{"id":16500,"date":"2018-02-15T17:03:28","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T01:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16500"},"modified":"2018-02-15T17:03:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T01:03:28","slug":"we-are-all-really-responsible-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/we-are-all-really-responsible-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"We are all really responsible for all"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFurthermore, Paul says, the members of the body who seem weakest are the most indispensable.\u00a0 The poor and the needy are not just objects for individual charity; rather, they are indispensable because they are part of our very body.\u00a0 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.\u201d<\/em> \u00a01 Corinthians, 22-26<\/p>\n

Is it coincidence that Cavanaugh published his book in 2008, the cusp of the economic collapse in America and the world?\u00a0 I think not.\u00a0 William Cavanaugh writes a compelling argument which turns my consumer paradigm upside down.\u00a0 Cavanaugh references the work of Vincent Miller\u2019s Consuming Religion <\/em>to reinforce his hypothesis.\u00a0 It\u2019s intriguing that both Miller and Cavanaugh are affiliated with Catholicism and reference Catholic doctrine throughout their writing.<\/p>\n

One of the most impactful statements in Cavanaugh\u2019s Chapter 3 \u201cDetachment and Attachment\u201d speaks to the consumerism paradigm shift \u2013 in that we are not actually attached to things, we are detached – \u201cMost people are not overly attached to things, and most are not obsessed with hoarding riches.\u00a0 Indeed, the United States has one of the lowest savings rates of any wealthy country, and we are the most indebted society in history.\u00a0 What really characterizes consumer culture is not the attachment to things but detachment.\u00a0 People do not hoard money; they spend it.\u00a0 People do not cling to things; they discard them and buy other things\u2026\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Not only can detachment be applied to consumerism, it can also be viewed from a contemporary social theory lens.\u00a0 Meriam Webster defines detachment as \u201ca lack of interest in worldly concerns;<\/strong>\u00a0freedom from the influence of emotions.\u201d\u00a0 Just yesterday, a 19 year old gunman entered a public school campus in Florida and fatally shot 17 peers, faculty and staff and critically injuring 12-14 others.\u00a0 The ability to unleash this massacre on so many is extreme detachment.\u00a0 Detachment comes in many forms \u2013 detached from emotion, detached from trauma, detached from responsibility, detached from people, and detached from things.<\/p>\n

According to Cavanaugh \u201cConsumerism supports an essentially individualistic view of the human person, in which each consumer is a sovereign chooser.\u00a0 In the Christian tradition, the use of material things is meant to be a common use, for the sake of a larger body of people.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0An article titled No Catholic should follow Ayn Rand<\/em> on www.guardian.com\u00a0(and endorsed by 157 American Catholic intellectuals including Vincent Miller) the Catholic view of the human person is social not individual. Congressman Paul Ryan has stated that he learned from Ayn Rand to view all policy questions as a “fight of individualism versus collectivism”.[3]<\/a> \u201cThe Catholic Church does not espouse “individualism” but rather sees it as an error as destructive as collectivism.\u201d Blessed John Paul II described “individualism” as a dimension of the “culture of death” arising from an “eclipse of the sense of God”. The human person is “by its innermost nature, a social being”. We are radically dependent upon and responsible for one another. Again, in the words of John Paul II: “We are all really responsible for all.” This truth of the human person is tied to the central doctrines of the church. It reflects the very “intimate life of God, one God in three persons”.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 After studying Cavanaugh and Miller\u2019s writings and further researching the Catholic doctrine espousing \u201cWe are all really responsible for all\u201d I was immediately compelled to connect the refugee crisis to the concept of detachment.\u00a0 Detachment from emotion, detachment from responsibility, detachment from biblical principles.\u00a0 Our American government and American citizens are promoting detachment from our biblical command to recognize \u201cthe members of the body who seem weakest are the most indispensable\u201d out of fear, capitalism, and consumerism. Are you aware that Catholic Relief Services (CRS) assists over 100 million people around the world?[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 According to www.usacatholic.org \u201cWe need to be true to the values of the church in reaching out to the most vulnerable, and the refugees are the most vulnerable.\u201d\u00a0 New president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services Sean Callahan states \u201crefugees need our assistance, not our fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we see the situations that these people have come from, when we hear the stories of violence perpetrated against them and the exploitation, any American would feel that they needed to speak out about these issues. Catholic Relief Services has the benefit of working with refugees on the ground. And, more and more, we want to share these people\u2019s experiences with our fellow Americans. I know if people heard what happened to these children, if they heard how this woman was forced to migrate when she was pregnant and had to walk for two months to escape from a dire situation, they would know that she needs our assistance. She doesn\u2019t need our fear.[6]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

According to one informed reviewer, \u201cCavanaugh finds his answer in all the wrong places. His references are nearly always to “church tradition”, “papal teaching”, and the writing of historic theologians such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, rather than to the Word of God.[7]<\/sup><\/a> I, for one, am convinced Cavanaugh\u2019s writings \u2013 while connected to Catholic Doctrine \u2013 are grounded in God\u2019s word.\u00a0 Americans may not fully recognize that the issues facing economic practice are theological at their core. As is our response to the refugee crisis theological.\u00a0 It is evident in his writings that Cavanaugh has a sincere practical concern for Christians to live responsibly and faithfully in God\u2019s creation.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 I\u2019m with Cavanaugh.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Cavanaugh, William T.\u00a0Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire<\/em>. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008) loc402<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Cavanaugh, William. Being Consumed<\/em>. loc583<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/belief\/2012\/oct\/30\/no-catholic-should-follow-ayn-rand<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/belief\/2012\/oct\/30\/no-catholic-should-follow-ayn-rand<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> http:\/\/www.uscatholic.org\/articles\/201702\/why-catholic-church-stands-refugees-30923<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> http:\/\/www.uscatholic.org\/articles\/201702\/why-catholic-church-stands-refugees-30923<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B001E96JC4\/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#customerReviews<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> https:\/\/marketplace.regent-college.edu\/ideas-media\/business-economy\/book-review-of-being-consumed–economics-and-christian-desire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFurthermore, Paul says, the members of the body who seem weakest are the most indispensable.\u00a0 The poor and the needy are not just objects for individual charity; rather, they are indispensable because they are part of our very body.\u00a0 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"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-16500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cavanaugh","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16500","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\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16501,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16500\/revisions\/16501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}