{"id":32130,"date":"2023-04-01T11:41:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T18:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32130"},"modified":"2023-04-01T11:41:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-01T18:41:55","slug":"easter-shirts-and-lenton-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/easter-shirts-and-lenton-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Shirts and Lenton Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your<\/strong> <\/span>Easter Shirt<\/b><\/p>\n

Finding the right outfit for Easter can be challenging [1]. You want to look good in the pictures and rightly convey the meaning of the day, but, no worries, I received an email from my favorite t-shirt company with the perfect shirt – marketed in a timely manner, of course. In fact, I am hard-pressed to find a better representation of consumerism and religion and all the ways they seamlessly align. You can check out the picture below. I am tempted to buy this shirt just to engage in the conversations. Will I encounter uncritical acceptance or complete distain for the comedic and modern amalgam of religious belief and culture?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The commodification of religion in a consumerist culture is the subject of the book, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/i> by Vincent J. Miller and the thesis, Evangelism and Capitalism: A Reparative and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship<\/i> by Dr. Jason Paul Clark. Both works offer observations of the ways in which consumerism has communized religion, while offering ways that Christian religion can speak to consumeristic culture through practices that offer a competing narrative. I will explore these thoughts, particularity in regards to how desires can be redirected through Lenton disciplines in my own experience of giving up Facebook for Lent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Consumption and Desire<\/b><\/p>\n

It is not unusual to hear critiques of the modern church being \u201ccommercial,\u201d what is rare is offering an observational perspective that values religious belief within the ubiquitous culture of capitalism, while considering practices to engage, rather than escape, the culture. That is what is found in the writings of Miller and Clark. In fact, Miller\u2019s thesis is focused toward, \u201chow the habits of consumption transform our relationship to the religious beliefs we profess\u201d[2]. Clark enters into the tension of how faithful Christians navigate the complexities of a consumeristic culture when we writes, \u201c\u2026we understand Christianity as neither renouncing the world, nor leaving it to its relentless drive to consumption\u201d[3].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the collision points of faith and consumerism is desire. While often regarded as an impulse that must be stifled, Miller observes that desire is more nuanced expression of \u201cthe joy of desiring itself\u201d not just the possession of things [4]. Further, desire can easily consume the deepest religious desires in consumeristic ways that become difficult to separate a desire for things that transcend and a desire for more stuff [5].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Practice Rather Than Beliefs<\/b><\/p>\n

Where the arguments of Miller and Clark are most compelling is the engagement of consumerism, not with better theological arguments, but with embodied behaviors that create sustainable change for people of faith. Observing that theology is often commodified and not able to offer lasting change, Miller suggested that, \u201cIt can do so by engaging consumer culture on the level of practices and structures rather than meanings and beliefs\u201d [6]. Clark argues in a similar way when he states, \u201cIn other words, the reception of the signs and symbols for cultural production, be that of Christian faith or capitalism, do not start with the head, but with the heart and the body. It is the training and habituation of desires that shapes us, not our theories of desire\u201d[7].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This made me think of a practice I took up for Lent. Traditionally, Lent is a time of \u201ctaking up\u201d or \u201cgiving up\u201d something for forty-days of preparation to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. While people may choose a variety of practices, the point is to find a new rhythm during the forty-days of preparation. I chose to give up Facebook for Lent. It has been an interesting practice for a number of reasons, but one in particular is how I was not subject to added desire through posts or targeted advertisements. I have found that I am more emotionally present to the people around me during this season. While I did not consider it at first, giving up Facebook was a way that I removed myself from the constant barrage of consumerist culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The commodification of religion is a daunting subject with no easy answers. The work of inviting Christian belief and practice out of the untangling of capitalist culture is an impossible task, yet targeted practices within a religious community seem like a good start, even if the results are not guaranteed. While it will not produce quick results, it will invite critical, lasting engagement with practices that will lead to individual and community transformation. It is a task worthy of our attention. Until then, let\u2019s go buy new shirts and see where the conversation goes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To be fair, I could wear it to create conversations around the delay of the parousia.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Miller, Vincent Jude. Consuming Religion : Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture.<\/i> New York; London: Bloomsbury, 2013, 11.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. <\/i>Clark, Jason Paul, “Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship” <\/i>(2018). Faculty Publications – Portland Seminary. 132. https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/132<\/a>. <\/i>p. 202<\/li>\n
  4. <\/i>Miller, 144.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. <\/i>Ibid.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. <\/i>Ibid., 180.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. <\/i>Clark, 215.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Your Easter Shirt Finding the right outfit for Easter can be challenging [1]. You want to look good in the pictures and rightly convey the meaning of the day, but, no worries, I received an email from my favorite t-shirt company with the perfect shirt – marketed in a timely manner, of course. In fact, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"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":[2722],"class_list":["post-32130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miller-clark-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32130","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\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32131,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32130\/revisions\/32131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}