I was already going to comment on the confusion that inevitably happens when believers — Protestant and Roman Catholic — invoke Christianity to make the world better. And then I saw that the Gospel Allies have a project called Every Square Inch (I guess the Kuyperians didn’t copyright that one). From ESI’s Theological Vision of Ministry (as opposed to the anthropological or logical or pharmacological one):
The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness but the renewal of the whole creation. God put humanity in the garden to cultivate the material world for his own glory and for the flourishing of nature and the human community. The Spirit of God not only converts individuals (e.g., John 16:8) but also renews and cultivates the face of the earth (e.g., Gen 1:2; Psalm 104:30). Therefore Christians glorify God not only through the ministry of the Word, but also through their vocations of agriculture, art, business, government, scholarship—all for God’s glory and the furtherance of the public good. Too many Christians have learned to seal off their faith-beliefs from the way they work in their vocation. The gospel is seen as a means of finding individual peace and not as the foundation of a worldview—a comprehensive interpretation of reality affecting all that we do. But we have a vision for a church that equips its people to think out the implications of the gospel on how we do carpentry, plumbing, data-entry, nursing, art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Such a church will not only support Christians’ engagement with culture, but will also help them work with distinctiveness, excellence, and accountability in their trades and professions. Developing humane yet creative and excellent business environments out of our understanding of the gospel is part of the work of bringing a measure of healing to God’s creation in the power of the Spirit. Bringing Christian joy, hope, and truth to embodiment in the arts is also part of this work. We do all of this because the gospel of God leads us to it, even while we recognize that the ultimate restoration of all things awaits the personal and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sounds wonderful, even inspired. The problem is that adding Christianity to the common realm only gums up the works. It either turns Christians against Christians, or it leads Christians to say nothing that your average American on anti-depressants wouldn’t also affirm. In the former category is the ongoing efforts of U.S. Roman Catholics to get right with America. In doing so, Cafeteria Catholicism rivals Cafeteria Papalism:
The point is that someone doesn’t become a “cafeteria” Catholic just because they decline to follow Leo’s analysis of property rights in favor of the traditional Thomistic analysis and the political consequences that follow from it, because Rerum Novarum, although it clearly declines to makes use of it, never explicitly condemns the Thomistic framework as a legitimate form of analysis for Catholics to employ—just as, for example, John Paul II’s decision to use Aquinas’s framework for the analysis of human action in Veritatis Splendor does not mean that every form of ethics apart from Thomistic ethics is now prohibited by the Church.
Leo goes on to allege that socialists endeavor “to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large,” an assertion which is ambiguous and somewhat questionable—even Marx, many of his commentators agree, did not want to transfer individual property to the community, but only productive property. Throughout Rerum Novarum, one of the accusations to which Leo returns continually is the idea that socialism is driven by the jealousy of the poor over the wealth of the rich. Socialism, Leo claims, preys on the lower classes who are “ever ready for disturbance” (# 47), and on “the poor man’s envy of the rich” (# 4); a socialist system would lead to the door being “thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord” (# 15).
Again, my point here is not that Leo is wrong. On the contrary, he’s right. Socialism that attempts “to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large,” as well as socialism that is borne from envy and hatred—as opposed to, say, a passion for justice—really is immoral, and as Catholics we can be confident of this if for no other reason than that Leo himself condemns it.
But clearly this characterization doesn’t apply to all (or arguably even most) forms of socialism. Pope Benedict XVI, for example, as Cardinal Ratzinger, once said that “democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine, and has in any case made a remarkable contribution to the formation of a social consciousness.” For this reason, Weigel and company surely deserve a very careful hearing when they claim that the kind of predatory capitalism condemned by the Church is not the kind of capitalism they seek to foster and promote. This doesn’t mean they are not wrong. My sympathies lie with the Christian socialist camp. But Weigel can be in serious error without being theologically heterodox.
So what is distinct about Roman Catholic social thought? It’s not what the pope says, it’s not what Aquinas says, it’s not what Weigel says. After all, you can be in serious error and your theology is still fine. That works, by the way, in a 2k universe. It doesn’t work so much when you’re trying to tell the rest of the world what is humane or just or compassionate. Plus, what exactly is serious error that doesn’t use theology to judge seriousness?
