Christian theology and the re-enchantment of the world.

Christian theology faces many new opportunities and challenges in the postmodern and post-Christian cultures of the contemporary world, especially in the West. Pluralism, relativism, the social nature of knowledge, virtual reality, globalization, multiculturalism and the triumph of the "spiritual" over the religious are just some of the pressing issues. For theology to be relevant it must engage these concepts in dialogue, sometimes affirmatively and sometimes critically, but engage them it must. Unfortunately, many current theological methods either ignore some of these phenomena or else they do not take them seriously. However, the Zeitgeist cannot be given short shrift if theology is to be responsive to contemporary questions and concerns.

This essay is an attempt to see what theological thought might look like when it consults some of the key ideas and driving concerns of contemporary philosophy, social science and, especially, "popular culture." The working presupposition is that Christianity has not lost its ability to offer a revelatory, salvific and meaningful message to the world, but only an effective application strategy for the postmodern/post-Christian milieu. In other words, this study will be a reading of the "signs of the time" for evidence of the movement of the Spirit and the Word of the Triune God in contemporary American life in general and religious expression in particular. The demise of rationalism and empiricism in determining "reality" and the return of mystery and spirituality in the re-enchantment of the world has created a wonderful new opportunity for theology. In essence, it is a chance for theo-logic to contribute once again its unique voice to public discourse after so many years of relegation to the private/personal realm of human experience. Additionally, there is the potential for theology to be re-invigorated and inspired by what is happening in popular culture.

The paper has four parts. First, the dynamic relationship between theology and culture will be surveyed. Second, the demise of secularism and the arrival of the re-enchantment of the world will be studied. Third, a reading of this re-enchantment from the perspective of Christian theology will be ventured. Fourth, the essay will be briefly summarized and concluding reflections and analyses will be offered.

Religion and Culture

The relationship between religion and culture has always been complicated through the history of Christian theology. From Jesus' counter-cultural judgment about life in the Roman Empire, to the Church Fathers' use of philosophical sources (but the ignoring of popular religion), to the relegation of religion to only the private sphere during the modern period, the relationship has been marked by divisions. These perceived separations are grounded in the belief that the world is corrupt and humanity fallen while revelation is the unerring Word of God. Consequently, there has been no shortage of Christian thinkers who wanted to accentuate a perceived gap between the secular and the sacred, with culture and religion being presented as monolithic entities that exist independently: faith verses reason, nature versus grace, and church versus state.

Much of contemporary postmodern theology attempts to think about this relationship in less adversarial and simplistic terms. The starting point is the recognition that religion is always culturally situated and conditioned. Believers are members of culture and society, and they bring these influences into their practice of religion. Even theologians use vocabularies, terms, theories and methods from culture and other disciplines. There never has been a "pure Christianity" or pure theological reasoning that remains unaffected by its surroundings. Actually, theological discourse is a kind of "parasitic cultural production" that depends on the wider culture for the material with which it works. (2) There really is no way to guard the boundary of any discourse from other discourses. According to Graham Ward, "Christian utterance then is constructed out of cultural materials at hand. It is not homogenous but always hybrid, improvised, syncretistic and implicated in networks of association that exceed various forms of institutional, individual or sectarian policing." (3) Therefore, while there is no doubt that such theological themes as creation, grace, sacrament, redemption and self-sacrifice are contrary to the "ways of the world," there is still a relationship between religion and culture based on language, social context, history and existential questions about meaning and truth.

