The following is still in draft form and changes are made on a weekly basis. Any constructive feedback from readers will be greatly appreciated.
Last Updated: 10-15-2000
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved by Charles Notess, Loveland, Colorado.
Please contact Charles Notess to comment on, or for permission to use any parts of this paper. His e-mail address is: (cnotess@greeleynet.com). Feedback will be appreciated.
Recent publications in the field of psychology and sociology help us to understand better, religious phenomena (traditions and spirituality) and to relate psychology to theology in a way where knowledge in both fields increases and becomes more credible. The large number of good books on this topic indicate the extent of interest. Especially helpful are two books, James W. Fowler's 1996 book "Faithful Change - The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life" and The chapters on religion and modernity in "Culture and Society - Contemporary Debates", edited by Jeffrey C. Alexander and Steven Seidman, 1990.
(Please Note: A bibliography at the end of this page lists all sources sited herein.)
The Boomer generation (roughly those born in the two decades following the Second World War), is reaching a stage in their life cycle wherein many of them are searching for meaningful spiritual paths and are using an increased knowledge of psychology to assist them. Their quests are forcing changes in their approach to religion and in how they relate to transcendent forces by churches, synagogues and mosques. These changes impact ceremony, tradition, dogma, programs. music and design of sanctuaries and buildings. The Boomer generation has been influenced significantly by the rebellion of the 1960's and the burnout of creative television show producers. Many seem to be sensitive to a broader mix of sensual inputs that now include: new visual presentations, music with loud rhythmic beats, dance performances, and drama. The Boomers have developed a style of loose commitment to help them navigate across the divide between modern and postmodern eras. This style has weakened the impacts of traditional ways of relating to each other and to transcendent forces that have undergirded morality in the past.
Note: More is said in a section on Spirituality below, about the importance of commitment in generating within each person, a set of meaningful symbols and metaphors that are essential for develping the spiritual aspects of faith.
Information on the foregoing trends is useful to explore why there are significant differences in membership growth rates among different religious congregations, often within the same denomination. Tradition-bound congregations of older mainline denominations have not been growing as fast as evangelical, fundamentalist, orthodox and more spiritual congregations.
Mainline congregations must become more relevant to people in the 21st century and build a new foundation for tuning in to the transcendent and undergirding morality, or they will continue to languish on the vine.
This paper explores variations: in beliefs and images of God, in approaches to religious traditions and styles of worship, and also variations in constructions of reality (the social context of religion). The aim of this paper is to guide adult-school classes: in discussing the concepts herein and in applying them to their everyday life, including rebuilding the vitality of their congregation.
The increasing variety of religious beliefs within Protestant Christianity, for example, makes it difficult to identify the common core of postmodern Christian beliefs. The differences among beliefs confuse some and threaten others, thus making it desirable to increase tolerance, especially between persons who follow orthodox and progressive interpretations of holy writings. I, for one, believe that the variability among approaches to God is greater within many congregations than it is among congregations. The same can be said of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Moslem and other faiths. Books by Wade Clark Roof, Mike Regele and a paper on "What is the Koran" by Toby Lester, all listed in the Bibliography at the end of this paper, provide evidence of such variability.
One factor that contributes to the variation within congregations is the different stages of faith development in which individual members function. Stages of faith development are described in a section entitled "STAGES OF PSYCHO-SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT" that is part of a paper on: RESPONSES TO UNCERTAINTY IN A COMPLEX, CHANGING WORLD.
The following is an important idea that influences how many adults relate to and develop their image of a supreme being, God, or a cosmic force. That is why I have printed this paragraph in bold type.
How we humans relate to other persons is influenced by our early bonding to care givers. Human beings are very dependent at birth. Our parents or other care givers have to nurture and care for us. As a result of this caring relationship, our brains develop in a way that includes a need for bonding to a caring other. I believe that this need for bonding remains in most of us humans throughout our lives. We feel that we are not whole if this desire for a relationship with a caring other is not satisfied. In other words, I would say that our brain becomes "hard wired" in a way that creates a desire for trustworthy relationships with caring others. More recently, some say that it is inherented through our genes. It is possible that both considerations interact with each other and thus, both views are partly right. In either case, I believe that this proclivity remains with us, our individualistic bent not withstanding.
