America is the exemplification of what I call the project of modernity. That project is the attempt to produce a people who believe that they should have no story except the story that they choose when they had no story. That is what Americans mean by freedom. The institutions that constitute the disciplinary forms of that project are liberal democracy and capitalism. Thus the presumption that if you get to choose between a Sony or Panasonic television you have had a “free choice.” The same presumption works for choosing a President. Once you have made your choice you have to learn to live with it. So there is a kind of resignation that freedom requires.
I try to help Americans see that the story that they should have no story except the story they choose when they had no story is their story by asking them this question ”” “Do they think they ought to be held accountable for decisions they made when they did not know what they were doing?” They do not think they should be held accountable for decisions they made when they did not know what they were doing. They do not believe they should be held accountable because it is assumed that you should only be held accountable when you acted freely, and that means you had to know what you were doing.
I then point out the only difficulty with such an account of responsibility is it makes marriage unintelligible. How could you ever know what you were doing when you promised lifelong monogamous fidelity? I then observe that is why the church insists that your vows be witnessed by the church: because the church believes it has the duty to hold you responsible to promises you made when you did not know what you were doing. And if the story that you should have no story but the story you choose when you had no story makes marriage unintelligible, try having children. You never get the ones you want. Of course Americans try to get the ones they want by only having children when they are “ready” ”” a utopian desire that wreaks havoc on children so born, to the extent they come to believe they can only be loved if they fulfill their parents’ desires.
Of course the problem with the story that you should have no story except the story you choose when you had no story is that story is a story that you have not chosen. But Americans do not have the ability to acknowledge that they have not chosen the story that they should have no story except the story they choose when they had no story.
“As a result Protestant churches in America lost the ability to maintain the disciplines necessary to sustain a people capable of being an alternative to the world.” Spoken from a front row seat in the EcUSA/TEc. And true.
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Accordingly medical schools are much more serious about the moral formation of their students than divinity schools. They are so because Americans do not believe that an inadequately trained priest may damage their salvation, but they do believe an inadequately trained doctor can hurt them.
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This is so true; I have noticed that churches in our diocese are working hard to make churches “safe” (read: free of sexual abuse), but do nothing to help our youth avoid fornication, although this is one of the gravest of sins (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). We live as materialists.
I believe that Hauerwas has identified the crucial issue facing the Body of Christ in the United States–the Church’s captivity by culture. It is fascinating that this article has received so few comments. Perhaps it is because in issues like sexuality it is easier to draw up sides and identify an enemy. We are all implicated in our idolatry to false gods.
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us and save Your Church.
Randy Hoover-Dempsey+