I really appreciate many of your articles and I have been highly influenced by them. Thank you. In this article however I think you make a mistake by equating affectivity and emotion. Affectivity is the ability to influence our emotions. It is not equal to our emotions. I came from a theological background that minimized and even negated emotion. I have found affective theology (especially the work of 16th century theologian, Richard Sibbs) to be extremely helpful in moving my faith from my head to my heart. I agree that some low church forms can over-emphasize the engagement of the emotions but I also think some high church forms can also be guilty of this over-emphasis. Thanks again for your thoughtful engagement through this medium.
Oh I agree with this so much. In the UK in my area at least it feels like churches seem to operate in either heresy or hysteria. The churches that are closer to small o orthodoxy seem to push for every more emotional response- CS Lewis’ edification over glorification. The more sacramental tend to be supporters of “the message” (ie the package of what ever the current thing is plus critical theory and bashing conservatives).
Thanks for these thoughts. I've thought and written in a similar vein for years and you have expressed it very well. My view is that evangelicals have adopted an entirely transactional theology where Jesus does it all for me, and anyone else who will take the same path as me. Church is the minimal price we pay, and the form of church you describe is our version of the stuff we watch on TV and in other public spaces.
How does this square with Jesus' call to follow him as a disciple?:
"I do what I see my Father doing…"
"Come and follow my example…"
"You will be blessed if you do so." &
"Go into all the world & live/teach like I taught you" kind of discipleship.
The early 'church' had the impact it did within the first three centuries of its existence because it became a powerful counter-cultural force.
Finally, I would add a further question to this final post? If 'feeling it' is of any spiritual value at all, how are the neuro-diverse amongst us to encounter 'God' as others apparently do? And introverts and the emotionally damaged? This is a version of the same dilemma Bonhoeffer was wrestling with, as explained in your excellent series.
This is such an interesting series. I grew up in a more liturgical environment where public displays of emotion were frowned on, so I found church very hard to engage with emotionally and my faith was almost entirely in my head. But in the years that I attended evangelical churches, I found that all the emphasis on emotion, particularly joy, every week came to feel manipulative and forced. I have come back to the more liturgical environment, but with the freedom to raise my hands and cry and sing and engage my whole self in worship.
Thanks Richard. I come from a Protestant, charistmatic, "low church" tradition, so your critique I've found to be true. It is true that when an the Presence of God is tethered to an emotional experience and not the eternal and material reality of the nearness of Christ (emotions or not), it can lead to all sorts of problems. What I'm having a hard time reconciling is the directives in Psalms to "Shout to God" "Clap Your hands "Praise the Lord". David's leadership here doesn't appear to be for the sake of whipping people up into an emotional frenzy, as much as it was bringing the worshipping community into a full-bodied praise that Yahweh deserves. The act of shouting to God can be more than emotional proof of an authentic encounter with God's presence. Can't a shout of praise also be a reminder of the reality of God's nearness?
I’ve really enjoyed this series! Thank God for His grace! I would like to add just a personal note..I rarely enter church full of joy. I get up on Sunday and immediately the battle in my spirit starts rumbling as to “do I go or do I seize the day for myself? After all, I’m still working at age 70. I retired from 25 years of nursing and went to cosmetology school to open my own skin care business 23 years ago as an esthetician. Saturday is a busy day. Sunday and Monday is my weekend. But I do go to church and the worship songs and encouragement by the worship leader always move me into the joy and make me so glad I came! The fellowship of other tired and weary people who probably had the same battle that morning in some way encourages me. The Word from our pastor is planted on more fertile soil in my heart. I never leave the church that I don’t feel my cup has been refilled and I can make it until the next time. The worship service prior to the preaching is absolutely part of that and the Word planted in my mind begins its way into my heart as I reflect and study it. Thank you for sharing this great series!
This is a wonderful series--yet another!--and so it is painful to note what I take to be a missing dimension of analysis: Dispatching negative feelings and thoughts can be as emotionally powerful and needful as enjoying positive ones. Coming together to receive grace and to acknowledge the fact of the shared need to receive and give it is a means of dealing with a fundamental fact of human nature: We fall short of what we ought to be and want to be, and regularly need grace if we are to maintain a "clean heart."
Joy is a proper response, but without the proper preparation to receive the expression the most basic point of Christian ritual, IMO, is lost. Because I am flawed, that annoys me... But maybe it should as well. Not everything can be disambiguated.