Humankind besides being social creatures are also religious creatures. By the latter I mean that humans seek a trustworthy relationship with a caring being or force that transcends their own concept of self. This is a result of the "hard-wired" proclivity that I mentioned in the foregoing paragraph. Some call it a Supreme Being, the Cosmos, or God. This concept, GOD, is ineffable, which means that it is difficult to describe in words that communicate a clear meaning which most persons would interpret in the same way. In most cases when we humans try to conceptualize such a God, and relate to that God, we tend to anthropomorphize our the image of that God. This tendency developes because our early relationships with caring others have been relationships to other human beings.
My ideas about the importance of early bonding are influenced, in part, by four sources. One is the first 20 pages of a small book "Acquiring Our Image of God", written by Martin A. Lang in 1983. He writes most clearly about meaning, bonding and the role of mythical stories. The second is: p. 81 on in a book "Consciousness" by J. Allan Hobson, the third is "The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence" by Kathleen Stassen Berger, pages starting with pp 42, 141, & 231, and the fourth is "Consilience" by Edward O. Wilson, on page 176 and starting on pages: 34 and 260.
I found the reporting of interviews of children by Robert Coles in "The Moral Intelligence of Children", to be very helpful to broaden an understanding of how children view God. Coles' story about a child named David on pp. 175-7 illustrates the spiritual life that some children achieve.
Robert Coles 1990 publication, "The Spiritual Life of Children" provides many interesting vignettes about children discussing their views of God and their values. The stories of kids age 9 to 13 show that their views are not much different than those of adults. That is because those kids who have well thought out opinions got them from listening and getting answers to their questions from their parents and religious education teachers. The kids tend to accept images of God from bible stories and other stories. They might be a bit more dogmatic about the doctrines they hold, but as they become adults they have time to update metaphors and stories if they do not become mired in their early interpretations of old doctrines and beliefs.
As the child becomes more independent of parental care and develops a concept of her/his SELF, I believe this hard wired proclivity leads her to seek a relationship with a transcendent God. The early image of God in such a relationship is typically an anthropomorphic image of some kind of all powerful God. In Biblical times this God was in heaven, above a flat earth. Such a view of God was consistent with the beliefs about the cosmos in those times. However, in this postmodern era, the knowledge gained from scientific research makes it difficult for many adults to hold on to the old image of a remote God in heaven. Marcus Borg, in his book, "The God We Never Knew", distinguishes between a Monarchial image of God and an Immanent image of God. The Monarchial image includes: God the Father, a supreme being, a King, Judge, usually remote, up in Heaven. The Immanent image has God being all around us and within each of us. Borg, born into a N. Dakota Lutheran background, was in his thirties when he began to relate to the Immanent image of God.
In the stages2.htm page of this paper, I included a list of seven levels of perspective taking. In the context of this stages7.htm page, I would add an eighth level. That is represented by taking the perspective of "God". Recently that level has become represented for some Christians by the question WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?).
Karen Armstrong, in her book, "A History of God", a New York Times Bestseller, describes how, in the third century after Christ, people were discussing question questions about the relation of Jesus to God "with the same enthusiasm as they discuss football today." (P. 107) The Church leaders tried to settle the question in the year 325 CE, when they settled on the Trinity in the Nicene Creed. However, the Trinity has often been misunderstood in the West where the approach to God was through reason, doctrine and proclamation. In contrast, Eastern Orthodox Christianity seemed to find that the concept of a Trinity lent itself well to their more spiritual approach to faith, which placed more emphasis on contemplation, silence and religious experience.
I, personally, am not bothered by the concept of a trinity in a monotheistic faith. The trinity is a metaphor and should not be taken literally. I view the concept like one views making a telephone call to a business where to connect with the creative engineering department head, you punch a 1 button, for the moral standards department you punch 2, and for the psychiatric therapy department head you punch a 3. This corporate metaphor makes it easier for one to avoid the trap of anthropomorphizing God.
