Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

How (Not) To Be Secular – James K A Smith on Charles Taylor

Recently, I published a post (3^rd May 2016 / see also the comment attaching, as it has other links to conversations Taylor conducted while in Australia) that featured one of my formational influences, Canadian Philosopher Charles Taylor.

Published online on the 10^th May 2016 was a downloadable audio recording of a conversation between James K. A. Smith and the host of the (Neal A.) Maxwell Institute podcast, Blair Hodges.

Here’s the blurb for the show:

“Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2016 many people find it more difficult to believe than not? This is the question that Charles Taylor tackles in his massive book A Secular Age.

In this episode, James K. A. Smith joins us to talk about Taylor’s work. What was it like to believe in God in the past and what is it like for many believers today—and how did we get from there to here? Whether you find it easy or difficult to believe in God today, you’ll find much food for thought in Smith’s book  How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor…”

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College

You’ll find the fascinating conversation here.

And of course, as was alluded to yesterday (and highlighted in January), Smith has a new book out: You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (pub. April 2016) 

Daniel J. Berrigan, Dies 30th April 2016.

I haven’t engaged with Daniel Berrigan’s work for a few years now, but he’s been valued contributor to my formation as a human being. I first discovered Berrigan when I was reading a lot about / by lay Episcopalian theologian William Stringfellow (d. ). My first book was Ross Labrie’s The Writings of Daniel Berrigan published in 1989 by University Press of America. This was followed by Berrigan’s reflections on the prophet Jeremiah: Jeremiah: The World, The Wound of God.

His autobiography – To Dwell in Peace: An Autobiography was been reprinted in 2007.

A good introduction to Berrigan’s writing is Orbis Books’ 2009 publication Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings.

Interesting too is his published published conversations with Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh titled The Raft is Not the Shore: Conversations Toward a Buddhist-Christian Awareness.

The Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan, was an American Jesuit priest, peace activist and poet whose defiant protests helped shape the tactics of opposition to the Vietnam War and landed him in prison, died on Saturday in the Bronx. Born on May 9^th 1921, he died on the 30^th April 2016, a few days before his 95^th birthday.

His good friend and fellow activist Fr. John Dear reflects on Berrigan’s life and rich contribution to humanity in the Huffington Post, here. America reflects of Berrigan here. New York Times piece can be found here. A column by America Magazine can be found here.

David Steindl-Rast: Grateful Living in the ‘Double Realm’

Brother David Steindl-Rast is an internationally renowned author, lecturer, and pivotal member of the monastic renewal movement. A monk in the Benedictine tradition, Brother David is also an expert in Zen Buddhism and a tireless advocate for building bridges between Eastern and Western religious traditions.

In this 2016 Sounds True episode of Insights at the Edge Tami Simon and Brother David talk about the innate longing that drives spiritual study and is the impetus for seeking out a monastic life. Tami and Brother David explore the concept of the “Double Realm” that lies beyond standard concepts of time and existence, as well as how practicing gratitude can be a doorway to that realm. Finally, Brother David considers the future of religion and spirituality as he enters his ninetieth year of life. (62 minutes)

You’ll find the conversation here.

The Prince, Faith, Abuse and George Pell

With Australian Catholic Cardinal George Pell making the news in the last few weeks, and having recently watched the heartbreaking, harrowing, but totally absorbing Oscar winning film Spotlight, I wanted to revisit a conversation about George Pell with journalist David Marr, author of the Quarterly Essay (Issue 51, 2013) – The Prince, Faith, Abuse and George Pell. The conversation was published as an audio file on 6^th October 2013. You'll find it here. 

“The leading Catholic in the nation and spiritual adviser to Tony Abbott, Cardinal George Pell has played a key role in the greatest challenge to face his church for centuries: the scandal of child sex abuse by priests.

In The Prince, David Marr investigates the man and his career: how did he rise through the ranks? What does he stand for? How does he wield his authority? How much has he shaped his church and Australia? How has he handled the scandal?

Marr reveals a cleric at ease with power and aggressive in asserting the prerogatives of the Vatican. His account of Pell’s career focuses on his response as a man, a priest, an archbishop and prince of the church to the scandal that has engulfed the Catholic world in the last thirty years. This is the story of a cleric slow to see what was happening around him; torn by the contest between his church and its victims; and slow to realise that the Catholic Church cannot, in the end, escape secular scrutiny. 

The Prince is an arresting portrait of faith, loyalty and ambition, set against a backdrop of terrible suffering and an ancient institution in turmoil.”

If you get a chance to see Spotlight I highly recommend it.

More than Belief

“…When I found that I no longer believed everything I thought Christians

were supposed to believe, I asked myself, ‘Why not just leave Christianity—and religion—behind, as so many others have done?’ Yet I sometimes encountered in churches and elsewhere…something compelling, powerful, even terrifying that I could not ignore, and have come to see that, besides belief, Christianity involves practice — and paths toward transformation…”

~ Elaine Pagels.

