The taste of religion
In his introduction to “Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture”, Vincent J. Miller writes, “this book explores how consumer culture changes our relationships with religious beliefs, narratives, and symbols… chapter 2 will present the core of the analysis. The basic idea is the ‘commodification of culture.’”[1]
This book is both refreshing and dense, with so many cultural references, observations and examples to keep the readers’ attention, while at the same time using these familiar images to explain his deeper points. Miller is not just saying, that we live in a consumer culture, where people enjoy buying or getting more things. He is also saying that our culture itself, the ideas, symbols and experiences have also become consumables. They have become commodities.
Since Miller himself had written that chapter 2 would be the core of his analysis, I sat down to focus on that chapter. Nearly 2 hours and 40 pages later, I finally came back up for air. My wife looked at me and paid me a compliment, she said: “you look tired!” Miller’s book is no easy-reading pop culture consumable. He surveys the literature, from economic theory, to philosophy, theology, sociology and more.
One of Miller’s key points about the commodification of culture, including religious beliefs and political symbols, is that it functions just like a trip to the local store. The items on display “call to us with their appearance and packaging. Glistening meats and colorful produce are arrayed in a spectacle of plenty… No salesmen explains their quality and origins; they speak for themselves.”[2]
Immediately, I can see myself in this scene. Taking a trip to Target to pick up one thing, but along the way, cruising the aisles, seeing all the other products that I decide I want or need as well. We have a saying in our household, “you can’t go to Target and get just one thing.” It always turns out that way!
But Miller isn’t really talking about “things” or “products” at all. His larger thesis is that all of our ideas, ideologies, symbols, beliefs, practices and values are easily “commodified”, made sterile, offered like a loin in a meat aisle for instant, easy consumption.
I am reminded of traveling in Latin America and seeing the amazing number of t-shirts, postcards, shot glasses, and other knickknacks featuring Ernesto “Che” Guevarra. Che is a cultural icon, a hero to many of the Cuban Revolution, and a beacon of resistance against capitalism and its woes. But Che, like most everything else around him, has been commodified. Disney-fied. Made palatable to the masses, including those who would never really share his struggle, his beliefs or his revolutionary approach.
Miller writes that, “A sign-drenched culture unfolds: designer clothes progresses from an emphasis on form and style to the literal wearing of signs—stylized G’s, A’s, DKNY, Tommy, and so on. The “use value” of objects is their sign value.”[3] In other words, the more familiar or “drenched” in these symbols our society becomes, the more the “use value” or intrinsic meaning, or substance of the thing, is defined by the “sign value”, or how powerful or recognizable (or consumable) the brand is.
All of this comes closer to home, when I consider the way that this critique rings true for the church as well. In her review, Courtney Wilder describes “the two central interactions between religion and consumerism: religion as consumer product and religious people as consumers of religious ideas, images, and everyday products.”[4]
In his commentary on Romans 4, John Calvin writes that “by themselves (sacraments) profit nothing, yet God has designed them to be the instruments of his grace…”[5] So, in a theological sense, the Roman Catholic Miller is on the same ground as the Reformed Tradition, in its understanding of the sacraments of Baptism and Communion as being the “sign”, which point to the “thing being signified.”
The work of the church, when it comes to the sacraments, is to help draw the lines clearly between the water, bread or cup, with the real, spiritual truth or value that is underneath it. But, as in our commodified culture, even these core experiences of our faith can be reduced to “come and get it”, rather than, a deeper engagement. And even more importantly, the critique goes further, to suggest that faith leaders (like myself) might be more interested in people showing up to church and coming forward for communion, which are in a sense “consumables”, rather than tying them into the community of faith where we come to understand what it means.
Miller’s book does not simply describe the environment around us, outside, which we can dispassionately observe and discuss. He is also talking about how we ourselves have become part of this same consumer system. Indeed, as Miller describes, “if Marx’s analysis of early capitalism described a shift from ‘being to having,’ Debord sensed an equally profound shift under way around him, this one from ‘having to appearing.’”[6]
Although it was published in 2003, Miller’s book, and his use of Guy Debord’s thinking, are strikingly fresh, even 15 years later. The shift is no longer just from “being to having” (we have had that discussion!). But in a social-media age, and an image rich environment [7], the disconnection grows larger, because we actually move from having to “appearing to have.”
One of the outcomes of reading this book for me, is simply a reminder that the work we do in the church in “meaning making”, is not something that can be taken lightly. In the environment in which we live, even our own religious traditions and symbols will be appropriated and “borrowed” (Miller uses the term “ransacked”). It is a call to me to be more attentive, not only to the language that I use (in avoiding “consumerist imagery”), but also that the ongoing work is really important.
For the depths of a faith that matters to really be reached, I must see clearly the affect of the consumer culture on myself and my church, even as we seek to speak into it with truth and grace.
[1] Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum International, 2003), 3.
[2] Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum International, 2003), 38.
[3] Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum International, 2003), 61.
[4] Courtney Wilder, review of Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, by Vincent J. Miller, The Journal of Religion 85, no. 4 (October, 2005): 681, http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/499463 (accessed February 8, 2018).
[5] John Calvin, The John Calvin Bible Commentaries: Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (North Charleston: Createspace, 2015), 83.
[6] Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum International, 2003), 59.
[7] Leonard Sweet, Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 43.
About the Author
Dave Watermulder
5 responses to “The taste of religion”
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Another great post Dave! You nailed it with this statement: “One of the outcomes of reading this book for me, is simply a reminder that the work we do in the church in “meaning making”, is not something that can be taken lightly. In the environment in which we live, even our own religious traditions and symbols will be appropriated and “borrowed” (Miller uses the term “ransacked”). It is a call to me to be more attentive, not only to the language that I use (in avoiding “consumerist imagery”), but also that the ongoing work is really important.” I agree that we need to be deliberate about the meanings we make and be aware of the language we use to communicate because we may be inadvertently communicating something we are not intending.
Dave you are right on. You end with a strong word. We need to speak against consumerism. by attempting to minister to a consumeristic people, our biggest churches have been “seeker friendly” which has only strengthened the conditioning of consumeristic behavior in our congregants.
We must teach against it. However the days of “ask not what your country can do for you…” seem long deceased.
Hi dave,
Your “meaning making” comment was so right on. Thanks for the reminder to do so. I humbly must admit that I have not done that too well the past 15 years.
I simply pray that God works in spite of us…
Dave,
I too was struck by the reality that we take ideologies and market them making them light and fluffy (eatable even). My mind immediately went also to the Che t-shirts or what in china we call the Mao-bama shirts showing Obama in a traditional Mao style. It is like the 7 word sound bits that politicians are using to help consumer voters remember them.
How do live in an environment of consumerism and not be affected by it? I too want to keep my eyes open to the cultural and economic changes of the world without being jaded on one side or being sucked into the rat-race on the other. Thanks for your honest look at this issue and your world.
Dave,
Thanks for plowing through chapter 2 and getting to the meat of the issues developed there. I agree that the current society so enamored with the virtual and social media creates even greater disconnect with reality. I am not really very certain how we as a church can combat that without seeming irrelevant
or outdated. I do appreciate your willingness to consider your own verbiage to avoid use of consumerist language within the church context. One thing is certain, we do not need to be fueling the fires of consumerism by adopting its vocabulary and tactics.