends.
The entire sequence of events, Nayeri himself reflects at one point, makes no sense in any kind of rational analysis. Why would someone pay such a high cost, knowingly choose so much loss and heartbreak? And yet, he says, if anyone were to ask his mom, her answer is clear: Because she knew Christianity is true.
Perhaps because I am an adult convert myself, I confess I am partial to a powerful and unusual conversion story, like Nayeri’s, and I know I’m not alone. Alas, the story of the church has always included not only the striking stories of conversion, but also the (sometimes no less striking) stories of apostasy—falling away, deconversion.
In this chapter, we get to consider the complicated ways in which falling away was not only something that cultural Christians did (and do), but also a phenomenon resulting from the sins of fellow-Christians towards each other.
So, this week we will discuss the first part of the chapter, focusing on Roman governor Pliny’s testimony of the events in Bithynia—which, by the way, you can read for yourself as well before (or after) reading my analysis of this fascinating document. Then next week, we’ll camp out a bit more on 1 Peter.
Questions for this week
1. How would you define apostasy? Why do you think people today fall away from faith after conversion?
2. Much of our evidence in this chapter revolves around Pliny the Younger, a governor who was alarmed to discover Christians in his province in 111 AD or so—except his investigation uncovered a church with very high rates of apostasy. What course did Pliny’s investigation into Christians in Bithynia take before he finally asked the emperor’s advice?
3. What demographic data about Christians in Bithynia do we learn from Pliny’s letter?
4. What did the emperor advise the governor? Did you find his response surprising? Why or why not?
Whenever I run across discussion of apostacy, 2 Tim 2:11-13 comes to mind. I'm not sure how it contributes to our understanding of apostacy, but I'm always struck by the end of this faithful saying: "Even if we are faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot deny himself."
Also, thank you for mentioning Nayeri's book. I read it earlier this year. It was so sad I had to put it down several times; but also incredibly compelling, funny, and magical so I kept picking it back up. I am fascinated by the Persia/Iran, its people, faiths, customs, and history, though, so I end up reading a lot of very tragic things that I wouldn't otherwise be able to stomach. I'm currently listening (slowly) to Nayeri's older sister's novel A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea. It's likewise beautiful and terrifying.
Apostasy is denial of Christ for Christians. One’s commitment to Christ may be slowly eroded if cultural syncretism overrides a Christian’s love & faith in our Messiah. The syncretistic power of the ancient Mediterranean cultural world would seem to overwhelm both a community’s unity in Christ as well as derision, denunciation to authorities, & limitations that impose direct sanctions. Ancient & post modern Christians live in worlds where truth in Christ was(or is today)considered beyond the cultural pale.
John Gardner