I really appreciate many of your articles and I have been highly influenced by them. Thank you. In this article however I think you make a mistake by equating affectivity and emotion. Affectivity is the ability to influence our emotions. It is not equal to our emotions. I came from a theological background that minimized and even negated emotion. I have found affective theology (especially the work of 16th century theologian, Richard Sibbs) to be extremely helpful in moving my faith from my head to my heart. I agree that some low church forms can over-emphasize the engagement of the emotions but I also think some high church forms can also be guilty of this over-emphasis. Thanks again for your thoughtful engagement through this medium.
Oh I agree with this so much. In the UK in my area at least it feels like churches seem to operate in either heresy or hysteria. The churches that are closer to small o orthodoxy seem to push for every more emotional response- CS Lewis’ edification over glorification. The more sacramental tend to be supporters of “the message” (ie the package of what ever the current thing is plus critical theory and bashing conservatives).
Thanks for these thoughts. I've thought and written in a similar vein for years and you have expressed it very well. My view is that evangelicals have adopted an entirely transactional theology where Jesus does it all for me, and anyone else who will take the same path as me. Church is the minimal price we pay, and the form of church you describe is our version of the stuff we watch on TV and in other public spaces.
How does this square with Jesus' call to follow him as a disciple?:
"I do what I see my Father doing…"
"Come and follow my example…"
"You will be blessed if you do so." &
"Go into all the world & live/teach like I taught you" kind of discipleship.
The early 'church' had the impact it did within the first three centuries of its existence because it became a powerful counter-cultural force.
Finally, I would add a further question to this final post? If 'feeling it' is of any spiritual value at all, how are the neuro-diverse amongst us to encounter 'God' as others apparently do? And introverts and the emotionally damaged? This is a version of the same dilemma Bonhoeffer was wrestling with, as explained in your excellent series.
This is such an interesting series. I grew up in a more liturgical environment where public displays of emotion were frowned on, so I found church very hard to engage with emotionally and my faith was almost entirely in my head. But in the years that I attended evangelical churches, I found that all the emphasis on emotion, particularly joy, every week came to feel manipulative and forced. I have come back to the more liturgical environment, but with the freedom to raise my hands and cry and sing and engage my whole self in worship.
Thanks Richard. I come from a Protestant, charistmatic, "low church" tradition, so your critique I've found to be true. It is true that when an the Presence of God is tethered to an emotional experience and not the eternal and material reality of the nearness of Christ (emotions or not), it can lead to all sorts of problems. What I'm having a hard time reconciling is the directives in Psalms to "Shout to God" "Clap Your hands "Praise the Lord". David's leadership here doesn't appear to be for the sake of whipping people up into an emotional frenzy, as much as it was bringing the worshipping community into a full-bodied praise that Yahweh deserves. The act of shouting to God can be more than emotional proof of an authentic encounter with God's presence. Can't a shout of praise also be a reminder of the reality of God's nearness?
I’ve really enjoyed this series! Thank God for His grace! I would like to add just a personal note..I rarely enter church full of joy. I get up on Sunday and immediately the battle in my spirit starts rumbling as to “do I go or do I seize the day for myself? After all, I’m still working at age 70. I retired from 25 years of nursing and went to cosmetology school to open my own skin care business 23 years ago as an esthetician. Saturday is a busy day. Sunday and Monday is my weekend. But I do go to church and the worship songs and encouragement by the worship leader always move me into the joy and make me so glad I came! The fellowship of other tired and weary people who probably had the same battle that morning in some way encourages me. The Word from our pastor is planted on more fertile soil in my heart. I never leave the church that I don’t feel my cup has been refilled and I can make it until the next time. The worship service prior to the preaching is absolutely part of that and the Word planted in my mind begins its way into my heart as I reflect and study it. Thank you for sharing this great series!
This is a wonderful series--yet another!--and so it is painful to note what I take to be a missing dimension of analysis: Dispatching negative feelings and thoughts can be as emotionally powerful and needful as enjoying positive ones. Coming together to receive grace and to acknowledge the fact of the shared need to receive and give it is a means of dealing with a fundamental fact of human nature: We fall short of what we ought to be and want to be, and regularly need grace if we are to maintain a "clean heart."
Joy is a proper response, but without the proper preparation to receive the expression the most basic point of Christian ritual, IMO, is lost. Because I am flawed, that annoys me... But maybe it should as well. Not everything can be disambiguated.