{"id":16322,"date":"2018-02-07T19:34:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T03:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16322"},"modified":"2018-02-07T19:34:29","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T03:34:29","slug":"pablum-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/pablum-for-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Pablum for sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Christian ethic toward frugality, generosity and simplistic living has been inherent in the faith tradition from inception, the adoption of consumeristic ideology has been an incredibly powerful counterforce. Thus, for most in the US church God\u2019s \u2018blessing\u2019 is viewed solely through economic terms and depicted in living a comfortable existence while making sure to take some care for those \u2018less fortunate\u2019. Vincent Miller\u2019s text, \u2018Consuming Religion\u2019, does not seek to provide a critique of this newly adopted perspective, but rather, to ascertain how the surrounding consumerism has both infiltrated and effected the faith expression of people living in the contemporary age. In the words of the author; \u201chow the habits of consumption transform our relationship to the religious beliefs we profess<\/em>.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The power of consumerism is its ability to turn almost anything into a product that can then be sold back to the culture. Even dissenting voices are co-opted and rolled into something to be commodified. \u201cThe most disturbing message is the imperviousness of consumerism to dissent\u2026..all forms of culture, including ideologies of resistance, become commodified and repackages as innocuous objects of desire<\/em>.\u201d[2]<\/a> Thus, as Miller states; \u201cConsumer culture seems endlessly capable of turning critique into a marketing hook<\/em>.\u201d[3]<\/a> And further, \u201cThis system greets subversion and denunciation with mercantile enthusiasm<\/em>.\u201d[4]<\/a> If this is true then it is little wonder that it has managed to commodify a religious system like Christianity, with which it shares a great deal of historical connection. \u201cConsumer culture poses a particularly vexing problem for Christianity because the shape and texture of the desires that it cultivates are profoundly similar to Christian forms of desire<\/em>.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Criticism of the softening of religious life is not new. The pursuit of a therapeutic faith experience has been recognized since the mid-1960s where Philip Rieff suggested that; \u201chuman existence is reduced to an intensely private sense of well-being<\/em>.\u201d[6]<\/a> In a much more recent critique of US faith culture, Kenda Creasy Dean decries the development of what she terms \u2018MTD\u2019 or \u2018Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism\u2019 defined as a faith that helps me be a good person, feel good about myself and have God largely let me do what I want.[7]<\/a> Miller understands the power of this motivation and suggests that the reason for it is because; \u201cIt supplies the veneer of meaning and conviction of which modern existence so often deprives us, without disrupting the underlying form of our lives \u2013 our obligation to consume.<\/em>\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

There is little doubt that much of the church has gleefully adopted the ideology and vocabulary of consumerism, utilizing tools from that realm to promote attendance and participation through slick promotional campaigns, marketing to a specific demographic or felt need, efforts to remain \u2018relevant\u2019 and \u2018engaging\u2019. In Miller\u2019s own words; \u201cReligions that lend themselves to visual intensity and symbolism have greater appeal in consumer culture<\/em>.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

A significant question for the Church is how might it be possible to arrest this incessant commodification and return to a more orthodox and pre-consumeristic form of Christianity. Many would wonder if this is even a possibility. \u201cOne wonders, however, to what extent the mysterious God of Augustine or Bernard is still able to capture the imaginations of postmodern people. Arguably, the God of postmodernism is not vast, but able to fit neatly into the conceptual packages of nationalism, moralism, and political debate<\/em>.\u201d[10]<\/a> A god that has been reduced to something akin to an amulet that is carried around for protection or personal endorsement is convenient and requires little introspection or challenge to any chosen lifestyle. Pushing too hard against the cultural construct could potentially simply drive people away from any form of faith or encourage them to look for a more accepting community in which to express it.<\/p>\n

