Interview with Dr. Terry Muck

Terry Muck teaches in world religions at the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of a number of books including A Pocket Guide to American Religion (Doubleday, forthcoming), Buddhists Talk About Jesus, Christians Talk About Jesus (Continuum, 2000), Ministry and Theology in Global Perspective: Contemporary Challenges for the Church (Eerdmans, 1996), and How to Study Religion (Wood Hill Books, 1993, 2005). He is also the author of a number of articles that have appeared in various periodicals, and he serves as the editor of Missiology: An International Review, the journal of the American Society of Missiology.

Terry has been actively involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue for a number of years.Terry recently taught an intensive course in world religions at Salt Lake Theological Seminary last semester. The emphasis of the course was a look at folk religious aspects of world religions. Terry graciously made some time in his schedule to share some thoughts.

Moreheads Musings: Terry, it is a pleasure to engage you in this dialogue. Thanks for taking the time to share some insights. I enjoyed your course last semester. Can you briefly share some of your background in education, experience and theological reflection that helped your current perspectives and approaches to world religions?

Terry Muck: After my divinity degree at Bethel Theological Seminary, I did a Ph.D. at Northwestern University in the history of religion. My focus was on Buddhism, specifically Theravada Buddhism. I lived a couple of years in Sri Lanka doing field research for my dissertation, a study of Theravada Buddhist monasticism. Since then I have worked in publishing (as editor of Christianity Today Magazine) and in theological education, first at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and then at Asbury Theological Seminary. The study of religion and religions has never been more important for the Christian church. The theological and practical questions raised by the growth of the non-Christian religion may be the ecclesial challenge of the 21st century—to say nothing of the impact of religious pluralism on human cultures in general.

MM: You wrote an article in 1997 for the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society exploring whether there is common ground among religions. Can you summarize your conclusions, and if you did find some kind of common ground, why is it important for Christians to emphasize this aspect as well as differences (which seems to be the preference among evangelicals)?

Terry Muck: Of course there is no end to the common ground one finds among the religions of the world. As a Christian I believe this common ground is a result of creation—all human beings were created in the image of God, with a strong desire to know God. Human beings have expressed that essential nature in literally hundreds of ways and thousands of different religions. Anyone who seriously studies the other religions of the world and does not see the commonalities is really not looking for them. On the other hand, anyone who seriously studies the non-Christian religions and does not see that they are different from Christianity is simply not paying attention. The other religions ask us to do different things for different reasons than does Christianity. A faithful study of the non-Christian religions should result in the discovery of both similarities and differences.

MM: In this article you summarize possible points of common ground, and I found one especially intriguing. You quote Hendrik Kraemer who said: "There really is only one point of contact...The attitude and disposition of the missionary." Why might this be especially important for Christians to consider in the post-Christendom, post-modern, post-9/11 Western world?

Terry Muck: Too often Christian mission has resulted in a strong disconnect between what Christianity teaches (the command to the best of our ability imitate the love and grace that God shows toward us to other people) with the manipulative and dishonest mission methods sometimes used. People of other religions have the same full range of emotions that we as Christians have, including love, hate, anger, joy. Whatever attitude we as Christian witnesses use when we tell the gospel story will connect with that same attitude in non-Christians. And they will associate that attitude with the story we are telling. It becomes a part of the Christian story. Of course, Kraemer was advocating that the attitude and disposition we have toward other people match the attitude and disposition of the gospel—love and grace and peace.

MM: In some of your other writing, such as a recent contribution you made to the journal Interpretation, you touch on the issue of a theology of religions in light of religious pluralism, specifically one that moves beyond the exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist paradigms. Can you summarize some of your thinking here, and why is this important for us to think about in terms of theology, methodology, and missiology, as well as daily living amidst religious pluralism?

Terry Muck: The exclusivist-inclusivist-pluralist paradigm focuses on a question that only God has an answer to, the question of salvation. We are not called to judge the eternal destinies of other individuals—God does that. We are called to witness to the truth of the story of God acting through Jesus Christ to restore our relationship with God. Basing our theology of other religions on a question to which only God has an answer means the theology runs out of meaning pretty quickly. Better to base our theology of religions on things we have some control over—loving our neighbors in every way by making life better for them. And telling them what difference the truth of the gospel has made in our lives in the hopes that they will learn to see their stories as a part of this much larger story.

MM: You have been involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue for some time. How did you get involved in this process, what kinds of things have you learned, and how has it helped you reflect on Christian theology and praxis?

Terry Muck: My studies of Theravada Buddhism created associations with scholars of Buddhism worldwide. Some of those scholars are not just students of Buddhism, but practitioners of Buddhism also. I found that scholars have a desire to go beyond their scholarship at a certain point and talk about faith, commitment, meaning, and destiny in a very personal way. These topics are not a part of academic discourse—for good reasons, by the way. But they are a part of every person’s total life, and as we discovered this about each other we realized we had a common desire to talk to one another about these extra-curricular activities. So some of us created the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies. We have been meeting annually for almost 30 years now. For ten of those years I edited the journal of the society, Buddhist-Christian Studies. The friendships I formed there have been an important part of my life, both professional and personal.

MM: Given your involvement in interreligious dialogue, do you see this as an essential and valuable aspect of the Christian life in a religiously plural world? What about it's value to Christian ministry? And would you have any thoughts about the various forms of the evangelical-Mormon dialogues taking place?

Terry Muck: Yes, of course it is essential. Without dialogue, any kind of mission becomes a caricature of itself, a one-way conversation where we are simply shouting into the darkness with no hope of really connecting with 21st century non-Christians. Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Mormons are too sophisticated religiously to seriously entertain the teachings of Christianity if they are presented without acknowledging the value of their religious traditions, and without any attempts to connect the grand Christian story with these other religious stories. It is not really a question of truth, although truth must play a part. It goes way beyond truth. It is a matter of effectiveness--and a matter of treating other people with the respect they deserve as children of God.

MM: The intensive course you taught for Salt Lake Theological Seminary last semester included a special emphasis on folk religion as it relates to world religions. Why is this aspect of understanding and study so important? Do you think we have a tendency to reify religions that may not always reflect our "textbook" understandings of them? And why might folk religious understandings of new religious movements be important for evangelicals?

Terry Muck: Every so-called world religion uses a “folk religion” as a cultural carrier. If we look for pure Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and others, we never will find them. Knowledge of pure Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam is essential of course. But understanding Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims will not take place unless we learn how these world religions are expressed in local contexts, as they are associated with discrete cultures and their attendant folk religions. And of course knowing another person and what they believe is essential to making the most effective presentation of the gospel story.

MM: Terry, you have been a valuable contributor to the Lausanne issue group on postmodern and alternative spiritualities, and a helpful force in shaping my own thinking on religious pluralism, theology, missiology, and interreligious dialogue. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview.

BeliefNet Article: "Are We Ready for a Mormon President?"

I recently became aware of an article by Cathleen Falsani of Religion News Service titled "Are We Ready for a Mormon President?" The article is posted on BeliefNet. Below is a sizeable excerpt:

As a teenager, spiritually educated in the Southern Baptist church and a conservative evangelical Christian school, I learned that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a cult, and that its members, the Mormons, most certainly were not Christians.

I heard repeatedly about Mormons' strange theological beliefs and about how to counter their evangelistic efforts with a response that Mormonism was a threat to "real Christians." And I can recall vividly reading the book "The Kingdom of the Cults."

Chapter Six: The Mormons.

The book outlined various Mormon "false teachings," the most egregious (at the time) being the addition of other literature beyond the Bible. "The Book of Mormon," "Doctrine and Covenants" and "The Pearl of Great Price" clearly violate, I was taught, the biblical prohibition against adding or subtracting anything away from Scripture.

These days, I don't think the LDS church is a cult. Nor do I believe Mormons are a threat to Christianity, true or otherwise. My impression of LDS church members is overall a positive one. They are, in my experience, largely a devout, accomplished, polite people.

The fear-based education I received about the Mormon menace didn't take. And while I don't buy what the LDS church is selling, I have enough historical perspective to realize that usually the difference between a cult and a religion is point of view.

All religious beliefs are equally weird. Just how weird is in the eye of the beholder. So what happens when the beholder is a voter?