Similar to religion, culture is not a static or given reality in the judgment of postmodernism. In the static view of modernism, culture is externally transmitted to members who then passively internalize it: subjectivity and objectivity are disjoined. Postmodern anthropology and sociology, following an "interactionist" approach, conclude that people shape social structures through their contacts with one another. Societies and cultures arise from and congeal as a result of the accumulation and aggregations of these activities. This dynamic can be witnessed in the continual struggle to determine the meaning of public symbols and the search to build consensus. (4) Theologically speaking, then, the search for and the encounter with God happens within the structures of human and social political existence. And theological argumentation needs to accord with the so-called "space of possibles:" the public space that orients research; defines problems as well as the methods for addressing them; and establishes the references, intellectual benchmarks and important concepts. (5) All this provides the conditions that establish what is possible to know, do or think in a given social and historical context. It should be noted that this approach is not a "method of correlation" between religion and culture. As Stanley Grenz and John Franke point out in their text Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context:

    This model presupposes neither gospel nor culture--much less both
    gospel and culture--as preexisting, given realities that
    subsequently enter conversation. Rather, in the interactive process
    both gospel (that is, our understanding of the gospel) and culture
    (that is, our portrayal of the meaning structure, shared sense of
    personal identity, and socially constructed world in which we see
    ourselves living and ministering) are dynamic realities that inform
    and are informed by the conversation itself. Hence ... a
    nonfoundational, interactionalist theological method. (6)

The novelty of this approach is its avoidance of immutable and universal conceptions of humanity, culture and religion. Moreover, it has a direct bearing on the theological enterprise and the central role of mediation in the event of revelation.

Theology is "faith in search of understanding." Theology's connection with faith includes doctrine, worship, spiritual life and moral actions. All of these activities are embodied in relational networks and institutions, such as, the academy, society and church. Theology cannot remain purely timeless, theoretical and abstract. On the one hand, it is accountable to the deposit of faith grounded in Jesus Christ and apostles but, on the other hand, it must show how this faith can be lived and practiced by believers and applied in history and society. (7) This engagement with the world requires theology to use methods and procedures drawn from other disciplines, especially philosophy and the social sciences. In the process, theology has to negotiate its position with respect to other fields of symbolic production.

The ultimate goal of theology is to clarify the plausibility, the benefit and the richness of faith as "faith:" the human response to divine revelation. The foundation, then, for all theological discourse is revelation, that radical exteriority and transcendent horizon of hope given by God through Jesus Christ. (8) Theology itself is not the apotheosis of truth. Theology is dependent on and subject to the Word of God as recorded in Scripture and interpreted in the authoritative ecclesial tradition. (9) However, revelation is an "event" and an ongoing divine activity unfolding in the world. Beginning with the fact of the incarnation and followed by subsequent historical events, including contemporary occurrences, revelation requires a hermeneutical method for reading the "signs of the times." When the belief of the divine immanence in nature is added, Christianity is mandated to discern the movement of the Spirit in the world. This results in making (popular) culture an important resource for academic theology. (10)

Re-enchantment of the World

The contemporary period is described as "postmodern" and its monumental changes are influencing all aspects of contemporary American culture. While the roots of the movement of postmodernism can be traced back to the radical per-spectivalism of Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century, its substantial hold on America commences in the 1970s. Generally speaking, postmodernism is any attempt to move beyond the Enlightenment project of rationalism and the human capacity to discern objective and universal truth that is abstracted from the particulars of the historical and cultural situation. Reality and human knowledge are perceived as undergoing constant change and the epistemological stress is on concrete experience over against static and abstract principles. Knowledge for the postmodern is relative and fallible. (11) Reality is in process, and the universe is open-ended and without foundation due to the constant influence of human interpretations and actions. The human being is never external to reality but is in a dynamic relation with it: reality influences the human and the human influences reality. With the intrinsic human capacity to conceptualize and symbolize in the process of understanding world and oneself within it, language and culture play a determining role in the negotiation of reality. Subjectivity cannot be transcended. Consequently in this worldview, there is no "empirical fact" that is not already influenced by the form of interpretation. In the postmodern view, there is no interpretation that is final--reality is read in pluralistic ways and no one way is determinative or foundational. While rationalism and empiricism continue to be a part of the critical consciousness, they operate in modified (or humbled) versions to better accommodate the ambiguous, complex nature of reality and multiple human perspectives. Thus, their results and truth-claims remain open to further interpretation and re-interpretation. (12)

