Social Causes of a Social Instituion?
Very interesting post today, Andy. Though sometimes I'm afraid that some of our intermediaries are only too good at "stepping down the voltage". Interesting analogy... does the existence of many denominations and worship traditions (where religious markets are free) suggest, as Rodney Stark assumes, that there is a natural heterogeneity in preferences for " voltages"?
Laurence Iannaccone suggests that there are also more explicityly social explanations for the church - we go to church to consume positive externalities generated by other worshippers. On days when I'm "not quite up for" an intimate connection with God I can go and get a "contact high" by being in the presence of others. I can then decide if that's enough or whether I want to become directly engaged.
I would add that we derive important social benefits from "being a church" as oppossed to "going to church." For one thing, we can learn about God's nature from each other. Secondly, we can provide mutal aid for each other - in both material and immaterial forms. Clearly, church is just one way to provide these social functions... fora like this blog can provide the first of these functions and lots of other social organizations claim to do the later.
One interesting question is whether the church is better or worse at providing some of these functions than alternative social institutions. When barriers to exit are low, and there are many competing churches, for example, the church may allow people to engage in their ideal level of redistribution in an atmosphere relatively free of coercion (compared to the state). Can churches, therefore, (among other things) be Nozickian utopias?
(P.S. the aesthetic/analytic appeal of explaining social institutions as the unintended by-product of individualistic motives is not lost on me)
Laurence Iannaccone suggests that there are also more explicityly social explanations for the church - we go to church to consume positive externalities generated by other worshippers. On days when I'm "not quite up for" an intimate connection with God I can go and get a "contact high" by being in the presence of others. I can then decide if that's enough or whether I want to become directly engaged.
I would add that we derive important social benefits from "being a church" as oppossed to "going to church." For one thing, we can learn about God's nature from each other. Secondly, we can provide mutal aid for each other - in both material and immaterial forms. Clearly, church is just one way to provide these social functions... fora like this blog can provide the first of these functions and lots of other social organizations claim to do the later.
One interesting question is whether the church is better or worse at providing some of these functions than alternative social institutions. When barriers to exit are low, and there are many competing churches, for example, the church may allow people to engage in their ideal level of redistribution in an atmosphere relatively free of coercion (compared to the state). Can churches, therefore, (among other things) be Nozickian utopias?
(P.S. the aesthetic/analytic appeal of explaining social institutions as the unintended by-product of individualistic motives is not lost on me)
Posted by William Clark on
Thursday September 15, 2005 at 8:03am
Isaac
Can I point to something other than social aspects that distinguishes worship at church vs at home? Well, off the top of my head, there is
-- the Body of Christ, also called the Communion of the Saints, of which we are a part, and which is constituted, not individually, but by the assembly of the Faithful (that whole "where two or three are gathered" thing);
-- the public proclamation of the Gospel, and its interpretation in the sermon;
-- the Eucharist, effecting forgiveness of sin, deification, and communion with God and the whole fulness of the Church in a mystical union;
-- the opportunity to be reconciled with our neighbor (I suppose this borders on a "social aspect," but I think an argument could be made that reconciliation transcends the social and approaches the ontological);
-- the possibility of personal transfiguration by entering into sacred space and time, and engaging in carefully constructed ritual designed to effect that transfiguration;
-- the proleptic experience of the Kingdom of Heaven;
-- the psychological benefit of authentic worship (as opposed to entertainment, with which worship is all too often confused), which is realized in forgetting about ourselves and focusing instead on God; in short, authentic worship undermines egocentricity, which is more likely to be catered to when one is alone.
On the side, there is the little matter of the Epistle to the Hebrews (10.25), which tells us not to neglect the assembly. This leads us to
-- obedience, something I could use more of, especially as it leads to humility.
There's a little bit. Perhaps it helps.