{"id":30781,"date":"2023-02-03T20:24:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T04:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=30781"},"modified":"2023-02-03T20:24:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T04:24:32","slug":"exploring-a-similar-thought-of-another-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/exploring-a-similar-thought-of-another-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring a Similar Thought of Another Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

How does culture affect our belief in God and the way we think and live our lives? It\u2019s an interesting question to ponder, so that we can make mindful decisions on the direction in which we want our lives to go or at least understand more clearly where we\u2019ve come from and where we\u2019re headed. In our readings this week, we examine the rise of Evangelicalism during the period in which capitalism emerged, took root, and grew in Britain and North America. Using David Bebbington\u2019s foundational text, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, A History from the 1730\u2019s to the 1980s<\/em>, and a chapter entitled, \u201cEvangelical Anxiety: From Assurance to Providence,\u201d from Dr. Jason Clark\u2019s dissertation, we are challenged to see how culture influenced and opened doors for new Christian doctrine and, how Christians responded in a quickly changing, capitalistic market that transformed the world. We are also challenged, in a broader sense, to recognize ways in which our churches and faith have been impacted by culture.<\/p>\n

Bebbington Highlights Evangelicalism\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bebbington attempts to do two things in his book: show the influence of Evangelicals on society and explore \u201cthe ways in which Evangelical religion has been moulded by its environment.\u201d[1]<\/a> He states that Evangelicalism does not represent any one denomination, but \u201cinfluenced the existing churches during the eighteenth century and generated many more in subsequent years.\u201d[2]<\/a> For Bebbington, there are four qualities that distinguished Evangelicalism from earlier faith traditions, which include \u201cconversion, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism, the expression of the Gospel in effort; biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible; and what may be called crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.\u201d[3]<\/a> Though traditions that preceded Evangelicalism may have shared some combination of the above characteristics, Evangelicalism uniquely claimed all four.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s Views, Building Upon Bebbington<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clark builds upon Bebbington\u2019s work and explores the relationship between the rise of capitalism and the growth of Evangelicalism. For Clark, capitalism is \u201ca form of business in which the objective of making return on capital overrides others and so determines what the business does.\u201d[5]<\/a> He notes that Evangelicalism arose as a doctrine of assurance amongst Puritan believers who were anxious and unsure of their salvation. His purpose is to show how this inner anxiety, though calmed by the doctrine of assurance, actually \u201cmigrated\u201d into new anxieties caused by capitalism. The doctrine of providence thus arose, in order to address these new anxieties.[6]<\/a> Clark pursues this argument in detail, ending with the following launch pad, which will take him into further research of his thesis:<\/p>\n

\u201cEvangelicalism within my accounts so far is seen as both a creature of capitalism, and a way of responding to capitalism. Initially for Evangelicals, and dominant for them, was the desire for inner spiritual renewal of the self around an identity in Christ. Yet that social imagination for the self eventually atrophies and becomes a market imagination within capitalism. We can see that a lack of attention to the form of church by Evangelicals led to its taking a form captive to the logic of market imaginations. The Evangelical focus of salvation outside the church, results in the relocation of salvation into the home, which simultaneously becomes the location for the privatization of life around the demands of capitalist markets and leisure.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Thus, we see how people who set out to follow only Christ were unknowingly influenced by their culture and incorporated cultural qualities into the beliefs and activities of their doctrine and practice.<\/p>\n

Exploring a Similar Thought of Another Nature<\/strong><\/p>\n

This relationship of Evangelicalism and the way that Christians shaped and were shaped by emerging cultural ideas and practices, makes me think of my NPO research in which I examined how people throughout history have understood their relationship to nature and God. I discovered that the ways in which humans have understood this relationship, according to their interpretation of God\u2019s intended design, has changed throughout history, often following cultural trends. Some examples of this include changing thought patterns during the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and emerging political and societal trends in the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries. I will briefly describe some of my findings here.<\/p>\n

Renaissance Thinkin<\/u>g<\/p>\n

The Renaissance period (1300-1600) was an exciting time of exploring the world and the bounds of human capability and creativity. People viewed nature as a collection of unliving atoms to be controlled by god-like humans. Biblical interpretations arose permitting humans to dominate over the elements and animals for human purposes. Some historians believe \u201cit is this fundamental belief that humanity has divine power and authority to alter and re-create the natural world that furnished modernity with its prevailing worldview.\u201d[8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

