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bjbjT~T~ Welcome to Week 5! It s amazing to think that we re nearly through this course.
We ve learned quite a bit over the past four weeks, but it s not over yet! We ve got a
few more questions to think about In this video lecture, I want to consider more directly
how Christian belief shapes Christian practice. Bill Mattison refers to this as what he calls
big picture beliefs. At the beginning of the course, I made a pretty sharp distinction
between secular theories of ethics and Christian ethics; by this point, however, it should
be clear that my sharp distinction isn t so sharp after all. There are problems with each
of the secular theories, especially if they are taken on their own. But as you are learning
in your group project this week, Christians make use of the best of what they see in secular
theories because Christians do live in this world, with people who do not share their
beliefs. One of the complaints that Christians often come up against is that what they do
seems to be no different from what other people do. For example, the corporate works of mercy
(feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and so on) are actions that many religious traditions
hold as important. Humanistic atheists do these actions too. So what difference does
God make? Likewise, scholars studying religion (who are different than theologians because
they tend to study religion as an object, rather than as a participant), note that even
Christian practices like the Eucharist and baptism are similar to food and water rituals
in other traditions. Still others have noted the similarities between, for instance, pagan
rituals about the sun, and Christmas, or pagan rituals about spring, and Easter. As an aside,
I should note that I think some of the scholarship on these things is spurious. That said, however,
it does not change the widespread belief that Christianity is merely one among many, just
one of the things people can choose in order to live a good life. So, let me make the case
that Christian belief makes an action different, even if it looks, to outsiders, like it is
the same. There are many examples I could use. Here, let me consider marriage, a practice
that both Christians and non-Christians have and they can seem very similar. Cultural Belief:
With apologies to my Trinidadian students and to my non-traditional students, I will
focus here on the beliefs youth culture in the United States has about marriage both
in order to be brief and because this is what I have studied about the most when it comes
to marriage. I welcome your observations however. In week 6, one of our forum discussions is
on marriage and sex; I hope that people will feel free to bring in their own cultural experiences
about marriage. Or, alternatively, feel free to post about marriage in the Questions and
Clarifications section of this week s module. But on to my point: A recent poll suggests
that some 94% of young adults in the United States expect to marry (or expect that they
have already married) their soul mate. Consider this word soul mate for a moment. It did not
come out of thin air; it is a word that arises in relation to the way we practice marriage
as a whole. Note, first, the notion of soul . This is a semi-theological term, on purpose
but it is only semi-theological. The same study suggests that people understand the
word soul as related to ideas about spirituality, mutual attraction, and the perfection of one
s potential spouse. To have a soul mate is to share leisure interests, political views,
personal habits, personalities, *** chemistry and beliefs. Moreover, 88% of those polled
believed that there is one perfect soul mate for every person in the world. Many commentators,
not just theologians, have commented on the ways in which culture supports this central
belief. First, there is a strong view of the idea of romance as necessary for marriage,
compounded by films, books, plays and other media that portray this kind of romance. On
the other hand, there is also a strong sense of nostalgia which many scholars say is misplaced.
We have a mythic view of marriage as it was (supposedly) in the 1950s and this becomes
the model for marriage today. The practices of marriage that might stem from this strongly
held belief include: dating many people in order to find the one, marrying later in order
to ensure that one has found one s soul mate, living together and/or having sex outside
of marriage in order to ensure that this person is, indeed, my soul mate. Marriages are not
a sacrament so much as they are simply a legal recognition of the fact that these two people
have found their soul mates (hopefully). Wedding ceremonies are often meant to be fun and unique,
reflecting the unique character of the couple, and many wedding ceremonies will therefore
take place in unique locations beaches, mountain tops. Because of the vague spiritual connections,
marriages will often not occur before clergy, but before a justice of the peace, or other
secular representative. Christian Belief Consider, by contrast, what the church has generally
meant by the word soul and mate . We could say that soul is vaguely about spirituality
and perfection in Christian theology, but only vaguely. In Christian belief, souls are
part of what it means to be a human being, along with the body. We cannot have one without
the other. Moreover, human souls are not perfect. Instead, humans aim toward friendship and
union with God, who alone is perfect. They know that they sin but seek forgiveness for
that sin. It is also not clear, in Christian belief, that there is any one perfect or right
person. Indeed, Paul is extremely pragmatic about marriage: get married if the ***
desire is going to distract you from your calling as God s disciple, he maintains. (See
1 Corinthians 7) That is less about perfection than it is about responding to human biology.
Instead, Christian belief about marriage stems from belief in salvation history. Creation:
God creates male and female for the twin purposes of being together (not being alone, Genesis
2) and having children (Genesis 1) Fall: It is not only the relationship between God and
us that is destroyed in the fall. Sins separate humans from each other. We see a gulf we cannot
bridge; we see ourselves as wholly separate beings. Men. Women. We see ourselves has having
no way to communicate with each other. Redemption: With the coming of Jesus Christ, marriage
is not only restored but is given an even greater character. For Christians, marriage
is a sacrament, which means in part that the relationship reminds us of Christ s relationship
with the church (Ephesians 5). It also means that marriage, itself, is meant to be a vehicle
of discipleship by God s grace, and it means that Christians pay particular attention to
Jesus prohibition of divorce (Matthew 19). Eschatology: In a sense, at the end of time,
all Christians will both be married (feasting at the wedding of the Lamb as he marries with
all of us, the Church) and single (because, as Jesus says, there is no marriage in heaven.)
What kinds of practices result in relation to these beliefs? Blessings of marriages,
the practice of getting married by a clergy member, the idea of life long fidelity, the
idea that marriage is about cultivating Christian discipleship. In Catholic belief, of course,
contraception is linked to these beliefs. There is much more I could say about both
of these. Note, however, a few main points. One is that even though marriage, on the outside,
will look the same for couples thinking one or the other of these: a couple joins together
and signs a legal document, the understandings and intentions of the couple will likely be
different. Second, Christians might well be participating in the first story as well as
the second. As we know, there are plenty of Christians who think a hodge podge of these.
Third, each of these beliefs requires a particular way of life that embodies those beliefs. Note
that the soul mate idea does not stand in isolation. It is not a belief that someone
just came up with on a street corner. It is supported by media messages and by the practices
people do. How do virtues relate to this? Christians need to be about the business of
thinking through, very critically, what beliefs their own actions show. This is part of what
makes Christian ethics exactly about Christian discipleship. As we investigate our actions
and think about them, we also find ourselves on the spiritual journey that leads us (hopefully)
closer toward God. This week, as we think about the theological virtues, we will most
especially want to think about how belief and practice relate. The theological virtues,
as Bill Mattison relates, require God and are central in Christian thought about what
it means to be a follower of Christ. One who loves well, hopes much, and has great faith
is one who acting out what it means to witness to the reign of God in our world. David Popenoe
and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, The State of Our Unions: The Social Health of Marriage
in America 2001: Who Wants to Marry a Soul Mate? (Rutgers, NJ: National Marriage Project,
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