“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
I.
Religion (Christianity) and the Need for Integration
II. Patterns
of Religious Behaviour
III.
Biblical Patterns of Religion and Power
I. Religion (Christianity) and the Need for Integration
A. The Human Need for Integration
The Bible assumes the individual’s need for meaning, or
integration. This is what religion is all about. The phenomenon
of human religiousness can be discerned at least as early as in the cave
paintings of south-west France and northern Spain dating from the end of
the last Ice Age between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. Figurines that
may have featured in religious ceremonies have been found throughout Europe
from the Palaeolithic Era, or around 23,000-25,000 years ago. This
is confirmed in Scripture in such places as Paul’s letter to the Romans
as he argues that God has sown the seed of religion in all men(1:21-22).
It is also seen in the continued human tendency toward idolatry whenever
the true God is not worshipped (Psalm 14:1, 53:1; Matt. 13:14-15;
Gal. 4:8; Eph. 2:12).
Paul reminds us of the essential nature of religion to human identity in his letters to the Romans, Galatians and Ephesians; This relationship is so assumed throughout the historical experience of Israel and so evident to the writers of the New Testament that apart from adhering to the true religion one is said to be living in terms of illusion, delusion or idolatry. In the church’s history of theological reflection this point is clearly raised by such theologians as Augustine in the Patristic period, Calvin in the Reformation and Barth in the twentieth century.
The derivation of the word “religion” (Latin: religere = to bind..) reminds us of the need we have for integration and of our tendency to continually “put the world together” conceptually in some form. This is “religion” in its most primary sense. Historians like Arnold Toynbee remind us of the centrality of religion to every civilisation. Contemporary theologians like Hans Kung argue that religiousness is as essential to human nature as is sexuality.
B. “Civil” Religion and Society
Societies require meaning, i.e. “binding” ideas at some level to hold their people together. This argument, raised pointedly by Rousseau in the Social Contract (the “Bible” of the Enlightenment), is basic to the meaning of “civil” religion, the set of prevailing opinions in a society.
If societies are always shaped by values that are generated
by groups in society, then we will want to know the ways in which values
are being shaped in our society. In other words, if Christians are
not generating the values of society, one might ask who is. Think
how in Paul’s experience at Ephesus the worship of Diana (Artemis) shaped
the experience of civic life in Ephesus
(see Acts 19).
As Christians we are always interested in the extent to which we are being defined by our social context or, contrariwise, the extent to which our understanding of Christianity is defining that context. In the latter sense we might speak of a faith that is “civic-minded”, i.e. interested in moving out beyond a private religious experience to interaction with the social, or public, order in which we live.
C. Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century
With the decline in confidence placed in what might be known through moral philosophy about how one should live in the world, a development that might be traced through the philosophers Kant (1724-1804) to Nietzsche (1844-1900), a moral world emerged in the twentieth century which appeared to imply that each individual should be left free to chart his or her own way. In this atmosphere of moral freedom little could be said by way of criticising another about their mode of life.
One of the phenomena shaping societies today is the idea of the nation, or nationalism. This was more clearly visible in Europe and North America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is still evident in much of the larger world. Nationalism as a movement was built upon theories of Kant, Herder, and Hegel. Following the experience of the French Revolution the movement became popular and pervasive. Through this the nation was seen to be the bearer of all that a people might hope for in life.
Nietzsche had implied that we have now entered an age “beyond good and evil” or, more precisely, where the one with the strongest will might define the value of the community. In fact, such moral definition had always been in operation although ideologically hidden. Following his point, and in light of the emergence of the idea of the nation as defining the scope of a people’s salvation in history, the way was opened for the emergence of strong national leaders in the twentieth century who might define social values and social life. Such is the philosophical and sociological context for modern totalitarianism.
D. The Lack of Satisfaction in Anything but True Religion
The Christian who understands the Lordship of Jesus Christ in individual and historical experience cannot be satisfied with the development outlined above. In fact, if it is true that Christianity is the expression of the true religion, then anything put in its place is an illusory salvation that leads to delusion, or idolatry.
