A Liturgical and Sacramental Definition

After finishing my Sacramental/Liturgical Guided Reading class, I’ve come up with a few definitions.

Liturgy: The event/experience of ontological space and action that functions as a Christological matrix of the grace of God.

Sacrament: Grace/gift/experience and understood by Christians in liturgy.

Sacramental: Experiencing the event of Grace.

The books that helped develop such an understanding were:
The Sacraments in Protestant Practice and Faith by James F. White
Liberating Rites: Understanding the Transformative Power of Ritual by Tom F. Driver
The Eucharist and Human Liberation by Tissa Balasuriya
Extravagant Affections: A Feminist Sacramental Theology by Susan A. Ross
Beyond Ritual: Sacramental Theology after Habermas by Siobhán Garrigan
Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Catholic Church by Joseph Martos
Symbol and Sacrament: A Sacramental Reinterpretation of Christian Experience by Louis-Marie Chauvet

White on Protestant Liturgy

The major impediment to a richer sacramental life still seems to be the reluctance to see sacraments as present acts of God rather than merely human memories of God’s acts in the past. It is difficult for many Protestants to conceive of sacraments as God’s self-giving. Little sense of sacramental efficacy survives among many Protestants and, for that matter, among not a few Roman Catholics. For many, the Enlightenment decisively severed any connection between the spiritual and the physical.

The Sacraments in Protestant Practice and Faith by James F. White, 140-141.

Driver on Liturgical Freedom and Space

Space. Although I would not like to encourage spending huge amounts of money on a new church architecture, the space in many churches is very poorly designed for the Eucharistic performance of freedom. One of the main problems is the presence of church pews, which I have long regarded as an invention of the Devil to keep the people of God apart. It is exceedingly difficult to envision, let alone perform, the freedom of the gospel while confined to pews. In such a fix, the most one can do is to hear about freedom, not touch it or feel it.

Liberating Rites: Understanding the Transformative Power of Ritual by Tom F. Driver, 213.

Thesis Intro

R. O. Flyer wanted to see the thesis statement, but I just figured I’d post the introduction. So, whatcha think?

Introduction
Subverting Torture
This thesis first understands itself in relation to torture. While much of the thesis itself may not mention torture explicitly, and in fact could be used as the foundation for a political theology that engages more than just torture, the reader should not forget that each argumentative turn is made with torture in mind. The thesis functions in this unusual way because it attempts to strike at the fundamental logic of torture by the state, instead of getting lost in the mire of case studies that use the threat of immanent danger to justify manipulative violence. Quite simply, I am subverting the whole discussion as I ask again and again, “Why should we torture?”

While this thesis is chiefly arguing at levels deeper than the specific action of torture, it is both deconstructive and constructive at the same time. I identify and argue against some of the first assumptions, while proposing a re-oriented economy – a different ontology, epistemology, etc. – all first grounded in the identity of a savior who suffered and the community of faith that follows suit. Therefore, the second question driving the argument is, “What should we look like if we are to be a people who refuses torture?”

Consequently, the problem this thesis seeks to address is the American Christians’ quiet acceptance of torture. Despite how little this thesis may actually mention torture, implicit in each move is the subversion of a theology that allows for current American theology to be either apathetic towards or blasé about torture (since most Christians do not seem to explicitly support torture) or, even worse, candidly protorture.

Assumptions
This thesis has many presuppositions, but I shall touch on a few of the most important. I first assume that torture is morally and ethically wrong, and that torture should not be used. This is not a discussion on the justification of torture, for that is a whole other argument worthy of its own time; rather, this thesis understands torture as a form of violent conversion used by the state and, as such, is to be handled with considerable suspicion.

Secondly, I assume, as hinted above, that Christianity is a deeper association than the citizenship in a nation-state or one’s cultural-economic participation. Christianity is cosmically rooted. At the same time, Christians are defined by the culture they live in. Therefore the politics of the body of Christ is a complex mixture of the existential situation in the present and the rule of God. In the end, however, the basileia informs the space and time of the here and now, resituating one’s ontological understanding and praxis within the cultural milieu at hand.