Armstrong, on page 385 writes:"Muslims and Jews have also attempted to look back to the past to find ideas of God that will suit the present...a notable pakittani theologian, turned to the koran to find a way of seeing God that was not so transcendent that he became a nullity and not so personal that he became an idol. He pointed to the symbolic nature of Koranic discourse, noting that the balance between metaphorical, figurative and anthropomorphic descriptions,on the one hand, and the constant reminders that God is incomparable in the other."
For more on Armstrong's book see my paper: SOME NOTES ON KAREN ARMSTRONG'S BOOK "THE HISTORY OF GOD"
Members of many present day Christian congregations are split between those whose God is up in heaven and those whose God is within. If one develops a close relationship with Jesus or with God, and opens his heart to such a relationship, the "amazing grace" of God seems to flow in a way that builds hope, a positive attitude, and strengthens faith in the relationship that enables such a person to navigate safely through many of the vicissitudes of life.
I personally prefer a combination of the two images of God. I believe that the internalized image of God can have a transcendent aspect that does not have to include a belief in God in Heaven somewhere above us and remote from us. Transcendence can refer to having power over humankind and nature, a power that does not negate the possibility of Free Will. This kind of image of God may be viewed as a creative force or regulating system that does not have to include the aspect of an anthropomorphic image. Thayer, on p. 57 of his book "Spirituality and Pastoral Care" writes that ..."awareness of transcendence may in fact be indistinguishable from the awareness of immanence".
We must realize that the concept of "GOD as Creator" includes all of the universe and it's natural eco-systems of which we are a part. We have the consciousness to partner with God and we have the obligation to help keep these many systems in balance.
Bible stories and parables tell us about the acts of God, they influence our image of God and they help us develop some comprehension of the intent of God's creation. In Christianity, Jesus is viewed by many as part of a triune God. An advantage of the triune God is that if a person has difficulty relating to a Fatherly God, then either Jesus or a Holy Spirit of the resurrected Jesus can serve equally well to guide ones developing faith. An internalized image of Jesus, as a friend and as an ideal role model is thus available for those who find it difficult to relate to a remote God.
Fowler, in Chapter 12 of "Faithful Change", summarizes images or aspects of God held by individuals who are influenced by modern and postmodern views. (pages 192-3). After a quote from Peter Hodgson, he writes: "He (Hodgson) is suggesting that behind the events that represent breakthroughs in the history of people and nations, a discerning observer can detect long lines of convergent providence. Whether we are speaking of the civil rights movement in the united States or of the final breakthrough to putting the scourge of apartheid behind the unifying people of South Africa,.. Hodgson is telling us that God animates and is present in specific shapes and patterns of praxis that have a configuring, transformative power within history." By "praxis", Fowler means "the characteristic patterns of God's involvement in and providential guidance of the processes of our evolving universe, including God's interaction with humankind". God's praxis is symbolized by the term covenant which "conveys the conviction that the unity and dynamism of the expanding universe are given coherence and symmetry by the force field of God's covenantal care." Three patterns of divine praxis Fowler describes are: God's creating, governing, liberating and redeeming.
We need to view God's graciousness as rooted in creation and as leading humankind to take on a responsible partnership with God as His helper. We are to be stewards of His creation which gives us the responsibility of managing natural ecosystems to continue in a progressive balance so that the processes of evolution (part of God's creation) will continue to be fruitful.
Can we have evolution without competition? Can we have competition without conflict?
Some people believe that God's creation is sacred and we should not tamper with it. However, we pollute Mother Nature and exploit its resources for personal gain. Some believe that we might even go so far as to use genetic engineering to help manage natural ecosystem balances. How shall we be guided in balancing the sacred and secular in the post-modern era?
