{"id":4094,"date":"2015-02-20T07:14:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T07:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4094"},"modified":"2015-02-20T07:17:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T07:17:42","slug":"in-a-way-this-sounds-weird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/in-a-way-this-sounds-weird\/","title":{"rendered":"“In a Way This Sounds Weird”"},"content":{"rendered":"

We seem to be in an \u201cage\u201d where people give up<\/em> something for a year or they do <\/em>something for a year. In our recent past this has included a year of living biblically, a year of living like Jesus, and a year of biblical womanhood.[1]<\/a> A recent incarnation of this \u201cone-year\u201d application was implemented by Seventh Day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell who gave up God for one year to live as an atheist. For one year he did not pray, read the bible or refer to God as the source or hope for one\u2019s circumstances, instead he read atheistic material.[2]<\/a> At the end of his year he concludes, “I don’t think that God exists. I think that makes the most sense of the evidence that I have and my experience.\u201d[3]<\/a> Reading briefly of Bell\u2019s account it seems clear that his experience may have as much to do with his need to explore his faith and the perimeters of faith even more than it has to do with his deconstruction of faith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are, according to Charles Taylor presently living in A Secular Age<\/em> where belief in God is no longer the spiritual center of reference of either self or the world, but rather an option. \u201cThe crucial change which brought us into this new condition was the coming of exclusive humanism as a widely available option.\u201d[4]<\/a> Ryan Bell illustrates the challenge of what is often our perception, one either believes in God or one does not. It is also the challenge of how secularism is understood. This is at once fascinating and frustrating. Taylor points out that secularism is not just the removal of religion from public space or a decline in belief or commitment[5]<\/a> (which may just cause us to pursue all manner of efforts to fix the perceived problem of secularization). \u201cHow did we move from a condition where, in Christendom, people lived na\u00ef<\/strong>vely within a theistic construal, to one in which we all shunt between two stances, in which everyone\u2019s construal shows up as such; and in which moreover, unbelief has become for many the major default option?\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What permits this option of unbelief or even more likely the probability that turns the tide where belief in God is less plausible? Two considerations (or realities) stand out: human flourishing and a \u201cbuffered self\u201d[7]<\/a> Humanity\u2019s focus and intention is to flourish, it draws forth from and rests within our individuality. We can be self-sufficient with our goals focused upon human flourishing. Rather than our allegiance toward Someone<\/em> our allegiance is only toward flourishing.[8]<\/a> The buffered self is closely aligned and possible because of our self-sufficient individuality. Taylor describes the “buffered self” developed because we now have confidence in \u201cour own powers of moral ordering.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what does Taylor mean by buffering? It isn\u2019t just our ability or our own powers, but what we might remove ourselves from, so that we are not impacted. In prior years we might attribute vulnerability to forces outside ourselves. One clearly sees in Scripture the understanding of an age where demons and spirits were a recognized influence and presence. Even today it is not uncommon to hear evangelical Christians refer to the \u201cenemy\u201d as opposing individual action or desire. The common denominator may be our vulnerability. The buffered self \u201ccan see itself as invulnerable, as master of the meanings of things for it.\u201d[10]<\/a> Pertinent to my own personality[11]<\/a> I understand all too well Taylor\u2019s description that an ambition of the buffered self can be one of disengagement, an opportunity for self-direction and self-control[12]<\/a> all with an aim to insulate from fear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taylor presents the story of A Secular Age<\/em> in a narrative. As such there are twists and turns, backstories and inroads, intertwined linages incumbent upon predecessors challenge our perceptions and inclinations. The Reformation\u2019s paramount orientation for God\u2019s honor and glory as developed through the jurisdictional-penal atonement theory results in a loss of the significance and importance of the Eucharist.[13]<\/a> Our sense of identity has morphed. Our sense of what is important is linked with who we are in relationship with, \u201cit can be a love relations, or one to a hero, saint, guru, role model.\u201d[14]<\/a> Just watch the contestants on American Idol television show, the response of fans when their team loses the Super Bowl or when they win, or devotion to a particular saint. Who we hold up as heroes has both the quality of everyone and anyone even as there is a certain specialness reserved for only a few. Something we aspire to in our commitment to flourish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tellingly it is the \u201cbuffered self\u201d that experiences the nova effect because the place of the spiritual in life has shifted.[15]<\/a> \u201cWe are now living in a spiritual super-nova, a kind of galloping pluralism on the spiritual plane.\u201d[16]<\/a> What is present is the need for a third way, as evidenced by \u201cthe growing category of people who while unable to accept orthodox Christianity are seeking some alternative spiritual sources.\u201d[17]<\/a> The rise of authors attempting to relate the Christian message or to relate to a God who may be Aloof, <\/em>hiding in the darkness, or those who want to be Christian without the trappings of church seem to give testament to such seeking.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way this sounds weird\u201d[19]<\/a> might be my favorite quote from our book (hence the blog post title). I smiled when I read it. A Secular Age <\/em>traces our path of buffering providing room for doubt and the glimmer of belief. It may indeed sound weird.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>[1] Reference: A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically<\/em>; Ed Dobson, The Year of Living Like Jesus; <\/em>Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood. <\/em><\/p>\n

[2] Carey Lodge, \u201cFormer Pastor Who Gave Up Religion for a Year: I Don\u2019t Think God Exists\u201d in Christianity Today<\/em>, December 29, 2014. http:\/\/www.christiantoday.com\/article\/former.pastor.who.undertook.a.year.without.god.i.dont.think.god.exists\/45077.htm<\/a>. [Accessed February 19, 2015].<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid.<\/p>\n

[4] Charles Taylor, A Secular Age <\/em>(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 21.<\/p>\n

<\/a> [5] Ibid., 15.<\/p>\n

[6] Ibid., 14.<\/p>\n

<\/a> [7] Ibid., 18, 38.<\/p>\n

[8] Ibid., 18.<\/a><\/p>\n

[9] Ibid. 27.<\/a><\/p>\n

[10] Ibid. 38.<\/p>\n

[11] On the Enneagram scale I am a \u201c9\u201d, the Peacemaker. One of the tendencies I have to pay attention to is when I am challenged or sense a lack of being noticed is that I will withdraw.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[12] Taylor, 39.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[13] Ibid. 78-79.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[14] Ibid. 137.<\/p>\n

<\/a> [15] Ibid., 299.<\/p>\n

[16] Ibid., 300.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[17] Ibid., 302.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[18] Reference: Tony Kriz, Aloof: Figuring Out Life With a God Who Hides<\/em>; A.J. Swoboda, A Glorious Dark: Finding Hope in the Tension Between Belief and Experience; <\/em>Kelly Bean, How to Be a Christian Without Going to Church. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>[19] Taylor, 34.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We seem to be in an \u201cage\u201d where people give up something for a year or they do something for a year. In our recent past this has included a year of living biblically, a year of living like Jesus, and a year of biblical womanhood.[1] A recent incarnation of this \u201cone-year\u201d application was implemented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"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":[491,2,186],"class_list":["post-4094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp4-3","tag-dminlgp","tag-taylor","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094","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\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4094"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4098,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4094\/revisions\/4098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}