But evangelicals, as we all know, are equally flummoxed when it comes to making the world a more Jesussy place. A recent story in the Atlantic about evangelicals and immigration reform made a big deal of how born-again Protestants are a key demographic in the President’s legislative initiative. The story took me to the Evangelical Immigration Table which lists these key convictions of immigration reform, allegedly inspired by the gospel:
As evangelical Christian leaders, we call for a bipartisan solution on immigration that:
Respects the God-given dignity of every person
Protects the unity of the immediate family
Respects the rule of law
Guarantees secure national borders
Ensures fairness to taxpayers
Establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and who wish to become permanent residents
Wow! You needed the Bible or Jesus in your heart to come up with that?
Compare this to the Tea Party’s own statement, and what difference does evangelicalism or reform make?
1. Real reform would prioritize securing the border.
2. Real reform would represent the people’s voice.
3. Real reform would be fair and Constitutional.
4. Real reform would be understandable.
5. Real reform would benefit the economy.
6. Real reform would promote American values.
The difference (aside from thinking about American problems not as Christian but as American problems) would appear to be that some evangelicals find rubbing shoulders with President Obama more congenial than going to Tea Party fundraisers. On this narrow matter, I thoroughly agree. I’ve watched some of West Wing and I find the power of the presidency downright intoxicating.
But I still don’t see what difference evangelicalism, the gospel, papal social teaching, or Jesus’ lordship makes, except to lead Christians to think that they have the answers to all this world’s questions. On that one, they are not following Jesus.
Old Life 
You had to go and tempt me on my first day in recovery.
“It either turns Christians against Christians, or it leads Christians to say nothing that your average American on anti-depressants wouldn’t also affirm.”
LOL.
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Erik, I, for one, hear you.
How ’bout them Oscars? You called best pic, brah.
Anyway, Back to DG’s good post today.
Cheers.
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They just had to bring Plumbing into it. I guess you have to when your objective is every stinking square inch. It winds up being that ridiculous vision statement on the walls of your office that everyone in the company knows it will never reach given the fact that the company must direct more of its focus to the day-to-day operation – you know running a business.
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Andrew,
Would love to comment on the Oscars but that would just invite Greg the Terrible to launch a 1,000 word manifesto and away we would go. Anyway, I need to see all the movies before weighing in too much. I was glad to see “12 Years a Slave” win Best Picture. It’s an important film. Also glad to see McConaughey get recognition for his mid-career transformation. Similarly enthused to see “American Hustle” get shut out. It gives me faith in the critical acumen of The Academy.
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Jed, zactly. Copper, PVC, or Pex? Bill by the hour or the job? What’s an Xian plumber to do?
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Just what do these folks have against electricians? Always the plumber, never the electrician…
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Erik, I know. We both blog, so we can find a place to talk movies if we must.
For me, I found it odd that B. Pitt was giving the thank you speech for best pic. But then again, the only pop culture I know is what my wife is able to fit in edgewise at the dinner table between my pauses as I complain a about work.
I need to be a better listener..(emoticon). I only saw gravity, of all of them. Enough from me, let’s hear others (even you Greg, if you want).
Peace.
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I personally think a comprehensive theological treatise on all of the building trades is long overdue. Maybe one of the scholars at West can do it as penance for 2K.
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And the Oscar for shortest blog hiatus and return in the history of the Academy goes to…Erik Charter
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David,
You need to seek to debate me and see how kitten-like I’ve become.
Purrrrr….Meow…. (no hissing).
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Andrew,
The only professionals who need more prayer than prostitutes are attorneys and politicians. Good for the liberal Presbyterians.
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I need to leave theological debate to our more effete, proper, well-mannered members and theologians. Those who would prefer to debate in the gentlemanly atmosphere of the Downtown Abbey drawing room, complete with tea, crumpets, and a lovely raspberry liqueur. Where, oh where, are OUR flat-capped scholars in our time of need?
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“God put humanity in the garden to cultivate the material world for his own glory and for the flourishing of nature and the human community.”
If your pastor loves the term “human flourishing” it is time to find a new church.
