Have you ever felt fascinated and terrified at the same time? Perhaps watching a spider or a storm? Such is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s view of Christian fanaticism.
In his story The Gentle Boy, he uses the historical milieu of Puritan persecution of Quakers in Massachusetts Bay, which included several executions. A Puritan father, Tobias Pearson, finds and adopts Ilbrahim, the orphan child of an executed Quaker father. The Puritan community turns against Tobias and doubles down on its cruelty towards the sensitive-hearted Ilbrahim, leading to his death.
The Complexity of Religious Zeal
Hawthorne has no great love for Puritan zeal and its potential corrosive effects on society. But credit Hawthorne for not being myopic in his complaint. In The Gentle Boy, Ilbrahim’s mother, a Quaker, abandons her child in response to what she perceives as God’s call to an uninhibited missionary life. No single religious group has a monopoly on wrongheaded fervor.
We should not classify Hawthorne, however, as a prototype of today’s pluralistic secular humanist. He holds Christianity in high regard. He often portrays humble, marginalized, self-sacrificing Christians, such as Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter) and Ilbrahim, as the heroes. So what do we make of religious zeal?
The Dark Side of Religious Zeal
When it comes to religion, our society’s watchword is moderation. Zeal means a willingness to go to extremes. And people who go to extremes often hurt others. Think about cults, genocide, and terrorism. At the bottom of these, you often find misguided religious zeal. To get Christian-specific, you can list off the Crusades, Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials; and it goes on today.
Religious zeal can mask great evils, not merely through a hardened conscience, but through wearing the disguise of Divine mandate. You abuse someone else not out of naked selfishness, but selfishness dressed as righteousness. If someone criticizes the self-righteous zealot, they can immediately deflect it as “being persecuted for God.” This is why Jesus tells his disciples “the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God” (John 16:3).
It’s also why Jesus takes such issue with hypocritical religious leaders. They do far more damage to God’s name than someone who openly denounces God and lives how he likes. At one point, Jesus asks the Pharisees whether it’s lawful on the Sabbath to do good or harm, or save life or kill. They won’t answer him, because they don’t want to give him permission to heal a man (Mark 3:1-6). It’s remarkable how religious zeal can sanction the most callous and cruel behaviors.
We should examine ourselves. Is my judgment of right and wrong forming a sense of superiority? Is there an attitude of disdain in my heart? A flavor of hate, cruelty, or revenge? Do I have the mind of a predator—consuming another to strengthen myself? If so, then I’m drawing from a well of poison, dyed with religious zeal.
The Light Side of Christian Zeal
In the Gentle Boy, Tobias Pearson does not abandon religion when his zealous neighbors turn on him. Rather, as the boy Ilbrahim stays true to his Quaker roots in the face of cruelty, he wins Tobias over with his demeanor—his pure, innocent, and loving spirit. Tobias converts to Quakerism.
Ilbrahim demonstrates the power of true Christian zeal. The Bible tells us what it should look like if you give yourself completely to God—if you’re sold out as a Christian: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). Notice that keeping yourself unstained from the world cannot mean segregation—otherwise you’d have no way of visiting orphans and widows. On the flip side, James says a sure sign of worthless religion is when someone can’t check their tongue (James 1:26).
If the most hardened atheist encountered a Christian pouring him or herself out for others—serving, giving, loving, encouraging—all the while exuding joy and peace—I doubt the atheist would say, “You really need to dial it back. You’re getting extreme.” If your zeal is in the right direction—if it’s the right kind of zeal, then you can’t be zealous enough.
God cares about your moral purity, but he also directs zeal for Jesus outwards in acts of love for your fellow man. Here’s the key: true Christian zeal produces humility. The closer you get to Jesus, the more unworthy you see yourself. If your zeal for God brings you to repent and elevates others, your zeal is the best gift you can give.
Enjoying Identity & Literature? Check out Paradise Lost & The Insane Power of Pride
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1 comment
Collin Grossruck
Thank you, Justin, for your important take on the risks and benefits of religious zeal. I believe we need immmensely more understanding of this on all sides of the politico-religious spectrum. Collin