Some profound words from the late English cultural historian Christopher Dawson, via Alan Jacobs‘ fantastic blog, more than 95 theses:

“The spirit of the Gospel is eminently that of the ‘open’ type which gives, asking nothing in return, and spends itself for others. It is essentially hostile to the spirit of calculation, the spirit of worldly prudence and above all to the spirit of religious self-seeking and self-satisfaction. For what is the Pharisee but a spiritual bourgeois, a typically ‘closed’ nature, a man who applies the principle of calculation and gain not to economics but to religion itself, a hoarder of merits, who reckons his accounts with heaven as though God was his banker? It is against this ‘closed,’ self-sufficient moralist ethic that the fiercest denunciations of the Gospels are directed. Even the sinner who possesses a seed of generosity, a faculty of self-surrender, and an openness of spirit is nearer to the kingdom of heaven than the ‘righteous’ Pharisee; for the soul that is closed to love is closed to grace.”

COMMENTS

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2 responses to “The Spiritual Bourgeoisie vs The Gospel(s)”

1. Michael Cooper says:

   10/15/2010 at 11:59 am

   The really sad thing is that "calculation" is unavoidable, in matters of religion as in everything, even for those of us who hate it. As an attorney, my days are spent filling out time sheets in .1/hr. increments, trying to meet a billable hours goal. But every single minister/pastor/priest that I have ever known has been judged by, and have judged themselves by, the calculated standards of (1)is "their" church growing in numbers? and (2) is the money growing too?

   Reply
2. paul says:

   10/15/2010 at 2:06 pm

   So true about the latter.

   Reply