{"id":11998,"date":"2017-02-23T22:25:04","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T06:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=11998"},"modified":"2017-02-23T22:25:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T06:25:04","slug":"the-bread-and-the-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-bread-and-the-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bread and the Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I have just completed two excellent books by Catholic Theologian William T. Cavanaugh. These were:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Cavanaugh, William T. Being Consumed: economics and Christian desire. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cavanaugh, William T. Torture and Eucharist: theology, politics, and the body of Christ. Oxford UK: Blackwell, 2005.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Both of these books were expertly and thoughtfully written. They were filled with details and illustrations which\u00a0made theology tactile and practical.<\/p>\n

Being Consumed<\/em> is a harsh critique of Christendom\u2019s acceptance of consumerism. In this work, Cavanaugh views consumerism as more than a temptation, it is a competing worldview to Christian thought. He states:<\/p>\n

In a consumer culture we are conditioned to believe that human desires have no end and are therefore endless. The result is a tragic view of the world, a view in which there is simply never enough to go around, which in turn produces a kind of resignation to the plight of the world’s hungry people. \u00a0<\/em>(Kindle Loc 65).<\/p>\n

In quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, Cavanaugh proposes that the Christian is only a steward of material possessions since God is the proper \u201cowner of all things.\u201d (Kindle Loc 577).<\/p>\n

Being Consumed <\/em>effectively illustrates the problem of American\u2019s insatiable desire for more things, temporary things, and cheaper things. The author states:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe post-Fordist economy depends on increasingly high rates of turnover, planned obsolescence, and the creation of new desires to stimulate consumption and stave off the specter of overproduction. \u201c (Kindle loc 719).<\/em><\/p>\n

Very few would argue with him that this is solely a non-Christian phenomenon. \u00a0He admits that the problem of consumerism has no foreseeable end in sight.<\/p>\n

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

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The second Cavanaugh book, Torture and Eucharist<\/em>, details the relationship\u00a0between the Catholic church in Chile and the Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. Pinochet\u2019s use of torture on his own people to suppress them into submission\u00a0a central point of discussion. Alongside this account is the examination of the evolution of the Chilean Catholic church that went from passive compliance to the Pinochet regime to active resistance.<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh explains why the story out of Chile\u2019s history books is important:<\/p>\n

\u201cFocusing on Pinochet\u2019s Chile will allow us to see, lived out, a particular example of the conflict of church and state, without having to rely simply on broad generalizations about \u2018the state\u2019 as such.\u201d<\/em> (page 14).<\/p>\n

This church-versus-state examination was timely for me. The illustration of Chile’s religious leaders initially being powerless to speak truth to the government was thought provoking. \u00a0In recent weeks, Dr. Russell Moore, the President of Southern Baptist\u2019s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, has been severely criticized by some Southern Baptist leaders.<\/p>\n

During last year\u2019s presidential campaign, Moore (an ethicist) raised questions surrounding the narrative that\u00a0Donald Trump adequately represented Evangelicals. In addition to this, he has angered some by officially supporting the rights of Mosques to be built in neighborhoods where there is public opposition.\u00a0 He holds to the premise that an attack on the religious liberty of any group is an attack on every group.<\/p>\n

Speaking to those who want Christianity to be given preferential treatment by our government, Moore states:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state must also protect citizens from the state itself. A government that can regulate worship and conscience is a government that can do anything. One can\u2019t claim to be for \u2018limited government,\u2019 while at the same time proposing that the government be in the business of regulating worship and conscience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.russellmoore.com\/2016\/06\/08\/religious-freedom-non-christians\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Moore would probably agree with Cavanaugh on several points, including the role of the church to speak prophetically toward government.<\/p>\n

Both Torture and Eucharist<\/em> and Being Consumed<\/em> utilize the same paradigm to seek a cure for the problems identified. That paradigm is the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

As a non-Catholic,\u00a0I have\u00a0participated in\u00a0\u201cThe Lord\u2019s Supper\u201d as a way to remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us. In my experience, this ordinance was a solemn occasion only experienced about four times a year. It was serious, reflective, and Christ-centered.<\/p>\n

Without getting into the theological arguments relating to transubstantiation, etc. Cavanaugh\u2019s view of the Eucharist, as it related to consumerism and the practice of torture by the state, focused on the people of God (the church) as the body of Christ in the ceremony.<\/p>\n

In other words, my Baptist understanding of the bread and the wine (aka grape juice) was focused on my personal sin and the atonement. Cavanaugh\u2019s Catholic understanding was the unity of the church via the sacrifice of Christ.<\/p>\n

This was a powerful concept. If that factory worker in China who dies on the assembly line floor of overwork while making cheap beanbag animals for Americans is my sister in Christ, then I mourn her death. If I mourn her death, then I want to find a solution to this problem so that no more of my sisters will die.<\/p>\n

If the young man who is being tortured by an autocratic regime is a stranger, I may take pity. But if he is my brother, then it becomes personal. If my family members are being tortured, then I must act.<\/p>\n

While I have different views than Cavanaugh about the bread and the cup, I believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to bring relief to the poor, the suffering, and the lost. After all, it is called \u201cgood news.\u201d<\/p>\n