I shouldn't start reading books about Christianity late in the week. Especially not books about the interaction of faith and culture in America. Especially books which are harshly critical, bitingly sarcastic, and painfully true.
Oops, I did it again. I picked up a book called Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart to In Your Face by James B. Twitchell when I was at the Plaza branch last Thursday, and I'm having a hard time putting it down.
I enjoy reading books with an edge, particularly books about Christianity by non-Christians, because it gives me a better understanding of how the culture I was raised in is viewed by those "on the outside." Not only does this book have an edge--it also has a great deal of truth in it. Twitchell takes the facts we as evangelicals are all-too familiar with--like the 0% church growth rate in America, the explosion of megachurches (big-box churches), and the increase of spirituality without a corresponding increase in life-change--and analyzes them through the lens of capitalism.
Here's a quote from p. 54, in a section called "Another Great Awakening?": "The overarching story, and one that this book is about, is the shift since the 1950s in 'doing church' and telling other people 'the good news.' What most people overlook is that a church is chosen, purchased, if you will, in an act that mimics consumption elsewhere. Although you can be spiritual by yourself, you consume the religious-experienced religion through a group, a church, and hence product switching is possible. The current awakening is both the cause and result of a massive amount of switching."
Though the idea of "purchasing" a church or religious experience is disturbing to me, it didn't hit me as hard as Twitchell's exposure of American Christianity as a pleasure-seeking experience rather than an attempt to live out a faith. I know that the church I grew up in (now a big-box church, or at least on its way to becoming one) and the church I'm a part of now (small, and being sucked dry by the big-boxes) both struggle with this. Both have had some success in fighting against it, and, frankly, both of them have failed in several ways.
Twitchell talks about revivals starting on p. 41:
"...while American religious consumption stays relatively constant, the delivery is incredibly innovative... Often, what excites the market is not increased demand but shifts in supply, innovations in packaging, new lingo, new sound system, new payment schedules, new pastorpreneurs...
"When this happens in American culture, we get what has been called an awakening. This is a misnomer because it sites the stimulus in the consumer, not the producer. Religion and religiosity are different. Religiosity usually happens when people have plenty of time and energy to respond to some new product development or delivery system. They start to clamor. An awakening is a burst in religiosity, not in religious faith...
"[large section discussing how music, people planted in the audience, delivery of the sermon, etc. influenced people in Charles Finney's revivals (Finney was a traveling evangelist of the Civil War Era)]
"Like so many pastorpreneurs, Finney was not just able to project sincerity; he was sincere. He knew that part of his allure was that he was always on the move from town to town. Toward the end of his ministry, however, he had a chance to retrace his steps. he noted an amazing phenomenon. A few years after making the altar call, his converts did not act all that converted. Those who had sought the Redeemer did not appear to be very redeemed. There were some sincere converts, yes, but the vast majority of those who came down front were not changed at all. Most did not continue attending church. They wanted the sensation. They wanted to feel powerful feelings, They wanted--gasp--a kind of entertainment that he provided. They wanted the stories that carried powerful feelings, the sensations of rapture."
This book sobers me. It describes so much of what I hate about church in America. I'm going to visit my big-box church tomorrow, but with all of this fresh in my mind and heart, it's going to be a hard experience.
I recommend you read this book--but start on Monday... | 