In addition, we have permitted the majority of our congregants the opportunity to \u2018consume\u2019 our worship experiences at little or no cost to them, save an hour or two on a Sunday morning or Saturday evening. We have slicked up our messages, incorporated \u2018contemporary\u2019 music and instrumentation, brought visual images and video into the sanctuary and effectively created a fairly entertaining experience in which parishioners can \u2018connect with God\u2019 and get \u2018revved up for the challenges of the coming week\u2019. All this with almost no input from them. They simply arrive on time, find their seats and the show is put on for them as passive observers. Yet, only serves to further undermine the connection between the faith experience and real life for we know that; \u201cMembers of the boomer generation value experience over beliefs, distrust institutions and leaders, stress personal fulfillment yet yearn for community, and are fluid in their allegiances<\/em>.\u201d[11]<\/a> These tendencies have only been heightened in the Millennial generation and now apparently in GEN Z. They highly value experience but we provide them with minimal participation and their \u2018experience\u2019 on any given week of worship amounts to little more than a comfortable seat and a \u2018tickling of the ears\u2019.<\/p>\n

One of the issues that the church must address then is how to more fully engage congregants in the everyday life of the community and meaningful expressions of faith. It is no longer acceptable to permit the majority of laity to be passive participants while the \u2018professionals\u2019 conduct the worship on their behalf. This will serve to help them practice their faith tangibly and may put them in a position where they more fully understand the connection between the liturgy\/ritual and their lives throughout the week. \u201cLiturgy is one of the fundamental places where doctrines and symbols are connected with practices. The ritual aspects of liturgy provide a way for participants to enact doctrines as members of a broader believing community<\/em>.\u201d[12]<\/a> Many in the contemporary church seem to run away from the more liturgical expressions of faith as though they are the reason people are leaving the faith. Yet, perhaps the real issue has more to do with the pablum they are offered every week in both \u2018high\u2019 and \u2018low\u2019 liturgical settings. Greater involvement of non-professional laity in the development, implementation and daily practice of communal faith practices may be a meaningful way forward. \u201cThe need to involve laity in the creation of liturgy and worship space in order to counter the passive consumer nature of much of worship, have much to say to the emergent church discussion and to worship practices in general<\/em>.\u201d[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

We need not fear consumerism as an insurmountable threat to the faithful expression of Christianity. There have always been cultural challenges that have influenced orthodox faith for good or ill. \u201cThe encounter with God always takes place within the structures of human social and political existence<\/em>.\u201d[14]<\/a> However, we must be willing to recognize consumer culture for what it is and work to help followers of Jesus (especially in the US) to re-evaluate their lifestyle in light of the Gospel. This will only occur as we provide the one thing that consumer culture cannot, a meaningful and dynamic community in which to know and be known.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Miller, Vincent J.\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. New York: Continuum, 2005. P. 11<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Hedstrom, Matthew. “Consuming Religion.”\u00a0Church History<\/em>\u00a077, no. 1 (March 2008): 248-50.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Miller, Vincent J.\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. New York: Continuum, 2005. P. 2<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid P. 179<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid P. 107<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid P. 85<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Dean, Kenda Creasy.\u00a0Almost Christian: What the Faith of out Teenagers Is Telling the American Church<\/em>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Miller, Vincent J.\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. New York: Continuum, 2005. P. 88<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid P. 79<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Landers, Rich. “Consuming Religion.”\u00a0Anglican Theological Review<\/em>\u00a089, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 152-54.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Miller, Vincent J.\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. New York: Continuum, 2005. P. 89<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Miller, Vincent J.\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. New York: Continuum, 2005. P. 201<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Moser, Daniel. “Consuming Religion.”\u00a0Calvin Theological Journal<\/em>\u00a041, no. 1 (April 2006): 182-83.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Miller, Vincent J.\u00a0Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. New York: Continuum, 2005. P. 164<\/p>\n

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While the Christian ethic toward frugality, generosity and simplistic living has been inherent in the faith tradition from inception, the adoption of consumeristic ideology has been an incredibly powerful counterforce. Thus, for most in the US church God\u2019s \u2018blessing\u2019 is viewed solely through economic terms and depicted in living a comfortable existence while making sure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"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":[371,255],"class_list":["post-16322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-consumerism","tag-miller","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16322","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\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16323,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16322\/revisions\/16323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}