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Apologia Report 14:20
May 28, 2009
Subject: The enduring influence of Huston Smith
In this issue:
EVANGELICALISM - conservative Christians, "good for democracy"
+ Who are the "captive Christians" Barna found throughout America?
ISLAM - update on its United Kingdom influence
SMITH, HUSTON - "the most important figure in the study of religion
over the past five decades"?
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EVANGELICALISM
Peter Steinfels begins his review: "If you wanted a book title to
speed the pulse of liberal academics, journalists and politicians, you
couldn't do much better than 'The Democratic Virtues of the Christian
Right.' For many people that's a title akin to 'The Winning Ways of
Serial Killers.'
"The two leading arguments of the book [1], written by Jon A.
Shields and published last month by Princeton University Press, are no
less provocative.
"'Many Christian-right organizations,' Mr. Shields writes, 'have
helped create a more participatory democracy by successfully
mobilizing conservative evangelicals, one of the most politically
alienated constituencies in 20th-century America.'
"Well, actually that thesis, which the book supports with all the
requisite tables and data about party identification, voter turnout,
and political knowledge and activity, might be accepted by many of Mr.
Shields's fellow political scientists.
"It is his second argument that is sure to stir cries of 'No, no,
no; impossible.'
"'The vast majority of Christian-right leaders,' he writes, 'have
long labored to inculcate deliberative norms in their rank-and-file
activists - especially the practice of civility and respect; the
cultivation of dialogue by listening and asking questions; the
rejection of appeals to theology; and the practice of careful moral
reasoning.'"
Shields, who is assistant professor of government at Claremont
McKenna College, "began his work with an interest in political theory
and social movements, but 'no special interest in religion.' Indeed,
he writes in the book that 'my liberal Protestant upbringing initially
made me feel out of place hanging out with conservative Christians.'
"His desire to do fieldwork led him to focus on anti-abortion
activists, who, he said, are constantly engaged in grass-roots
activities, unlike many in Christian-right ranks, who occasionally
write letters to Congress and send checks to support their causes and
candidates.
"At that point, 'I was probably pro-choice, in a soft way,' he said.
"Over time, Mr. Shields said, he grew more interested in
Christianity, eventually converting to Catholicism, and became opposed
to abortion. But he said he had 'not at all approached this work as an
apologist.'" New York Times, Apr 25 '09, n.p. <www.tinyurl.com/oe7524>
The Seven Faith Tribes: Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why They
Matter, by George Barna [2] -- "Evangelical Christian researcher Barna
believes that a U.S. in which self-interest has overtaken shared
interests is spiraling toward self-destruction but that it's not too
late for the country to reinvent itself. He clearly states, however,
that this book doesn't aim to convert anyone to his religious views;
indeed, he insists it is crucial for Christians to work with
non-Christians. From analyzing more than 30,000 interviews with U.S.
adults, Barna has determined that Americans, while belonging to more
than 200 different religious affiliations, belong to just seven faith
tribes: casual Christians (67 percent); captive Christians (16
percent); Jews (2 percent); Mormons (1.5 percent); pantheists, mostly
Eastern religions (1.5 percent); Muslims (less than 1 percent); and
skeptics, including atheists and agnostics (11 percent). Barna
profiles each group's religious beliefs, political perspectives, and
self-conceptions. A chapter on the media is especially provocative,
since Barna considers media exposure America's most widespread and
serious addiction. Barna's prospective call to action will upset some
and please others while remaining fascinating, important, and worthy
of reflection by all its readers." Booklist, May 1 09, n.p. [5]
---
ISLAM
"Islam in Britain and South Asia" (no byline) -- dreams of how "Life
would be easier for students of Anglo-Asian Islam if one theological
movement always produced moderates and another always led to
extremism. But things are never that straightforward. As Philip Lewis,
a Bradford-based writer on British Islam, puts it, 'In all schools [of
Islam], there are some individuals playing a constructive role.' And
in virtually all schools there are some doing the opposite.
"Still, in their Islamic scenes Britain and Pakistan do have one
simple thing in common: religious education is dominated by purist
teachers, who trace their roots to the Indian town of Deoband where an
Islamic place of learning was founded in 1866. Designed to instill and
spread a rigorous form of faith (robust enough to survive colonialism
and the 'corrupting' influences of other cultures), the Deobandi
philosophy sets austere rules for personal behaviour. It sees the
veneration of saints, and even excessive attention to the Prophet, as
a distraction from God."