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Erik and Andrew,
Wouldn’t it be easier if you two just used Google-chat?
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Andrew,
Pitt was a producer on 12 Years a Slave.
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Trouble is, “every square inch” of this world and everything in it, is consigned to sin.
Next (project)….
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Surely there is a sphere for Christian baking, Christian florists, and Christian wedding-planning. Uniquely Christian, I mean. Sola. By Christians alone for Christians alone.
end of monday sarcasm—
I am all for being “anti-liberal” (or even anti-capitalist) but that does not mean being “anti-secular” and it certainly does not mean that we need to endorse new Christendom projects. Way too many Reformed folks still hate the non-Magisterial idea of voluntary visible churches (plural) , For them, this is at best a pause before they take over again, even if it’s patient inch by inch.
They follow Leithart, Milbank, and Oliver O”Donovan into illusions of moderate but organic continuity with the “catholic” past so that one day the one church will use the one covenant to tell the nations what should be done.
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Some Christians “act as if some vast conspiracy is brewing in America over the Christian faith, with naysayers organized against Christians. They feel like they live life on the cultural margins, so they take that as their identity–they count their marginalization as their righteousness. They are not looking to Jesus as their only righteousness, and so they act from prejudice, assuming that everyone hates them, and they act in a way that confirms this.” (Crucifying Morality, p 105, R. W. Glenn)
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Seriously? Do these guys live in a hole? Have they watched any news at all lately?
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West Wing- cheesy liberal soap opera
House of Cards- should scare any grown man
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Erik, with my children, Iike to play the silent game. Like with my seven year old, we tell each other who ever speaks first loses.
So I’m going to play silent game with you. Whoever posts another comment between you and me, loses.
Kramer does this in an episode of Seinfeld, I will refrain finding it on YouTube.
Sound fun? Lets try. The game starts……
now.
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mcmark, let’s call it the christendom burning in the bosom.
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Nate, you keep defining and restating the problem to justify YOUR solution. It makes YOU essential. Inspiring in all sorts of ways.
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iggy, but it shows how much the left also loves White House power.
I’ve seen Miller’s Crossing. I’ve been scared for at least 30 years.
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Michael,
How about two Progresso Soup cans and an extra long piece of twine?
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Andrew,
Our problems are not the same.
I’m entertaining, but mean.
You’re nice, but boring.
See what I mean?
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Erik, so your answer is no.
I’ll take your word for it.
Cheers, matey. Arr..
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D. G., I’m not sure I’m following your point
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Nevermind, I got it. I thought you were referring to me… I guess my self-view is all out of whack
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Nate, maybe you need to take what Jed is taking.
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I hear if we correct Darryl, we must subsequently escape.
Anyone notice the Tag, “rpman catholic social thought”
Not a correction, but a requst for clarity?
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In my in-box today:
The Gospel Coalition wants to celebrate how God is working through you, as you live out your faith in your everyday work. To that end, Every Square Inch, our faith and work initiative, and Kathy Keller are hosting a small dinner at our upcoming women’s conference to discuss how God is using them in their vocations.
If you’d like to attend, please share your story with us. Tell us about what you do every day, how you feel about what you do, and when you have felt that your work has been particularly meaningful. The selected stories will have the opportunity to be published in a series of posts on TGC during the month of June, as we lead up to the conference. Twenty-five women will be selected for this complimentary dinner and will receive books about faith and work.
The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness, but also the renewal of the whole creation. Therefore, we glorify God not only through the ministry of the Word, but also through the everyday work of our vocations—art, business, government, scholarship, homemaking—as he works in and through us to cultivate the material world for his glory and the flourishing of culture. Come celebrate this work with us. View the form to learn more details, then tell us your story.
Bethany L. Jenkins
Director, Every Square Inch | The Gospel Coalition
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Will I harsh their mellow if I write in to tell them how I’ve been surrounded by morons in my work the past few days and am considering throwing in the towel to go on the road with the carnival?
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Erik, I do hope you join Twitter someday.
You are funny.
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God is all about renewing the whole creation before he destroys it with fire.
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Thanks AB.
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I’m serious.
You should join, just to see C-dubs’ tweets alone.
I’m out.
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