{"id":11722,"date":"2017-02-15T21:48:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T05:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11722"},"modified":"2017-02-15T21:48:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T05:48:16","slug":"consuming-religion-one-bite-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/consuming-religion-one-bite-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Consuming Religion One Bite at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPeople now readily engage all of culture, including their religion, as an object for passive consumption, rather than active, tradition-bound engagement.\u201d[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vincent Miller, in Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>, makes a strong case for the origins of consumerism. As a Catholic scholar, Miller also provides an argument for how religion has become simply one more identifier within our chosen lifestyles.<\/p>\n

Alienation and Identity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s argument begins with the suggestion that \u201cconsumer \u2018culture\u2019 is not merely a particular set of ideologies;\u2026 it is primarily a way of relating to beliefs\u2026 that renders the \u2018content\u2019 of beliefs and values less important.\u201d[2]<\/a> While it may initially be challenging to fully understand the core of Miller\u2019s argument, we can suggest that, in his mind, no one necessarily chooses to be \u201cconsumed\u201d by consumerism. But, due to the way our dominant culture has evolved, we are, essentially, stuck in the rut of a consumerist system. Consumerism emerges from the capitalist economic model, \u201cfor the simple and obvious reason that, unless products could be sold in return for money, there would be no profits.\u201d[3]<\/a> In the commodification of labor, workers are alienated from their effort and creativity. Workers are thus using their time and energy to earn wages, which they must then spend on their needs\u2014\u201cfood, shelter, clothing.\u201d[4]<\/a> No longer are people creating their own products for their own needs; they are now alienated from the creative process in exchange for wages. Devaluing the knowledge, skills, and traditions<\/em> of craftsmen by transforming them into interchangeable industrial workers helped fuel alienation: \u201cthis \u2018deskilling\u2019\u2026 helped transform the home from a site of domestic production into a place increasingly dependent on mass consumption.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

In a consumerist society, the value of a product is no longer based simply on its essential use, but on the appearance<\/em> of value. The abstraction of a product or commodity becomes valued for its social constructs to identify markers of a particularly chosen lifestyle. Two current examples of this are the television shows we watch, and the clothes we wear [check out these articles:[6]<\/a>]. These social locators help bridge the loss of relational locators in understanding our identity. When it no longer becomes possible to place oneself in relation to others through kinship or group membership, social cues that come from the abstraction of commodities substitutes.[7]<\/a> This social isolation cannot be overstated in terms of consumption, as it is \u201cone advance in the long-standing erosion of traditional markers of identity\u2026.As clan, family, profession and other sources of ascribed identity have faded in significance, consumption has become the major means by which people establish, maintain, and communicate their personal and social identities.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe American Dream\u201d (built Ford tough!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The single-family home has become ubiquitous with the definition of prosperity and the American Dream. But this social ideal has had many repercussions. The single-family home has isolated us from one another, including extended family.[9]<\/a> Devices like cars and central heating, meant to make life better, have insulated us from the natural world. (As an aside\u2014I think about how we obtained water in Kenya, by pumping it from a dry riverbed and hiring local women to carry jerrycans on their heads to our house; it\u2019s difficult to take long showers when you know the work involved in obtaining the water!). More important for our discussion, however, is the single-family home\u2019s \u201cmediation of culture from generation to generation.\u201d[10]<\/a> Culture and tradition are now passed on from peers and popular culture, rather than an extended family: \u201cthe rise of consumer culture profoundly weakens the handing on of cultural and religious traditions between generations.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

Choose your own Adventure<\/span> Religion<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBy exploiting the human desire for meaning and belonging, marketers [were] positioning their products to compete with religion\u2026.As people were being trained to find fulfillment in consumption, they were also, in effect, being trained to bring the habits and dispositions of the realm of consumption to more traditional sources of meaning, including religion.\u201d[12]<\/a> One of \"\"<\/a>the markers of consumerism is the value placed on choice<\/em>. I confess I\u2019m still paralyzed when walking into large supermarkets filled with an entire aisle of toothpaste options. When faced with an array of religious beliefs and practices to choose from, the options are endless. As individuals (rather than communities), we select from a buffet of beliefs. And like finding the right brand of yoga pants, our religious choices become markers to identify us in the social landscape. Icons of various religions have simply become eclectic additions to a home decorating scheme, removed from the tradition, context and creators of origin. Removed from their \u201ctraditional moorings\u2014historic creeds and doctrines\u2026 from religious community,\u201d our individual religious choices (spirituality) are abstracted and pose little \u201cchallenge to the status quo; they\u2026 easily conform to the default assumptions and practices of the dominant culture.\u201d[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

Kingdom of God and community<\/strong><\/p>\n

We recognize the decline of church membership in North America; perhaps this enmeshing of faith into consumerism is partly to blame. \u201cThe emphasis on individual agency and religious experience renders sustained commitment to a religious vision extremely difficult. Without the support of a community of shared belief, commitment hinges to a great extent on the willpower of the individual believer.\u201d[14]<\/a> This is quite discouraging.<\/p>\n

Yet I want to resist this notion of co-opted eschatology and promote the reminder that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The Kingdom of God is not equated simply with heaven in the future, but rather the in breaking of the Spirit in the here and now. The status quo religion has produced a sense of fatalism, security, and disappointment.[15]<\/a> Miller suggests we counter the commodification of religion with re-embedding it within community (and traditions, \u201cthe work of community over time\u201d[16]<\/a>). Identifying with and committing to a particular religious community will continue to be an individual choice (at least for adults) in our culture. But coming together into a community seems to be our best hope against the isolation of individualism and meaninglessness[17]<\/a> in our consumer culture. As a community committed to one another and common beliefs in the Lordship of Jesus, a church can become producers rather than consumers (and consumed): creating gardens, meals, music, story, and liturgy. Becoming a source of identity and meaning.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Vincent Jude. Miller, Consuming Religion\u202f: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em> (New York: Continuum, 2004), 188.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 1.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 33.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 35.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 41.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> We see this in a recent study of popular television shows mapped in the US to show examples of our current cultural divide:\u00a0\u2018Duck Dynasty\u2019 vs. \u2018Modern Family\u2019: 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide<\/a><\/p>\n

Another example is women\u2019s workout wear fashion:\u00a0Psychology of Lululemon: How Fashion Affects Fitness<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Miller, 37.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 49.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid., 47-48.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid., 52.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid., 53.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid., 88.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Ibid., 91.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Ibid., 131.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Ibid., 213.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Miller would argue that consumerism is not meaningless, but rather it attaches meaning to the pursuit of commodities. I won\u2019t disagree, but find that type of meaning deeply disturbing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cPeople now readily engage all of culture, including their religion, as an object for passive consumption, rather than active, tradition-bound engagement.\u201d[1] Vincent Miller, in Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, makes a strong case for the origins of consumerism. As a Catholic scholar, Miller also provides an argument for how religion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[798,371,822,255,823,325],"class_list":["post-11722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-community","tag-consumerism","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-miller","tag-toothpaste","tag-water","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}