Cache directory "/home/content/f/w/s/fwschmidt/html/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/ttftitles/cache" is not writable.The Problems and Promise of Modern Mysticism

In a fine and thought-provoking essay Ross Douthat sketches the challenge of what he describes as “Mass Market Epiphany” — the tendency of an ever-larger number of Americans to claim mystical experiences of God in what is, on every other account, an increasingly materialistic culture (cf. my earlier blog on Big “M” Materialism). Douthat describes at length the tensions in democratizing a phenomenon to which everyone might aspire, but which can also be tamed and taken for granted.

Relying on Luke Timothy Johnson, Douthat notes that the church has failed to respond to this trend thanks to its own surrender to our materialistic culture — the net result being a church which, in its conservative forms preaches culture wars and in its liberal forms lionizes social justice. I think that Douthat and Johnson are right — to a point. But more has to be said.

Conservative and liberal expressions of Christian faith are not simply the product of materialism, they are forms of functional atheism — the substitution of religious ideologies for a relationship with God. Conservative impulses can reinforce the quest for right understanding and liberal ones can bolster the need to work for justice. But in the absence of a relationship with God, both become the hardened substitutes for that relationship. That is why we live in a balkanized and polarized church cultures in which no one — left or right — can hear without categorical condemnations.

God judges us all, finds us wanting, and offers us grace anyway. When humility before God disappears from the equation (even if named and invoked), then ideology becomes all-important and zero-sum spirituality takes its place. Left or right, politically correct and theologically orthodox, we are all given to the perverse, if unspoken conviction, “I can’t go to heaven unless you go to hell.” Hell might differ on the right and the left — the heterodox in one, capitalists in the other — but the passion to gate-keep is all the rage for people who, in the absence of God, worship their own way of construing the Christian faith.

Both are versions of Christianity without staying power, because in the absence of God, they are both just divinized political agendas.

That could be why in the dying heat of the debate between aging baby boomers — which is always the bitterest stage of such debates — our children are looking elsewhere for spiritual guidance. The transcendent is missing from mainline churches. What is on offer everywhere you look is just politics.

You would think that those of us who are closer to meeting God, would give that relationship more of our attention.

Ross Duthat’s editorial may be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/opinion/08douthat.html

Luke Timothy Johnson’s article, which appeared in Commonweal may be found at:

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/dry-bones

One Response to “The Problems and Promise of Modern Mysticism”

  1. Carol Lawson says:

    Soon after I became a Christian I started reading the Bible – a lot. I felt closer to the Lord, was filled daily with His Word, and grew in my faith. Plus many other gifts were bestowed upon me. One of the earliest negative memories I had, even in my infancy as a believer, was that people seemed to be spewing out scriptures either in some strange harsh authority or in a flippant manner to make a point. These expressions were hollow. I am convinced that believer and unbeliever recognizes authentic heart felt conviction. If we all fell down on our knees and begged God to give us a right spirit and create in us a clean heart and stayed in prayer until it really happened – and stayed in prayer to remain in this wonderful condition – then I believe these “monsters” (on either side) would soon be dispelled for how could they endure such Light and Truth. The issue, to me, is the church. I believe the church is every believer in Jesus Christ. Until we become Christ-filled and Holy Ghost filled these and other problems will constantly infect the Holy Body of Jesus. Often the leaders in churches simply reflect the congregants.

    My words are offered as my opinions. This is one of the most important topics for Christians today. It is the very reason many Christians simply cannot abide attending church. We are all losers because of corrupt dogma. My prayer is that we will have a Holy Spirit revival and every Christian will become full of fire and glory.

Leave a Reply