I just finished watching Milla Jovovich’s “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.” Not surprisingly, reviewers criticize the movie for is its lack of fidelity to history and the generic appeal that Joan makes to God.
Missing are references to her specific visions of saints and — apart from the necessity of placing her from time to time in a medieval church — there is no particular reference to the Christian dimensions of her faith. These criticisms are not from Christians (or people who appeal to their faith at any rate), let alone fundamentalists, but from people like filmmaker Ronald Maxwell. The motive, of course, is marketing. In a world where spirituality is a commodity for sale, maximizing the number of interested customers lies in sublimating the particularity of any spirituality and in maximizing its broader appeal. Fine for movies I suppose, but not so good for the spiritual life.
Some years ago I had a conversation with a young guy who was in AA. The program had saved his life and he was beginning to put the various pieces of it all back together. His capacity for relationships and good work were closer to what one would expect from someone with his gifts.
But something was nagging him. He had maxed out the spiritual value of living his life in response to “a higher power.” With no name for God, he also had no idea how to respond to God. He needed more.
Religion may seem restrictive and it is certainly true that when we begin to think about our spiritual life in conversation with a single spiritual tradition the particularity of a tradition demands certain things from us. But it is also true that without a religious tradition, we drift spiritually, without a clear idea of what our spiritual pilgrimage is all about — the central challenges, our essential spiritual needs, the point of it all. It is also more likely that we confuse our own preferences and prejudices for the voice of God. It is no guarantee, of course, but the conversation with a tradition at least opens the door, drawing us into a conversation about the will of God that is bigger than our own experience.
Houston Smith once observed, “religion gives spirituality traction in history.” It is also true that religion gives spirituality traction in our personal lives. We need more than a god who is no god in particular.