Religion as a Vocation

Taken from atop the German Reichstag

I am currently studying theological German in the summer language program at Harvard Divinity School.  The course compresses two semester into eight weeks of study.  Obviously, it moves at a very fast pace.  On day one I knew nothing; now, only five weeks in, I am translating texts by Immanuel Kant and Paul Tillich.  

Being here at HDS is an interesting experience.  By casual observation it appears that the majority of the students are not deeply committed to any particular faith tradition.  I have met students studying Buddhism who are not Buddhists, as well as those studying Catholicism who are not Catholic.  The subject of religion is viewed as an academic category, which I guess is true in any religious studies program.  There are no value judgments placed on the particular religions, rather, they are studied with the ambivalence of a journalist.  Here one studies religion in the same manner that one studies horticulture or anthropology.

This leads me to wonder why anyone would devote his life to the study of a religion which he does not believe to be true.  There is certainly more money to be made in other pursuits.  What makes a person want to be in proximity to a religion without actually adhering to it?  

Closer to the Christian world, I have heard pastors say, that even if Christianity turns out to be false, it has given them good lives and nice families.  Their days on earth have been enriched by being devoted to Christianity and religion as a vocation has delivered to them a moral family with a house in the suburbs.  Therefore, even if it is all a big lie, it is still worth it.

Nothing could be further from the truth!  Paul said that if Christ has not been raised from the dead (thus making Christianity a lie, contrary to what Protestant Liberalism says), we are of all men most to be pitied (1 Cor 15:9).  We are the biggest fools in the world because we have followed a dead Savior.  We are still in our sins and there is no hope for us when we die.  If Christianity is not true, my life has been a waste and an utter failure.  

If I did not believe in historic christianity, I would certainly not be studying it as an academic pursuit.  Religion as a vocation is foreign to me.  If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, I would never come near religion, because, if Christianity is not grounded in this historical fact, then Karl Marx is right, it is the opiate of the masses.    

Every aspect of this world is dependent upon the truths of Christianity.  Nothing can be ultimately explained without this first principle.  Christianity is not to be pursued as a vocation, but as revelation.