The concept of spirituality is closely related to how one interacts with and relates to his/her image of the divine and/or the process of cosmic evolution. The relationship starts by hearing stories about God and becoming familiar with the emotions that others have when they communicate such stories; emotions such as awe, joy, and respect. Such experiences create symbols that dwell in the conscious and unconscious and trigger particular subjective feelings. Disciplined, yet relaxed focusing on these symbols, together with contemplating about them, helps organize these symbols and experiences toward a coherent holistic image of the process of an evolving cosmos which some persons achieve in the later stages of faith development. Such focusing includes relating, centering on the sacred, meditating, prayer, relaxing, yoga and clearing ones mind of worldly cares and concerns. These and other approaches help one to occasionally reach an alternative state of consciousness, a state wherein one feels in communion or close relationship with the divine and/or the cosmos, with the Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with a remote monarchial God, with a God within each of us, or a combination of the foregoing.
An example of spirituality occurs when one has felt at one with a particular group of people or in tune with the cosmos. This feeling can happen at one level after contemplating a subject and understanding for the first time a new idea or relationship of ideas. One feels a joy and has a glimpse of some new power to comprehend the meaning of faith or the meaning of a relationship with God or Jesus. This feeling might last for only a short time, until one gets involved doing something else. It is something like a mountaintop experience, seeing the layout of land features below, in a new spatial relationship and connectedness. This feeling of joy is similar to the JOY that Scott Peck described in "The Different Drum", the joy that members of an authentic community feel when they first realize that their group has risen to the level of an authentic community. The community members know each other, respect each other's differences, and can reach workable compromises on issues that will divide and polarize pseudo communities.
Armstrong writes on page 338:" ..we have all urged friends to sleep on a problem in the hope of finding a solution that has eluded them in their waking hours. When our minds are receptive and relaxed, ideas come from the deeper region of the mind. This has also been the experience of Archimedes, who discovered his famous Principle in the bath...As long as they wrestle with lodic and concepts, they are, necessarily, imprisoned in ideas or forms of thought that have already been established."
Spirituality develops from lived experience wherein one has emotion- evoking experiences that generate meaningful symbolic attachments. Examples are: attachment to the house and hometown where one grew up in childhood years; attachment to a tree or a scenic overlook, where one might have spent pleasant moments with a close friend; attachment to a group of war buddies or college classmates with who one had exciting experiences; and religious activities that involved close relationships while learning about and from the bible, relating to Jesus, etc..
Development of strong symbols and a coherent set of metaphors and symbols is an important part of building one's faith. It helps if a group of people share experiences in authentic communities and build a common set of symbols and metaphors. This takes commitment over a period of at least several months. It is not something that one can achieve over a weekend.
Caplan emphasizes that most Americans are too much in a hurry and to much used to fast food restaurants, and automatic tellers, etc.. many are easily taken in by New Age type gurus and other "sages" who promise them ecstatic experiences at a weekend retreat. Others rely on drugs to give them a feeling of ecstacy. However, in most cases they become addicted to the search process and never achieve authentic and long lived transformations. For a more detailed explanation of how humankind try to relate to the ineffable, see: SOME NOTES ON MARIANA CAPLAN'S 6-1999 BOOK ON MYSTICISM.
One of the problems with mainline Christian denominations is that there are too many metaphors and symbols that have lost relevance over time. The printed word and stagnant church bureaucracies tend to perpetuate old symbols and metaphors as new ones are developed and are added to the list. To have metaphors and symbols that are relevant and meaningful to postmodern persons, requires a level of commitment to ceremony and ritual that many Boomers and the next generation do not fully appreciate. Having to become familiar with all the old bible stories and metaphors, each of which has many differing interpretations, dilutes the effectiveness of, or drowns out, the few meaningful metaphors that most people need to build a strong and active faith.
An example of the effect of this oversymbolization is the response of liberal congregations which avoid the mention of key Christian symbols to the extreme. In many cases such congregations or fellowships suffer from a lack of even a few key metaphors and symbols that are needed to develop the mystical and spiritual side of faith. I believe that they and the persons that they try to attract to their congregations have been so repelled by the oversymbolization that they threw the baby out with the wash water.
