These are a few thoughts I wrote after reading chapter 7 of Morris Berman's book: Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire. This is a great read for those who are concerned about the mainstream emphasis on individualism, materialism and the market.

Berman outlines in the first section, the nature of American culture as individualistic and market driven. He uses historical analysis on the founding of the nation to outline the American ideal that citizens would put the greater good of society ahead of their own good. The downfall of this came in the wake of an expanding market economy and the individualism that followed. Today, the culmination of 200 plus years of increasing market individualism has resulted in a mindset of “what’s in it for me?” instead of an interest in the greater good of society as a whole.

The cause/effect of this is that individualism, consumerism, market, and personal gain have outweighed the values of community, craft, art, spiritual formation, and appreciation of beauty. However, the current interests in these values mark the emptiness of the extreme individualism and market values that are common today. As many people seek refuge from the fast paced individualistic attitude that they experience day in and day out in the work place, not to mention the gadgets and technology that makes such a pace possible (if it really is sustainable is another question), it is reasonable to ask if the reigning values have begun to find their limits on Western people.

The answer to this may be found in the many people that seek to vacation in less developed environments or regions of the world with a slower pace of life and less concern with consumerism and a greater appreciation for community and culture (according to Berman).

Of interest to me is the ways in which the church has succumb to the individualistic market driven approach to fast pace life with little concern for the nurture of community—with the exception of the concept of “fellowship” (a largely superficial attempt at meeting others that attend similar church activities)—spiritual/internal growth, and social justice. Where these three values are given greater appreciation and importance churches are often thriving though they may not be growing numerically as quickly as mega-churches. Is there room for a less individualistic gospel to set members of the prevailing society free from the American empire? It seems that this was often the message of Jesus to his followers and that of the disciples who carried his message beyond Jerusalem.

The interesting point of all of this is that it gives one the means to also argue for the return of more traditional values when understood as less individualistic and less focused on the market; as opposed to simply increased morality in a black and white sense. However, it could just as easily be pointed out that the overemphasis on individualism and the market (materialism and consumerism) have led to a dog-eat-dog world where morality is subject to one’s personal financial gain and autonomy. What else could so easily be blamed for the decrease in moral values than an ever increasing expectation of financial and individual gain? Typically, the perpetrators of egregious moral behavior are those who have the least according the American culture at large (drug selling, stealing, cheating, etc.) and those who are vested in powerful positions and do not want to lose their control and wealth (i.e. Enron and the slew of other corporate/political elites who are willing to lie, steal, cheat, and do anything necessary to maintain status and wealth).

Can the church recapture the values that lead to simpler lifestyles and encourage, at a minimum, their own members/participants to live counter-culturally so as to adopt a less individualistic, materialistic, market driven philosophy of life? It seems that the greatest long-term gains are to made by such an approach as more and more people wrestle with overwhelming demands on their time and energy in an attempt to keep up with the ever increasing status of wealth, gadgets, and materials.

The compelling question is not so much “Should the church pursue this?”, but how can ministers live out these values and urge others under their care to do the same. The leap from individualism to community, market driven to spiritual driven, is as large as can be imagined. Simple steps would need to be implemented to cast a countercultural vision that allows one to see the value of altering the flow of the prevailing market mentality: more money = more things = more happiness; this despite the fact that so many people are desperately seeking something more than the status quo and the rat race. In the end, it seems vital that pastors live countercultural lives first in order to model the opportunities that others could avail themselves of by changing their worldview and core life philosophies. If ministers will join together across denominational and political lines to embrace this opportunity is yet to be seen. However, there are already great examples to be found in Rob Bell’s church, Mars Hill Bible Church; The Simple Way; and other Christian communities around the world. Though they are not common or the mainstream by any means, they still offer a glimpse of what could be.