Conserve or Transform: Religion’s Dilemma

Last updated on: August 15, 2012 at 11:33 am by Andre E. Johnson

Conserve or Transform: Religion’s Dilemma 2012-08-15T11:33:00-05:00 Andre E. Johnson

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“Radicalism,” particularly in the context of religion, evokes ambivalent if not conflicting reactions. On the one hand, for many, religion provides a sanctuary from the “Sturm und Drang” of dramatic change and discontinuity, as well as feelings of security rooted in the anticipation of continuity. On the other hand, our Abrahamic traditions all embrace narratives of dramatic change, both for the individual and for the world. Personal salvation, in different formulations in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are important components of the religious narrative. Looking ahead to a radically transformed world in messianic or millennial formulations is likewise a significant part of all of our religious narratives. Reaching inward, finding comfort and security in one theological formulation or another is appropriately in tension with the obligation to reach out and change the world and to transform ourselves as well.

Writing on the op-ed page of the New York Times just a few weeks ago, Ross Douthat quoted approvingly the first lady’s expression of this tension. Addressing a conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Mrs. Obama stated: “Our faith journey isn’t just about showing up on Sunday. It’s about what we do Monday through Saturday as well. … Jesus didn’t limit his ministry to the four walls of the church. He was out there fighting injustice and speaking truth to power every single day.” In this appropriate characterization of Jesus’ ministry, Mrs. Obama was placing Jesus in the direct line of prophetic religious radicalism, in the tradition of Isaiah, Amos and Jeremiah, both conserving tradition but also calling for radical change. Eliminating the radical voice of religion, retaining only the conservative dimension of theological doctrine and ritual scrupulosity, it would be difficult if not impossible to defend the role of religion in human affairs.
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