Understanding the Sacred: Sociological Theology for Contemporary People

Understanding the Sacred

Sociological Theology for Contemporary People

Murray Milner Jr.

Understanding the Sacred

Sociological Theology for Contemporary People

Copyright © 2019 Murray Milner Jr. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Problem

Chapter 2: Religion, Sacredness, and Status

Chapter 3: Meaning, Mystery, Magic, Metaphor, and Explanation

Chapter 4: Some Classical Doctrines in a New Language

Chapter 5: The Church

Chapter 6: More Doctrines in a New Language

Chapter 7: Worship

Chapter 8: Is There a God?

Chapter 9: Conclusion

Appendix: Discussion Questions

Bibliography

For the members of the Contemporary Theology class

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2015–2018

Other books by Murray Milner Jr.

Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: Teenagers in an Era of Consumerism, Standardized Tests, and Social Media, revised edition (Routledge 2015)

Elites: A General Model (Polity 2014)

Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools, and the Culture of Consumption (Routledge 2004)

Status and Sacredness: A General Theory of Status Relations and an Analysis of Indian Culture (Oxford University Press 1994)

Unequal Care: A Case Study of Interorganizational Relations in Health Care (Columbia University Press 1980)

The Illusion of Equality: The Effects of Education on Opportunity, Inequality, and Social Conflict (Jossey-Bass 1972)

Police on Campus: The Mass Police Action at Columbia University, Spring 1968 (New York Civil Liberties Union 1969); with others

The word must become flesh, but the flesh also must become word. It is not enough for us, as human beings, just to live. We also must give words to what we are living.

—Henri J. M. Nouwen

¹

1. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey, June

24

.

Preface

Humans have long struggled to make sense of their lives—and their deaths. They also ponder the source and nature of existence itself. Creation stories from many cultures attest to this.

Most people seek to find meaning by placing their personal and local experiences in the context of some broader story. Historically such stories have usually been remembered and passed on by an extended set of social relationships, that is, by a religious institution. Christians call this institution the church. The church includes those who have studied and reflected upon these stories and related religious experiences. They are called theologians and their reflections are theology.

The job of theologians is to create doctrines: ideas about a particular part of religious experiences; for example, how we praise God. Such doctrines are not only informational, they also evaluate. In praising God, singing hymns is appropriate; sacrificing children is not.

Most Christian doctrines were formulated centuries ago. Often, they involve notions that are hard for contemporary people to accept: for example, belief in a virgin birth or that the Bible is the literal word of God dictated to some human scribe.

What this book does is focus on the concerns behind the classical doctrines of Christianity. Then it provides new ways of thinking and talking about these doctrines. I do not claim that the new suggested images and concepts are the only appropriate way to think about these doctrines. Those who find traditional doctrines meaningful should be respected—as long as they respect others. This means all theology should avoid demeaning women, people of color, those from different cultural backgrounds—and those who call into question the adequacy of the traditional doctrines. On the other hand, this does not mean anything goes; civil critique and debate should be encouraged.

But the rapid decline in church membership shows that for contemporary people in the West, traditional doctrines are inadequate. Meaningful doctrines are not the core of the church’s religious life—but they are essential. This book is a contribution to reformulating this crucial element of church life in language and images most people can understand.

Chapter 1

Introduction: The Problem

Need for a New Language

About two years ago I ran into an old friend. She had long been a very active member of my church, but for some months she had not been coming. When I asked her why, she said, I just can’t keep saying things I don’t really believe. She represents an increasing number of people—including the teenagers and adult children of many faithful church members. The traditional concepts of theology are increasingly alien to many members and potential members of the church.

How many educated people really believe in any literal sense the following words of the Apostle’s Creed: conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary . . . was crucified, died . . . and on the third day he rose again? When they say the Nicene Creed, how many understand the significance of begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father?¹ Even relatively recent creeds by progressive denominations use such language as: God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.² How many contemporary people find this creditable?

Such phrases may be familiar and even comforting. But will such language articulate the Christian faith in a way that will appeal to contemporary people, especially those who have not been brought up in the church—which is now a majority of the population in the U.S. and Europe? In the future, such traditional theological language is even less likely to be meaningful to educated people—and the education level of people in the U.S. and Europe is steadily increasing.

An aside is required. Of course, some highly educated people still affirm traditional doctrines and creeds, but generally there is a negative correlation between education and religious belief and participation. In the context of Western societies, when I refer to educated people I mean those with some college or more.

