consumertechnologicaltheraputicmilitarism
I heard a description of American society from theologian Walter Bruggeman that I thought I would toss out for general blogger consumption. I was listening on my ipod to a talk he gave at the Emergent Theological Conversation in 2004 in which is started with 19 theses that he'd been thinking about. One was that everyone lives by a script. By script he meant a larger story or narrative that gives meaning to or motivates whatever we do. He then proceeded to say that the dominant script in America is what he calls "Consumer-Technological-Theraputic-Militarism." I think he's right on both counts. If you look at those 4 words (which he said he chose very carfully) I think you will find an adequate description of the prevailing forces in American culture. The one that might need description is "theraputic" which he said effectively means that if I buy the right things or get the right job or have the right friends then I will feel better about myself. All of these 4 descriptions, I reckon, are all fallacies. None of them are a valid dominant narrative by which to live our lives, because they are all ultimately empty...by that I mean they don't bring satisfaction or true meaning...just a drive to do or conquer or consume more. Which brings me back to how I am reading the Bible. I think that unless I continue to immerse myself in an alternate story...the story of God...I will find myself continually falling into at least one aspect of the dominant American consumer-technological-theraputic-militarism that is all around me. I hope I can be a part of living and writing a better story.
posted by justin ubel at 11:51 PM
2 Comments:
What a word! Try to see if you can use it in a sentence sometime this week while talking about buying grocries.
I wonder how much the consumeristic and theriputic approaches seep into our way of approaching scripture.
If I just buy this one new Christian book...What does this passage mean to me?...Man, I really could use another Bible, I only have 5...
To Aaron:
I think the consumeristic and therapeutic approaches are the ones that effect it the most. I have heard the bible turned into a self-help book. Quoting scripture and giving a 5 point thesis on how to make you a better christian, or a better person. I've heard stories of Salvation given as a commodity. Like if you go to church enough, or you follow the rules enough then you'll be saved and go to heaven. oOh But you may not hear it directly, you may not even see it directly. But an underlying theme in the last century has been to give a Christian message that is therapeutic to tell people How the Bible says to live their lives. And then recieve the offering from them, because that's what good Christians do right? That looks awefully consumeristic and therapeutic.
You can see a little of the militarism in how the Church has treated outsiders in the last century. Being known to the secular world as people who Fight Against Abortion, against gay marraige, against blah blah. Militarism is seen in what the CHristian church fights against.
And the last one: technological.. While I think this is a hard one to identify with in the church. I think the church has used the technological aspect more like Logical Discourse, or rather, to Prove ones own point in Argumentative Debate. Like being able to refute an evolutionists arguments about the creation of the world. While it's not bad to be able to prove it to yourself, I wonder at how far the Church has taken the whole proofs thing, since the Message of Jesus is all about Love, I think somewhere His love gets lost when a Creationist tells an evolutionist their whole belief system is wrong because they have no proof for it and they are going to suffer in hell unless they have an epiphany of the real thing!
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