Postmodernity enables the re-enchantment of the world through the disruption of the rational and its resulting invitation to take a fresh look at ambivalence, mystery, excess and aporia. (13) Re-enchantment or sacralization gains further impetus from the turn to mysticism, paganism and Eastern religions. An aura of the supernatural and the transcendent circulates these thoughts--imagination is given an important place in the experience of reality. Duly noting that Romanticism would be an exception, ideas such as these had little credence for the modern's understanding of how the world actually functioned. Conversely, modernity wanted to live in a world of facts. Technology was used to disenchant the modern world through the scientific explanation of things and an incumbent secularism for the achievement of objectivity. The cultural fallout of modernism was the collapse of shared religious beliefs, moral convictions and a common identity, sometimes called the "sacred canopy," and the rise of social fragmentation. (14) Religion lost much of its credibility during this time period and was removed from the public life of American society. The clearest example of this was the decline in stature of organized/institutional religion.

However, the dawn of postmodernity, there has been a worldwide resurgence of religion in many forms: fundamentalisms, modified and reinvigorated forms of traditional religion, and new alternative spiritualities. Secularism has begun to implode. Religion is once again part of the imagination of the west; and the real is being "remythologized" in its wake. (15) World wars, genocide, colonialism, racism and various other atrocities and pathologies have shown the error of making the human references of scientism, rationalism and liberalism the ground for a just and humane world.

Contemporary American popular culture, especially since the 1960s, abounds with examples of interest in a re-enchanted worldview. A prevalent conviction is that people consider themselves "spiritual" rather than religious, which opens up a personal search for ultimate meaning in new venues and results in new syntheses. Television dramas, talk shows, movies, books, video games, rock concerts, clothing, food, and theme parks, just to name a few, are all directly engaged with religious themes or indirectly so through supernatural and gothic subjects that confound the idea that reason alone is the bearer of truth and meaning. Examples include "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The X-Files," "Touched by an Angel," and "Hex" on television as well as "The Matrix," "Lord of the Rings," "The Chronicles of Narnia," and the Harry Potter series in the movies. UFOs, angels, vampires, cyborgs, virtual reality, demonic possession, magic, witchcraft, ghosts and encounters with the dead are some of the story lines that showcase mystery. While institutional religion continues to be weakened publicly in postmodernity, the "religious sense" is unabated and takes on new forms in the unofficial market square of the mall, the stadium, the bookstore, the Internet and Disney World. These are informal dealings with religion where thinking about meaning and identity takes place outside of an official religious community. In the process, they are demonstrating ritual behavior, using language of transcendence, setting aside sacred times and spaces and the utilizing traditional symbols and narratives to shape the quest. (16) All of this means that many Americans are searching for and responding to the transcendent and the sacred in the "details of their lives" or with everyday activities. While the stories vary as to their claims to be true, they nonetheless convey a consistent relevance as far as questioning the Enlightenment principles and ambiguous view of religion as both good and evil. In other words they reflect people's actual views. It also resonates with the hunger for different ways of relating to the world. (17) In short, these are new ways of being religious and they open up new plausibility structures for what is real, true and meaningful in a postmodern culture.

The "New Age" religious movement would be a particular example of a re-enchanted worldview in postmodern life. Many American people seem to be looking for a deeper, more immediate, personal and transcendent relationship with God. The basic source of insight is found in a personal experience that highly values intuition and inner wisdom. To experience the self is to experience God, the Goddess and the Source. Traditional religion is regarded as dead, misleading, and exclusive since it cuts one off from the actual experience of the sacred. This monistic worldview sees all things as part of a great whole, the self as sacred and a perennial truth within all the religious traditions of the world. The New Age has to with the "healing" of the person, the earth, the capitalistic workplace and society. It extols the values of awareness, insight, empathy, creativity, autonomy, authenticity, love and fulfillment. (18) Self-fulfillment is the goal. New Agers want the "authentic self" freed from those societal influences that stifle creativity, freedom, peace and love. Inner spirituality puts one in touch with the wisdom, power, energy and life that is found within. Given that all people are part of nature, they can tap into the sacred, which is everywhere. Religious traditions such as paganism, shamanism, witchcraft, Christian mysticism, Hinduism and Buddhism can function as guides for fostering this personal spirituality, but the New Age is ultimately self-directed and self-responsible in its search for perfection, enlightenment and actualization. (19)