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is a Mormon and a favorite among the Republicans campaigning for president.

Of late, Romney's Mormonism has become a political volleyball and I'm certain, as the 2008 election draws nigh, his beliefs and identity as a Mormon will be thoroughly scrutinized.

Last year, a Gallup Poll indicated that 66 percent of Americans are not "ready" for a Mormon president, and a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that 37 percent of voters said they would not put a Mormon in the Oval Office.

Romney insists his church doesn't instruct him one way or another in political matters. Forty-some years ago, John F. Kennedy said basically the same thing about his Roman Catholic faith, hoping to allay fears that the White House would be reporting to the Vatican.

Were Romney to become the first Mormon president of the United States, I'm doubtful the executive branch would be taking orders from Salt Lake City. That fear is as baseless now as it was in 1960.

Still, evangelicals make up about a quarter of the voting public.

And neither Romney nor any other candidate, no matter how otherwise appealing, will be able to sway many evangelical hearts on the issue of Mormon doctrine.

Romney's greatest hurdle may be the overall impression many Americans have of Mormonism in general. I'd describe it as a wariness of the weirdness.

...

While the doctrinal differences between Mormonism and traditional Christianity are immovable stumbling blocks for many evangelicals, the majority of Americans don't cast their ballots based on a candidate's theology.

Morals, ethics and character -- or the appearance thereof -- are a different story.

Is the candidate a good man (or woman)? Is he or she trustworthy?

Smart? Ethical? Pro-family (whatever that means)? Does he or she walk the talk, or live hypocritically?

Romney wouldn't get my vote because of his political ideology, but his religious beliefs wouldn't give me pause.

A churchgoing, clean-living, non-cussing, doesn't-even-drink-coffee Mormon could hardly be any worse for this country than a warmongering Methodist or a Southern Baptist with a hyperactive libido.

Pew Research Center Survey on American Muslims Stirs Controversy

Yesterday the American media reported variously on the results of a recent survey of American Muslims by the Pew Research Center. As the Pew Forum describes the report:

The first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.

The Pew Research Center conducted more than 55,000 interviews to obtain a national sample of 1,050 Muslims living in the United States. Interviews were conducted in English, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. The resulting study, which draws on Pew's survey research among Muslims around the world, finds that Muslim Americans are a highly diverse population, one largely composed of immigrants. Nonetheless, they are decidedly American in their outlook, values and attitudes. This belief is reflected in Muslim American income and education levels, which generally mirror those of the public.

Some of the key findings include the following:

*Overall, Muslim Americans have a generally positive view of the larger society. Most say their communities are excellent or good places to live.

*Based on data from this survey, along with available Census Bureau data on immigrants' nativity and nationality, the Pew Research Center estimates the total population of Muslims in the United States at 2.35 million.

*Muslim Americans reject Islamic extremism by larger margins than do Muslim minorities in Western European countries. However, there is somewhat more acceptance of Islamic extremism in some segments of the U.S. Muslim public than others. Fewer native-born African American Muslims than others completely condemn al Qaeda. In addition, younger Muslims in the U.S. are much more likely than older Muslim Americans to say that suicide bombing in the defense of Islam can be at least sometimes justified. Nonetheless, absolute levels of support for Islamic extremism among Muslim Americans are quite low, especially when compared with Muslims around the world.

*A majority of Muslim Americans (53%) say it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Most also believe that the government "singles out" Muslims for increased surveillance and monitoring.

*Relatively few Muslim Americans believe the U.S.-led war on terror is a sincere effort to reduce terrorism, and many doubt that Arabs were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Just 40% of Muslim Americans say groups of Arabs carried out those attacks.

One of the interesting facets of this report was not so much the report itself, but rather, the differing ways in which it was reported on in the media. In a post-9/11 America, and a country divided over the Iraq war and the broader war on terror, as well as divisions along political party lines, balance in reporting on this issue was lacking. Conservative media outlets reported on the sympathies of some young Muslims with terrorism almost to the exclusion of other considerations, while more liberal outlets reported on the successful assimilation of most U.S. Muslims into American life while neglecting to report on young Muslim attitudes toward terrorism.

The entire report can be downloaded here.

LCWE Announces Third International Congress

The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) has announced that the Third International Congress "will be held 16-25 October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa." The website continues and states:

The world is radically different from 1974, the date of the First Lausanne International Congress on World Evangelization. There are opportunities, challenges, and technologies that exist now that could not have been imagined at the time of Lausanne I or Lausanne II in 1989. Lausanne III will be the first international world evangelization congress of the third millennium.

Doug Birdsall, Executive Chair of Lausanne says, “It’s imperative that we convene the ‘elders of the church’ – both the wisdom leaders and the action leaders – to wrestle with the challenges and opportunities before us with respect to world evangelization. We must do a thorough assessment of the state of the church, the nature of the gospel, and the condition of the world in which we live and then determine together how we will respond.”

Lausanne III will serve as a “church council” in an attempt to formulate convictions about the changeless Gospel in such a way that makes sense in our rapidly changing world. Lausanne III will also serve as a catalyst to motivate the global church to courageous, creative, and collaborative response to the challenges before it.

Lausanne III participants will reflect the demographic and theological realities of the church. As such, Lausanne III will be a microcosm of the church as Lausanne leaders work to build appropriate bridges with like-minded believers. Special emphasis will be placed on involving women, younger leaders and laity.

Masters Degree Awarded and Thesis Completed

Last weekend I was p;rivileged to attend the commencement ceremony for Salt Lake Theological Seminary and was awarded the Master of Arts degree with a specialization in Intercultural Studies.

The last of the critical feedback on my thesis was received and incorporated as well. The title is “Burning Man Festival as Life-Enhancing, Post-Christendom ‘Middle Way,’” and it came with the following comments by one of my readers:

This is a superbly written and well argued analysis of Burning Man—its history and the lessons its success might have for the Christian church in the United States. The argument is cogent. The use of the modernist analysis of Victor Turner along with the late modernist Peter Berger and the post-modernist Hakim Bey to theoretically frame his analysis, reflected the very cultural shifts we are currently undergoing. In such a time of transition it is probably necessary to use all three in order to fully capture the complexity of an event such as Burning Man.

The author showed great facility in his handling of the scholarly literature necessary for his analysis. The careful reader comes away with great confidence that the author has mastered the normative sources, uses them faithfully, and yet goes beyond them for his own conclusions.

Of course, using an interdisciplinary approach one always runs the danger of not being considered fully expert in any of the disciplines. Although we could add books to reference to almost any area of consideration in this thesis, none seemed essential to the argument. The author does not come across as novice in any of the areas he covers, and convinces by making pointed observations and sober judgments.

The choices of the Jesus Movement and the Rainbow Family of Living Light as comparative foils were especially appropriate. Important movements, one Christian, one not, one enduring, the other enormously influencial through the movements it birthed. It would have been interesting to have the author speculate on what the fate of Burning Man might be, in light of the two trajectories of these comparative examples.

The most difficult section of the thesis is the ecclesiological reflexivity chapter. There is nothing particularly wrong with the chapter, and the suggestions the author makes regarding what the Christian church might learn from Burning Man seem helpful. Indeed, a great deal of expertise is evident in the author’s exposition of the half dozen positive lessons we might learn from Burning Man. But in a sense the author is struggling himself when he describes the Christian church in the United States as a struggling church. Perhaps the real problem is not the specific weaknesses the very success of Burning Man exposes, but that the church does not see itself as struggling. The church does not see that it has accommodated itself to an astonishing degree to a culture that is struggling, and in so doing the church has both infected itself with the same struggles and has inoculated itself from seeing its own disease.

I think this is a brilliant study, one of the best Masters theses I have ever read. I commend both the author and his professors and advisors.

--Terry C. Muck
Professor of World Religion
Asbury Theological Seminary

I look forward to using my academic study, and the lessons that have been learned as a result of my research and writing of the thesis. I hope that new and greater opportunities open up as a result. The question is where does a young scholar with expertise in the religious landscape of America and the West, cross-cultural and missional training, and the hopes for future Ph.D. studies go in the near future?

Post on Pan's Labryinth on TheoFantastique

I have posted some thoughts on the film Pan's Labyrinth on my other blog, TheoFantastique, in an article titled "Pan's Labyrinth: A Grand Fairytale and a Key to the World of Wonder." Those who do not normally read my other other, particularly my Neo-Pagan readers, might find this article of interest.

