{"id":21476,"date":"2019-02-14T17:23:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T01:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21476"},"modified":"2019-02-16T13:15:44","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T21:15:44","slug":"whos-your-buddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/whos-your-buddy\/","title":{"rendered":"Who’s Your Buddy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Tanya Luhrmann\u2019s When God Talks Back<\/em> explores a mental place of cognizance where Christianity, Science, and Psychology intersect to form a type of a sustainable space where one can pray, communicate, and hear the voice of God. Using a phenomenological approach and ethnographic method, Luhrmann immersed herself into the Vineyard church to observe, interview, and experience the evangelical process of Christians with a special interest in how to improve both believer and non-believer communication with God. This post will examine the author\u2019s work and look for connections to advance my dissertation research on spiritual warfare.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

According to Luhrmann\u2019s four years of observations on Vineyard evangelicals she concludes that hearing God speak is part of a process where believers use their minds to perceive a spiritual reality that is part of a learning process that she calls a \u201ctheory of attentional learning.\u201d[1]<\/a> She also refers to \u201cabsorption training\u201d as a developed skill that helps evangelicals hear the voice of God.[2]<\/a> During her research Luhrmann discovered that she could not reliably establish how much training her participants had in prayer. So, she ran her own training and testing on three spiritual disciplines and determined that \u201ckataphatic\u201d prayer was the most successful.[3]<\/a> I had never heard of apophatic (denial) or kataphatic (affirming) prayer but agree my prayer life is somewhere in between that may lean one way or the other depending on where my walk and abiding with the Lord is at for that moment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cultivation is a loaded term that Luhrmann uses frequently. She sees cultivation as part of the \u201cstep-by-step\u201d process of learning about God over time.[4]<\/a> Cultivation is used a lot in the Old Testament around agriculture and first fruit offerings but not as much in New Testament. The closest evangelical concept that comes to mind is the concept from 2 Cor. 9:6 that we reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

God as my buddy is another loaded phrase used by Luhrmann open to various interpretations. I am a little uneasy describing God like Luhrmann does but understand how C.S. Lewis\u2019 Mere Christianity<\/em> influenced her research approach.[5]<\/a> She says that God is our \u201cbuddy to play with\u201d and someone who does \u201cmagic\u201d and if we are friends with our buddy, God \u201cgives us magic, too.\u201d[6]<\/a> I wonder how all that works, and think the reference to magic, at least in our 21st<\/sup> Century context is a stretch with evangelicalism. Acting an observer-ethnographer I can understand how Luhrmann can gain this visualization context from inside the Vineyard church\u2019s more charismatic body of Christ. Stromberg\u2019s review does a nice job describing her immersive work as a \u201cthrowback to the glory days of ethnography\u201d that helps explain evangelicalism to unfamiliar Western seculars.[7]<\/a> I believe in John 14:20 paraphrased as \u00a0\u201cI in you and you in me \u201cand take that relationship literally; including spiritually, physically, and psychologically. First, I am spiritually connected by the Holy Spirit to the Son and the Father through their unique Triune nature as one, but existing as three-in-one. Second, I physically have the divine person of the Holy Spirit living inside me. Third, my head, heart, and soul are connected psychologically to the mind of God. When I connect to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through prayer, conversation, thought, and action I don\u2019t really have to understand the magnitude of the how they can do that. Instead, I just know and believe they are doing that because of my faith and obedience to them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Luhrmann\u2019s understanding of spiritual warfare surrounding demon possession is shallow. For instance, she says that Jesus comes to battle the spiritual forces, but since he is not fully present, \u201cthe war has not yet been won.\u201d[8]<\/a> I disagree and am sure most Vineyard members that she would have interviewed would understand that the cosmic battle between good and evil has already been won because of Christ\u2019s victory over death on the cross. His atoning death on the cross and resurrection three days later clearly establishes that the ultimate war against spiritual forces has been won. Nevertheless, I commend Luhrmann for bringing spiritual warfare into her research and book narrative. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I am proud of her for citing spiritual warfare instances eight times in her book. While she may not understand Paul\u2019s metaphorical principles to put on and wear Christ as a personal defense system against the demons she references many times, at least she is getting the concept out there for her readers. The push back she experienced is the same type of push back I hear and see sometimes. Both believers and non-believers in Christ struggle with the whole spiritual warfare concept and cite extreme positions that include: I am not at risk from spiritual warfare on one side to I am going crazy from the influences of spiritual warfare on the other.[9]<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tandberg reviews the book and says Luhrmann\u2019s attempt to bridge the gap between \u201cbelievers and skeptics\u201d deserves a wide audience.[10]<\/a> Since most of Luhrmann\u2019s respondents were women, Tandberg was surprised that gender differences were not discussed in the book.[11]<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In conclusion, I like and connect to this book on many levels. First, I have hope when I see a publicly stated non-believer playing Christian. From my mission minded background, I always get excited when anyone plays Christian with the hopes that if they play long enough they may catch Salvation and become saved by Christ. I think the charismatic context that Luhrmann joined is a brilliant opportunity for her to immerse into the body of Christ group and study the anthropological relationships between Vineyard church members and God. Second, I like Luhrmann because she seems to be humble, practical, and real. For example, Gooren focuses on her humble sense of humor about her research. At one point in evaluating whether or not the Holy Spirit was moving in someone\u2019s life Luhrmann jokes about the matter suggesting that instead of the Holy Spirit moving, it might just be our \u201cburrito from lunch\u201d that is moving.[12]<\/a> I recommend this book for our LGP resource library.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Stand firm,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

M. Webb <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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[1]<\/a> Tanya M. Luhrmann. When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with Go<\/em>d. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012) 252.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 222.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[3]<\/a> Peter Stromberg. “Christian Charismatics, Anthropologists, and Truth: A Review Essay on Tanya Luhrmann\u2019s When God Talks Back.” Pastoral Psychology 63, no. 2 (2014): 219.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[4]<\/a> Philip Francis. “An Exquisite Awareness of Doubt.” Harvard Theological Review 106, no. 1 (2013): 106.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[5]<\/a> C. S. Lewis. Mere Christianity<\/em>. Macmillan Paperbacks ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1960) 73.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[6]<\/a> Luhrmann, When God Talks Back<\/em>, 35. erm<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[7]<\/a> Stromberg, Christian Charismatics, Anthropologists, and Truth<\/em>, 216.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[8]<\/a> Luhrmann, When God Talks Back<\/em>, 254.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid., 266.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[10]<\/a> H\u00e4kon Tandberg. “When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God.” Numen 61, no. 1 (2014): 123.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[12]<\/a> Henri Gooren. “Is It the Spirit Moving, Or Is It Just That Burrito from Lunch? A Review Essay of T. M. Luhrmann\u2019s When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God.” Pastoral Psychology 63, no. 2 (2014): 197. n,t){var r=nul<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tanya Luhrmann\u2019s When God Talks Back explores a mental place of cognizance where Christianity, Science, and Psychology intersect to form a type of a sustainable space where one can pray, communicate, and hear the voice of God. Using a phenomenological approach and ethnographic method, Luhrmann immersed herself into the Vineyard church to observe, interview, and […]<\/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":[1017,628,1039],"class_list":["post-21476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp8","tag-luhrmann","tag-spiritual-warfare","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21476","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=21476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21588,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21476\/revisions\/21588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}