I also assume that Christianity does not naturally merge well with the nation-state or bourgeois market. In fact, Christianity can function as an antagonistic and an interrupting movement: “Christians are bearers of the subversive, dangerous memory of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”1 Therefore, Christianity critiques society through the church’s formative discipleship rooted in the remembrance of Jesus.

Lastly, I assume that political theology, as Johann Baptist Metz asserts, must begin with engaging history, because historical consciousness regularly reforms our current identity and thus allows for the continual, interrupting praxis of solidarity.2 As such, any engagement with or construction of a body politic must address the historical discussion of one’s cultural genesis. In this case, the historical myths America asks its citizens to believe, in contrast to the example of Jesus and the political implications of his life and message, are no longer uncritically assumed canonical stories, but instead are now subject to suspicion. Such critical interrogation will shed light on the negative and oppressive nature of the American story.

I also speak in explicit Christian categories. Quite simply, I champion a way of acting and being for Christians in America; I promote an imagining of the ecclesia in the confluence of subversive communal-being and visible, liberative action-speak. After reviewing what torture actually is, I address deep assumptions, such as memory and willful self-blindness, inherent in the American story that are counter to a Christological ecclesiology.

In light of the basic assumptions, the thesis will also cut both ways, against both theological liberals and conservatives, because I do not fault the Christian Right alone. Rather, I put forth William Cavanaugh’s critique of the nation-state and Eugene McCarraher’s Catholic/Marxist critique of capitalism, who both take aim at the theological complicity and structural compromise of American Christianity as a whole.

Thesis
As stated earlier, this thesis is a writing on torture. More specifically, it develops a political theology which subverts any current American theology that seems apathetic to torture, blasé about torture, or worst of all, resolutely pro-torture. To be more percise, 9/11, as a microcosm of the greater American story, is used by the privatizing nation-state as an identity-forming, eschatological event (a “Christological” event within a larger colonizing context) that supplants the life of Jesus and the cross and resurrection and works with the commodifying market to break down the Christian call and community of Christians in America. And, just as the Christian story of the cross does not end with death, so too the nation-state supplies a hope for a grand future. However, this future is an anthropocentric future, most vividly seen in Ronald Reagan’s hope, which was wrapped around a perverted, humanly controlled and realized salvation of fear, anger, and violence. The state’s story and justification for violence – to ensure “safety” (the status quo) in the face of fear – become the ruling meta-narrative.

The outcome is a breakdown and reversal of relationships and allegiance and the end result is a Christian public polity that is at least indifferent to violence by the state. Accordingly, the body of Christ is no longer forged by the memory and promise of the cross and resurrection, if it indeed continues to exist as a body. The solution to engaging American Christianity against torture, then, is to bring to bear Johann Metz’s idea of “dangerous memory” and an explication on the political implications of church movement – liturgical/sacramental theology. Metz reorients Christians to the identity-forming memory of the Christological life, and it is in liturgy that Christians solidify themselves and act out, resulting in a politically prophetic movement by the church.

This political theology is an attempt to re-narrate the church in America. Such an act will hopefully place the church on the margins, with the marginalized. Christendom of old will not be resurrected, nor will the modernist project continue to hold sway. Instead, both the theologically liberal and theologically conservative will be moved in the direction of a politically liberative praxis championed by a community formed through the remembrance of Christ.

________
1. Lieven Boeve, God Interrupts History: Theology in a Time of Upheaval (New York: Continuum, 2007), 203.

2. Johann Baptist Metz, Faith in History and Society: Toward a Practical Fundamental Theology, translated by J. Matthew Ashley (New York: Herder and Herder, 2007), 150-155.

And for the next few months…

I’ve been taking some time off to be sick. Mind you I didn’t mean to, nor wanted to, but when the flu knocks on the door, one really can’t say no.

