Ideology and Recreation
Rereading Romans from 4.18-25 I came across a vivid (and I think
useful) paradigm. Yet in order for me to make my argument I must reference a somewhat complex philosopher who developed a Neo-Marxist Gestalt used frequently in English Critical Theory. It works like this:
The Theory:Althusser, in Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, describes the phenomena of ideologies. Ideologies are the "forces" that surround and shape humans. There are tons of ideologies that shape us (young, Midwest American Christians of the 21st century) throughout our life. They include: the ideology of Education, the ideology of Religion (we discuss this everyday; our "church" says: do this, don't do that, believe this, don't believe that, wear this, don't wear that, God is like this, he is not like that, etc), the ideology of Democracy, the ideology of Republicanism, the ideology of the middle class (i.e. be a good worker, work hard, obey your authority, fit in, don't rock the boat, be a good worker bee, etc), the ideology of Pop-Culture (be thin, be cool, don't be different, don't be like your father, don't live for the future, life is what it is to you: and, by the way, this is what it is to you... etc)... So basically, Althusser says, these forces "shape us" rather than the other way around: i.e. you are a PRODUCT of society and the "forces" that create the ideological world in which you live.
How it "Works Out:"Okay, so there seems to be some truth to this. We have all felt how difficult it is to say "no, I'm not wearing that name tag," and even when we DO say that, we have to admit to ourselves that it is not because of some unexplainable internal strength and peace of mind that we are doing it, but because of another ideology: call it the ideology of Postmodernism or the ideology of Rebellion or whatever. Regardless of its specific name, it tells you: "you cannot wear that name tag. You will loose your identity... and by the way, your identity is NOT LIKE THAT." You may ask, what is my identity? And the ideology will point you along to other ideologies: Pop-Culture, Education, Religion, etc, etc, etc... and we realize that there is not an end to being a PRODUCT of just another ideology. They all say--in so many words--"don't do or believe THIS WAY, do or believe THAT WAY."
Control Issues:This is a problem I have observed in the generational movements of the church. The "new church" is called the Emergent Church. And, to my surprise, I received an email one day that quickly and thoroughly washed away any delusions that this new church was "the answer" we are all looking for. The email basically read like this: "If you SWEAR in sermons, enjoy the philosopher DERRIDA, have read any of these books (insert list of books... some of which I have read), do this, don't do that, etc, etc... then you are EMERGENT!!!!" Aaaaaah! It's everywhere. Yes, it is. Because it is a system of thought that makes human beings AGENTS. By this I mean that it makes human beings "in control" of producing certain outcomes. We experience it in the modern evangelical church all the time: "God wants us to saturate Oak Park in order to 'advance his kingdom'"--> and so we give out suckers, five dollar bills, and bags of food. (By the way, I am not passing judgment on these things, just demonstrating ideology) And so, since we know that God wants us to "saturate" we saturate--and it gives us the agency to capture more members for our "church," bless someone, pray for someone, be blessed ourselves for giving, accumulate pride via OUR GOOD WORKS, accumulate self-righteousness via knowing "HOW GOD WORKS" and "having his favor" etc, etc, etc... So in other words, because we have the saturate ideology, we know what WE CAN DO (i.e. what I, me, myself, can do via my own power) in order to produce these certain outcomes: (insert list from above).
The Paradox Undone:And so we can see that ideology in and of itself is neither good nor bad, but a tool of AGENCY for humans. Yet here's where the problem occurs: ideology gives CONTROL to humans. Humans are "fallen"--and even those who are not still often act like they are--so when we take control, we savor it. The control becomes "Our Precious" (insert Gollum's creepy voice), and we raise up our new God--the one that is all ours for the keeping! It is the IDEOLOGY of the Christian God. "I can get these results by doing these things," we say to ourselves subconsciously. And soon, the structures we have built in order to "get what we want" from God or "for" God (and secretly for our own self-righteousness) deconstruct, and leave us alone, dry, and without the Living, Breathing God who is not controlled via ideology, but the very source of PURE Ideology itself--i.e. the very source of AGENCY (and, like faith and works, agency is, for humans at least, primordially tied to one's sense-of-self).
Growth:And so here is where we will find ourselves forever returning to the same spot in the woods where we originally realized we were lost--unless we purposefully lay our ideology at the feet of the Source Himself! From this place of total ideological dependence, we can be re-energized with a fresh and new AGENCY every day, every minute, every second even. Because we are close personal friends with the very source of Human creation--and he just so happens to be a Good, Loving Father who desires to recreate us out of our fallenness into new sorts of humans all together--humans who are living in the tides of continual ideological rebirth! This is what it is like for humans to be empowered to live and dwell in the relationship of the Trinity Himself. We are now the very BODY of Jesus--invited into the fold!
Back to Romans:And here is where we can see this in Paul's story of Creation, Fall, and Recreation. On page 78 in our Roman's for Everyone Wright describes Paul's direct 'reversed reflection' of the fall (as described in versus 1:20-27) with the very beginning of Recreation (versus 4:17-20) via Abraham. As fallen humans followed the ideological lie that "they can be like God," they worshiped themselves, trusted in themselves, and ultimately became "pointless"--i.e. they had no agency of value ["value" is a whole other topic unto itself, but if you are interested read The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis]. So, logically, they turned to sexual relationships that were nonproductive (same sex relationships) [we can almost see this as the grace of God in that he is very clearly demonstrating to these people, and to those around them, exactly what they have believed in!]; Abraham gave up that ideology when God presented him with a new one: you will bear a son--i.e. you will be an AGENT that produces. "Disregard that old ideology and trust in this new one," says God, "I am the I Am=the Life Giver=the Source=(The Architect--for those of you who have seen The Matrix Reloaded, and who are always willing to divulge in a little humor)=the True Living Ideology that is ideology, yet transcends ideology at the same time." And Abraham was made that Father of us all, and the Father of human recreation!
Ideology meets Recreation:As N.T. Wright puts it, "God called Abraham to undo the sin of the human race," and he continues, "[this] goal...has been reached in Jesus, and in the events of his death and resurrection." So, going back to the top of 78, "in Abraham's faith, and in faith of the same kind...human beings are put back together again and enabled to rediscover what a genuinely human life is like" (78). And, if you think about it, Abraham must have dealt with faith on this very level--on the ideological level. He had to consider his old "belief system" in order to leave it behind for the new one. And this is what we have to do in order to live out the recreation that has been born in us!
Paul expounds on this as he continues, and Paul's "expounding" is very relevant to our own struggles with ideology and the modern church--in fact it is fundamental to growth within these struggles.
Josh
