The Reformation and popular religiosity

Let me continue on with popular religiosity.

The Reformers were reacting against a Church that had gone rogue in some areas. The Radical Reformers (the Anabaptists) reacted so strongly that they threw history away. A fiction was created of a culture-free Christianity which could be recreated if only we cleaned out the supposed cultural elements well enough. More than that, the idea grew that we must try to keep too many cultural items out of Christianity. Thus, part of the reason vestments were forbidden was precisely because they were cultural wear that had come into Christianity. One should wear only the clothes of the day, not clothes from another era (or so was claimed).

Worse, a fiction was created of a Jesus who, in one sense, was almost not Jewish. Look at the vehement arguments that Jesus would not have worn special clothing, almost disdained the Temple, etc., that are found in much of fundamentalist Christianity, and one can see almost a denial that Jesus was  Jew living in the culture of his times who kept the Law and followed parts of the popular religiosity of this day. In fact, because the Gospels concentrate on the areas where he challenged people, we miss just how observant he was as a Jew. Remember that the Scriptures also insist that he was born under the Law and lived under the Law. Part of his very incarnate life was to demonstrate a complete and total obedience to God’s Law, in the culture in which He lived. Now I add that phrase about the culture for one simple reason. The Scriptures are unequivocal that he was both present at synagogue on the sabbath, unless He was in the Temple, and that he was considered a rabbi. But, synagogue is not something found in the Old Testament Scriptures as a command of God. Synagogue is an incredibly central piece of popular religiosity that developed during he Babylonian Exile in order to replace a Temple that had been destroyed. In fact, the synagogue is a prime example of how something in popular religiosity can come to be something that becomes central in the official religiosity. And, something that was not just central in the official religiosity, but also something that God blessed with His presence! In fact, the synagogue is a human tradition that developed without direct command from God that ends up becoming an official, and necessary, part of Judaism and blessed by God. The development of the synagogue in Judaism is my best argument for the power of Holy Tradition and that it is possible for something to develop that ends up being blessed by God and becoming necessary.

Luther, to his great credit, attempted to have a much more nuanced approach and spoke of the term adiophora. Adiophora are matters which are neither commanded nor forbidden in Scripture. The concept was actually a rather elegant attempt to deal with the whole subject of popular religiosity, history, and culture. Unlike the Radical Reformers, Luther was not frightened of history and was simply trying to develop a conceptual framework which would allow for culture, traditions, and yet also allow for change. He also wanted to stick within the framework of sola scriptura, but not turn it into the straight jacket that it became among the Radical Reformers. In fact, he had a beginning grasp of the power of culture in that he realized that if he allowed his fellow Germans to destroy the images in the churches, that it would negatively impact the spirituality of his fellow Lutherans. That is, those images were such a strong part of the popular religiosity that to destroy them would be to cast doubt on many of the key beliefs that Luther wanted to preserve. He was one of the first who made the type of difficult decision that many missionaries have had to make over the centuries over what part of the culture to “baptize” and what part of the culture must be opposed.

I would argue that Luther made two mistakes. The first one is not pertinent to this discussion. He excluded Holy Tradition. The second mistake is that he underestimated the power of human culture. Let me reiterate that he was the only one of the Reformers who, by his writings and actions, took culture seriously. But, he neither realized the depth to which our culture is part of our lives nor of the incredible power that culture has on our life nor the place and power of cultural religiosity. He made the same mistake as people do to this day. He assumed that by using one’s intellect, a person could overcome culture and could easily make decisions on what is and what is not adiophora. But we are not fully capable of doing that. Think about your reaction to the criticism by Jehovah’s Witnesses over the fact that we celebrate Christmas. Yet, technically, they are correct. We can trace the development of the celebration of Christmas. It is not commanded in Scripture, therefore, according to Luther, it is adiophora. So, if the schools want to change the Christmas holiday school period to a winter holiday school period, it should not be a problem. Right? It is adiophora, so it does not ultimately matter whether we celebrate it or not. Right? Obviously, wrong!

Christmas Day is a part of popular religiosity that has crossed over into official religiosity. One can make all the intellectual arguments one wants. One can even do it with a slight sniff as one discourses the different theories as to why it ended up on December 25, an unlikely day since Our Lord Jesus Christ is pictures as being born at a time when the animals are allowed to stay outside during the night rather than being brought in. He was most likely born a few months before December. But, it does not matter. When that Jehovah’s Witness argues with us, when the school system tries to call that holiday something different within the walls of the school, we react with fearsome outrage, given that it is adiophora. And, that is not only because that day has now passed, by tradition, into the official religiosity, but also because that day is built into us as a powerful day by the culture in which we have grown.

That is the power of popular religiosity. But, that also shows something of the complexity of the interplay between official religiosity and popular religiosity.

===MORE TO COME===