New Books of Interest: Wicca, Christianity, and the Druids

Two of the Pagan blogs that I read, Chas Clifton's Letter from Hardscrabble Creek and The Wild Hunt Blog, recently mentioned a couple of books that look interesting.

Chas Clifton's post mentions Wicca and the Christian Heritage: Ritual, Sex and Magic by Joanne Pearson (Routledge, 2007), with the following description from the publisher:

What is Wicca? Is it witchcraft, Paganism, occultism, esotericism, magic, spirituality, mysticism, nature religion, secrecy, gnosis, the exotic or 'other'? Wicca has been defined by and explored within all these contexts over the past thirty years by anthropologists, sociologists and historians, but there has been a tendency to sublimate and negate the role of Christianity in Wicca's historical and contemporary contexts.

Joanne Pearson 'prowls the borderlands of Christianity' to uncover the untold history of Wicca. Exploring the problematic nature of the Wiccan claim of marginality, it contains a groundbreaking analysis of themes in Christian traditions that are inherent in the development of contemporary Wicca. These focus on the accusations which have been levelled against Catholisicm, heterodoxy and witchcraft throughout history: ritual, deviant sexuality and magic.

Jason Pitzl-Watters's post at The Wild Hunt Blog mentions Druids: A History by historian Ronald Hutton (Hambledon & London, 2007). No description was provided, but Wild Hunt does include some interesting commentary on Hutton and how his work has been received by both academics and Neo-Pagans. These books appear to be worthy additions to the libraries of those involved in Pagan studies.

PBS Reports "The Mormons" Documentary Breaks Ratings Records: Lessons?

Various news outlets in Utah, from television to newspapers such as The Salt Lake Tribune are reporting that the PBS documentary, The Mormons, that aired earlier this week broke ratings records. As the Tribune reported,

[M]ore Utahns tuned into KUED Channel 7 and KBYU Channel 11 for the first episode of "The Mormons" Monday night than watched KJZZ Channel 14 and cable's TNT simulcast of game 5 of the Utah Jazz playoffs. "It's the highest [ratings] we've ever had," said KUED General Manager Larry Smith. "This is very phenomenal and very unusual." He said KUED likely will re-run the series in mid-summer. According to Nielsen Media Research, Monday's episode on the history of the LDS Church drew a 17.9 rating and Tuesday's segment earned a 17.7. Normally, KUED's weekly nighttime ratings are between 1.8 and 2.

The documentary was also the focus of a large audience outside of Utah. As the Tribune continued, "Nationally, the series was also was a relative hit. At a 3 rating, the documentary captured nearly double the viewers of a normal PBS weeknight, said KBYU spokesman Jim Bell."

As might be expected, reaction to the documentary has been mixed on both sides of the LDS/non-LDS divide with some speaking favorably on it and some negatively. One of the interesting things I find in the large viewing audience was that the program touched on several issues of controversy, such as skepticism concerning Joseph Smith's First Vision, his early involvement with folk magic of the time period, and polygamy, some of the very issues addressed in the Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith apologetic DVD that received mass distribution in Utah and neighboring states. Yet it is likely that far more Latter-day Saints watched The Mormons documentary with an open mind than ever considered the apologetic DVD. This is because the documentary producers interviewed a number of diverse sources, produced the program openly, invited the contribution and perspective of LDS Church leadership as well as rank and file Mormons, and strove for balance in their presentation.

I wonder what lessons evangelical filmmakers might take away from all of this?

Festivals and Festivity

In a previous post I noted the signfiicance of play theology to Western Christianity, particularly in reflection on how this is expressed as a major facet of alternative cultural events and intentional communties like Burning Man Festival. Play takes on special significance when connected to the issue of festivals and sacred festivity.

Festivals present specific challenges to Protestantism. While Roman Catholic and secular scholars have devoted serious attention to festivity, this is not the case with Protestants. Festivity is not taken seriously either as a cultural phenomenon or as a topic for scholarly exploration by most Protestants, and yet Catholic scholars have argued “that festivals belong by rights among the greatest topics of philosophical discussion” (Pieper 1999, back cover).

In the work of Yinger on countercultures, he includes a chapter on symbolic countercultures which use rituals of inversion that reverse and mock the established order. These countercultures have existed in the past and the present, and Yinger says that “such activities can be matched in the medieval and contemporary worlds” (1982, 154). Peter Burke discusses such phenomena in his book on popular culture in early modern Europe. He says that, “[c]arnival was, in short, a time of institutionalized disorder, a set of rituals of reversal” (1990, 190). Duvignaud references the same thing in his comment that “festival involves a powerful denial of the established order” (1976, 19). In the context of early modern Europe, this celebration of social inversion involved a number of phenomena, including dressing in costumes, cross-dressing, intense sexual activity, as well as weddings and mock weddings (Burke 1990, 186). Burke sees these activities as fulfilling an important social function as ritual regardless of “whether participants are aware of this or not” (ibid., 199).

Here we might note the connection of the festive and ritual expression of acts of social inversion to Burning Man. First, individuals come to the festival in order to carve out their own place in space and time which includes acts of creativity as well as social inversion. Second, the activities of social inversion at Burning Man exactly parallel those expressed in carnival and festival in early modern Europe, including costuming, cross-dressing, sexual activity, weddings, and mock weddings. Thus, the activities at Burning Man may be understood as a contemporary expression of festival with historical and cross-cultural precedents.

But an aspect of festival that may not be familiar to evangelicals is its connection in the past to the life of the church. As Bakhtin reminds us, carnival and festival provided a “second life of the people, who for a time entered the utopian realm of community, freedom, equality, and abundance” (1984, 9), and further “[a]ll forms of carnival were linked externally to the feasts of the church” (ibid., 8). Harris notes a similar historic connection between the church and festival and states that, “[a] good case can be made, however, for the argument that Carnival developed within the Christian community from the topsy-turveydom of Christmas” (2003, 140). Festivals thus have a historic connection to Christianity, both through Christmas celebrations as well as the connection between Carnival and Lent. Carnival is a Roman Catholic celebration with the carnival season being a holiday period that is celebrated during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for Holy Week, and its forty days of observance are symbolic of forty day periods of religious significance found in the Judeo-Christian narrative, most especially Jesus’ retreat into the wilderness for a time of fasting and temptation.

Yet even in this ecclesiastical context the social inversion of festivity was still present. Harris notes that carnival celebration in connection with Christmas in medieval and early modern Europe involved “[c]ross-dressing, masking as animals, wafting foul-smelling incense, and electing burlesque bishops, popes, and patriarchs [that] mocked conventional human pretensions” (ibid.).

If festival was connected at one point in history with the church’s sacred calendar, why did it disappear? At least two reasons seem likely. The first is that such festive play is perceived as dangerous in ecclesiastical contexts. As Manning states, “[p]lay theology, it seems, is frightened of sensuality, excess and ambiguity which all reside in the body and are unleashed in play process – as if it is frightened of the carnality of birth and death itself” (1983, 369). Krondorfer develops this idea further when he states that,

[p]lay processes (such as dance, festivals or ceremonies) are often excessive, transgressive, inversive and passionate. They can be carnivalesque in structure and ‘anti-theological’, as Julia Kristeva explains. They challenge ‘God, authority and social law’.

A few play theologians are aware of the fact that actual play processes, including religious rituals (such as the medieval Feast of Fools), are transgressive, subversive and dangerous; but they do not fully integrate this knowledge in their theological thinking’” (1993, 368).

Krondorfer’s analysis converges with Miller’s in that he later states that, “[p]lay theology, it seems, is frightened of sensuality, excess and ambiguity” (ibid., 369), and this frightening and dangerous form of expression and theologizing apparently proved threatening to the church.

