All or nothing
I'm reading Mere Discipleship by Lee Camp, a book that "draws on the work of John Howard Yoder," as Stanely Hauerwas endorses. I think of it as a more basic primer to Yoderian theology, more accesible with more fluid illustrations to make points (unlike Yoder himself who never told stories). I'm actually really enjoying the book, I find it refreshing to hear a fresh representation of the same thought that has occupied my life this past summer. Camp does a good job at spelling out the assumptions of Constantinianism and why every Christian should be concerned about it, why every Christian should understand what the fall of the church means and how it happened and what theological convictions restore us to faithfulness. In this train of thought comes one of my favorite arguments about why Christianity is not a religion. Or as Stringfellow would say, it's actually irreligious; it deconstructs all the sacerdotal idolatries we unthinking slip into as rich violent pagans. Religion likes to dichotomize sacredness vs. profane, clergy vs. layman, Christian vs. secular, while Christianity disarms all supernatural constructions. The Eucharist celebrates the naturalness of swallowing food and burping and laughing with friends. Religion likes to make a long gnostic ladder to reach God, steps of penance, or moral legalism, while Christianity celebrates Christ who jumped off the ladder into the messy humanness. Religion ingrains us with cycles and holidays, following harvests and the stars, while Christianity is a missionary journey on the run. Religion emphasis proper doctrine, while Christianity is about a Way of Living (of course doctrine and ethics are two sides of the same coin, as Camp likes to say). Religion suffers from easily being compartmentalized, whether into Sunday morning bag, or a box that you only pull out for decisive self-sanctioning help on moral issues, i.e. only some aspects of life need reflection on the implications of the Lordship of Christ. Christianity proclaims Christ as Lord to mean ultimate authority on every aspect of life, every corner of the world. There are no spheres labeled religious. Everything must be examined in judgement, not just sexuality and personal piety, but the global market, rapid militarization and the war on terror, American civil religion, and postmodern philosophy. As Camp writes, Christianity is all or nothing.