{"id":11966,"date":"2017-02-23T13:14:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T21:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11966"},"modified":"2017-02-23T13:14:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T21:14:44","slug":"cavanaugh-cavanaugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/cavanaugh-cavanaugh\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavanaugh & Cavanaugh"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week we are discussing two books both by William T. Cavanaugh. The first book is titled,\u00a0Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ;\u00a0<\/em>the second is titled,\u00a0Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Several themes run through both books. Some of the major themes are oppression, power, freedom, and the individual. Another is Cavanaugh’s use of Augustine to lends a theological foundation to his theses. However, it is the theme of \u201cthe Eucharist as the solution\u201d that clearly stands out as a major theme in both books. In the context of these two books, the Eucharist is the solution for the effects of the abuse of power by the state and the solution for one\u2019s desire in a consumer culture.<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh\u2019s narrative of the Pinochet regime\u2019s use of torture is gripping and moving. Cavanaugh contends that the use of torture by the state has ultimately one purpose, that is to control the individual in such a way that the individual becomes a property of the state, controlled by the state, and by the action of the state, powerless. This action also destroys social bodies via the destruction of the actual body of the individual. Torture then becomes a message from the state that it alone owns the individual and by extension the social bodies including the church.[1]<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh introduces the Eucharist as the churches response to torture and the means of justice to the oppressed. [2] In this, he refers to Augustine: \u201cA commonwealth must be based on justice, and justice depends on giving each his or her due, but this is impossible where God is not given God\u2019s due in sacrifice.\u201d[3] The Eucharist, therefore, becomes the cornerstone of justice and enables the church to resist oppression, correct injustice and be in the truest sense of the word, \u201cfree.\u201d [4] In the end, the \u201cchurch does not simply perform the Eucharist, the Eucharist performs the church.\u201d [5]<\/p>\n

It is quite a jump, but not a far jump from Cavanaugh\u2019s\u00a0Torture and the Eucharist\u00a0<\/em>to his work on consumerism. In\u00a0Being Consumed<\/em>\u00a0Cavanaugh again connects the Eucharist to the solution of a difficult problem, in this case, the problem of living in a consumer society.<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh focuses on the four basic principles of life in a consumer society. They are the free-market, consumerism, globalization and scarcity. In most theological treatises on economics, the free-market is attacked as\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0core problem. However, Cavanaugh approaches the idea of economics from a different perspective. He states, \u201cRather than blessing or damning the \u2018free market\u2019 as such, I want to focus our attention on concrete Christian attempts to discern and create economic practices, spaces, and transactions that are truly free.”[6] Cavanaugh again relies heavily on Augustinian theology concerning what freedom is and again places the Eucharist as the central solution. For it is in the \u201cEucharist, God forms us to consume rightly.\u201d [7]<\/p>\n

At the heart of\u00a0Being Consumed<\/em>\u00a0is the idea of desire and detachment. The challenge of consumerism is not so much the buying or the wanting of things; the challenge is that the consumer is completely detached from purchased item. That means being detached\u2014among other things\u2014from the object\u2019s origin, the laborer who made it and the context in which the laborer works. In this vein, \u201cConsumerism is not so much about having more as it is about having something else; that is why it is not simply buying but shopping that is the heart of consumerism.\u201d [8] According to Cavanaugh, it is this \u201crestlessness\u201d that make shopping a spiritual exercise in which one looks for, and seeks for the fulfillment of desire but never quite attains that fulfillment and so quickly moves to purchase something else. [9] For Cavanaugh, the Eucharist is a \u201cChristian practice that offers an alternative way to practice consumption.\u201d [10]<\/p>\n

I am not a Catholic, and so I feel that the I am viewing Cavanaugh\u2019s understanding of the Eucharist in the context of oppression and consumerism from a distance. What I mean by that is that it is difficult for me to sense the depth of the words, \u201cThe Eucharist is the church\u2019s response to torture and the hope for Christian resistance to the violent disciplines of the world.” [11] \u00a0Or, the Eucharist is a \u201cChristian practice that offers and alternative way to practice consumption. [12]<\/p>\n

I understand on a academic level, and his points concerning oppression, resistance, desire, and fulfillment have validity. If, however, the only spiritual solution is found in the Eucharist, then I can have no part in the solution, except to convert to Catholicism.\u00a0 Maybe that would be, in some ways, Cavanaugh\u2019s point\u2014in this situation there is nothing that replaces the Eucharist. What is more, if that is the point then the discussion would have to end there.<\/p>\n

However, I do not sense that Cavanaugh is suggesting that, but he would want all to do their part. In this context, as I reflect on the Pentecostal experience, it seems that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian can be “that” significant presence of God that gives the power to stand up to oppression and to become more Christ-like despite the culture in which we live. And therefore, though I am not Catholic, I can still be a part of the solution, assisted by a power who’s presence is greater than I. The book of Acts is full of such examples. We easily get the consumer part. It’s the death part that\u2019s difficult to conceive. It\u2019s not something that we often want to talk about, but a reality for millions of Christians around the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Cavanaugh, William T.\u00a0Torture\u00a0and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ<\/em>. 1 ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 1998, 3-4.<\/li>\n
  2. Ibid., 2.<\/li>\n
  3. Ibid., 10.<\/li>\n
  4. Ibid., 14.<\/li>\n
  5. Ibid., 237<\/li>\n
  6. William T. Cavanaugh.\u00a0Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire<\/em>\u00a0(Kindle Locations 19-20). Kindle Edition.<\/li>\n
  7. Ibid., 14-15<\/li>\n
  8. Ibid., 409<\/li>\n
  9. Ibid., 403-411<\/li>\n
  10. Ibid., 416<\/li>\n
  11. Torture\u00a0and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ, 2.<\/em><\/li>\n
  12. Cavanaugh.\u00a0Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire,<\/em>\u00a0416<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This week we are discussing two books both by William T. Cavanaugh. The first book is titled,\u00a0Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ;\u00a0the second is titled,\u00a0Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire. Several themes run through both books. Some of the major themes are oppression, power, freedom, and the individual. Another is Cavanaugh’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"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":[64],"class_list":["post-11966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cavanaugh","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11966","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\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}