The second reason why festivity has lots its connection to the church and its sacred calendar of celebrations may be connected to the Protestant Reformation. The celebration of certain holidays in the church calendar “diminished in importance” with the Reformation (Santino 1994, xvi), and further, some seem to have been expunged as a reaction against aspects of Roman Catholicism. As an example, Hutton comments on contemporary Protestant concerns over Halloween and its connection to All Saints and All Souls Day from the past:

Such an attitude could be most sympathetically portrayed as a logical development of radical Protestant hostility to the holy days of All Saints and All Souls; having abolished the medieval rites associated with them and attempted to remove the feast altogether, evangelical Protestants are historically quite consistent in trying to eradicate any traditions surviving from them. If so many of those traditions appear now to be divorced from Christianity, this is precisely because of the success of earlier reformers in driving them out of the churches and away from clerics… (1996, 384).

I suggest that despite the potential danger that festival celebration poses to the church with all of its rituals of social inversion, that the vacuum created in Western culture as a result of a lack of sacred festivity that includes social inversion has resulted in the creation of new forms of sacred festivity that are interpreted outside the Christian context through alternative cultural events such as Burning Man. Thus, festivals and festivity represent another “unpaid bill of the church.”

I argue that festivity need not be divorced from the context of Protestant community and church life. Indeed, the rediscovery and experimentation with festivity will play an essential part of the church’s engagement with Burning Man as well as other facets of postmodern spirituality. I believe that the church can benefit from fresh exploration of festivity in three areas, that of festivity serving as a reminder of the biblical teaching on social inversion, festivity as a tool for theological reflection, and as a source for fresh ritual in the church.

First, festivity reminds the church of it own traditions on social inversion. A number of biblical passages touch on this topic, with the “Magnificat” from the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel being one of the most relevant with its discussion of the raising of the humble and the bringing down of rulers from their thrones (verse 53). Harris discusses the connection between the social inversion of festival and the Judeo-Christian scriptural narratives in this area:

The Feast of Fools, with its explicit justification in the Magnificat, noisily proclaimed the Christian basis for festive roles of reversal…. [This is echoed in] Christ’s utterances about children and the Kingdom of Heaven, Isaiah’s prophecy that a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6), and the theme of inversion and the world turned upside-down found in texts like the ‘Magnificat’.. (2003, 141).

Second, festivals provide the church with another tool for theological reflection. Once again Harris’s comments are helpful:

The popular elements in patronal saints’ day festivals, like Carnival, have often been demonized as pagan or heretical...Could it be that popular religious festivals offer a source of theological wisdom, otherwise unarticulated and therefore unnoticed by formal theology, that is worthy of a place alongside sacred text, reason, and ecclesiastical tradition? Such a perspective would partly balance the standard sources of theology, which privilege clerical exegesis, educated reason, and authoritative legitimation of tradition (ibid., 28).

Third, festivity provides a source for fresh ritual in the church. Chad Martin has written an intriguing paper that explores the potential for carnival as a form of ritual that holds great promise for the church (1999). In his view, “Carnival is the necessary Dionysian expression that counter-balances the church’s otherwise Apollonian heady approach to religion” (ibid., 35). He draws attention to the “ecclesiastical symbolism” of festivals, including Mardi Gras (ibid., 36), and sets forth a case for the possibility of “ritual transformation” that takes place through Carnival and festival with its “precarious social inversion” (ibid., 37). Like Harris, he draws a connection between festive social inversion and biblical themes, and then makes a case for the necessity of the chaos and revelry of carnival for Christian worship (ibid., 40). In his view, festivity is important for Christian worship for two reasons: “first, the glorification of the humorous, light-hearted side of human experience; and second, the inversion of social standards (in the biblical settings this means the opportunity for social change)” (ibid.). Martin’s discussion then moves from the theological exploration of festival to its implementation and exploration in his local church setting, which involved the creation of carnival themes, reflection on biblical stories, costuming, music, “dancing, eating and laughing,” and carrying the festival out into the community through a “closing parade” (ibid., 39). For Martin, carnival involves an important theological message: “God’s kingdom is for the oppressed, and it can come surrounded with laughter, irony, celebration and freedom. ‘The chief attitude of [carnival] is one of peaceful revolution. When the spirit rules, the kingdoms of this world are overturned’” (ibid., 42). Through his discussion and example, Martin provides a way “for developing a meaningful carnival ritual” (ibid., 45) for church and community.

References Cited

Bakhtin, Michail. 1984. Rabelais and His World. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Burke, Peter. 1990. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, rev. ed. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate.

Duvignaud, Jean. 1976. “Festivals: a sociological approach,” Cultures 3/1: 13-25.

Harris, Max. 2003. Carnival and Other Christian Festivals: Folk Theology and Folk Performance. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Hutton, Ronald. 1996. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

Krondorfer, Bjorn. 1993. “Play Theology as Discourses of Disguise,” Journal of Literature & Theology 7/4 (December): 365-380.

Manning, Frank E. 1983. “Cosmos and chaos: celebration in the modern world,” in Frank E. Manning, ed., The Celebration of Society: Perspectives on Contemporary Cultural Performance. Bowling Green, OH: Bowing Green University Press.

Martin, Chad. 1999. “Carnival: A Theology of Laughter And a Ritual for Social Change.” Worship 73/1 (January): 33-45.

Pieper, Josef. 1999. In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press.

Santino, Jack, ed. 1994. Halloween and Festivals of Death and Life. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press.

Yinger, J. 1982. Countercultures: The Promise and the Peril of a World Turned Upside Down. New York: The Free Press.

Forthcoming Book on Teenage Witches

In my recent review of various blogs that I frequent I came across a post on Chas Clifton's blog mentioning a forthcoming book that sounds very interesting given its subject matter, the authors, and the cross-cultural analysis. I was so intrested I went ahead and ordered a copy through Amazon.com. Once I receive it I will give it a read and post some thoughts on reflection, but first I need to read through the book that Chas already provided by way of a gracious review copy, his own her hidden children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America (AltaMira Press, 2006). Here's the information on the new book from the publisher's website:

Teenage Witches
Subtitle: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self

Authors: Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy

Subject: Sociology / Religion Paper

ISBN 0-8135-4021-6 Cloth ISBN 0-8135-4020-8

Pages: 272 pages

Publication Date: June 2007

Price: $21.95

Praise for Teenage Witches
"This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Witchcraft and its appeal among real-life young people on three continents. It's a fascinating story of young practitioners who find in alternative spiritual practices a way to affirm diversity and respect for all people."

-Lynn Schofield Clark, author of From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural

"This book is informative, engaging, and enchanting. The interweaving of the vignettes and quotes from the authors' interviews is masterful."- James R. Lewis, author of Legitimating New Religions

Description:
A popular new image of Witches has arisen in recent years, due largely to movies like The Craft, Practical Magic, and Simply Irresistible and television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Charmed . Here, young sexy Witches use magic and Witchcraft to gain control over their lives and fight evil. Then there is the depiction in the Harry Potter books: Witchcraft is a gift that unenlightened Muggles (everyday people) lack. In both types of portrayals, being a Witch is akin to being a superhero. At the other end of the spectrum, wary adults assume that Witches engage in evil practices that are misguided at best and dangerous at worst.

Yet, as Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy show in this in-depth look into the lives of teenage Witches, the reality of their practices, beliefs, values, and motivations is very different from the sensational depictions we see in popular culture. Drawing on extensive research across three countries-the United States, England, and Australia-and interviews with young people from diverse backgrounds, what they find are highly spiritual and self-reflective young men and women attempting to make sense of a postmodern world via a religion that celebrates the earth and emphasizes self-development.

The authors trace the development of Neo-Paganism (an umbrella term used to distinguish earth-based religions from the pagan religions of ancient cultures) from its start in England during the 1940s, through its growing popularity in the decades that followed, up through its contemporary presence on the Internet. Though dispersed and disorganized, Neo-Pagan communities, virtual and real, are shown to be an important part of religious identity particularly for those seeking affirmation during the difficult years between childhood and adulthood.

About the Authors:
Helen A. Berger is a professor of sociology at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Douglas Ezzy is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

Trinity Consultation on Post-Christendom Spiritualities: The New Unreached People Groups

Description: Trinity International University, in conjunction with the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization Issue Group 16, The Church and New Spiritualities, announces an international conference on Christianity and new religious movements hosted by the School of Biblical and Religious Studies at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, USA on 16-19 October 2008. The conference will be a gathering of practitioners and scholars addressing the decline of Christianity in the West and the concomitant growth of new unreached people groups expressed in religions and spiritualities such as modern Paganism, New Age, and other alternative spiritualities. Plenary sessions and parallel workshops will address the topics of the future of religion in the West, the make up of the alternative religious marketplace and approaches in engaging adherents of alternative spiritualities.