I have found that some of the more liberal Christian congregations in trying to satisfy a wide range of age and generational cohorts have a mix of metaphors and symbols that is not effective. It is difficult to provide a focused set of symbols while trying to satisfy the needs and experiences of a wide variety of persons. Some prefer literal interpretations of the Bible. Others prefer to deemphasize the old testament. Some find little meaning in communion cookies and grape juice and do not believe in hell, or heaven. Others believe that because Jesus died on the cross, he death saved us from hell for eternity.
Armstrong's "History of God" shows clearly how so many different approaches to faith developed and many of them are still relevant to small groups within any particular congregation.
The tree of faith has become overgrown with twigs and branch that weaken the tree. There is much careful trimming to be done. If the stories, metaphors and symbols are not properly trimmed, the congregations will loose members.
Thomas Merton, in the revision to "New Seeds of Contemplation" published in 1972, distinguishes contemplation from trance or ecstacy, the hearing of sudden unutterable words, and the imagination of lights. He writes, on page 1: "Contemplation...is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source.",,"It 'knows' the Source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes beyond reason and beyond simple faith.
He writes, on pages 9-11: "Contemplation... is the experiential grasp of reality as 'subjective', not so much "mine" (which would signify "belonging to the external self") but "myself" in existential mystery... Contemplation.. ..arrives at reality.. by an intuitive awakening in which our free and personal reality becomes fully alive to its own existential depths, which open out to the mystery of God. ..For the contemplative, there is.. only I AM. ..In he humble realization of our mysterious being as persons in whom God dwells, with infinite sweetness and inalienable power."
I believe the search for ecstacy and for emotions spread by group contagion are what attracts many Boomers to Pentacostal and other types of growing congregations. However, I feel that this kind of group activity and participation in worship is inauthentic and will not provide strong symbols that have meaning and will be long-lasting unless the activities take place within authentic communities as Scott Peck defines them in his book, "The Different Drum".
Spirituality includes the idea of the "sacred". An example of a community that developed a sacred attachment is Estes Park, Colorado. The object that became sacred to many residents of that town was a large bull elk which came into town with his harem each winter to graze at the lower altitude. In the winter time, he came to graze at warmer temperatures than those of the high Rocky Mountains pastures where the elk graze in the summer. The residents named him "Sampson". When a city man shot the bull to take his antlers for a trophy, the whole town joined together to catch the culprit and exact punishment.
Primitive hunters in prehistoric times, Native American Indian tribes, and modern-day nature lovers observed animal, plant and bird behavior over periods of years. This activity leads to a great respect for animals and nature in general, a respect that is closely tied to the idea of a felt relationship to the animals, plants, etc.. This type of relationship is similar in some ways to a spiritual relationship. Selected elements of the natural world were viewed as spirits by primitive peoples.
Humankind have been placed on this planet to do God's work. It is through our good actions that God's work is accomplished. If we live in a tight, authentic community that incorporates mutual help among the community members, then if one member is in trouble and needs help, the community will help and join together to do so. This is another form of what Christians call God's grace at work.
This final section tries to shed light on why churches in mainline Christian denominations in the USA are losing members and lack attractive power, especially for the Boomer (those born in the two decades following the Second World War), and the next generation called Survivors or Generation X'ers.
This writer recommends the books "Spiritual Marketplace" 1999, and an earlier one "A Generation of Seekers" 1994, as two of the most informative and readable books on what Boomers are looking for in the way of new organizational responses to their religious quests.
Roof in "A Generation of Seekers" on pages 204-212, describes the programs of several congregations that attract many Boomers. Reasons given for dropping out of a church were "- failings of pastors and priests, boring and uninspiring worship services, stiff and narrow-minded people in the pews, lifeless programs, cold and unfriendly places". The attractive characteristics were "- a special pastor, priest or rabbi, good worship, a worship service at a time other than on Sunday morning, a particular adult class where things come alive, good music, children's programs, opportunities for people to commit themselves to causes they feel are important".
Rather than give simple guidelines and criteria for attractive congregations, the author provides descriptions of several congregations that seem to attractive Boomers.
Roof in his 1994 book, described how spirituality has become an important aspect of the religious quest by Boomers. He describes how the value changes of the 1960's and 1970's have remained and still are evident in the Boomer generation (page 249).