Reducing racial, gender, and income inequality, demoting patriarchal images, assisting refugees, and welcoming LGBTs are important steps toward justice and inclusivity. These do not, however, address a more fundamental theological issue: articulating ideas that are believable and meaningful to people in modern and postmodern societies. In an age of democratic republics, are images of God as Lord, King, and Master compelling? Are people able and willing to think of themselves as slaves, servants, and subjects? In a world where very few people have had any direct experience with agriculture, will images of sheep, shepherds, sowers, and harvesting capture their existential experiences? Will people in the future commit to a religious faith in which the key images and concepts fail to reflect any of their actual experiences—or the experiences of anyone they know? Another way of asking this question is: would the biblical faith have sustained itself, much less spread, if it had drawn primarily on images from hunting and gathering societies?

The implication of these observations is not that we should abandon biblical images or all of the traditional religious concepts. Abandoning the past completely is virtually impossible. None of us gives up our mother tongue and creates a totally new language. Language—like religion—is always a collective project linked to a past.³ We can, however, become multilingual and ecumenical. We need to be conversant in languages of both the past and the present, of both the mundane empirical world and the transcendent symbolic world. Some languages eventually become a dead language. Some religious doctrines will gradually fade away and become historical relics.

Academic disciplines often rely on meta-languages, that is, they draw on specialized languages as a means of talking about the problems that concern them. For example, physics relies heavily on mathematics. Traditionally, theology has primarily used philosophy as a meta-language. Theologians have drawn on a wide array of philosophies to articulate their understandings. Augustine (354–430 AD) utilized Neoplatonism, Aquinas (1225–1274 AD) used Aristotle, Paul Tillich (1886–1965) drew on Platonism and existentialism, and process theology employed Alfred North Whitehead’s (1861–1947) philosophy.⁴ Some contemporary theology has used other meta-languages; for example, narrative theology has drawn on literary theory. If the criteria of success is the revitalization of North American and European churches, these philosophical and literary efforts have largely failed. They have not developed new concepts and notions that the typical minister or person-in-the-pew find comprehensible and meaningful—and have incorporated in the liturgy and prayers.

By profession, I am a sociologist. Much of my research and writing has focused on how status systems work. (Status is the accumulated expressions of approval and disapproval directed toward an object, actor, activity, or category. More on this later.) My work has included analyses of the Indian caste system, American teenagers, Indian teenagers, celebrities, human rights, elites, and religion. Much of religious activity has to do with how people relate to what they consider sacred. A useful way to think of sacredness is to see it as the highest and ultimate form of status, the thing we value most. Consequently, this book focuses on how the concepts of status and sacredness (and other sociological concepts) are useful in outlining a new way to think and talk about religious experience—in a language that makes sense to contemporary people.

People have at least an intuitive sense of how status systems operate, which helps to make a sociological theology more accessible and meaningful. This book is an attempt by a Christian who is a sociologist to articulate a theology for laity, clergy, and theologians who find much of the traditional religious language problematic.

What Is Theology?

As I will use the word, it refers to the attempt of people to explain the content of their religious beliefs and practices. It draws primarily on language, including the use of specialized concepts. (This is in contrast to other legitimate forms of religious expression, such as visual images, music, meditation techniques, or bodily movements.) Systematic theology focuses especially on the doctrines of a religious group.⁵ Both theology and doctrine have become dirty words. Often people assume these involve rigidity, denial, intolerance. Theology need not deny what science has taught us, and doctrine need not be dogmatic. Theology and doctrine should seek clarity, using language and concepts that are generally familiar to those concerned. While ambiguity and even paradox can be legitimate in some forms of religious expression, they should be used sparingly in systematic theology. This does not mean that theology can or should be restricted to literal description and logically derived propositions. Often it will draw on metaphors and other less literal figures of speech.

In some respects, theology is paradoxical; it attempts to be clear about what is inherently a mystery. A core characteristic of the holy and the sacred is its otherness, its difference from the ordinary.⁶ Otherness makes it unfamiliar, mysterious, and unknowable. However, recognizing the inevitability of mystery does not mean that one must engage in magic and mystification. Affirming mystery and the limits of human knowledge should not be an excuse for ignoring and denying what we do know about the empirical world.

Historically, theologians have developed two ways of dealing with the mysterious otherness of God. A long tradition of negative theology says we can only say what God is not. An equally long positive tradition, while recognizing