{"id":28380,"date":"2022-03-30T15:21:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T22:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28380"},"modified":"2022-03-13T15:24:30","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T22:24:30","slug":"a-re-lived-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-re-lived-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"A Re-Lived Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week we explored Consuming Religion<\/em> by Vincent Miller, focusing on the disconnect between religious belief and practice and the corresponding narrative by Jason Clark\u2019s Evangelicalism and Capitalism<\/em>. While I could find little about Miller in the way of a biography, he is an academic that is currently at the University of Dayton serving as a professor of theology and culture. Consuming Religion<\/em>, classified under Religious Studies and Economics, provides the reader with a balanced approach to consumer culture and the relationship of Christianity to and within it. Admittedly not a work with an overt theological narrative, Clark surmises that \u201cwith Miller, we saw how commodification rips signs and symbols away from originating beliefs and practice, such that the articulation of \u2018better\u2019 beliefs does not lead to \u2018better\u2019 practice.\u201d[1]<\/a> Both works explored this week discuss the inherent complexities of consumer culture, desire, and the role of (or perhaps disconnect between) the body of Christ in all of it.<\/p>\n

As Clark states, “fallen human beings are prone to disordered love, and to loving the world wrongly. Capitalism, and the mechanisms of commodification, leverage that ontological reality and identity, such that even the worship of Christians becomes commodified into dispensing religious goods and services. Here is the atrophy of resistance that takes place through moments of co-creation with capitalism.”[2] <\/a>The Christian is not immune from commodifying the beliefs they practice simply because they believe. There is a felt tension of engaging within consumer culture in a manner that is authentic while not establishing a rooted identity in it, replacing, or diminishing that of which is in Christ. Clark continues, \u201cthere is a kind of \u2018bondage\u2019 to create a self in consumer culture \u2013 the sheer scope of what self-creation means in capitalism is a type of suffering. The self, understood within the recapitulation of the Christ-event, might find needed relief from the perverted liturgies of capitalism. And Evangelicals might find a more faithful living of life for Jesus Christ.”[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

What I found I connected to most in the reading this week was the implications for academic theology that Miller provides. He distills his three lessons for theology as:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is to respond to the challenges posed by consumer culture, theology must attend to the structure and practices that connect belief to daily life, attend to the lived, everyday theology of believing communities, and adopt the task of helping communities preserve and sustain their traditions in the face of the erosions of globalizing capitalism.”[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For me, he is emphasizing the need for a theology that is not simply believed or preached about once a week from the pulpit, but one that is actively engaged with, lived with in the context of community, and challenges consumer culture for the benefit of the soul. I found this incredibly fitting with my NPO and the goal of engaging real-world and Kingdom needs. As Miller states,<\/p>\n

\u201cAcademic theology can both draw from and contribute to the everyday theology of lived religion. By attending to everyday theology, academic theology can gain an understanding of both the practical problems the Christian community faces and its intuitive theological response to them. These can serve as touchpoints for academic theology’s own analyses and constructive proposals. Academic theology possesses resources and methods that can contribute to and strengthen popular religious agency in a number of ways.”[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The aim of my NPO and the prototype I am testing is the development of a comprehensive curriculum that allows higher education institutions to embed programs into existing courses, aiding them in moving assignments from the theoretical to the practical. For example, having Liberal Studies students develop lesson plans or teacher development tools that can be utilized with an international school in Ecuador; mobilizing Business Administration students to utilize technology in connecting with emerging entrepreneurs in Tanzania to develop a basic business plan; or leveraging Engineering students to provide solutions to solar-powered desalination needs for field missionaries working in the Philippines. The goal is to provide an equitable and accessible high-impact global education to students that does not require travel, extensive costs, and the other barriers that traditional models pose.<\/p>\n

In essence, it is helping students begin to wrestle with the question Miller poses of \u201cwhat similarities and distinctions function in the lived religious practices of believers in consumer culture?”[6]<\/a> This model is attempting to counter-act the consumer culture by training students at the undergraduate level to utilize their skills and education to meet real- and kingdom-needs around the globe in a model that emphasizes service. Like all of us, this upcoming generation will encounter the tensions between religious beliefs and practice and I hope that my NPO will serve a small part in bridging the gaps that exist and are sure to emerge as globalization, consumerism, and technology continue to expand.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Clark, 205.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 228.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 236.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Miller, 226.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 178.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 227.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week we explored Consuming Religion by Vincent Miller, focusing on the disconnect between religious belief and practice and the corresponding narrative by Jason Clark\u2019s Evangelicalism and Capitalism. While I could find little about Miller in the way of a biography, he is an academic that is currently at the University of Dayton serving as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"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":[371,374,1775,2196,2004,1121],"class_list":["post-28380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-consumerism","tag-consuming-religion","tag-dr-jason-clark","tag-evangelicalism-and-capitalism","tag-lgp11","tag-vincent-miller","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28380","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\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28380"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28381,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28380\/revisions\/28381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}