Theology and Re-enchantment

Contemporary America is a very religious place. The many scholarly predictions in the 1960s of the "death of God" never came to fruition. As a matter of fact, America is as religious today as it ever has been, even if the expression may be different than in the past. Hence, the re-enchanted worldview of postmodernity is pregnant with possibility for the spiritual worldview in general and Christianity in particular. And it affords three opportunities especially for theology to join the contemporary public debate about reality: nature, spirituality and pluralism. Theology will contribute to the dialogue, but with a distinctive voice that speaks from a place of faith and revelation.

First, there is the sacralization of nature. The modern period witnessed the exploitation of the physical world. In contradistinction to the worshipping of nature by the ancients as something holy, nature was reduced to just a resource for human aspiration--it had no intrinsic value--and garnered no special respect. The technological advances of the modern period brought scientific explanations for many aspects of the world in terms of models and laws of nature. This led to the dis-enchantment and de-mythologization of nature. The New Age, however, has emphasized the importance of nature in the present actualization of human existence and the future fulfillment of all beings through their re-connection with the Source. Christianity needs to rediscover a life of faith that is also lived in close contact with the earth and that is guided by its doctrine of creation. (20) Human beings are only divinely appointed stewards of the earth.

Nature is highly valued once more for its intrinsic worth. The design, beauty and complexity of the universe are seen as intimations of a transcendent source: "the heavens reflect the glory of God." It also carries a promise of a coming glory, when the current grandeur of nature will be brought to its final consummation and redemption. God is experienced through the things of the world. According to Alister McGrath, "to re-enchant nature is not merely to gain a new respect for the integrity and well-being; it is to throw open the doors to a deeper level of existence." (21) Re-enchanted views of nature, then, perceive an intelligence and governing order. The world can still be investigated scientifically in the age of re-enchantment. However, this does not have to undermine the sense of wonder that one experiences from nature nor deter one from going to the deeper levels of existence and meaning to which it points. Nature is already special; it only needs to be "appreciated" as such. (22) In other words, the spiritual quest can build on this intellectual quest--both are grounded in the experience of awe and questions that want answers. But for the person of faith, the re-enchanted sense of "wonder" about nature draws the imagination upward to glimpse a divine source and eternal destiny. A deep-seated desire, what C.S. Lewis called "joy," is connected with this idea of nature as a divine sign and sacrament, because it is a desire that cannot be satisfied by anything experienced in world. It is a desire for a relationship with the infinite, the perfect, the beautiful, the Creator.

Second, spirituality is important once again in intellectual pursuits. The New Age makes a personal connection to the divine source a central theme for human actualization, enlightenment and healing. Mind and spirit are reunited in post-modernity. Many modern people, though, for a long time belittled spirituality in American culture, even within Christian theology there had been a penchant for extolling reason over mysticism in the pursuit of scholarly credibility and respect. Academic theology became arid, excessively rational and disconnected from real life. It lost its vitality and, in eyes of many of the faithful, its appeal. (23) However, this omission cannot be accepted, since theology is by definition "faith in search of understanding." Its ground is the revelation of God received in personal faith. As all the great theologians of Christian history testify, from Augustine and Thomas Aquinas to Karl Barth and Karl Rahner, spirituality and theology are intrinsically linked. Theology is primarily an intellectual and conceptual account of the faith experience. Theologians can only speak cognitively about their "object" when they are in a personal relationship with that "object" through the Biblical text, authoritative tradition, the sacraments and a committed life of prayer, worship and charity. (24) Object, as it is used here, means the subject of the study and not a thing in the world. Consequently, God is the ground of human existence and theological reflection. This means, in accord with postmodernism, that humans are de-centered beings. They are not, as modernity would assert, the isolated and self-constituted beings ruminating over universal and foundational truth. As Denys Turner so eloquently described it:

    For as our centre is not a centre, so our ground is not in that
    sense a ground in which it is a solid, known, foundation on which
    selfhood, or knowledge, or desire can rest. In relation to our
    knowledge of objects, of the world, God is always beyond, always
    other, always, as we might say, postponed. Why? Because to suppose
    God to be an object is always idolatrous: 'for no one may see may my
    face and live.' The light in which we see is always other than what
    we can see in it. (25)

Therefore, this divine ground is not an object that can be humanly manipulated. It denies human beings any secure foundation for either faith or theology. God graciously gives only what God wants to give, so theology involves careful listening. Any understanding that comes from this listening to the divine mystery, will have to begin and end with a committed faith that is nourished by an active spiritual life.

Third, pluralism can be seen as beneficial. During the early years of post-modernity, Christianity felt challenged by the claim of the relativity of truth. The Christian conviction of universal truth and salvation, grounded in the Christ-event, seemed to be undermined by the idea that all truth was contextual, that is, determined by place, time and language. However, the Christian posture is softening toward postmodernism and pluralism can be seen as a fruitful resource for theological reflection. This is the stand taken by Jacques Dupuis, S.J. in his two books on interreligious dialogue: Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism and Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue. Both venture a Christian reading of the phenomenon of religious pluralism which are unabashed in their affirmation of Trinitarian monotheism.

Dupuis sees the event of Jesus Christ as the unquestionable center, apex, high point and interpretive key for understanding the divine essence and salvation history. However, he wants to leave latitude for saving actions of God through the Word and Spirit outside the Christian trajectory. (26) In the light of Christian faith, he searches for why there is a plurality of religious traditions. He concludes that pluralism is an inevitable condition for human knowledge: God is a community of persons (ground of reality is plural); humans are embodied beings and conditioned by the situation (plurality of perspectives); and the many religions of the world attest to the varied ways that God has established bonds with people (plurality of divine manifestations). According to Dupius, a Trinitarian Christological perspective allows for the recognition of the ongoing presence and activity of the Word of God and of the Spirit of God. This being the case, even if the different religious faiths are in an asymmetrical relationship to revelation of the incarnate Son of God. Therefore, this makes it possible to affirm a plurality of ways or paths to human liberation/salvation in accordance with God's design for humankind in Jesus Christ. (27) For Dupuis, pluralism is not just a fact of history. There is a divine purpose and divine expression behind it. It expresses the unfathomable depths and superabundant graciousness of God. Religious traditions are mutually enriched as they come to better appreciate the divine mystery through a process of cross-fertilization and dialogue. Ultimately, according to Dupuis, this type of theological method remains confessional but not exclusive, because it remains open to the experience of "others" and what they might have learned that could enrich the Christian appreciation of the Trinitarian mystery. Nonetheless, these diverse paths will ultimately converge in the one God and through the one Christ.

Conclusion

This essay has been an attempt to survey some of the major cultural and philosophical currents of our time for their theological relevance. The discussion has been selective in the topics chosen, but it does give a sense of the general terrain. The analysis showed how culture and theology can be seen as dynamic realities that are deeply influenced by their interaction. Re-enchantment is generally understood as following in the wake of the implosion of the secular and its resulting need to adjust its scientism and rationalism in order to give more credence to the role of interpretation. Postmodernism is agreed to be marked by nonfoundationalism, pluralism and an openness to the "other." "The New Age" has generated much personal searching for the divine and the use of diverse religious and spiritual resources. Each of these occurrences, then, and in their own way, has contributed to a renewed interest in religion and an acknowledgement of its credibility in American culture. The New Age movement has exerted specific influence on theology. On the one hand, it helped theology to rightfully reclaim the central importance of nature and spirituality in its endeavors. At the same time, it encouraged theology to view other religious traditions with greater respect and seriousness. These changes remove the aridity of "modern" academic theology and its abstraction from daily life. In sum, these ideas may not be new; but they are certainly receiving more emphasis today than they have for a long time in the Western tradition.