Call for Papers: Practitioners and scholars working in the field of new religious movements are invited to submit a title and 400-word abstract along with a curriculum vita for consideration in the Post-Christendom Spiritualities conference. Special consideration will be given to papers addressing the academic study of new religious movements as well as the praxis of engaging these movements. Papers for the conference might include, but are not limited to, subjects such as the following:

The work of the Spirit in mission and New Spiritualities
Perspectives on contemporary spirituality from the sociology of religions
Missiology and contemporary spirituality in relation to Christian tradition in cross cultural mission and/or the study of world religions
Creation and redemption in Christian theology
Goddess spirituality and the theology of God
Inter-religious apologetics in post-modernity
The emerging church and emerging spiritualities
Science and new religions
The Christian and the paranormal
Christian approaches to complimentary medicine and energy healing

Papers should reflect the ideas expressed in the Lausanne Occasional Paper no. 45. Please submit a title, abstract and CV to mcooper@tiu.edu by 30 November 2007. A final decision of acceptance will be made 30 March 2008. The final program will be determined by 30 May 2008. If accepted, a paper must be submitted by 15 August 2008 for solicitation of responses from critical respondents.

Church Embracing "Marginalized" Groups

I just have to say it: I have seen a lot of that I really like from Jesuit mission and theological studies.

Now if you're a Protestant, and especially one of those folks who looks out for heresy, hold on to your hat, and give me a chance to explain. (The anti-Roman Catholic contingent is still pretty vocal out there.) What I mean by my appreciation for Jesuit missions refers to some of my heroes in the history of Christian mission such as Matteo Ricci who became a student of Chinese culture and who established a successful mission among Confucian literati. And as to what I appreciate in Jesuit theology, I refer specifically in this post to the work of Carl F. Starkloff in an article he worte for Theological Studies 58 (1970: 643-98 titled "Church as Structure and Communitas: Victor Turner and Ecclesiology." This article was helpful in my masters thesis on Burning Man, and continues to be helpful for further theological and missiological reflection.

In the article Starkloff begins by preparing his readers with a mention of Augustine and Johann Adam Mohler's position on heresy. Starkloff states that for both of these men, in addition to their concerns over heresy they also considered "it an opportunity for growth in the search for truth and the development of doctrine." As Starkloff prepares to discuss anthroplogist Victor Turner's discussion of liminality, structure, and anti-structure, he continues and says:

"The liminal experiences to be discussed here are not per se heretical, but they bear an analogy to heresy in that their separation from the conventional mainstream can be an occasion for creative reform if the Church will enter into genuine dialogue with these experiences."

Starkloff then continues and discusses the work of Turner, specifically in his work that describes society moving back and forth between the two poles of structure and communitas (the intimate social bond found between those working together for a mutual goal in a liminal or threshold space). Starkloff applies this in analogical fashion "to the creative theological tension between institution and community" in the church.

What I find interesting about Starkloff's perspective on this, especially as a Roman Catholic (a religious system that tends to emphasize institutional forms of the Christian religion), is his openness to learning from "marginal" groups. At one point he writes: "To what extent is is possible for the institutional Church, in its structural aspect, to sanction, interact with, and grow from its relationship with liminal communitas groups?" But Starkloff not only raises the question, he also supports an affirmative embrace of such groups when he says that those groups that are "'liminalized' or marginalized from society should be awarded a valued in place in the universal Church."

As I reflected on Starkloff's article I drew my own application in regard to the liminalized and marginalized groups that I engaged for my thesis, Burning Man Festival, and a contrast drawn with the Rainbow Family of Living Light. While evangelicals tend to ignore or stereotypically dismiss and condemn such groups I think Starkloff is correct when he asserts that the church can learn a lot from them, and that "[w]hat the Church might hope to gain..is no less than a deeper communion or koinonia." At least we should be willing to consider such possibilities.

Burning Man and Play Theology

One of the more interesting research and reflection points for me in the writing of my masters thesis on Burning Man was where I engaged in a process of critical reflection on what insights this intentional community and festival might have for the Christian church in America. In order to reflect appropriately I adopted an approach informed by the work of sociologist Peter Berger in his book A Rumor of Angels (first published in 1969 and expanded in 1990). Berger said that he wanted “to show how the intellectual tools of the social sciences, which had contributed greatly to the loss of credibility of religion, could be turned on the very ideas that had discredited supernatural views of the world.” He described this as a sociologically-informed process of theologizing, “a very rough sketch of an approach to theologizing that began with ordinary human experience, more specifically with elements of that experience that point toward a reality beyond the ordinary.” This involved an inductive approach, informed by anthropology as well as sociology, which resulted in a “search for "signals of transcendence" in order to "transcendentalize secularity." By these signals of transcendence Berger meant “phenomena that are to be found within the domain of our ‘natural’ reality but that appear to point beyond that reality.”

One of the signals of transcendence specifically mentioned by Berger is the "argument from play." Although very few Catholic or Protestant theologians have written on festivity and fantasy, some have written on the related concept of play. David Miller is one such writer, and his work provides a concise overview and some helpful considerations as to the relationship between Christianity and play. He refers to human beings in the context of religious play as homo ludens, or humanity at play, a concept which compliments Harvey Cox’s reference to human beings as homo festivus and homo fantasia. As he considers theology in relation to play he states:

"It is one thing to use “play” and “game” terminology to construct academic theories about nature, the social order, and the self, but it is an altogether different matter to speak of religious matters, indeed, of the gods and God himself, in these terms. It may seem to some even blasphemous. Of course, it is true that some contemporary studies of religion which have adopted the game/play metaphor are far from orthodox in their viewpoint. But what may seem surprising to some is the quite blatant fact that the greatest number and the finest quality of “game” and “play” theologies have been written by very orthodox scholars who themselves stand squarely in the front doors of the religious traditions they are interpreting"

Miller also includes a discussion of the origin and history of ideas about games and play, and their connection to religious thought. He points to its continuing existence in religion through the metaphor of the child at play and says this is applied not only to conceptions of an Edenic paradise, “but also to Utopia and the Day of the Coming of God’s Kingdom. Doctrines of eschatology as well as doctrines of creation found the metaphor of play appropriate.” He then provides examples to support this in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures through Zechariah 8:3-5, and mentions that “[o]n at least two occasions the Gospels credit Jesus as comparing the Kingdom of God with children and their game and play."

Miller then moves to a discussion of a theologia ludens, or a theology of play, and he refers to an example of it developed by Jesuit scholar Hugo Rahner wherein “the interpretation of traditional religion as play – would view God as a player, man as a player, the church as the community of play, [and] salvation (both now and in the life to come) as play.”

In his continuing discussion of concepts of work and play in the West, particularly in light of the Protestant work ethic, Miller states that,

"The church of the Western tradition lives in that period after the Fall into a life of labor as its Scripture in fact indicates. But the same church has not been able to anticipate the heavenly Kingdom, to which its Scriptures also refer, a Kingdom of the Spirit which, like paradise before the Fall, is pictured as a spirited life of play, where play is not laborious, as work is, but labor is playful just as games are.”

I would like to draw the reader’s attention to two areas for further consideration from the discussion above. First, the Protestant work ethic, while important, must also be balanced against other important theological considerations, such as the significance of play. Second, in the discussion above play is mentioned theologically in connection with two primary areas of theology, both as an expression of the Kingdom of God, and as an expression of creativity by those in that Kingdom community. Both aspects of play theology are important, but for the purpose of direct connection to Burning Man and Christian reflection I will focus on play and its connection to creativity.

Rahner connects human play to the activities of God himself. He says, “we cannot truly grasp the secret of Homo ludens, unless we first, in all reverence, consider the matter of Deus ludens, God the Creator who, one might say, as part of a gigantic game called the world of atoms and spirits into being.”

Another theologian, Krondorfer, also connects human play with God as creator and human co-creativity:

"In contrast to more traditional (non-play) theologies which have interpreted Eve’s and Adam’s transgression as a paradigm of humanity’s inherent sinfulness, play theological generally favours the notion of co-creatorship which is warranted in the biblical proclamation to make humans in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). Human creativity, play theology presumes, is good because it is imitative of God’s creation."