In today’s world we continue to see idolatrous structures collapse almost as quickly as they are raised up. Hopes for individual or social fulfilment apart from the true God, or true pattern of religious integration, will always lead to disappointment and destructive patterns of life
The search for a national leader who both represents and is able to guide the nation is a natural social phenomenon. Even Israel asked God for such a leader, or king. The request was granted Israel, but in a way which makes us pause and reflect on all that might be going on in such a request from a religious perspective (1 Samuel 8:6-22). The implied warning in the text is that a political leader and sense of national identity can, but not necessarily must, replace dependency upon and the worship of God in individual and social experience.
Question One: Assess in your own experience the following:
1) Do I find that my life is characterised by a search for coherence?
2) Around what is my life integrated? Is it my work, my family or community, aesthetic experience or some philosophy?
3) Am I able to reflect upon the questions of value for my life or my society? What are some of the ways in which I, or others around me, find value in life?
II. Patterns of Religious Behaviour
One of the questions that presents itself in light of the human need for religion is that of the discernible patterns of religious behaviour. Two of the factors that help to shape such behaviour from a social and human perspective are alienation and anomie. Of course, many other factors that shape such behaviour as well have been identified in this history of Christian reflection. Alienation and anomie are focused upon here because of their prevalence in the modern world.
A Alienation and Religious Behaviour
1) A Definition
Alienation = “The estrangement (development of indifference
or hostility with consequent separation or divorcement) of a person or
his affections. In a social setting alienation develops out of a
perception that the institutions of one’s society are foreign, external
or impinging upon and misshaping the self.”
2) Alienation as we experience it
Before we can talk about alienation and religious behaviour we must first talk about goals and how they are formed. You might want to pause for a moment and ask how do you derive the goals that you find in your life (or wish you might find there!).
The goals that we have as individuals, or societies, are generally derived from such value-generating institutions as churches, schools, parents, customs etc. They create the framework within which we work and strive to achieve visions of ourselves - and ourselves in relation to others. One social theorist, Robert Merton, has laid out five different patterns that might illustrate how we relate to our goals and methods for achieving them:
1. conformity - the cultural goals and the prescribed means for reaching them are possible to and accepted by the individual...
2. innovation - on accepts the goals as appropriate, but is blocked by circumstances or personal ideology from using the accepted means...devises new ways to reach....
3. ritualisation - well socialised into institutional patterns of goal attainment, continues with such behaviour even though it is impossible to reach the goals by the means provided....
4. retreatism - giving up of the cultural goals and the means provided to achieve them... opting out of the system...
5. rebellion - rejects cultural goals and the means to achieve them, but goes on to posit new goals and new means....
If we apply what Merton has outlined generally to religious
behaviour such can be used to explain deviation within a religious institution
or even to explain any religious behaviour with respect to society and
its goals. For example,
1) Religion may help me to “get ahead”; 2) Religion may
provide psychological compensation for failure to “get ahead”; 3) Religious
behaviour learned as a child may be continued long after it has lost its
meaning; 4) Religious communities may be places of retreat for those who
reject social goals and means; or 5) Religion may become the source for
new ways of looking at the world.
The last point raises the question: How do new ways of looking at the world emerge? This brings us to ways in which alienation may provide the means for “rebellion” or even “revitalisation” and revival. The possibilities for the latter are especially evident if 1) A socio/economic system is sufficiently out of balance to cause a sharp increase in individual stress; or if 2) there exists widespread disillusionment, anomie (seen in a rise in crime, illness, and the destruction of family patterns).
In other words, personal or social alienation may provide the avenue by which individuals and societies are “opened” to new ways of ordering the world, or revival and evangelisation.
B Anomie and Religious Behaviour
1) A Definition
Anomie = [(Gr): a -nomos= without laws)] “A state of society in which normative standards of conduct or belief are weak or lacking. In the individual it is characterised by disorientation, anxiety and isolation. Anomie often arises from the feeling that that there is not enough coherent shape in the social environment for the individual to be able to find a place, a goal, or a style of life that receives any social support.”
An Implication: The idea of each doing his/her “own thing” may be liberating to those who know what their “thing” is, but those who do not may feel betrayed by a society that offers no guidance or support. Such a society may seem chaotic, induce panic and in fact produce a nation of conformists.
