Judy Green-Davis
I have never posted to a blog and don’t normally even read blogs. But what I do read is the weekly magazine “Christian Century.” In the Jan. 27, 2009 issue, there is an article by Barbara Brown Taylor who is wrestling with questions of theology and ethics. You might want to go on line to read the text in full; there’s good fodder there for a sermon.
Taylor quotes Duke ethicist Stanley Hauerwas who says, “most Christians are too spiritual in the practice of their faith. Christianity ‘is not a set of beliefs or doctrines one believes in order to be a good Christian but rather Christianity is to have one’s body shaped, one’s habits determined, in such a way that the worship of God is unavoidable.’” Taylor’s point is that doctrines must “take on flesh.” She believes that faith has to include our daily life, our sensual activities, and our ordinariness to be true. She asserts that Hauerwas is asking us if “whether there is anything besides the body that can be sanctified.” And don’t you think that’s why the Bible focuses so much on daily activities—in the kitchen, the garden, the street, among the people, at the threshing floor, on the road? We don’t read about God holding a board meeting or Jesus consulting with CEOs. We read about real life, real people, and real situations.
Whew! Taylor brings it down to brass tacks when she quotes Daniel Berrigan (and for sure I’m going to use this quote in a sermon one day) who says, “It all comes down to this: Whose flesh are you touching and why? Whose flesh are you recoiling from and why? Whose flesh are you burning and why?”
Doesn’t this embody the questions we’ve been asked to think about in our first few classes….who’s benefiting, who’s losing, and where are you coming from on this argument? I think Berrigan’s comments are a good litmus test for ethics. Taylor and Hauerwas give us a good grounding for theology—the spiritual is not enough, the real must be included. God is at the molecular level in our lives; our theology has to go to our very cells to be true (or as Hauerwas says, so that the worship of God is unavoidable.” Selah.
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Thank you Judy for all the different ideas to ponder, I'll only comment on the first. The idea of a living out ones ethics each day catches my eye. I just came back from seeing Mom - my Sunday evening thing and while visiting a dementia patient is pretty real life - it holds in it those ideas of what are my priorities and why do I say the homework, blogging, papers, reading etc have to wait for a while - Mom who only knows me now as "one of her relations" needs to know that she is loved and she needs to know it today and she senses when I haven't been there in a while and I need to see her today. So tonight I did a Kant action - acted as a daughter out of duty and a Mill action - it gave us both a great happiness! She cried at the thought that she was loved and someone brought her flowers - that makes me cry now and be happy. I guess it was even an Aristotle thing - it made a better life for both of us - for me this is ethics live. Joyce Schneider
ReplyDeleteJudy, regarding your first post, I agree that it’s easy to be too spiritual, too theoretical, in our practice of our faith. It is such beautiful theory, and like so many theories it seems to look better on the page than it does in practice. (Love my neighbor? Love MY neighbor? Love my NEIGHBOR? Yes, LOVE my neighbor.) So much easier said than done when love requires patience, forbearance, self-denial or any of the other “yins” to the “yang” of love’s positives.
ReplyDeleteI think it comes down to relational behavior too, but it also comes down to trust. We have to trust God’s precepts more than we trust our own inclinations, preferences, backgrounds and so forth. So easy to say and sometimes so hard to do. I believe this “love my neighbor” command truly; yet it is a conscious more than an automatic response, and not one I make unerringly! But “not in my strength but thine,” right?
And thank you, Joyce, for tying our ethical reading together with an example that made it all clear and concrete!
Thank you for writing on this topic. I have often thought about the orthopraxic vs. orthodoxic nature of Christianity. Through reflection and conversations I have come to realize that of the religions I am aware of Christianity is the only one that has virtually no orthopraxy. Both Islam and Judaism are largely defined by what you do. Within Judaism it is even possible to be an atheist and still Jewish. What is one called to do within Christianity? Based on my experience there are no mandatory rituals or behaviors necessary to be Christian.
ReplyDeleteMy point in this rambling is that a call for Christians to be more active and to require something of its participants would go far in revitalizing its declining nature. I find this topic interesting. Thank you for your contribution.
