{"id":4657,"date":"2017-08-28T10:02:23","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T18:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=4657"},"modified":"2017-08-25T10:09:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T18:09:53","slug":"to-change-the-world-week-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/08\/28\/to-change-the-world-week-ten","title":{"rendered":"To Change The World, Week Ten"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"To
To Change The World<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty in the Late Mod\u00adern World by James Davi\u00adson Hunter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ading-project-2017<\/a>. The read\u00ading sched\u00adule is online at https:\/\/xastanford.org\/summer-reading<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s read\u00ading was an inter\u00adest\u00ading start to Hunter\u2019s final essay. I\u2019m curi\u00adous to see where he goes with it.<\/p>\n

His over\u00adall point is pret\u00adty sim\u00adple: mod\u00adern cul\u00adture under\u00admines faith. He frames the chal\u00adlenge in two terms: dif\u00adfer\u00adence and dis\u00adso\u00adlu\u00adtion, which seem to rough\u00adly cor\u00adre\u00adspond to plu\u00adral\u00adism and per\u00adva\u00adsive uncer\u00adtain\u00adty (the sense that no source of infor\u00adma\u00adtion is thor\u00adough\u00adly trust\u00adwor\u00adthy).<\/p>\n

The chal\u00adlenge of plu\u00adral\u00adism is that it caus\u00ades any giv\u00aden belief to seem arbi\u00adtrary.<\/p>\n

In [plu\u00adral\u00adis\u00adtic] cir\u00adcum\u00adstances, one is no longer enveloped by a uni\u00adfied and inte\u00adgrat\u00aded nor\u00adma\u00adtive uni\u00adverse but con\u00adfront\u00aded by mul\u00adti\u00adple and frag\u00adment\u00aded per\u00adspec\u00adtives, any or all of which may seem, on their own terms, emi\u00adnent\u00adly cred\u00adi\u00adble. This social sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion oblig\u00adates one to choose, but once the choice is made\u2014given the ubiq\u00adui\u00adtous pres\u00adence of alter\u00adna\u00adtives in a mar\u00adket cul\u00adture ori\u00adent\u00aded toward con\u00adsumer choice\u2014one must reaf\u00adfirm that choice again and again. These are social con\u00addi\u00adtions that make faith\u00adful\u00adness dif\u00adfi\u00adcult and faith\u00adless\u00adness almost nat\u00adur\u00adal. (page 203)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is true that there are reli\u00adgious vir\u00adtu\u00adosi who main\u00adtain strong beliefs on their own with lit\u00adtle or no social sup\u00adport but these indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adals are rare. Most of us, how\u00adev\u00ader, need the rein\u00adforce\u00adment that social insti\u00adtu\u00adtions pro\u00advide to believe coher\u00adent\u00adly and live with integri\u00adty. There is a soci\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal truth, then, to the state\u00adment extra eccle\u00adsi\u00adam nul\u00adla salus<\/i>; that \u201cthere is no sal\u00adva\u00adtion out\u00adside of the church.\u201d Strong and coher\u00adent beliefs require strong insti\u00adtu\u00adtions envelop\u00ading those who aspire to believe. These are the con\u00addi\u00adtions that turn belief into set\u00adtled con\u00advic\u00adtions. (page 202)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The chal\u00adlenge of per\u00adva\u00adsive uncer\u00adtain\u00adty is that it under\u00admines all mean\u00ading, includ\u00ading reli\u00adgious mean\u00ading. Hunter spends some time talk\u00ading about mod\u00adern tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy and media and how dis\u00adcon\u00adnect\u00aded and super\u00adfi\u00adcial they cause our per\u00adcep\u00adtion of the world to be.<\/p>\n