The language of the Bible, the Church Creeds, the musical lyrics and tastes that seemed to have been effective throughout the pre-television era need to be adapted to the rapid changes in mass culture and language that result from a rampant commercialism in our consumption-dependent society. But what can be used as a guide for deciding which changes need to be adapted in mainline Christianity to attract the post-modern Boomer and Survivor generations?
Raschke, Kirk and Taylor, in their book "Religion and the Human Image" 1977, summarize new forms of transcendence and new experiences that are related to our entering the postmodern era. In their last chapter, they write that it becomes difficult to transfer traditional views, ideas and images to the younger generation. "The experience of the recurrently new becomes in itself a custom." p. 241. "Many a college student today will argue vehemently that if "you experience it as true," if the experience turns on flashing lights and tinkling bells, then it must be true." These experiences "border on what might be called "ecstasy"... Such colloquial expressions as "wow," "far out," or "out of sight" suggest the new rules for experience nowadays."
In the book "Psychology and the Christian Faith", page 223-5, in a Chapter on Social Psychology David G. Myers, describes how research shows the "powerful effect of overt action on internal disposition....If we want to change ourselves in some important way, we had therefore not depend exclusively on introspection and intellectual insight. Sometimes we need to get up and act -". The Biblical emphasis on strengthening one's faith by getting involved in helping others is strongly supported by evidence from the field of social psychology. Those congregations that get their members involved with others in helping others, strengthen the faith of their members. A good example of how involvement in doing changes one's perceptions in positive ways is presented on page 214.
Bryant, on page 3 of his book on Carl Jung, quotes Jung as follows: "It is high time that we realized that it is pointless to praise the light if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing". Bryant, and I agree, states: "It is here I think that Jung can help the Christian today...". The Boomer generation is searching for the meaning of life and the path that they should take to find fulfillment. Many of the Boomers are on a spiritual quest. To teach people the art of seeing, one has to provide the experiences necessary for them to develop a vocabulary of meaningful symbols of the Christian faith. The old symbols and stories are not as effective as they were in the past.
Another web posting that I am working on provides additional background information that might be helpful for appreciating some of the ideas outlined above. Especially relevant are the sections entitled: STAGES OF PSYCHO-SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, THE RISE OF INDIVIDUALISM AND LOSS OF COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY, CHANGING SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF REALITY, and THE POSTMODERN ERA. This posting can be reached by clicking on: RESPONSES TO UNCERTAINTY IN A COMPLEX, CHANGING WORLD.
The experiences gained in the field of psychology have enabled increasing proportions of young adults to relate in new ways, to an ultimate power, inner force, supreme being, or God. Boomers, those born in the two decades following the Second World War, are engaged in spiritual quests that are based on an internalized image of God, yet one that still satisfies the innate human need for the transcendent. Increasing knowledge about developmental stages of faith and spiritual development on the one hand, and generational differences in interests on the other hand, are useful guides for changing religious services, traditions, ceremonies and musical forms for the benefit of the Boomer generation and their successors, the Generation X people.
It is difficult to generalize a discussion on how to fine-tune the program of a particular church to attract more members. Each particular church needs to consider its staff, lay leaders and congregation members, and its neighbors: their skills, their style, their needs and their preferences and together select the best program. In this age of diverse styles, age cohorts, generational backgrounds, etc. selecting a best program is difficult.
Return to Main Page of my paper on Responses to Uncertainty.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Some notes follow below on God and how we can relate to Him, influenced in part by Fowler's ideas and Kushner's writings, especially Chapter 7, in Kushner's book mentioned above.
Creation (including the ever changing process of evolution) has produced humans who function with instincts, as animals do, but also who have a degree of free will far greater than that of animals. Humans have evolved to the point where most adults have capabilities for performing cause and effect analyses and we live within cultural traditions that guide our moral standards and values. Evolution is a process that improves the efficiency of adaptive capabilities in plants, animals, and human systems and evolution also maintains a balance between the various drives and forces that influence these systems.
See also, in this vein of thinking about God, Marcus Borg's new book "The God We Never Knew."
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