The connection between human play and God’s creativity is significant for consideration of play as it is manifest at Burning Man. Theologians need not abandon the notion that something is dreadfully wrong with human beings as recorded in the biblical story and as evidenced by humanity’s devastating actions against themselves, nature, and Creator, but this aspect of the biblical narrative might be held in tension in contrast with the notion of co-creatorship so that a theology of play as an aspect of creativity of the imago Dei can be explored.

Of course, my thesis goes into more depth on explaining these issues, and in providing suggestions as to how the church might reflect and experiment with play as an expression of worship and human creativity, but these thoughts might be enough to get some creative juices flowing in my readers. Is it possible that a festival in the middle of the Nevada desert provides important lessons for the church?

Another Positive Book Review for ENRM

Encountering New Religious Movements (Kregel Academic & Professional, 2004) has received another positive review in a theological journal. The most lastest, sent to me by Kregel Publications, comes from Criswell Theological Review. This latest positive review follows those of the past that have come from Global Missiology, Missiology, Bibliotheca Sacra, Ashland Theological Seminary, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, and Anvil. These reviews compliment the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award the book won in the category of global affairs/missions in 2005.

The book can be ordered directly from Kregel, or from other book distributors such as Amazon.

Interview with Irving Hexham: Part 1

Irving Hexham is a noted figure in religious studies. He teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary. He is a prolific writer, including journal articles and books. Some of the more significant volumes that relate to this blog include two that he co-wrote with his wife Karla Poewe, Understanding Cults and New Religions (Eerdmans, 1986), and New Religions as Global Cultures: The Sacralization of the Human (Westview Press, 1997). He has also served as editor and contributed chapters to a number of works, including the volume that I had the pleasure of working with him on, Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach (Kregel Academic & Professional, 2004).

Morehead's Musings: Irving, it is a pleasure to be able to talk with you and to learn a few important lessons about religion in our global culture. Let's start with a little of your background. How did you come > to the Christian faith, and where did you pursue your academic studies?

Irving Hexham: The town I was born in was Whitehaven, Cumberland, now known as Cumbria, which was the only English town to be attacked by the Americans during the War of Independence when the privateer John Paul Jones destroyed the shore batteries. My birthplace was 1 Scotch Street which was the last English house the Washington family stayed at before sailing to America. In a nearby churchyard is the grave of George Washington's grandmother. Not for from Whitehaven are the churches of Gosforth and Bewcastle both of which have some of the oldest stone crosses in England. All around were Roman, Medieval, and Georgian buildings. I say this to give you some indication of the sense of history which was part of my upbringing in what had been an ancient Christian part of Britain.

When I was eleven years my family was living in nearby Workington where like everyone else I knew I sat an exam known as the "Eleven Plus." Everyone had to take an exam known as the 11+. It decide who went to what were called a "Secondary Modern Schools" and who went to the local "Grammar School." At that time 5% of the population went to the elite public schools like Eton, around 10% went to Grammar schools and the remaining 85% went to Secondary Modern Schools. You can read all about this in Anthony Sampson’s excellent book Anatomy of Britain (New York, Harper and Row, 1962).

Those who passed the Eleven Plus had a chance of going on to university although even then only 27% of Grammar School boys went to university. The rest were from the Public Schools which, although they represented only 6% of the population took most university places. Everyone else “left” school at the end of the term following their fifteenth birthday.

Needless to say I failed my Eleven Plus and went to Secondary Modern Schools in Workington, Walkdne, Lancashire, and then Cheadle, Cheshire, where my family moves when I was fourteen. A few months after arriving in Cheadle I left school to begin work with the North Western Gas Board (NWGB) as an apprentice gas fitter. This was fortunate because the NWGB, which was a Nationalized Industry owned by the Government, was one of the best companies in Britian.

My apprenticeship lasted six years during which time we were sent to technical colleges during one day a week during the winter months. At the end of this period I had the equivalent of what is today a B.Sc. in Gas Engineering. At the Gas Board I only met two people who professed to be Christians all the others were thorough going "heathens." The two Christians were both Roman Catholics. At that time my hobby was stage magic, that is conjuring which has nothing to do with the occult but is a form of entertainment. Through this hobby I met Norman Hazeldene who was a retired inventor of magical tricks. He also lent me books on free thought and partly as a result of those, partly through what I had learnt or rather not learnt in school, and partly from the people I worked with I realized that I did not believe in Christianity.

My agnostic period lasted three years. It ended gradually when I was eighteen after I met a group of Christians who were holding an open air evangelistic meeting one Sunday evening. Actually, I was on my way to the Post Office to send off a letter ordering some magic tricks. On my way I saw the Christian group on the village green and crossed the road to avoid them. But, they were expecting that sort of thing and had posted some young people one the sidewalk to give out tracts. One of these, a very pretty blond engaged me in conversation for a few minutes before I “escaped” and got on with my business.

The next Saturday I was shopping in Cheadle when I met the same girl who recognized me and invited me to a youth group that evening run by Cheadle Parish Church which was Anglican. Since she was very attractive I accepted only to find when I got there that she already had a boyfriend, Peter Heyman, who later became Head of Department and Professor of Old Testament at the University of Edinburgh. Anyway, Peter and I soon became close friends and I began attending the youth group, which was run by a Rev. Peter Downing, on a regular basis. Sometime over the next six months I gradually changed my religious views. It was all very slow and began with my reading the J.B. Phillips translation of the “New Testament.”

As a result of this I became convinced of the reality of the resurrection and became a Christian. Two very important things happened shortly after this.

First, Billy Graham came to Manchester for the Greater Manchester Crusade in 1961. As a new Christian I attended the “counseling classes” along with others from my church which were taught by Dan Piet. Then shortly before the Crusade began I put an advertising sticker on the petrol (gas) tank of my motor bike.

Shortly after doing this I was down at the local offices of the Gas Board in Stockport when one of the bosses came out and asked me if I was involved in the Billy Graham Crusade and whether I went to Church. When I told him that I was a Christian and very involved with both things all he said was “good luck to you.”

A year later the same man, who I saw fairly regularly at work, called me into his office. This time he asked if I was still “going to church.” When I said “yes” he said “That’s wonderful. I have to send an apprentice on an industrial exchange visit to Berlin organized by the Industrial Chaplaincy. So I might as well send you as any of the other buggers who are bloody heathens.”

As a result in late August early September 1962 I made my first visit to Berlin almost exactly a year after the building of the Berlin Wall. What was really exciting about this visit is that we were taken into the East by a young American pastor Wesley Burdett who arranged for us to meet some young East German Christians.

This visit really changed my life and I both began learning German and began to think seriously about the challenge Communism presented to Christians.The other thing that happened was that Peter Hayman and a number of other Christian friends, all of whom had gone to Cheadle Grammar School, went up to university to study theology in October 1961 only a few months after I first became a Christian. Over the next year one friend, from a prominent Christian family, completely lost his faith while Peter and a couple of others were really began to struggle with their faith because of the impact of biblical criticism on their rather naïve evangelical beliefs.

From these two experiences, my visit to Berlin and the struggles of my friends, I developed an interest in Christian apologetics. At the same time I also began to attend the Saturday evening meetings of the Manchester Inter-Faculty Christian Fellowship (MIFCU)which was held at Ivy Cottage Church in nearby Didsbury. Actually, it was Peter who introduced me to a Christian friend of his, Ashby Owens, who was studying with Prof. F.F. Bruce. In those days the MIFCU meetings were very well organized with people like John Stott and Martyn-Lloyd Jones speaking there once a year.

Through MIFCU I also met Clark Pinnock who was one of Bruce’s graduate students. Clark did two things that really shaped my thinking. First, he encouraged me to visit L’Abri in Switzerland which I did for the first time in April 1965. After that I became a disciple of Francis Schaeffer who was very kind to me and encouraged me to attend university. Second, through Clark, and his wife Dorothy, I met Don Hagnar, who later taught at Fuller Seminary, and Ward and Laurel Gasque who were among the founders of Regent College in Vancouver.

