A growing number of Americans identify as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR). According to Pew Research, these people “consider spirituality very important in their lives, but do not consider themselves religious or say religion is very important in their lives.” This group is often called “nones,” but that doesn’t mean they simply don’t attend church. They see little need for “organized religion” and are autonomous and A la carte Instead, spirituality.
in Shamans and Sages: Their Roots “Spiritual but not religious” In ancient timesMichael Houghton argues that SBNR is not new; it recycles several ancient cultural themes. At the core of the growing SBNR trend is a quest for autonomy that is characteristic of the modern era. SBNR also emphasizes the immanence of God, especially through pantheism, a theme that is important not only in theological liberalism but also in our environmentally concerned world. The Divine Self It offers deep insight into an ancient culture and is likely to influence conversations about religious trends for years to come.
Shamans and Sages: The Ancient Roots of “Spiritual but Not Religious”
Michael Horton
Shamans and Sages: The Ancient Roots of “Spiritual but Not Religious”
Michael Horton
Aardmans. Page 528.
Michael Houghton makes clear that the characteristics of modern spirituality, such as autonomy, individualism, and utopianism, are rooted in the religion of Greek philosophy. Houghton argues that the development of the shaman figure in the Axial Age, and especially its repetition among the Orphics, represented the “divine self.” To be liberated from the body and to have a pantheistic oneness, one must become aware of the divinity within oneself. This tradition of divinity hidden in nature has appeared many times as an alternative to monotheistic submission to a god who intervenes in creation.
Aardmans. Page 528.
Same as before
Theories about the rise of secular spirituality abound, and they are often associated with contemporary secularism. Intellectual historians find the roots of modern malaise in the rationalism of the Enlightenment, the Protestant Reformation, or the nominalism of late medieval scholasticism. These narratives sometimes present SBNR as a reaction to modern disillusionment with the blatant materialism of the era.
Houghton, a Reformed theologian and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, overturns these theories by going further back in cultural history. He traces the roots of SBNR back to the “Axial Age,” when around 500 BCE some cultures developed a stronger concept of the individual and the possibility of connecting with the divine without being present in a sacred place. The shaman, a common cross-cultural figure who was “an intermediary between the underworld, this world, and heaven” (23), became the center of an alternative spiritual world that was more pantheistic and offered an escape from one’s place in society.
At the heart of the growing trend towards being “spiritual but not religious” is the quest for autonomy that is characteristic of our modern age.
The shaman is an integral figure in Orphicism, “a teaching on the immortality of the soul, its descent into the prison of the body, and its reincarnation into various bodies” as a means of returning to a transcendental cosmic consciousness (24). This sounds very Eastern; and it is, but Horton also notes Orphicism in the philosophy of Plato (and his sage Socrates), which has tentacles throughout Western culture. The pantheistic tendencies of modern Protestant liberalism, along with its demythologizing rationalism, are not a phenomenon born several centuries ago; they are variations on a recurring theme in human culture that Horton calls “natural supernaturalism.”
This argument may seem difficult, but intellectual history often transforms the way we think about the world. Houghton’s account can nuance useful but simplistic models of modernity, such as Francis Schaeffer’s “upper class/lower class” description of modern culture. We need not discard such models, but we should use them with caution. Shamans and sages It provides important food for thought regarding the general interpretation of intellectual history.
Retrieve with care
Bold intellectual history research is a risk. It’s tempting to find common themes and immediately draw causal connections to contemporary trends. But it’s particularly difficult to support genetic connections of ideas between cultures using ancient texts that don’t footnote their sources.
Houghton avoids this danger by keeping his work in the descriptive rather than the normative realm: the book highlights similarities in movements and ideas that run through human cultures, but he draws them primarily in dotted lines, arguing not for genetic connections but for patterns that repeat through time.
For example, Houghton argues that some form of SBNR pantheism “has always been an indigenous religion of Western culture. The challenge to the official religion of Athens and Christendom has always been the assertion of a ‘religion of one,’ an eternal tradition in which one is all and all is one” (31). This does not mean that modern pantheists are reading ancient sources, just that there are parallels across the ages. Houghton helps us understand broader cultural themes.
This first of three volumes, which only covers the 15th century of the Florentine Renaissance, shows why reading ancient texts, including patristic Christian authors, must be done with caution. Many of us are unaware of certain intellectual currents and debates. For example, Origen’s hermeneutics includes “spiritual exegesis,” a technique he borrowed from Orphic texts. This hermeneutics led to confusion about the resurrection of the body and has influenced some modern theologians. Houghton’s book helps us understand the philosophical currents that have flowed through Western culture and been adopted or resisted to varying degrees by the Church.
Great Scholarship
Shamans and sages It’s a great book. Compare Houghton’s excellent scholarship, i.e. systematic theology. Christian Faithhis focused doctrinal text is Introduction to Covenant Theologyand a two-volume work. JustificationThis book is a bold endeavor: Houghton has written both solid academic and popular works to directly support the Church.
Meanwhile, he has spent half a lifetime quietly absorbing the primary and secondary sources on classical texts, and offering an original scholarship that bridges the gap between intellectual history and Christian theology. This project is ambitious for a senior professor of classics at a major university, and when combined with Houghton’s other endeavors, it is astonishing.
Houghton’s book helps us understand the philosophical currents that have run through Western culture and been adopted and resisted to varying degrees by churches.
But given the scope of Horton’s work and the depth of this latest volume, he may have gone a little beyond his scope (to use an American football metaphor). For his usual readers – Reformed Christians interested in the nuances of doctrine and its application to everyday life – this latest volume may be beyond their usual field of interest.
Moreover, Houghton often brings secondary themes from classical authors to the forefront of his argument. None of his theories are new, but his emphasis on the supernaturalism of Plato and Aristotle, for example, goes deeper than the usual interpretation of the classics as “Greek philosophy was the source of rationality.” To follow what Houghton is doing, you need to pay close attention to the text.
It may be a decade or more before we see the cultural fruits of this three-volume work. Once the project is complete, it will be fodder for conversation at conferences and in professors’ lounges, and will have ripple effects on other theological, philosophical, and apologetic works. Houghton’s work has the potential to influence theories of modernity and doctrinal development. The book reminds us how important it is to read older books to understand our times, and how simplistic explanations for current trends can mislead us.