Now, for looking forward the next few months, the reader can expect posts along the lines of Karl Barth (for which I expect readership may jump on these posts), Edward Schillebeeckx (readership will definitely fall for these posts), liturgy (protestants won’t care… heh, just kidding) and other subjects that surround my thesis on torture – violence, state, market, memory, and story to name a few.

Lastly, for those of you not aware of Adam’s blog, there are a couple of interesting comments that have creeped up in the last few days: one by Deirdre McCloskey, in response to Eugene McCarraher’s review of her book, Adam’s own response, and the latest comment by Christian with an enlightening link. Go take a look.

How’s this for a thesis?

I’m curious as what the theoblogosphere thinks of my following MA thesis:

I plan on writing on torture, more specifically, developing a political theology that subverts current American theology that seems apathetic or blasé on torture (since most do not seem explicitly for torture, but even if that were not case, the political theology I envision would cut against those pro-torture as well).

To distill the thesis I envision, I summarize it as such: 9/11, as a microcosm, is used by the privatizing nation-state as an identity-forming, eschatological event (a Christological event within a larger colonizing context) that supplants the cross and resurrection, and works with the commodifying market to breakdown the Christian call and community of Christians in America. The state’s story and justification for violence to ensure “safety” (the status quo) in the face of fear becomes the ruling narrative. Because the Christian body is no longer forged by the memory and promise of the cross and resurrection, if it indeed continues to exist as a body, the outcome is a breakdown and reversal of allegiance and relationships and the end result is a Christian public that is at least indifferent to violence by the state. The solution to engaging American Christianity against torture then is to bring to bear the Metzian idea of “dangerous memory” and an explication on the political implications of church movement – liturgical/sacramental theology. Metz reorients Christians to the identity forming memory of the Christological life and it is in liturgy that Christians solidify themselves and act out resulting in a prophetic movement by the church that is inherently political.

Any ideas? Praise and glory is welcome, helpful criticism even more so.

School of Americas Vigil

Today we, Students for Peace and Justice from Union, got back from the School of Americas Vigil. The drive was long, from New York to Columbus, Georgia and back in four days, but it was worth it. I got some pretty good pictures while there. Some are from our overnighting at a campground where the leaves were turning and others from the vigil. I’ve kept some pictures off the net, but I think the pictures I do have would give someone a feel for what it was like, so go check ‘em out here.

I do have some other thoughts about the vigil. I was pretty damn happy to see nuns and old people there. You see, part of the nature of these vigils is that they cultivate hope in those protesting, while they also function as a public shaming. I think that older clergy still hold a special position in society and one that is looked up to, insomuch as they are people who have committed their lives to their work. They’re still trucking, some were even dancing during the giant puppet show, and it was heartwarming to see.

By our group’s estimation, there were 10,000 to 15,000 people there on the Sunday protest. A peaceful and liturgical protest. It was discipleship in action. It was a sacramental protest. Interestingly, the presence of an armed military force was, to put it mildly, overkill. There were plenty of local cops (seemingly for back up), state troopers, at least one K-9 unit, constant surveillance recording, and of course the military presence who seemed to not be hiding all that well in the bushes and those I am sure who were unseen. The protesters – a great many were Roman Catholic – were quite literally boxed-in. Strategically I suppose if the people were to become violent, squashed would be the operative word to describe the result of an uprising. But to respond as such is to entirely misconstrue what the SOA Watch is about and how it acts, and I think the military knows it.

At the beginning of the Sunday vigil, we were informed that 11 people had crossed the line into the base and will probably go three to six months in a federal penitentiary. I have no idea how many people actually did and in fact, I have no idea where the line is. From what I understand, the military has moved the protest, fenced it in and hidden the line from view. Simply the military has attempted to subvert the act of witnessing the civil disobedience by making it look as if it never happened, because we never saw it happen – we couldn’t see it happen. Funny enough, disappearance is part of the idea behind kidnapping and torture that the American government now admits to doing (at least tacitly), while the old tactic of visible, brute force does nothing to the crowd. It would not be able to hem in 10,000 determined people.