The Industrial Revolution and Mechanical Materialism<\/u><\/p>\n

The Industrial Revolution, beginning in 1760 in Britain and pervading the Western world into the 1900\u2019s, heightened confidence in scientific discovery and led people to believe that the mysteries of nature could be quantified, identified, and understood through mathematical equations and experimentation.[9]<\/sup><\/a> This mindset infiltrated Christian teachings and the distance between the human-Creator relationship and nature widened. Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) wrote that nature is \u201cimmutable, hard, and dead conglomerations of moving particles.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/a> His ideas isolated humans from creation and were \u201cuncritically\u201d incorporated into Protestantism. Scholar Laurel Kearns believes the shift of worldview from 1500 to 1700 was the \u201cdisintegration of a more immanent and organic view of nature, and the ascendancy of the modern, mechanistic worldview that sees nature as dead, or inert, and atomized.\u201d[11]<\/sup><\/a> From that point forward, the personalization of religion and salvation became the driving force of Protestant theology. It is interesting to note the similarities which Clark found during this same period, as he focused on the spread of capitalism.<\/p>\n

The Nineteenth Century through The Twenty-first Century<\/u><\/p>\n

An unbridled quest for domination over nature was a hallmark of nineteenth century Western culture.[12]<\/sup><\/a> Socialist thinkers conveyed that modern industrial society would change the course of history through the exploitation of nature. In general, there was a trend in thinking that nature was to be conquered and its resources gathered for human advancement. For many theologians, \u201cnature was now approached as a self-enclosed, machine-like structure without any value or life of its own before God, set apart from both God and humanity.\u201d[13]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

According to some theologians, changes in the church over the last fifty years have created a climate more accepting of ecotheology.[14]<\/sup><\/a> In particular, the recent pandemic encouraged reevaluation of lifestyles, interaction with the outdoors, and respect for creation. Many people during the Covid-19 crisis found physical and emotional healing through nature.[15]<\/sup><\/a> Theologian Paul Santmire proposes a new way of reading the Bible in our current setting, which \u201cassumes a divine and human concomitant with nature, rather than a divine and human disjunction from nature.\u201d[16]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is fascinating to realize that the culture into which we are born and the time period in which we live carries a multitude of assumptions and values, many of which we absorb without realizing. These assumptions and values infiltrate every area of our life, including our churches, thus influencing our individual beliefs, practices, and worldview. Some of these influences may be neutral, neither helpful nor hurtful. But, what if there are certain influences which have taken us away from God\u2019s intended course?\u00a0 Could we, as humans, have misconstrued some of God\u2019s hopes and desires for his children? May we extend grace to each other and ourselves as we prayerfully seek to see ourselves and our world clearly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> David Bebbington, Modern Britain, A History from the 1730s to the 1980s <\/em>(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989), ix.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Bebbington, 1.<\/p>\n

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

[4]<\/a> Jason P. Clark, “Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship\u201d (2018). Faculty Publications – Portland Seminary. 132. https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/132<\/a>, 52.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Clark, 51.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Clark, 49.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Clark, 75.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Daniel L. Brunner, Jennifer L. Butler, and A. J. Swoboda, Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology: Foundations in Scripture, Theology, History, and Praxis<\/em> (Ada, OK: Baker Academic, 2014), 90.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Carolyn Merchant, \u201cOur Environment at Berkeley,\u201d Accessed April 2, 2022, https:\/\/ourenvironment.berkeley.edu\/people\/carolyn-merchant<\/a>, xiv.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>\u00a0 H. Paul Santmire, The Travail of Nature: Ambiguous Ecological Promises of Christian Theology<\/em> (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1959), 134.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Laurel Kearns in Brunner, Butler, and Swoboda, 92.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> H. Paul Santmire, The Travail of Nature: Ambiguous Ecological Promises of Christian Theology<\/em> (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1959), 137.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Santmire, 133.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Brunner, Butler, Swoboda, 92.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> Grace Gorenflo, \u201cREI Advocacy Director Marc Berejka on COVID, Equity in the Outdoors and Mental Health\u201d (The Seattle Times<\/em>, December 27, 2021).<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Santmire, 189-90.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction How does culture affect our belief in God and the way we think and live our lives? It\u2019s an interesting question to ponder, so that we can make mindful decisions on the direction in which we want our lives to go or at least understand more clearly where we\u2019ve come from and where we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"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":[12,467],"class_list":["post-30781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bebbington","tag-clark","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30781","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\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30783,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30781\/revisions\/30783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}