In the meantime I was doing very well at the Gas Board where I first became a manager and then a Lecturer in Gas Fitting and Technology at Stretford Technical College in Manchester. Nevertheless, I began to study for university entrance qualifications. This I did through correspondence courses studying early in the mornings because my work schedule did not allow me to attend night school.

As a result I 1967 I left the Gas Board and began a new career as a student at Lancaster University. Initially, under Schaeffer’s influence and guided by his son-in-law Ranald Macaulay, I decided to study Philosophy and the History of Science. But, that year Professor Ninian Smart opened the first Religious Studies Department in Britain and I soon switched my major to Religious Studies.

Once again I was very fortunate because Lancaster was a dynamic place that has consistently ranked as the top Religious Studies Department in Britain. There, among my fellow students were a number of committed evangelicals including Roger Mitchell who later became an evangelist in Britain. Currently Roger is back at Lancaster completing his Ph.D. Certainly this was a very stimulating time with excellent teachers like Adrian Cunningham, the former Catholic editor of the “New Left Review” he was a well informed “Christian Marxist” who taught Modern Religious and Atheistic Thought. Bob Morgan, who we all described as a “Bultmaniac” because of his radical views taught New Testament. His work was balanced by the evangelical scholar David Catchpole. Visiting lecturers taught the Old Testament and Church History.

Ninian Smart taught the Phenomenology of Religion, Indian religions and with Colin Lyas the Philosophy of Religion, as did James Richmond. Michael Pye a fascinating teacher and expert of Japanese Buddhism, James Dickie, a Scottish convert to Islam whose Arabic name is Yakub Zakki, taught Islam, and the great Buddologist Edward Conze taught me Buddhism. Stuart Mews also introduced me to the Sociology of Religion and the importance of carefully reading classic texts.

Dickie was a brilliant man whose analysis of Islam was superb while Conze was unforgettable. Neither of them were Christians but the fact that I was, or that anyone was, did not matter to them. All they wanted was a commitment to scholarship and hard work. On reflection none of the professors at Lancaster, with the exception of Catchpole, were evangelicals. But, all were publishing scholars who did not allow their personal beliefs or feelings to influence their judgment of students. Only after I came to North America did I experience the sort of blatant prejudice among professors that drives evangelical students to take refuge in Christian universities and Bible Schools.

From Lancaster I went on to the University of Bristol to work with F. B. Welbourn who was an expert on African religions and author of the groundbreaking Welbourn, F. B. East African Rebels : A Study of Some Independent Churches. London: SCM Press, 1961. Initially I wanted to study the influence of Calvinism in South Africa but he convinced me to study a local religious movement because he believed researchers must “get their hands dirty.” Therefore, he argued that it was no good writing about South Africa without first going there. As a result of his influence I took courses on Anthropology and wrote my MA thesis on new religious movements in Glastonbury.

Once my MA was completed I began work on my PhD with Fred Welbourn and Kenneth Ingham who was Professor of History at Bristol. Ingham was a highly decorated infantry officer who began studying theology after completing his PhD on missionaries in India. After a year he quit theology because he found the methods “Micky Mouse.” He then took a job at the Makerere University in Uganda where he became a leading expert on African history. When I studied with him he was writing a book, Jan Christian Smuts, the Conscience of a South African (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986). In addition, his book Reformers in India, 1793-1833: An Account of the Work of Christian Missionaries on Behalf of Social Reform (New York: Octagon Books, 1973), is a classic study of missionaries and Indian society which very few evangelicals know anything about.

Under the able guidance of Welbourn and Ingham I then wrote my Ph.D. thesis on the origins of the ideology of apartheid which was later published as “The Irony of Aparthied,” Toronto, Edwin Mellen Press, 1981. The interesting thing about my time at Bristol is that both my supervisors were at the top of their respective fields and very well respected scholars who were practicing Christians.

Upcoming PBS Production - The Mormons

I was recently given the privilege of previewing a press copy of the first installment in a two-part documentary produced by a collaborative effort between PBS's series' FRONTLINE and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. The documentary is titled The Mormons, and Part 1 is scheduled to air on Monday, April 30, with Part 2 following on Tuesday, May 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS. Local broadcast times can be checked here.

This documentary is the work of filmmaker Helen Whitney who was responsible for two other PBS projects, including John Paul II: The Millennial Pope, and Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero. A production profile and press release issued with the press copy of Part 1 of this documentary states that "Whitney gained unusual access to Mormon archives and Church leaders as well as dissident exiles, historians, and scholars both within and outside the faith." Whitney is quoted as saying, "Through this film, I hope to take the viewer inside one of the most compelling and misunderstood religions of our time."

Part 1 is divided into six Acts, including segments on Revelation, The Saints, Persecution, Exodus, Mountain Meadows Massacre, and Polygamy. Both believing Latter-day Saints and skeptics of the Church will find balanced representation here as LDS General Authorities and faithful Mormons share their understanding of the Mormon faith, and skeptics share their perspectives as well.

A press release for the documentary be downloaded here, and a fact sheet at this location.

Burning Man Masters Thesis Near Completion

My masters thesis on Burning Man is near completion. This week I will complete the draft and begin to fine-tune it while soliciting critical feedback for revisions before turning in a final copy to the seminary at the end of the month. Below is a copy of the proposal I presented to the seminary on the topic for those that may be interested.

The scholarly analysis of Burning Man is a relatively recent area of specialization for the academic community. Scholarly analysis of spirituality and religiosity in the West at times includes studies on Burning Man, and it has also been the focus of at least one masters thesis, and doctoral dissertations. Some of these treatments have found their way into academic books dealing with American popular religion and the rave dance phenomenon. But even with this relatively recent area of study and specialization, something of an academic “orthodoxy” has already developed in terms of the theoretical lens by which this festival and community is understood. A comparison of many academic studies on Burning Man demonstrates strong dependence upon the theories of the late anthropologist Victor Turner. Turner applied the work of French folklorist Arnold van Gennep to rites of passage among African tribes, and in particular his three-fold structure or phases of this process consisting of separation, margin (or limen), and aggregation (or reaggregation). The experiences of these tribal people during the liminal phase resulted in a strong sense of social cohesion which Turner called “communitas.” Turner’s theories have been extremely influential and have provided one of the major frameworks by which Burning Man studies are conducted.

Yet as common as Turner’s theories on ritual and communitas may be in the analysis of Burning Man they are not without their difficulties, as has been recognized, for example, by Graham St. John in his analysis of Australia’s ConFest. In addition to these difficulties and shortcomings, other perspectives might be considered by the academic community that would shed additional light on our understanding of the Burning Man phenomenon. This thesis represents an exploration of two such possibilities that provide alternative analytical perspectives. The first is the “homeless mind” thesis developed in 1974 by Peter Berger, Brigitte Berger, and Hansfield Kellner, and its modification in 2002 by Paul Heelas and Linda Woodhead. Berger et al.’s thesis explored the lack of confidence of the Sixties counterculture in mainstream institutions that ceased to provide an adequate psychological home for the self. Without these moorings these “homeless minds” turned within to their own “subjectivities” and then looked to the “secondary institutions” of alternative spirituality and psychology as a way of guiding the deinstitutionalized self. The homeless mind thesis has been revisited by Heelas and Woodhead and revised in light of the intervening decades since the 1960s. They suggest that the homeless mind thesis is sound and of continuing value to an understanding of the contemporary West, but that the countercultural turn to the self has broadened to include “relational, humanitarian, ecological or cosmic” dimensions, and that with this has come the development of new secondary institutions that navigate a “’middle way’ between primary institutions and the fragile resources of the homeless self drawing upon itself.”

The second analytical perspective is that provided by Hakim Bey and his discussion of the Temporary Autonomous Zone. For Bey, as the name of his concept implies, this is a temporary location in space and time that frees an individual from social control and enables them to create a new vision of reality in opposition to existing social structures.

Both the concepts of the homeless mind with its accompanying secondary institutions, and the Temporary Autonomous Zone, provide us with additional heuristic tools that enable alternative understandings of the Burning Man phenomenon.

The main thrust of this thesis is that Burning Man is an alternative cultural event created as a secondary institution that provides a religious or spiritual function as a substitute for mainstream religious institutions. This secondary institution functions by means of a Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ), or perhaps more accurately, numerous TAZs, where art, ritual, and other forms of self-expression facilitate new understandings of self, expressions of spirituality, and forms of communitas and community. The social function of Burning Man as a secondary institution in post-Christendom means that it represents a significant cultural, social, and spiritual phenomenon in America which provides important lessons for the Christian church.