2) Anomie as we experience it
Change and stress characterise societies today. There are few factors that offer stability in today’s world. One’s family training, neighbourhood, and class milieu are not alone determinative (if they ever were) of one’s personality or development. The “consumerism” of current culture, media exposure, geographic mobility, multiplicity of choice, are some of the factors that serve to dilute the effects of home and neighbourhood. The following factors add to this “formulae” for anomie:
1. Many of today’s youth (literally or figuratively) do not understand the rhetoric or nature of the radical social challenges that have come at the end of the twentieth century.....
2. For many added factors of mobility has meant the loss of all primary groups, instilling a desire to keep associations shallow and commitments low, so as not to hurt when the next break in relations occurs
3. Divorce and family problems, in part a result of the cultural patterns traced above, exacerbate social problems by removing one of the last sources of stability in society.
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It might be helpful to take some time and ask yourself the following question: “What kinds of change and stress are the following groups feeling?”
1. Parents-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Elderly-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Youth--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Singles-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Married------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Women------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Men----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Societies-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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3) Traditional religion, social systems and anomie
Religions, long supported by or supportive of, national or royal authority, have found themselves since the nineteenth century in an increasingly autonomous position. The West, as well as nations under Western military, technological, economic, and administrative rule once experiencing integralist systems, have seen that pattern erode. In the West, governments had, since the seventeenth century, lost their notions of sacral government to secular ideologies which now sought to legitimate those governments through theories of social contract, representative government, etc. The extent to which these new theories of legitimacy grew out of a Christian understanding of the world is still a matter of debate. However, while Western notions were important in discrediting former integralist systems, they seldom moved the masses and reached only into an elite.
The continuing vitality of traditional religious symbolism has been apparent in nationalist movements since the 1940’s. Frequently the elite felt a need for “Westernisation” which was seen to be equivalent to “modernisation”. However, granting mass participation in politics meant a necessary turn to traditionalist religious legitimisation. Frequently “sacred republics” rather than “sacred rulers” were the result.
The West has experienced its own crisis in understanding as many of the assumptions that have driven Western self-understanding have been open to increasing radical criticism. Examples of such questions are the following:
a) Is the objective, scientific way of viewing the world and of conceiving development in terms of material technology adequate to meet basic human needs?
b) Have we developed a manipulative attitude to our natural surroundings and a linear view of the process of history that will finally destroy us?
c) How do we understand work and progress?
C. Available Symbols and the Emergence of Cults
Revival can occur in society if the symbols which give value to the society are re-vitalised. If this is not possible new leaders or groups emerge which formulate a code (blueprint) for a new ideal society. Often a prophet is found who announces the way. This can occur within a culture or at times of transition between civilisations (a point stressed by Toynbee, A Study of History). Followers are found and an organisation formed that work for the transformation of society.
When such social revitalisation occurs with and within the value structures of a given society we can talk of revival. Often such revitalisation occurs through sects and cults or at times through the delineation of an entirely new religion, world view or scheme of values.
Question Two:
Ask yourself the following questions as you assess the function and adequacy of current values in your own experience.
1) What is the purpose (nature and function) of “my” church? Is it adequately communicating values to its members? to the local community?
2) Is the church being judged “dysfunctional” by the culture?
3) Given the human phenomenon of religion, if the church is being judged “dysfunctional” where will the religious “spirit” move? You may wish to think about the nature of the goals being given people today.
III. Biblical Patterns of Religion and Power
Through recognising the function of religion in human and social experience we come to see the power of religion. The idea of religion and power is not foreign to the Bible. Throughout Scripture we see different patterns of religion and power. By studying these we may come to a better understanding of the role of religion in person and social experience. Consider the following list. (Several of the ideas found here are suggested by Richard Bauckham, The Bible in Politics. How to Read the Bible Politically (SPCK, 1989)
A) Patterns in the Old Testament
1) Exodus 20 and Leviticus 19
2) Esther and God’s Providence
3) Psalms (e.g. 10 and 126)
4) Proverbs 31: 1-9
B) Patterns in the New Testament
1) The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:1-7:28)
2) Matthew 22:17 (22:34-40)
3) Galatians 5:1 (the exodus)
4) Romans 13 - Revelation 13
5) Revelation 18
Question Three:
As you seek for ways in which Christianity can revitalise
your own life and that of your society, consider the texts noted above.
You may wish to use them as the basis for an on-going Bible study or group
discussion.