John Howard Yoder, “The Imperative of Christian Unity”
[posted by dave c]
“
The pluralistic cafeteria has the effect of reproducing, in the realm of religious truth, the pattern that Gresham identified in the field of economics. Cheaper currency circulates more. If you have a brand new silver dollar with its original full silver content and other silver dollars with less silver content, you will keep the new one and circulate the old ones. So it is that generally the least valuable currency circulates the most easily. The same applies in the realm of ideas. When people are being solicited on all sides to accept new ideas, there are normal psychological dynamics that push them toward accepting more easily the ideas that are cheaper, that call for less critical perspective, less sacrifice, and less change. The competitive cafeteria, therefore, puts a premium on the less true truths. It puts a special burden on the hard truths that ought to be faced, whether that be the hard words of the gospel or the difficult readings of the way the word really is.
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