{"id":16307,"date":"2018-02-07T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16307"},"modified":"2018-02-07T05:00:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T13:00:09","slug":"religious-consumerism-in-the-s-d-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/religious-consumerism-in-the-s-d-500\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Consumerism in the S & D 500"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vincent Miller\u2019s Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em> makes bold comparisons between religion as a commodity and religious people as the consumer.\u00a0 His narrative is framed for readers within the postmodern American society that has historically supported the paradigm that the US is a nation of consumers and a nation of believers.\u00a0 This post will examine the authors relationship between consumer and commodity against the backdrop of the Armor of God coin ministry.\u00a0 Commodification transforms goods, services, ideas, and people into commodities of trade while consumerism encourages society to consume more commodities, which leads to a blessed and prosperous economy.<\/p>\n

I connected right away with the idea of promoting the Armor of God coin ministry as a commodity.\u00a0 During further reflection I asked, surely consumers would want to take advantage of something that helped them resist Satan and defend against Spiritual Warfare? \u00a0\u201cConstitutively\u201d speaking, putting on Jesus Christ promotes an organized existence and transformation of the Armor of God coin ministry into a type of spiritual commodity.[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0By leveraging Miller\u2019s \u201ctreasure troves\u201d line of thinking, the message behind the Armor of God coin fits his ideas on religious consumerism.\u00a0 The Armor of God coin is not only an important artifact and symbol, but to the religious consumer, it is a found treasure of great value that dates to the 1st<\/sup> Century.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 W\"\"<\/a>hat about the pushback from culturally evolved modern religious societies?\u00a0 How will they respond to a spiritual warfare commodity that helps them resist Satan and defend against spiritual warfare?\u00a0 Miller suggests that for many Christians, it is \u201ceasier for religion to become and empty myth than to be the bearer of uncomfortable challenges.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 While salvation is free, it does come with a cost and risk that many consumers are just not ready to add to their religious portfolio.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because Satan, the great deceiver, and his legions of demons are continually creating fear in the spiritual marketplace, which causes consumer fear and timidity in their spiritual investing strategies. \u00a0Like many authors, Miller highlights the effects of Satanic influence in the world, but stays safe and soft instead of naming the source of the sin problem, Satan.\u00a0 For example, Miller says, \u201cthe real problem with consumer culture lies in the structures and practices that systematically confuse and misdirect well-intentioned people seeking to do good.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Translated through the Armor of God lens Miller\u2019s \u201cstructures\u201d equate to Satan, demons, evil powers, and dark forces; while his \u201cpractices\u201d compare to the evil schemes and destructive wiles of Satan.<\/p>\n

Wilder critiques Miller for being soft on the consumer\u2019s opportunity \u201cto make moral decisions about their consumption.\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 I agree with Wilder and hope that readers do not think they get a \u201cpass\u201d on their stewardship responsibility when consuming spiritual and worldly commodities. While engaging another reviewer of Miller\u2019s Consuming Religion<\/em> work I had a disturbing \u201cah ha\u201d moment regarding the implications and the stark reality of the commodification of \u201call forms of culture, including ideologies of resistance.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Stated plainly, the commodity of evil is doing quite good in the S & D 500 Index (Satan and Demons). \u00a0Who would think that we would be consumers in a good-vs-evil spiritual marketplace?<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s \u201cremedy for the problem of commodified religion is to fight back.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 I agree, this is a fight, a struggle, and battle based on Biblical precepts between good or evil, right or wrong, and truth or lie.\u00a0 He says to fight back \u201con the level of practices and structures rather than meanings and beliefs.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Miller\u2019s fight against religious consumerism inspires me to stand firm in my fight against spiritual warfare desensitization. He calls for \u201cre-embedding\u201d doctrines and practices within the body of Christ.\u00a0 The Armor of God doctrine and putting on Christ in a six-step \u201carmoring up\u201d practice is the battle cry that I hear and march faithfully toward.[9]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0Putting on the Armor of God is not a bricolage, but instead a precise and divinely inspired practice that can help the consumer live a more authentic incarnational life in the spiritual and secular marketplace. \u00a0Zagano comments that the idea of bricolage, or a \u201cdo-it-yourself spirituality\u201d does not succeed in the long term in God\u2019s economy.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 Miller concludes his book with some original thought about \u201clived religious practices\u201d within the context of religious consumerism.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall Consuming Religion<\/em> is a good source book for a historical review of what religious theorists have to say about consumerism.\u00a0 I gained some new insights into my research on the problem of spiritual warfare.\u00a0 I am better prepared for the pushback regarding my research on the commodity of evil, resisting Satan, and defending against spiritual warfare.\u00a0 I will synthesize Miller\u2019s recommendations to fight against evil \u201cstructures and practices\u201d into the Armor of God coin ministry in hopes of reaching even one Christian leader who can learn and train others how to defend against spiritual warfare.<\/p>\n

Stand firm,<\/p>\n

M. Webb<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Courtney Wilder. “Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (Book Review).” The Journal of Religion 85, no. 4 (2005): 681.<\/h6>\n
[2]<\/a> Vincent J. Miller. Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. (New York: Continuum, 2004) 70.<\/h6>\n
[3]<\/a> Ibid., 94.<\/h6>\n
[4]<\/a> Ibid., 225.<\/h6>\n
[5]<\/a> Wilder, Journal of Religion<\/em>, 682.<\/h6>\n
[6]<\/a> Matthew S. Hedstrom, “Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture.” Church History<\/em> 77, no. 1 (03, 2008): 248.<\/h6>\n
[7]<\/a> Ibid., 249.<\/h6>\n
[8]<\/a> Miller, Consuming Religion, <\/em>180.<\/h6>\n
[9]<\/a> Hedstrom, Church History<\/em>, 249.<\/h6>\n
[10]<\/a> Phyllis Zagano. “Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture.” Spiritus 5, no. 1 (2005): 122.<\/h6>\n
[11]<\/a> Ibid.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vincent Miller\u2019s Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture makes bold comparisons between religion as a commodity and religious people as the consumer.\u00a0 His narrative is framed for readers within the postmodern American society that has historically supported the paradigm that the US is a nation of consumers and a nation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"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":[255,1039],"class_list":["post-16307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miller","tag-spiritual-warfare","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16307","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\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16307"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16310,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16307\/revisions\/16310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}