The author writes that "at least 16 of Britain's 22 Muslim
'seminaries' (in other words, places that offer intensive, full-time
Islamic instruction from the age of 12 upwards) are of the Deobandi
persuasion. Their curriculum is modeled on Islamic learning under the
Mogul empire.
"Tim Winter, an influential British convert to Islam, believes that
for all their narrow intensity, the British Deobandi seminaries won't
foster violence: their ethos is cautious and traditional. But some
alumni of Britain's Deobandi institutions do advocate self-segregation
by Muslims, especially where local indigenous culture is dominated by
alcohol and drugs. ...
"British Muslims, who number at least 2m [that's two-million], can
amaze their cousins from South Asia with their religious conservatism.
One reason is the high incidence of migration from poor, rural parts
of South Asia, such as Mirpur in Kashmir and Sylhet in Bangladesh. In
Bangladesh the fortunes of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party
plummeted in last December's election. But the movement can still
attract second- and third-generation youths of Sylheti origin in
London, who know little of the group's record at home. Some
British-based Bangladeshis are dismayed by the influence the Islamists
enjoy in the diaspora.
"Worry over radicalism made in Britain extends to Bangladesh, too.
In March the Bangladeshi authorities raided a madrassa that was full
of guns and ammunition. It emerged that this supposed school had been
financed and run by a charity based in Britain. There are some
institutions that no teaching material will correct." The Economist,
Apr 30 '09, n.p. <www.tinyurl.com/ccfn9w>
---
SMITH, HUSTON
"Huston Smith's 90 Years of Prayer, Yoga and Acid" -- that's how the
contents page reads. However, the title of Lisa Miller's profile in
the May 18 issue of Newsweek is "Huston Smith’s Wonderful Life."
Miller finds that Smith "has arguably been the most important figure
in the study of religion over the past five decades."
Smith's most recent book, Tales of Wonder [3], "is a memoir. It
begins at the beginning, with Smith's boyhood in Dzang Dok, China,
where he was the middle son of Methodist missionaries. It ends in this
two-story building in Berkeley, where Smith banters, in Chinese, with
Mr. Lin, the maintenance man.
"In the middle, Smith recounts professional adventures - meeting
Martin Luther King Jr., befriending Aldous Huxley and the Dalai Lama,
dropping acid with Timothy Leary—as well as personal catastrophes."
Miller writes that "foundational" to Smith's bestselling book, The
World's Religions [4], and foundational "to the way Smith approaches
his subject in every instance - is this idea: at base, all the great
religions are the same. ... When asked whether all great religions
lead to salvation, Smith's answer is an unequivocal yes. Religion, he
says, is like a walnut. 'The shell is exoteric, it's outside, visible.
The kernel is esoteric, invisible. Both are important ...
Esoterically, religions are identical. Exoterically, they are
different.' ...
"In the academy today, Smith's big idea is seen as quaint. His
all-embracing approach papers over real differences in religious
ritual, practice and culture, critics say, that are necessary to
understanding the world and the conflicts within it: 'Smith and others
have led us down a rabbit hole of nonreality that we are now trying to
climb back out of,' says Stephen Prothero, a religion professor at
Boston University who is at work on his own book about world
religions. ... Smith's contributions to the field of religious studies
were crucial at a time when Americans were more parochial, says
Prothero. ('The World's Religions,' he adds, is 'the most important
book in religious studies ever.') But now, he says, it's time to move
on."
Miller concludes with this remark by Smith: "I try to understand
myself because we have it on good authority from the Holy Qur'an that
'He who knoweth himself knoweth the Lord.'" Newsweek, May 18 '09, n.p.
-------
Sources, Monographs:
1 - The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right, by Jon A. Shields
(Princeton Univ Prs, 2009, hardcover, 216 pages)
2 - The Seven Faith Tribes: Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why
They Matter, by George Barna (BarnaBooks, 2009, hardcover, 256 pages)
3 - Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine, an Autobiography
by Huston Smith (HarperOne, 2009, hardcover, 240 pages)
4 - The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions, by Huston
Smith (HarperOne, 1991, paperback, 399 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/rczxha>
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