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I do not think I will ever view a cut of chicken at the grocery store the same way again. Beyond the price, the process of that product\u2019s journey to the shelf did not occur to me. As someone born and raised in a consumer culture, consumption comes as naturally as breathing. Vincent Miller seeks to help all those immersed in consumerism to understand how that culture affects all aspects of life, including our faith.<\/p>\n
Miller, a professor of theology at Georgetown University, articulates a comprehensive and challenging study of the commodification of religion in Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>. This book about economics, faith, and sociology diagnoses a current cultural reality, its challenges to faith, and a path toward spiritual vitality. Miller\u2019s thesis asserts that consumerism conditions people to approach religion as one more product to consume. The commodification of religion leads to disengagement from tradition and the hyper-individualization of faith. Economic and cultural theory give density to Miller\u2019s argument that spirituality now means \u201cthe personal experiential dimensions of the religion in opposition to institutional forms.\u201d[1]<\/a> In that context, engaging one\u2019s faith amounts to \u201cinsights and practices that they appropriate for their own personal synthesis.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Miller pinpoints the primary challenge of consumerism not with beliefs but with behaviors and practices. The implications of this premise prove vital to any communicator in a spiritual setting. A pastor can present a compelling case for resisting consumerism. However, decades of formation and routine in a consumeristic culture make it challenging to comprehend or apply the challenge without daily, individual and communal practices to make the challenge real. \u201cWhen consumerism becomes the dominant cultural practice, belief is systematically misdirected from traditional religious practices into consumption.\u201d[3]<\/a> The result: \u201cTraditional practices of self-transformation are subordinated to consumer choice.\u201d[4]<\/a> The commodification of religion produces abstraction and fragmentation, meaning religious traditions (beliefs, symbols, and practices) get \u201clifted from their traditional contexts and thrown into a cultural marketplace where they can be embraced enthusiastically but not put into practice.\u201d[5]<\/a> For example, someone dons a T-shirt with Mother Teresa\u2019s image out of respect for her commitment to the poor. Her context, sacrifice, and life become a symbol of faith, not a personal engagement to the one wearing the shirt.<\/p>\n Miller incorporates sociological examples to support his case of the impact of consumerism. He notes how Karl Marx showed the separation of laborers from the production of their effort in capitalism. As people received a wage for their labor, a cultural shift ensued, changing the human experience from \u201cbeing\u201d to \u201chaving.\u201d In a single-family home, a wage supported most of life. Families shifted from managing production to managing consumption. Increased isolation from extended family, neighbors, and community occurred because they were no longer deemed necessary. Income replaced \u201cextended family and community relationships as the source of security.\u201d[6]<\/a> Dr. Clark notes, \u201cWhereas community and religious groups previously met psychological needs, consuming has taken the pace of producing well-being.\u201d[7]<\/a> He adds, \u201cThis commitment to the agency of the self makes the sustaining of religious communities almost impossible.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n Miller issues a warning about the influences of media within present culture. \u201cAs was the case with Christianity\u2019s much earlier appropriation of Roman imperial spectacle, modern media spectacle both benefits and deforms Christianity.\u201d[9]<\/a> Media removes the participant from the active, personal engagement of faith. A service watched is real and unreal at the same time. This insight carries significant implications for the online opportunities of this day. Media is here to stay. How will the church respond? A present challenge looms over the need to engage those online beyond simple viewership.<\/p>\n A personal takeaway from this book comes from Miller\u2019s optimistic tone. He avoids dystopian prophecy, sounding a realistic and hopeful note instead. \u201cThis is not a book about religion against <\/em>consumer culture; it is a book about the fate of religion in <\/em>consumer culture.\u201d Rather than a call to abandon the culture, Miller believes one can live \u201ca more authentically Christian life in a culture that is neither entirely Christian in its logic nor entirely alien.\u201d[10]<\/a> In his conclusion, Miller offers three strategies for the church to thrive in a consumeristic culture: 1) \u201ctheology must attend to the structure and practices that connect belief to daily life;\u201d 2) \u201cattend to the lived, everyday theology of believing communities; and 3) \u201cadopt the task of helping communities preserve and sustain their traditions in the face of the erosions of globalizing capitalism.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n Criticizing is easy. Casting a realistic vision for a preferred future is hard. Miller ends his detailed analysis of the growth of capitalism and its results within a culture with help and hope. The New Testament epistles call followers of Jesus to full life in Him. It would have been to point out the negative aspects of first-century Roman culture. Every cultural manifestation is broken because broken people created it. To believe in a sovereign God should include the helpful and hopeful tone of life found in Him, no matter the culture. Vincent Miller gives us a way forward in ours.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Vincent Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture <\/em>(New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2003), 90.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid., 225.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ibid., 28.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Ibidl, 48.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Jason Paul Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship\u201d (2018) Faculty Publications \u2013 Portland Seminary<\/em>, 182. https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/182<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Miller, Consuming Religion<\/em>, 95.<\/p>\n