Is Ignorance Bliss?
Reworking material for a presentation for an introduction to Christian faith I was reminded, again, of the recent release of Stephen Prothero's book, What Every American Should Know About Religion--and Doesn't. Newsweek, the AJC, and many other media sources have been talking it up recently. Martin Marty plays with Prothero in an appreciative way in Sightings.
The reminder? In spite of all the talk about faith and religion, we are illiterate when it comes to matters of faith. And, at the risk of stepping on toes, I surmise that even folks who call themselves Bible-believing Christians, have taken the way of reading Chicken Soup or the latest devotional guide rather than stepping into the rough and ready of wrestling with texts. It could be compared to going to the mall for dinner because it will be easier to have the usual Red Lobster/Olive Garden/fill-in-the-blank than to go home and create a meal from scratch.
I have no problem with going out to eat. And fixing meals every day can be tiresome when tacked on to an already tiresome day. But the cumulative result is the loss of the communal value of preparing fresh products into some that feeds not merely the body but the spirit.
Of course, Prothero is lamenting our lack of knowledge about religion generally. And, as Marty suggests, to get religion wrong can lead to other misfortunes.
So, maybe assuming that we know all we need to know about faith and religion, may not only be depriving ourselves of food for our own spiritual journey, we may also be limiting our vision for how we understand our neighbors.
Well, excuse me, I have a new cookbook waiting for me.
Carson Reed
in Basic Christianity
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