Taking Out the Trash

"Garbage in; garbage out." This warning to computer users is also a warning to theologians. Has God withdrawn favor from the American experiment?

In recent disasters, the implicit theology is implicated. The so called "war on terror" and the collapse of the global economy have deep and hidden theological roots. While these are complex phenomena, to begin on theological examination cannot happen too soon. Atop the list of offenders is the laser like focus on the personal over the collective. Theological discourse is popularly understood to be "all about me." This, in part, explains the explosive growth and recent sagging of evangelical congregations. There is a direct connection to the biases of the consumer culture. "Have it your way," Burger King exclaimed and the churches promptly produced a theology to match. There was a time when the "success gospel" was the butt of jokes. No more.

The focus on God and me is now the dominant arena for God talk in the west. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so," the evangelical gospel proclaims. Economic policy is shaped by what is good for me. The "war on terror" is waged to keep me safe. It is all so personal, shaped by my Savior, my religion, my wants. First person singular.

Does theological discourse ever talk in the first person plural, about us? In fact, the biblical root of the judeo christian forms of faith admits to very little in the way of personal focus. It is written largely in the context of we. So, in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth he spoke of the divine life as we. The texts continue to address our dilemma, our culture, our society. In the context of we, the biblical text conveys some very different lessons than it does in the first person singular.

What might we be doing now, were we to consider that the good news was a collective sort of thing? I think that lessons about folks fending for themselves would be the central concern of congregations. We would bear our appropriate responsibility with the "least of these." Church membership would be understood as a shared enterprise, rather than just a personal choice. We might be more focused on mission than personal transformation. We would be much more careful about dividing the world into we and them. The experience one has in congregation as a part of something larger, introduces the futility of personal conformity. When our theology is no longer absorbed in "what will happen to me," we are able to mobilize the variety of us. We will also be able to see that the drawing lines of division is no simple matter. As a friend noted, "in the church, there is no them." The complex concern of the Gospel cannot be summoned by the sort of hats we wear. It is far deeper than that.

The garbage in the theological system is that "it is all about me." We will begin to clean up the theological and cultural mess when theologians can clarify that "its all about us." Perhaps then, and only then, can the theological disciplines begin to shed light on the dilemmas we face as a nation and as a culture.

It it time to take out the theological garbage.