Judy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this, I think it is very important from a teaching aspect. I was taught once in a youth workshop that you should think of prayer as a lifestyle. It was totally a spiritual concept that was made practical. However, I do believe that such a deeply spiritual practice would lead to more physical disciplines. In essence, I believe that a Christian has to believe they’re a Christian before they can act like a Christian.
Consider this: if you lived a normal day but had G-d on the other end of your Bluetooth headset, what would you change? Or even if you were a reality TV show, and G-d was the only one watching, would you act different? I believe that people would change something. For someone more spiritual Christian, I could see them conversing more with G-d. For someone who may be more of a practical Christian, I could see more actions in the goodness of G-d. For the holiday-only Christian, I could see more of a physical change, maybe even asking permission before doing something. In all cases, they’re all Christian, I cannot judge who is more Christian than another.
The problem with acting more like a Christian is that no one can agree with what a Christian should believe. This is not partially true, there are some basic tenets a Christian follows: “love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind” and “love your neighbor as yourself”. But what comes after that? Maybe it is to do more works; maybe the works themselves are more spiritual practices to enlighten others. That is all a level of understanding and discernment above my own head.
I believe that the first act of a Christian is to believe in Christ. However I hesitate to say a Christian should lessen their spirituality in their practice. If anything, it instills a sense of passion and shows their own ability to act based upon their own beliefs.
Jon, I've traveled a lot and been in many places where people live their faith--where belief and practice are fully integrated into every day. In these settings, there is no noticeable separation between the human and G-d. While they stop periodically during the day to pray, their very breathing and being each hour is an act of faith and belief. I think this is part of what Barbara Brown Taylor is working toward--feeling and being with G-d every moment.
ReplyDeleteIn a setting such as this, there is the potential for there to be no difference between what you believe and what I believe. It becomes a non-issue as long as we are one with our particular G-d.
Wouldn't that be a great world?!
Jon --
ReplyDeleteI loved the idea of having G-d at the other end of your Bluetooth. I think we certainly might see more of the living with "no noticeable separation between the human and G-d" that Judy then describes.
We surely couldn't help but, over time, become so conscious of G-d's presence until the awareness would become a completely unconscious part of our being. I think then the worship of G-d would be, as Barbara Brown Taylor says, "unavoidable.'
I really enjoyed reading these posts and thinking about the nature of truly transformational faith. It seems to me that that is the essence of this discussion: to be so completely devoted to your faith on every level and at every moment that it completely transforms your actions and responses to people and the world.
ReplyDeleteCertainly Paul discussed this kind of faith in Romans 12:2 when he wrote, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
To be transformed means to change the axis of your thinking, to no longer be consumed by the “patterns of this world” (i.e. consumerism, popular culture, secularism). Instead we are to set our minds on higher things, higher callings, and a deeper grounding (i.e. G-d). When this happens, you are motivated to make different decisions not because you are telling yourself to do those things, but because the Spirit inside of you is compelling those things to happen.
This thinking is very much in line with Martin Luther’s statement in Freedom of a Christian Man, “By focusing on faith and Christ we are so filled with grace and thanks that we naturally are moved toward good works.”
Good works toward our world in both small and large ways will happen when we are focused on our faiths at every level, even when all we are doing is cooking, or gardening, or cleaning.
Steven, how beautifully you expressed your thoughts! For me, your last paragraph about being focused on our faith when we are doing ordinary things is what Barbara Brown Taylor is talking about and for me is an expression of being aware of God's presence inside our very cells or as the poet wrote, "as near as breathing." What a state of grace that would be!
ReplyDeleteIt's been awhile since this post and its responses, but tonight is the first time I've really been able to attend to it in awhile. This post has inspired some beautiful language of a relational experience of God by an individual. I am reminded for a moment of John Wesley's "three graces," "prevenient, justifying and sanctifying." It is in a state of "sanctifying grace" that a person begins to behave in a way they may not have before. They are called to give in a creative and effective manner.
ReplyDeleteI know people who have wonderful theories though none of those theories are seen in their practical lives. I think balanced individuals are who could think, learn and apply. So just talking is easy I think we should act accordingly to what we believe. But just to be certain in what we believe and distinguishing the right and wrong takes a lot of time. Sometimes people need others to help them in making decisions. Don’t you agree?
ReplyDelete