{"id":34024,"date":"2023-11-09T19:30:58","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T03:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34024"},"modified":"2023-11-10T10:45:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T18:45:02","slug":"%e1%80%a1%e1%80%ad%e1%80%af%e1%80%b8%e1%81%8a-%e1%80%95%e1%80%91%e1%80%99%e1%80%80%e1%80%99%e1%80%b9%e1%80%98%e1%80%ac%e1%80%95%e1%80%bc%e1%80%bf%e1%80%94%e1%80%ac%e1%81%8b-wow-a-1st-world-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/%e1%80%a1%e1%80%ad%e1%80%af%e1%80%b8%e1%81%8a-%e1%80%95%e1%80%91%e1%80%99%e1%80%80%e1%80%99%e1%80%b9%e1%80%98%e1%80%ac%e1%80%95%e1%80%bc%e1%80%bf%e1%80%94%e1%80%ac%e1%81%8b-wow-a-1st-world-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"\u1021\u102d\u102f\u1038\u104a \u1015\u1011\u1019\u1000\u1019\u1039\u1018\u102c\u1015\u103c\u103f\u1014\u102c\u104b, Wow a 1st world problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u1021\u102d\u102f\u1038\u104a \u1015\u1011\u1019\u1000\u1019\u1039\u1018\u102c\u1015\u103c\u103f\u1014\u102c\u104b, Wow a 1st<\/sup> world problem or<\/p>\n

\u1021\u1001\u103c\u102c\u1038\u1019\u102d\u1001\u1004\u103a\u1019\u103e \u100a\u102e\u1021\u1005\u103a\u1000\u102d\u102f\u1019\u103b\u102c\u1038, Brothers from another mother (Burmese)<\/p>\n

Part 1: What my peers and others are saying..<\/p>\n

Part 2: Desire\u2026End of Globalization?…<\/p>\n

Part 3:\u00a0 What I am learning\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Part 1: What my peers and others are saying..<\/p>\n

In the discussion of Polanyi and capitalism[1]<\/a>, I made a comment to Todd Henley the that the \u201ccousin of capitalism was consumerism.\u201d (or Brothers from a different mother?) Now in what appears to be a path guided by a learned hand, we confront consumerism in Vincent J. Miller\u2019s Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture<\/em>[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking towards my peers…<\/p>\n

DLGP01 Kristy Newport writes, \u201cAs Miller states, \u201cChristian forgiveness as potent therapy for countering capitalistic desire\u201d (p.180)<\/p>\n

I enjoyed how Kristy highlights how we can change our consumerism\/capitalist drives. <\/strong><\/p>\n

DLGP02, Jenney Dooley writes, \u201cI want my consuming habits to reflect my values, show concern for the well-being of others, and respect the cultures which I encounter. I\u2019m a work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenney\u2019s statement calls us to be socially aware and to take a path away from consumerism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

DLGP02, Adam Harris writes, about a man who had a Near Death Experience, \u201cHis experience radically changed how he measured and defined success. In fact, many of these NDErs leave their careers to pursue what they believe to be more meaningful work. As stated earlier, their concern for material gain, recognition, competition, and status lower. Their desires are redirected to other things. God and people truly become their priority in practice, not just in theory, as Miller states was the main concern of his book.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a knock to the head, or a Near Death Experience helps to readjust our life priorities.\u00a0 Sometimes war does the same\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other internet comments, \u201cThe Bible is a commodity that is in danger of losing its political friction, status, community, and context.\u201d [3]<\/a><\/p>\n

(Miller) argues that consumerism is not (primarily) a problem with values or morals. While it is true that buying Nike’s latest shoe supports exploitation, if given the clear choice between a shoe and cheap labor most people would choose to eradicate cheap labor. The values are intact. The problem is on the level of social structure, practice, and habituation. No amount of values-preaching can counter this because (A) the problems on the level of practice, not idea, and (B) anything you may say against consumerism can be used for next year’s marketing strategies.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 2: Desire\u2026End of Globalization?…<\/p>\n

In regard to distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian, Dr. Clark writes, \u201cthere is one fundamental contrast between Christian and non-Christian desire, or rather, there should be one key contrast whereby Christian desire arises from a call beyond the self\u201d(p.209).[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Clark adds, \u201cReal revolution is about nurturing the flow of desire, rather than its destruction: It is the need to exceed the desire fostered by capitalism with a re-ordered desire\u201d (p.174).<\/p>\n

Re-ordering desire\u2026 In the face of \u201cBlack Friday Sales,\u201d bombarding us on the TV, where lies our Christian desires to a call beyond self, as we rabidly seek the next great saving for Christmas gifts?<\/p>\n

