[Dialogue] Comment on Spong

[W Glenn Miller]

On Nov 20, 2005, at 10:34 PM, LAURELCG at aol.com wrote:

> I forwarded the recent Spong newsletter on to the Doctor of  
> Ministry network, and got this comment, for Ken Wilber fans, from a  
> D.Min. alumnus in Australia.  I forward it with permission.
> Dear Friends of the DMin Network
>
> We welcomed the John Spong article on “religion” as we have a deep
> appreciation of the work he is doing to expand options for  
> understanding
> Christianity beyond the fundamentalist mentality. We are also  
> involved is
> some similar work on a much smaller scale in our corner of “Down  
> Under.”
>
> We think, however, that his analysis would be more helpful if it gave
> recognition to the developmental stages in the dimension of religious
> beliefs and practices. So, we offer some summary thoughts on the  
> issue.
>
> Both individuals and cultures experience many changes in their
> understandings of God, religion and the roles of men and women as  
> they go
> through developmental phases. For cultures, these are largely  
> linked to
> changes in modes of production.
>
> We first became more aware of this when reading Ken Wilber’s “A Brief
> History of Everything.” This is a simplified version of his tome,  
> “Sex,
> Ecology and Spirituality.” While he recognises that there are  
> diverse models
> of human development – many of which he summarises in “Integral  
> Psychology”
> – he finds the model of Spiral Dynamics particularly useful, and we  
> have
> come to share that opinion.
>
> For anyone unfamiliar with Spiral Dynamics we would encourage you  
> to seek
> out information from Wilber’s websites and from the SD websites.  
> Once you
> get a hold on the colour codes you will find them a valuable form of
> shorthand for understanding many processes at individual and  
> cultural levels
>
>
> Cultures can be seen as changing and increasing in complexity as  
> they move
> from hunter-gatherer, to horticultural, to agricultural, to  
> industrial, to
> post-industrial – each with dominant modes of understanding about  
> the divine
>  the role of the sexes and appropriate interpersonal relationships.  
> These
> can be summarised as pre-modern, modern and post-modern (with many  
> of the
> UCS/WU community being more post-postmodern.) We suggest Spong’s  
> analysis of
> premodern attitudes to women could be helped with some fine-tuning  
> of the
> differences between these cultural stages.
>
> What Spong describes as “religion” refers particularly to the great
> religious traditions that emerged from about 2,000 BCE onwards with  
> the
> development of broad-acre farming and associated patriarchal  
> structures –
> along with the empires made possible by food surpluses that could be
> generated. Whereas earlier cultures had rigid role differentiation,  
> they had
> a degree of equality between sexes, as well as having male and female
> deities.
>
> Agrarian cultures were more advanced in many ways, with the rule of  
> law,
> education and complex social systems, including formalised systems of
> religious belief and practice. They were also largely dualistic and
> patriarchal, with this extending to notions of the divine.  
> Virtually all the
> major world religions developed within these cultures and embody these
> attitudes in their doctrines and sacred writings. It has also  
> contributed to
> the resistance from these traditions to attempts to overcome  
> racism, sexism
> and homophobia. Efforts to develop more progressive interpretations  
> have to
> deal with that heritage, and with the fact that many people  
> continue to be
> pre-modern in their religious beliefs even when they have moved  
> past that
> stage in other areas of life.
>
> While it has been fashionable in some circles to condemn modernism  
> for its
> emphasis on rationalism and its misuse of the environment, the rise of
> modernism in the late 1700’s and the 1800’s challenged the accepted  
> social
> order. With it came the push for democracy (with French and US  
> Revolutions)
> and the rise of liberation movements such as the Women’s Movement  
> and the
> Abolition of Slavery Movement. (This also indicates the problems in  
> trying
> to “impose” democracy on pre-modern cultures that lack an  
> industrial base.)
>
> It has been suggested that the American Civil War was a conflict  
> between a
> predominantly agrarian South (most agrarian cultures have had some  
> form of
> slavery) and a more industrialised North, where slavery was no longer
> acceptable. Of course many other values and attitudes contributed  
> to the
> conflict, and these continue to be represented within the dynamics  
> of the
> political and religious landscape of the USA. A summary of the so- 
> called red
> and blue States after the last Presidential election illustrates  
> the power
> of modes of production that are dominant in each of the States.
>
> Acceptance of a developmental model can help understand where  
> people are
> “coming from,” as well as providing a basis for encouraging  
> processes of
> growth and change. As Wilber has noted, we are all born at zero and  
> have to
> develop through all the stages. This means that each stage has a
> contribution to make and the tendency of moderns and post-moderns  
> to debunk
> premodern religious beliefs may just serve to rip necessary rungs  
> out of the
> ladder of development. It has also been suggested (e.g. by Karen  
> Armstrong)
> that the rise of fundamentalism, rather than being an essential  
> element of
> agrarian religions, was a reaction to the threat from the attacks of
> modernism. This is a worrying aspect of Spong’s agenda, even though  
> we may
> agree with his approach to Christianity and the Bible.
>
> Recognising that “religion” changes with emerging cultural  
> perspectives and
> worldviews seems more helpful than the distinction often made  
> between being
> “religious” and being “spiritual.” Similarly, we think that a  
> concept of
> developmental stages would enrich the important points being made  
> by Spong
> and others with a progressive approach to Christianity. It  
> sometimes sounds
> as if they are saying “the Church must stop being this way and  
> should become
> that way.” Perhaps the Church has to be “all of the above” to  
> support people
> as they grow and develop.
>
> A major challenge for mainstream denominations has been to cater  
> effectively
> for those who have moved into the postmodern and post-postmodern  
> mindsets,
> have become dissatisfied with premodern beliefs, and who feel that  
> they are
> no longer welcome in the fold. For these, Spong is making a great
> contribution.
>
> Thanks again for all the interesting information that we have been  
> receiving
> as members of this group.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Deirdre Hanna and Ian Mavor
>
> Queensland, Australia
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