Sigmund Freud, Paris, and Psychoanalysis

T oday a few thoughts on Freud and the unconscious from Mark Vernon:

Excerpt:

Useful in this regard is “…John Bowlby’s attachment theory: how we experience love and holding in our earliest years, which we cannot consciously remember, influences how we experience love and being held as adults…

… Yes, there are significant differences between God and the unconscious. Freud’s unconscious often feels a dark, oppressive place — although his erstwhile disciple, Carl Jung, realised that the unconscious has an expansive and liberating energy, too. God is not the unconscious. Yet studying the unconscious helps the imagination to open to the divine mystery.

FINALLY, the unconscious can assist in understanding pastoral aspects of spirituality…”

Mark concludes with this valuable insight:

“…The founder of psychoanalysis is not often thought of as a friend of religion. But read him more closely: his curiosity concerning the dynamics of the human soul produces reasons for confidence in, as well as the development of, the insights of generations of people of faith.”

You can read the complete article here. You might also be interested in his Paris, Terrorism and Psychoanalysis. 

Jonathan Sacks on the Classic Role of Religion in Society

This morning a thought-provoking quote from Jonathan Sacks:

“…One of the classic roles of religion has been to preserve a space – physical and metaphysical – immune to the pressures of the market. When we stand before God we do so regardless of what we earn, what we own, what we buy, what we can afford. We do so as beings of ultimate, non-transactional value, here because someone – some force at the heart of being – called us into existence and summoned us to be a blessing. The power of the great world religions is that they are not mere philosophical systems, abstract truths strung together in strictly logical configurations. They are embodied truths, made vividly real in lives, homes, congregations, rituals, narratives, songs and prayers – in covenantal communities whose power is precisely that they are not subject to economic forces. They value people for what they are; they value actions for the ideals that brought them forth; they preserve relationships by endowing them with the charisma of eternity made real in the here-and-now…”

~ Jonathan Sacks, from his excellent and thought-provoking book, The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. HT to Jason Goroncy. 

James Finley: The Axial Moment of Healing

I’ve really valued my reading of, and listening to James Finley. There’s a depth of wisdom, life experience, learning, and insight that I’ve discovered I need in my own journey. I need others.

“James Finley is a clinical psychologist and the author of books such as Christian Meditation and The Contemplative Heart. With Sounds True, James has created several audio learning programs including Meister Eckhart’s Living Wisdom and Transforming Trauma (with Caroline Myss). In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and James discuss the concept, history, and direct experience of “the dark night of the soul.” They also speak on the possibility of healing trauma through spiritual practice.”

You can listen to the podcast here. 

Carl Jung is a Friend of Religion

Today Richard Rohr gives voice, better than I would, to an insight I hold to as well

“I think Carl Jung is one of the best friends of religion in the past century, yet most Christians have either ignored him or criticized him. Jung says, for example, "The main interest of my work is not concerned with the treatment of neurosis, but instead with an approach to the numinous [Transcendent God experience]. The approach to the numinous is the real therapy, and inasmuch as you attain to numinous experience, you are released from the curse of pathology. Even the very disease takes on a numinous character!" [1]

This becomes Jung's major critique of Christianity. Jung felt that Christianity contributed to a discontinuity--an unbridgeable gap--between God and the soul by our overemphasis on externals and mere intellectual belief in things that never touched our inner core. Jung observed that Christianity had become dogmatized and ritualized, belonging to groups instead of any real transformation of consciousness. He believed that Christianity had some very good theology ("an almost perfect map for the soul"), but it often had a very poor psychology and anthropology. Insofar as this is true, it creates a huge disconnect even among quite good and sincere people. The message does not "grab" them; it is not compelling or empowering for their real life. Jung was deeply disillusioned by his own father and six uncles, all Swiss Reformed pastors, whom he saw as unhappy and unintegrated human beings. Jung basically said of Christianity: "It's not working in real life!" 

Step into a More Life-Giving Story

"While it’s true that we can’t control everything that happens to us...we can take charge of our story’s narration, actively mining experiences for positive meaning. This power of interpretation is the heart of your personal power as coauthor of your story and the key to making meaningful improvements to your character."

- Kim Schneiderman, Step Out of Your Story (see also this and this podcast).

This approach could easily be adapted if you wanted to better frame a more Jesus-following approach; one which acknowledges God’s invitations, the work of the Spirit and the discernment of God’s invitations to become more fully alive, free, and human after the example of Jesus.

For more on the interface between theology and contemporary psychological approaches I would recommend this academic collection of essays published by IVP - Care for the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Psychology & Theology. For something less academic I’d recommend the more recent books by David G. Benner. For example, his Spirituality and the Awakening Self: The Sacred Journey of Transformation.