In the face of Christmas consumerism our churches must respond to Miller\u2019s warning that, \u201ctheology must (1) attend to the structures and practices that connect belief to daily life (Amazon.com purchases),<\/strong> (2) attend to the lived, everyday theology of believing communities (focusing on the gift that is Christ)<\/strong>, and (3) adopt the task of helping communities to preserve and sustain their traditions in the face of the erosions of the globalizing capitalism (inviting seekers to find a different \u2018reason for the season\u2019<\/strong>\u201d (p.226)<\/p>\n

Should I be glad that globalizing capitalism is fading in the tragedies of the Ukrainian and now Israeli war? Jan Strupczewski quotes, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, who says, \u201cThe war in Ukraine has shown the limitations of the decades-long German approach of seeking to change Russia through trade and spells the end of globalisation as we know it.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

End of globalization? End of peacetime capitalism and consumerism as we know it?<\/p>\n

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

Several churches and pastors are taking Ezekiel 38:1-39:16 prophecies of \u201cGog and Magog\u201d to heart.\u00a0 In the face of conflict (Holy Violence \u2013 Walker) perhaps we might see a reset of personal, cultural, and national priorities.<\/p>\n

Part 3: What I am learning\u2026<\/p>\n

Miller writes, \u201creligious belief is always in danger of being reduced to a decorative veneer of meaning over the vacuousness of everyday life in advanced capitalist societies\u201d (p.225).\u00a0 Having lived 30 years overseas in a variety of different cultures, my response to this is \u201cWow \u2013 a 1st<\/sup> World problem. \u201c<\/p>\n

Not to diminish his study\/book, I find it incredibly relevant in the U.S. and parts of the EU, but it is not hard for me to see through the eyes of a Hungarian\/Slovak or now a Ukrainian Christian where \u201cconsumption (is not) the dominant cultural practice\u201d (p. 225). \u00a0Personally, living with dirt roads, an outhouse in the backyard (moved twice), the smell of manure in the morning, \u201csurvival and adaptation in a post-communist environment\u201d is the cultural practice of these spaces (Mikepercs, Hungary \u2013 my home of 10 years).<\/p>\n

Christianity in these places sometimes follows rigid traditional practices (men on one side, women on the other with kids in the back-Hungary).\u00a0 Sometimes, they remain hidden in Slovak building basements hiding the fact that a church meets there.\u00a0 Sometimes they suffer the indignation of \u201cspecial police\u201d intruding into their sacred space to make sure evangelizing is not going on (Turkey).<\/p>\n

This becomes even more so for our Ukrainian Christian brothers who\"\"<\/a> fervently worship and who fervently cling to the Hope they have in Christ.\u00a0 Not promised tomorrow, I doubt that consuming their faith as a commodity would aptly describe them.\u00a0 They wait hopefully for EU accession unaware of the dangers of that the cousins of capitalism and consumerism are prowling at the door.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Miller’s book is a shot across the bow, his history (part 1) and then suggestions for combating consumerism (part 2) drops the task firmly in our first world hands.<\/p>\n

Shalom…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation the Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, 2nd Beacon Paperback ed. (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001),<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Vincent J. Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum, 2008)<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u201cConsuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a C\u2026.\u201d Accessed November 9, 2023. https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/156681.Consuming_Religion.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cConsuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a C\u2026.\u201d Accessed November 9, 2023. https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/156681.Consuming_Religion.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Clark, Jason Paul, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogenesis in the Relationship,\u201d 2018,<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Strupczewski, Jan, and Jan Strupczewski. \u201cUkraine War Shows \u2018end of Globalisation as We Know It\u2019 – EU\u2019s Gentiloni.\u201d Reuters, April 21, 2022, sec. World. https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/ukraine-war-shows-end-globalisation-we-know-it-eus-gentiloni-2022-04-21\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u1021\u102d\u102f\u1038\u104a \u1015\u1011\u1019\u1000\u1019\u1039\u1018\u102c\u1015\u103c\u103f\u1014\u102c\u104b, Wow a 1st world problem or \u1021\u1001\u103c\u102c\u1038\u1019\u102d\u1001\u1004\u103a\u1019\u103e \u100a\u102e\u1021\u1005\u103a\u1000\u102d\u102f\u1019\u103b\u102c\u1038, Brothers from another mother (Burmese) Part 1: What my peers and others are saying.. Part 2: Desire\u2026End of Globalization?… Part 3:\u00a0 What I am learning\u2026.   Part 1: What my peers and others are saying.. In the discussion of Polanyi and capitalism[1], I made a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"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":[2489,467,371,255],"class_list":["post-34024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp02","tag-clark","tag-consumerism","tag-miller","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34024","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\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34026,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34024\/revisions\/34026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}