An envi\u00adron\u00adment that is con\u00adsti\u00adtut\u00aded by sur\u00adface images and sim\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtions and that is frag\u00adment\u00aded and flat\u00adtened out can\u00adnot help but under\u00admine the real\u00adi\u00adty to which Chris\u00adt\u00adian belief and faith point. The words we use sim\u00adply fail to have the same kind of trac\u00adtion they once did. In such a con\u00adtext, it is dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to imag\u00adine that there is a spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal real\u00adi\u00adty more real than the mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal world we live in. Nei\u00adther is such an envi\u00adron\u00adment con\u00adducive to depth in reflec\u00adtion, rela\u00adtion\u00adships, or com\u00admit\u00adments. It is dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to dis\u00adcov\u00ader the qual\u00adi\u00adty of inti\u00adma\u00adcy in a friend\u00adship or in love that is nur\u00adtured through time and atten\u00adtive\u00adness to the sub\u00adtleties of need, mem\u00ado\u00adry, joy, and hurt. So too, it is dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to forge moral com\u00admit\u00adments capa\u00adble of endur\u00ading the vagaries of hard\u00adship, bore\u00addom, fail\u00adure, and even tri\u00adumph. A world cre\u00adat\u00aded by these tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies may not occlude depth in these ways but it will war against it. (page 210)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In sum\u00adma\u00adry:<\/p>\n

It is crit\u00adi\u00adcal to note that [the effect of plu\u00adral\u00adism, per\u00adva\u00adsive uncer\u00adtain\u00adty, and relat\u00aded trends] is pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly man\u00adi\u00adfest\u00aded not as prob\u00adlems that can be seen, objec\u00adti\u00adfied, ana\u00adlyzed, and respond\u00aded to but as a com\u00adplex array of assump\u00adtions so deeply tak\u00aden for grant\u00aded that they can\u00adnot be ful\u00adly grasped much less ques\u00adtioned. Cul\u00adture is most pow\u00ader\u00adful, as I have argued, when it is per\u00adceived as self-evi\u00addent. (211)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you res\u00adonate with these obser\u00adva\u00adtions, I rec\u00adom\u00admend you take a look at one of our recent sum\u00admer read\u00ading projects, How (Not) To Be Sec\u00adu\u00adlar<\/a> by James K. A. Smith. It\u2019s a help\u00adful (and short) book that deals with the nature of faith in mod\u00adern sec\u00adu\u00adlar con\u00adtexts. A good sum\u00adma\u00adry of it is at The Gospel Coali\u00adtion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Final\u00adly, some\u00adthing worth remem\u00adber\u00ading at Stan\u00adford:<\/p>\n

But rad\u00adi\u00adcal skep\u00adti\u00adcism lead\u00ading to rad\u00adi\u00adcal nihilism is, of course, rare. Apart from a few celebri\u00adty nihilists and a few dis\u00adaf\u00adfect\u00aded grad\u00adu\u00adate stu\u00addents, there are actu\u00adal\u00adly few con\u00adsis\u00adtent rel\u00ada\u00adtivists or com\u00admit\u00adted post\u00admod\u00adernists for the sim\u00adple rea\u00adson that it is not liv\u00adable. (page 207)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
Some things that look good on paper sim\u00adply don\u2019t func\u00adtion in a real-world set\u00adting. Nihilism is one exam\u00adple. In the polit\u00adi\u00adcal realm, social\u00adism and com\u00admu\u00adnism are clear exam\u00adples \u2014 any\u00adwhere they appear to work it is because some\u00adone has kept the label but changed the con\u00adtent. When\u00adev\u00ader you hear a fel\u00adlow stu\u00addent (or a pro\u00adfes\u00adsor) advo\u00adcat\u00ading a the\u00ado\u00adry you sus\u00adpect is wonky, exam\u00adine how it works in prac\u00adtice. Life is the lab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adto\u00adry of phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty in the Late Mod\u00adern World by James Davi\u00adson Hunter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cTo Change The World, Week Ten\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Continuing my summer series on James Davison Hunter's To Change The World. This week: how our culture makes faith implausible.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[209,210],"class_list":["post-4657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-summer-reading-project-2017","tag-to-change-the-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1d7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4657"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4662,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions\/4662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}