This thesis will be developed in the first chapter with a consideration of Burning Man in alternative academic analysis. Chapter One will begin with a brief discussion of the origin, history, and self-understanding of Burning Man as described by the founders of and participants in the event. I will then consider Berger, Berger, and Kellner’s homeless mind thesis, followed by its modification by Heelas and Woodhead. I will also look at Bey’s Temporary Autonomous Zone, and having put down this fresh foundation for analysis, I will consider how these concepts affect our understanding of Burning Man.

Chapter Two will explore Burning Man by way of historical contrast. I will consider two alternative culture movements that arose as a result of the 1960s counterculture, including the Jesus People Movement that traces its origins back to the San Francisco Bay Area of California and the Pacific Northwest, and the Rainbow Family of Living Light, a nomadic group that also traces its origins to the same geographical regions and general timeframe and which gathers on an annual basis in various national forest lands in the United States. This chapter will note the reactions of these groups to consumerism and organized religion, as well as the reactions of mainstream society to these groups. I will then consider the similarities between these groups, particularly between the Rainbow Family and Burning Man. I will conclude this chapter with the application of the concepts of the homeless mind and secondary institutions, as well as the Temporary Autonomous Zone, to the Jesus People Movement, and the Rainbow Family. This application will demonstrate that these concepts apply to these alternative cultures as readily as they do to Burning Man, and will shed additional light of how our understanding of Burning Man might be enlarged by consideration of these historical predecessors and “alternative cultural cousins.”

The results of the application of the insights from the preceding chapters result in a shift to ecclesiological reflexivity in Chapter Three. Given the existence of Burning Man as a post-Christendom secondary institution and middle-way I will consider what lessons the church might learn in critical self-reflection from the appeal of secondary institutions such as Burning Man and alternative spiritualities that arise, in part, as a result of the loss of confidence in traditional religious institutions. I will also consider insights from counterculture studies, utopian studies, festivals and festivity, and play theology, and how the Western church’s reflection and experimentation in these areas might aid in its own revitalization with the corresponding perceptions of its credibility among those involved in alternative cultural events. I will conclude with how this might shape our understanding of the form of the church in engagement with twenty-first century alternative cultural events and communities.

Muck Lecture: Karl Ludvig Reichelt and the Johannine Approach to Religious Studies

Last night was the final lecture by Terry Muck of Asbury Theological Seminaryat Salt Lake Theological Seminary in connection with the final weekend of his intensive course on world religions. His lecture was titled "The Johannine Approach to Religious Studies." Muck began this three-part series several months ago and in his first installment he looked at the Christian study of non-Christian religions and how this has a legitimate place in missions. His second lecture built upon this and discussed how mission workers can be good religious studies scholars, and included interaction with Rodney Stark's writings as an example of this, and its relevance to understanding the growth of religions. This final installment provided an example of a contextualized approach to Asian religions, that of Karl Ludvig Reichelt.

Muck shared a brief biography of Reichelt (1877-1952) as a Norwegian Lutheran, raised in a conservative pietistic church community. He later began missionary work among Chinese Buddhist monks, and Muck described him as a missionary, scholar, and pilgrim. Reichelt began his work in very traditional ways through open air preaching and the distribution of evangelistic tracts in Chinese. While Reichelt did see some success in this in terms of a few converts, nevertheless, Muck characterized this as an effort with no appreciable success. Reichelt then changed approaches and adopted a contextualized mission approach that might be understood as standing between traditional and pluralistic approaches.

Reichelt became a student of Buddhism and did his best to understand how this religion and culture understood not only its own religious expression, but also how its cultural filter interpreted reality. Reichelt developed his missional approch that he dubbed a Johannine model based upon John's Gospel and its discussion of the logos in chapter 1. It would eventually lead to his establishment of a pilgrim's study facility, the infamous Tao Fong Shan Centre in Hong Kong. (Further discussion of Reichelt may be found in Eric J. Sharpe, Karl Ludvig Reichelt: Missionary, Scholar & Pilgraim [Tao Fong Shan Ecumenical Centre, 1984].)

Muck pointed out that Reichelt's approach resonated with the Chinese mindset. His emphasis on harmony and relationships appealed to the Buddhist and Confucian foundations of Chinese culture. His work remains one of the classic studies in missional contextualization, and one with great lessons for those working among new religions in the West.

The following day Muck began the first day of his two-day course. Two items stuck out for me today as we reviewed the primary "worldview base" of the three major sources of the world's religions, including India, China, and the Middle East. Muck summarized these systems, noting that in Indian systems the key elements are samsara, karma, and dharma. In Chinese systems the essential ideas are the Tao, Ying/Yang, divination, and ancestors. In the Middle Eastern traditions the elemetns are monotheism, ethics, history, and judgment/reward. As we reviewed these central defining elements of these worldview bases Muck commented that these should be understood as "more than just doctrines." These serve as the very filters through which other religious cultures understand reality. Thus struck me in application to new religions in that evangelicals many times approach their adherents with the mindset that they can persuade new religionists to merely replace doctrines one for another without recognizing that these elements are not merely doctrinal, they serve as foundational prisms for viewing reality.

A key missiological question that arises from this is how the story of Jesus can be presented within the framework assumed by these worldview bases that does not require the religious other to assume a Western worldview. The second issue arises from this consideration in that Westerners need to move beyond their efforts at making others see the world as we do. Of course, these questions have application to ministry among new religions. Evangelicals might not only consider the foundational depth of the worldview base of religious others as more than superficial and doctrinaire, and also consider how greater portions of a new religions culture can be retained and the gospel communicated in light of these frameworks.

Gerald McDermott and Robert Millet Dialogue

In a previous post I interviewed Gerald McDermott of Roanoke College. In that interview mention was made of a forthcoming book co-authored by McDermott and Robert Millet of Brigham Young University. A preview of the shape this book might take can be found in a previous public dialogue between these two scholars that can be found here:

http://www.roanoke.edu/crs/audio/McDermott-Millet-9-20-05.mp3

Lessons from an Ossuary

Several weeks ago the media was saturated with discussion of an ossuary or bone box that according to some theorists held the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, thus falsifying the Christian claim that he rose from the dead after his crucifixion. I did not comment on the subject as it is not directly relate to the areas of focus of this blog, and archaeology is not my area of expertise. However, I would like to approach the topic from another angle to see if something might be learned by way of comparison.

As the ossuary story was discussed in the news it also made its way to various websites and blogs, and of course many Christian websites touched on the topic as well. I read several of them and a pattern quickly developed in that the response of Christians was predictably one of critique in terms of the authenticity of the box and the credibility of the claim that its existence questioned the truthfulness of Christianity's central truth claims. The Christian response to this topic was understandably apologetic and defensive in nature, and in my brief and unscientific review of Christian perspectives I did not find a single Christian writing on the topic who appreciated the opportunity provided by the story to reassess a commitment to Christianity. Neither did I find any Christians sharing their thanks for this story in destroying their faith in Christianity while simultaneously facilitating their transition to agnosticism, atheism, or some other metaphysical commitment.

Again, the Christian reaction to this story was understandable. In a way the documentary program on the ossuary functioned as rhetoric designed to undermine the credibility of Christianity's truth claims, whether it was consciously produced to accomplish this function or not. Of course, this was not the first time such rhetoric has made the rounds, as the claims of the Jesus Seminar from a previous decade remind us.

I think we can learn important lessons from the ossuary if we compare it to another context. Just as Christians were not positively predisposed to consider the falsification of one of their major truth claims when confronted with a critical documentary, but instead responded defensively and apologetically, I would suggest that adherents of new religions are likewise not predisposed to positively consider overt Christian challenges to their faith commitments. A case in point for illustration is the recent Jesus Christ - Joseph Smith DVD currently being distributed in the United States and Canada. It is extremely likely that Latter-day Saints will respond to the challenges presented in the DVD in exactly the same way that Christians responded to the challenges presented in the ossuary.

I think these considerations present us with some interesting possibilities for reflection. What lessons might evangelicals learn from a limestone box?