During our Advance trip to Hong Kong, one of our speakers was Dr. Philip Wickeri, an Adviser to the Bishop of Hong Kong and a Professor of Church History, especially the history of the Chinese Christian church.\u00a0\u00a0He is also a family friend who I have known through the years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
During his presentation to our group, he was talking about the theology of many of the new and growing \u201cfamily churches\u201d in China as well as those in Hong Kong that are thriving these days.\u00a0\u00a0He noted that there was a surprising strand of Calvinism or Reformed Theology that was ingrained in these churches.\u00a0\u00a0Then, he looked around the room, saw me and asked, \u201cDavid Watermulder, tell us, which was the largest section of John Calvin\u2019s\u00a0Institutes<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I had no idea.\u00a0\u00a0It turns out that the largest section in the\u00a0Institutes<\/em>is the one on prayer.\u00a0\u00a0This is kind of surprising, because we don\u2019t usually think of John Calvin as a \u201cwarm-hearted prayer warrior\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In the Reformed tradition there is often an emphasis on the intellectual side of faith, where things are done \u201cdecently and in order\u201d.\u00a0Ever since being called out in the group setting in Hong Kong, I have been\u00a0slowly<\/em>making my way through John Calvin\u2019s writing on prayer and seeking to be grounded more deeply in my life with God.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n That kind of deep grounding and ongoing relationship with God is what T.M. Luhrmann\u2019s book\u00a0When God Talks Back<\/em>is all about.\u00a0\u00a0She is a Professor at Stanford University and in her book, she is exploring and seeking to understand the American Evangelical Christian way of approaching and practicing prayer. She describes it as an experience of really talking and listening to God.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n She talks about the classic paradigm for prayer, a pattern that many Christians seek to follow, which is ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0But in unveiling her research, she goes beyond merely what we \u201cdo\u201d in prayer (such our body postures, or verbal markers like \u201camen\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0She describes prayer as a skill that is learned and developed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n First, prayer in the Vineyard churches that she was associated with had to do with training our minds to think differently.\u00a0\u00a0As the New York Times Book Review summarizes it, \u201cAfter more than four years of observing and interviewing Vineyard members, and participating in prayer groups, Bible study and weekly worship, Luhrmann arrived at a simple but arresting hypothesis: Evangelicals believe in an intimate God who talks to them personally because their churches coach them in a new theory of mind.\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n She describes prayer and discerning God\u2019s voice as a \u201crichly layered skill\u201d[4]<\/sup><\/a>, it is something that one can learn.\u00a0\u00a0She writes, \u201cwhatever one makes of the ontological claim that the person praying is a link, prayer clearly is a technique: a skilled practice that has to be learned.\u201d[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In a way, this sounds a lot like Calvin.\u00a0\u00a0In the Institutes, he writes \u201cfor the value and necessity of that assurance which we require (the assurance of God\u2019s presence), is chiefly learned by prayer.\u201d[6]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0He intimates that it is through a regular, disciplined prayer life, that the reality of God\u2019s word and will for us is made clear.\u00a0\u00a0Calvin emphasizes that the most important thing is the state of our heart, our intentions and our attention to God\u2019s presence with us.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Calvin even writes that, \u201cbelievers ought to be exceedingly cautious, never to enter into the presence of God to present any petition, without being inflamed with a fervent affection of soul, and feeling an ardent desire to obtain it from him.\u201d[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is this \u201cfervent affection of soul\u201d and the \u201cardent desire\u201d that Luhrmann is largely focusing on in her exploration of evangelical forms of prayer.\u00a0\u00a0It takes not only a learned technique or language or posture, but also a heart that is honestly open and seeking God.\u00a0\u00a0She describes this as a way of conditioning our minds and our thoughts so that prayer is\u00a0actually<\/em>effective.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Luhrmann also opens up the practice of \u201cimagining\u201d that God is there, as a way of experiencing the reality of God\u2019s presence.\u00a0\u00a0This is a version of the idea that we can use our \u201cbaptized imaginations\u201d to see the things that God wants to show us.\u00a0\u00a0She even invokes \u201cSt. Clive\u201d (CS Lewis) who is one of the most revered saints among evangelicals.\u00a0\u00a0In his classic\u00a0Mere Christianity<\/em>, he has a chapter entitled \u201cLet\u2019s Pretend\u201d, in which he seems to counsel that \u201cif you pretend that you are with God, God will become more real for you.\u201d[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In the end, this is a scholarly book that is also surprisingly personal.\u00a0\u00a0Luhrmann spends years attending weekly prayer groups, worship services, and taking on the practices and approaches of prayer that her \u201csubjects\u201d are engaged in.\u00a0\u00a0She is personally affected by this and is even moved to tears at various points.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In the end, I want to go further than she is willing to go.\u00a0\u00a0As a researcher, she maintains a certain professional distance even as she steps into this particular world in order to study it.\u00a0\u00a0For myself, I need to overcome that anthropologists lens, where I am simply observing the spiritual lives of my congregation, or noting their progress in my book.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, I want to join John Calvin, the surprising prayer warrior, in coming ardently and expectantly into God\u2019s presence every day.\u00a0\u00a0And then, out of that central relationship, to be a pastor and friend to others who are also on the way.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n [1]<\/sup><\/a>T.M. Luhrmann,\u00a0When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God<\/em>(New York: Vintage Books, 2012), 158.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [2]<\/sup><\/a>T.M. Luhrmann,\u00a0When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God<\/em>(New York: Vintage Books, 2012), 157.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [3]<\/sup><\/a>Molly Worthen, review of\u00a0When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God<\/em>, by T.M. Luhrmann,\u00a0New York Times<\/em>, April 27, 2012, Sunday Book Review,\u00a0https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/04\/29\/books\/review\/when-god-talks-back-by-tm-luhrmann.html<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [4]<\/sup><\/a>T.M. Luhrmann,\u00a0When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God<\/em>(New York: Vintage Books, 2012), 60.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [5]<\/sup><\/a>T.M. Luhrmann,\u00a0When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God<\/em>(New York: Vintage Books, 2012), 135.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n [6]<\/sup><\/a>John Calvin,\u00a0The Institutes of Christian Religion<\/em>3.20.7.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n