We Are Creatures of Habit

Last updated on: January 14, 2015 at 3:39 pm by Preston Sprinkle

We Are Creatures of Habit 2015-01-14T15:39:18-06:00 Preston Sprinkle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In my previous post, I talked about the revolutionary vision of philosopher Jamie Smith. I wanted to briefly follow up with some thoughts that capture some of the more provocative points in this book.

One of Smith’s main points in the book is that we are by nature liturgical creatures. For some of you, the word liturgy may throw you a curveball; you may think the term simply means heartless repetition that fosters in-authenticity. But that’s not what he means. (And that’s actually not the design of liturgy at all, but that’s for another blog.)

What Smith means is that there are habits in life that form and foster our desires. Not every virtuous act is the product of conscience spontaneity, but is often the result of habitual practice.

As I was reading Smith, I couldn’t help but think of my former life as a baseball player. I used to train my “muscle memory” to hit a fastball. It takes .6 seconds for a 90mph fastball to go from the picture’s hand to the plate, so there’s no time to think, analyze, and swing. You just gotta swing! Parking a fastball over the fence is largely a product of muscle memory. It’s the byproduct of habits formed through practice.

This is not too different from holiness. As the “spiritual disciplines” movement has shown, holiness comes through integrating necessary habits into the fabric of daily life. What Smith’s project adds to Willard, Foster, and other “spiritual disciplines” gurus is a necessary ecclesial emphasis.

It is the liturgies of the church that form and reform in our minds and hearts who we are in Christ. We are the redeemed (baptism) and forgiven who long for Christ’s return (Eucharist). We are the generous (offering), the needy (confession), and we cannot live on bread alone but on the word of God (sermon, homily). And we rejoice in our sufferings and testify to the goodness of God in creation (worship, singing).

Here’s a rather lengthy quote from Smith that teases this out:

Our habits…constitute the fulcrum of our desire: they are the hinge that “turns” our heart, our love, such that it is predisposed to be aimed in certain directions…We don’t wake up each day thinking about a vision of the good life and then consciously, reflectively make discrete decisions about “what we’ll do today” as penultimate means to our ultimate ends…Instead…our desires for the kingdom is inscribed in our dispositions and habits and functions quite apart from our conscious reflection” (DK, 56).

Again:

These habits constitute a kind of “second nature”: while they are learned…they can become so intricately woven into the fiber of our being that they function as if they were natural or biological. They represent our default tendencies and our quasi-automatic dispositions to act in certain ways, to pursue certain goods, to value certain things, to cherish certain relationship (DK, 56).

There are certainly some things I’d qualify or question, but much of what Smith says I agree with. (The stuff I question is addressed throughout his book.) Either way, there’s much to consider—especially for churches where liturgy gets a bad rap.

Center for Pastoral Theologians

Previous Post

October 15, 2014

Bobble-Head Christians

Next Post

October 16, 2014 Meet Sam Allberry

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 40 Questions A Letter to my congregation adoption Alan Chambers Alcohol America american Jesus andrew marin angels Anne Paulk Annihilation apology Apostles creed atonement AudioFeed Balkhu Baptism bastard being biblical believer's baptism bible Bible College biblical love biblical studies Boise book review Books buzzwords called celibacy Center for Pastoral Theologians Charis charleston shooting cherubim christian movies Christian teens Christianeze Christmas church Church Refugees civil rights college debt communal faith Conditional Immortality conference david gushee debt free education Dechurched derwin gray desiring the kingdom Discipleship Don Miller Dones ecclesia and ethics Erasing Hell Esther eternal conscious torment Eternity Bible College ethnic diversity ETS eunuch evangelicalism Fight Four Views on Hell Francis Chan Francis Watson Free Bible Resources French Quarter grace gran torino gun control haters hell holy war homeschool homosexuality house church immigration Incarnation individualism Infant Baptism interpretation Intersex Israel James Dunn james smith Jerry Fallwell Jr. Jessica Minassian Jesus Jesus refugee Joey Dodson John MacArthur John Piper John Stott Josh Packard Joshua Ryan Butler judgment Justification Karl Barth Ken Wilson Kevin DeYoung Lance Hancock Leper lesbian LGBT LGBTQ Life Love God liturgy living in a gray world Luke 22 martin luther king mary magdalene Matthew Vines Megan DeFranza Michael Bird millennials Ministry Missions mixed orientation marriage movies Multiethnic churches Music Festival My Exodus N.T. Wright nationalism New Perspective New Year resolution nonviolence obedience Old Testament Online Biblical Training orlando massacre Pacifism parenting pastoral ministry Pastoral Theologian patriotism people to be loved personal relationship with Jesus politics poverty Prayer Preston Sprinkle Project Bayview public square Q Conference qualifications for ministry Racial Reconciliation radio show Reading reading plan real Christianity Reformed refugee refugee crisis rick hogaboam robb bell robert gagnon Romans Romans 13 Romans 9 sam allberry same sex attraction sanctification school segrated churches seraphim sex Sex Difference in Christian Theology sexual fluidity Shawn Gordon short term missions Skeletons in God's Closet Slums Sodom Speaking syrian refugee crisis technology teen girls texting The Bible Project The Gospel Coalition the high definition leader theology Third Way Tim Mackie Touch Nepal trols UK Tour Uncategorized Urban Ministry Us vs. Us Vieux Carre Baptist Church violence vocation Waiting warfare welcome the stranger women women in ministry worship songs writing

Select a Month August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the name "Daniel" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Chosen one The Lord is my shepherd God is my judge God is my strength