*Sightings* 4/11/2011

*Modernity and Religion*

— Martin E. Marty

Beyond religion-in-the-news stories about Japan, Libya, Washington, and
other crisis points,  ¢â‚¬Å“religion in public life ¢â‚¬  continues to be a topic which
deserves notice. This week in a conversation two sociologists who are
turning attention to religious phenomena asked a provocative question:  ¢â‚¬Å“What
would *you* make the focus of your research and writing if you were we,
knowing our interests as you do. ¢â‚¬ 

My answer was vague and sprawling, but clear in my own mind, as I ¢â‚¬â„¢d long
been pondering this question along with other puzzlers. I offer it free of
charge also to others who engage in sighting the roles of religions in
public life: Why do religious communities which for a long time strenuously
resisted the new, the modern, the contemporary, now most successfully adapt
their expressions and employ or even exploit the manifestations of  ¢â‚¬Å“the
modern ¢â‚¬  which they once opposed?

The immediate prompt for my question was a paragraph in a review by the
awesomely learned historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, who was reviewing five
books dealing with the 400-year history of the  ¢â‚¬Å“King James Bible ¢â‚¬  in
the *London
Review of Books*.  ¢â‚¬Å“Ironically, among many conservative evangelicals in the
US, the KJB has lost its hegemony over the last half-century, as a welter of
new translations has appeared reflecting the diverging agendas of an
American evangelical Protestantism which was once given a certain unity by
the cadences of 1611. ¢â‚¬  He quotes author Paul Gutjahr,  ¢â‚¬Å“who tours us round
Bibles rewritten for  ¢â‚¬Ëœbusy moms ¢â‚¬â„¢,  ¢â‚¬Ëœextreme teens ¢â‚¬â„¢, or any special interest
groups looking for spiritual guidance to suit itself, without the fatigue of
having to listen to any of the Bible ¢â‚¬â„¢s multitude of alternative voices. ¢â‚¬  Mac
Culloch relishes  ¢â‚¬Å“the prospect of some day opening a *Celebrate Recovery
Bible. . . ¢â‚¬ *

Many instances parallel to the KJV about-face come to mind. What is a better
symbol of the modern than mass media of communications? In every religion,
from non-Christian to Protestant, the fundamentalists outpace moderates or
liberals in their embrace of media: radio, then television, and now the
internet are virtually theirs. Two generations ago, the beat of rock was
music of the devil to these anti-modernists, though earlier a few riffs of
jazz in the sanctuaries of liberals got them dismissed as blasphemers. Today
those liberals cherish pipe organs and cantatas, while Christian rock ¢â‚¬”with
the same old once-sinful beat ¢â‚¬”beats out many secular rock expressions.  ¢â‚¬Å“The
love of money is the root of all evil! ¢â‚¬  was the biblical quote thundered in
conservative churches. Today it is the putatively  ¢â‚¬Å“conservative ¢â‚¬  wing of
Christianity that forgets old restraints and promotes  ¢â‚¬Å“enterprise, ¢â‚¬  the
 ¢â‚¬Å“market, ¢â‚¬  and all the rest as part of God ¢â‚¬â„¢s plan.

Is it  ¢â‚¬Å“wrong ¢â‚¬  or  ¢â‚¬Å“bad ¢â‚¬  for Christian anti-modernists now to turn into
accommodating  ¢â‚¬Å“moderns? ¢â‚¬  They can cite the apostle Paul, who would be  ¢â‚¬Å“all
things to all people. ¢â‚¬  They do carry on their mission more efficiently and
prosperously than do the  ¢â‚¬Å“moderates ¢â‚¬  who are cautious about many such
accommodations. Some think through the meaning of their radical adaptations;
others simply coast. That and how and why they so blithely and even
enthusiastically made 180-degree turns should keep more than two
sociologists of religion busy. And those who changed might be a bit
cautious, recalling philosopher Ernest Gellner ¢â‚¬â„¢s word that there is nothing
more dated than the modernism of the previous generation. At least let ¢â‚¬â„¢s
grant the point that we are better off than when the King James Version fans
burned mildly revised versions as  ¢â‚¬Å“Stalin ¢â‚¬â„¢s Bibles. ¢â‚¬ 

*References*

Paul C. Gutjahr,  ¢â‚¬Å“From monarchy to democracy: the dethroning of the King
James Bible in the United States, ¢â‚¬  *The King James Bible after Four Hundred
Years: Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences*. Edited by Hannibal
Hamlin and Norman Jones (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Diarmaid MacCulloch,  ¢â‚¬Å“How Good is
it?<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n03/diarmaid-macculloch/how-good-is-it> ¢â‚¬ 
*London** Review of Books*, February 3, 2011.

*Martin E. Marty’s* biography, current projects, publications, and contact
information can be found at www.illuminos.com.

———-

In his famous work, *The Golden Bough*, James Frazer (1854-1941) noted, “The
custom of physically marrying men and women to trees is still practiced in
India and other parts of the East. Why should it not have obtained in
ancient Latium?” Drawing in part upon her own experiences as a field
researcher in Nepal, Anne Mocko (University of Chicago) discusses the
interpretive problems of Frazer’s approach to the rituals of others in this
month ¢â‚¬â„¢s Religion and Culture Web
Forum<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/>;
she also analyzes several rituals involving the fact that Frazer got
correct: that, “in India and Nepal, men and women do physically marry
themselves to trees–or to plants, fruits, statues, and animals.” With
invited responses by Wendy Doniger (University of Chicago), Reid Locklin
(University of Toronto), and Benjamin Schonthal (University of Chicago).

———-

*Sightings* comes from the Martin Marty
Center<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/>at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.

Submissions policy

*Sightings* welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to
illuminate and interpret the intersections of religion and politics, art,
science, business and education. Previous
columns<http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/>give
a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays.
The editor also encourages new approaches to current issues and events.

Attribution

Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author
of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.