We were surrounded? So what? And while it is somewhat irksome that the crossing of the line was happening out of view, it changes nothing. This is still an alternative social body of people, though not entirely Christian anymore, that condemns the idea of war as foreign policy and more specifically stands against America spreading the tools of violence and puppet governments throughout Latin and South America. And the military responds with a propaganda tour through the school, an armed force (though lax, because if we are anything, we’re passionate and nonviolent) and an attempt at subversion. I don’t think they quite get us. Changing the name from SOA to WHINSEC, creating more schools elsewhere and discouragement through overt force won’t stop us. We seek the end of imperial America and for those of us resisting as Christians, we’ve got a longer history and a social body to root ourselves in. Protesting, vigiling, critiquing, prophecy, and sacrifice will not be stopping anytime soon, because there is a greater Kingdom to embody. I don’t believe in destiny. I believe in God’s grace to help some of our decisions and actions to succeed and that kind of empowerment will not be killed or imprisoned. And that is what the military just doesn’t get.

The Church and Race Part 2: Proper Liturgy Only When in Diversity

I am excited to hear that at my undergrad, Multnomah Bible College, Dr. John Perkins is giving lectures. Coming to Union last semester was dramatically different to say the least (though it was something I was looking for) and in that difference I found myself reading and listening to critiques, some solid and others flimsy. Here following is part two of three responsorial writings to three books I read for Social Ethics as Social Criticism dealing with race, as I presume some of Multnomah is going through too.

Part 2 – Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Matter, by Traci C. West (Louisville: Westminster Press, 2006).

I was particularly interested with the chapter on liturgy. Having read Theopolitical Imagination (I am sorry if I am beginning to sound like a broken record), I was looking in West’s chapter on liturgy specifically for a treatment on the Eucharist. Cavanaugh, in my opinion, writes wonderfully about the death of Rutilio Grande and the response of Archbishop Oscar Romero – a single mass (121-122). The Eucharist broke through economic barriers bringing together rich and poor. And so reading Disruptive Christian Ethics, I was excited to see that liturgy was included. I would have liked to have seen more from West on baptism and communion, but even with the limited treatment, I feel like she brought an important component of race to my thought, which I will tease out here.

Liturgy accomplishes multiple functions: personal reflection, a visible representation of the body of Christ, unity, and “recogniz[ing] and contest[ing] repressive cultural norms like white superiority” to name a few (112). For instance, the Eucharist: prompts personal reflection on the person and work of Jesus Christ; visibly depicts the body of Christ in both time and space before one’s eyes; brings to light the unity in the body of Christ (both visible and universal); and thus, in theory, portrays each Christian as a human being of equal worth and equal acceptance.

However, white dominance (117), or white isolation, breaks the tangible image of the body of Christ existing in the world. The universal body of Christ is made up of all types of people, of all skin colors, and for a local church to be racially dominated by whiteness creates a Eucharist that is fundamentally myopic and thus a poor misrepresentation of the Eucharist. The body and blood no longer visibly shows the breadth of the church, nor does it portray each Christian as equally accepted. The representation of only whiteness can only lead to personal reflection (a personal reflection that is probably inherently white too), unless the Christian is confronted by a church that looks like him/herself.

The specific liturgical form of the Eucharist in my church in Portland, Oregon is different from the norm and I think one of the most powerful ways I have ever encountered the church and subsequently the Eucharist. The way in which they give the elements is helpful in retaining a sense of equality and importance – they share it together, literally. Instead of getting in a line to individually receive the bread and drink, they circle around the drink (the bread has already been dispensed), pick up the cup, take it to another person, let them drink, and then give words of encouragement or solidarity. They do this over and over again, making sure no one is left out and that we each gave to those whom we individually sought to affirm. Across racial lines (and there are multiple racial lines), this congregation personally ministers to itself, and in my mind, truly fulfilling the function of the Eucharist ritual.