This age of opportunity for theology is also fraught with challenges. The main one would be that re-enchantment tends toward shallow engagement and consumerism. It can be empty and reality can be reduced to mere simulations. As Vincent Miller effectively argues in his book Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture, religious beliefs, doctrines and rituals are detached from their religious traditions, communities of faith and symbol systems. New Agers pick practices/beliefs for themselves based solely on what they find appealing and useful. They decide what they will accept and what they will reject from their religious faith tradition or from many other traditions. Ideas and symbols are turned into objects or commodities that can be bought, sold and used in any way that one sees fit, regardless of their original meaning in religious traditions. This certainly leads to the empowerment of the individual in the religious quest, but it also gives rise to a cavalier, ephemeral and ineffective religious practice and mindset. In short, this kind of materialism blunts the otherwise encouraging religious potential one sees in postmodern culture.

This situation makes a theological method like that of Dupuis all the more relevant and effective. Dupuis' work presents itself with an intellectual honesty that both Christians and non-Christians can respect. It has the capacity to resonate with the popular sense that different religions should be consulted for a better-informed view of the divine mystery and for a more balanced personal spirituality. The insistence that religion be embedded in a concrete tradition and community of faith circumvents the commodification of religion. While proceeding with an inductive method, he still maintains that there are mediations of the "real" through singular events, experiences and traditions and this insulates theology from mere relativism. Moreover, Dupuis does all of this without forfeiting his confessional commitment to a Trinitarian Monotheism and Incarnational theology. In sum, theology can truly benefit from the opportunity presented by the re-enchantment of the world if it follows a method like that of Dupuis.

Notes

1. A version of this paper was presented at the Mid-Atlantic American Academy of Religion in New Brunswick, NJ, 2005. I would like to thank Dean Kathleen Voute-MacDonald of St. John's University for supporting this research project with a summer grant in 2004.

2. Vincent Miller, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture (New York: Continuum, 2004), 173.

3. Graham Ward, Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 47.

4. Stanley J. Grenz and John R. Franke, Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 135-138.

5. Ward, Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice, 35.

6. Grenz and Franke, Beyond Foundationalism, 158.

7. Archbishop Joseph Dore, "Theology's Responsibility and Tasks in Today's Church and World," Theological Studies 65 (2004): 700.

8. Ward, Cultural Transformation and Religious Practice, 13.

9. Archbishop Dore, "Theology's Responsibility and Tasks in Today's Church and World," 708-709.

10. Alister E. McGrath, The Future of Christianity (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 152.

11. Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 395-396.

12. Ibid., 396-398.

13. Graham Ward, Theology and Contemporary Critical Theory, Second Edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), 160-161.

14. Christopher Partridge, "The Disenchantment and Re-enchantment of the West: The Religio-Cultural Context of Contemporary Western Christianity," Evangelical Quarterly 74 (2002): 237-242.

15. Graham Ward, True Religion (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003), vii.

16. Eric Michael Mazur and Kate McCarthy eds., God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture (New York Routledge, 2001), 4-6.

17. Lynn Schofield Clark, From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media and the Supernatural (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 73.

18. Paul Heelas, The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity (Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell Publishing, 1996), 115.

19. Ibid., 38.

20. Alister McGrath, The Reenchantment of Nature: The Denial of Religion and the Ecological Crisis (New York: Doubleday/Galilee, 2003), 184.

21. Ibid., 186.

22. Ibid., xii.

23. McGrath, The Future of Christianity, 135.

24. Archbishop Dore, "Theology's Responsibilities and Tasks in Theology's Church and World," 712.

25. Denys Turner, Faith Seeking (London: SCM press, 2002), 45-46.

26. Jacques Dupuis, S.J., Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue (New York: Orbis Books, 2003), 254.

27. Jacques Dupuis, S.J., Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism (New York: Orbis Books, 2001), 281-282.