{"id":138576,"date":"2021-04-19T08:48:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T16:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=138576"},"modified":"2021-04-19T08:49:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T16:49:23","slug":"how-god-becomes-real-kindling-the-presence-of-invisible-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=138576","title":{"rendered":"How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the New York Review of Books<\/a>:<\/p>\n

* \u201cPeople evangelize because they fear that the belief to which they have committed themselves may not be true.\u201d<\/p>\n

* For American evangelicals, the problem of God is endlessly a problem of the self. In the Horizon Christian Fellowship in Southern California, people spoke of intense personal difficulty, of self-destruction and despair followed by redemption. They told of \u201ca wild ride through drugs, sex, alcohol, and depravity until they hit bottom,\u201d at which point they finally turned to Jesus and were saved. The addiction narrative is so common that Luhrmann wonders if it affords an alarming glimpse into American, or at least Californian, life, but it might also be asked whether feelings of transcendence require a knowledge of abjection: you cannot be found if you already know where you are.<\/p>\n

* American evangelicals speak to God about their feelings, and they do this because they assume their feelings matter… For American evangelicals, God is mostly about them. He is a friend, and, like a friend, he helps solve everyday problems\u2014dilemmas about relationships, personal happiness, and the choices people make in life: \u201cYou can ask him what shirt you should wear and what shampoo to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

* At a shul in San Diego for Jews who had recently become Orthodox, the word people used most often was \u201cconnection.\u201d They felt connected \u201cto an imagined community that included not only all Jews living, but all Jews stretching back generation upon generation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the New York Review of Books: * \u201cPeople evangelize because they fear that the belief to which they have committed themselves may not be true.\u201d * For American evangelicals, the problem of God is endlessly a problem of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t