I’m more subversive than you are

A lot of theology and philosophy likes to style itself as radical or subversive. Whether it’s subverting the bible (and thus orthodox Christianity) or using the bible from an orthodox perspective to subvert societal norms, no-one wants to be seen as going with the crowd. I’m sure there are various reasons for this: pressure to produce new research, being ‘cool’, but I’m not interested in that at the moment. What sometimes, often, results is ever more complex attempts at theory, but a lack of common sense. This is understandable. What’s the point of writing what everyone knows? And getting your head around theory is fun for a lot of academics. It was quite refreshing, however, to read Luke Bretherton talking about political consumerism in his new book Christianity and Contemporary Politics. He makes what I think is a solid case for political consumerism, if and only if it is embedded in other practices and traditioned communities, as being one way in which ordinary people who have little to no political power can try to bring change in economic, political and social areas. Bretherton gives us something to do. I wonder if academics sometimes fear to suggest courses of action because it would seem both an anti-climax after all the theory and as if it makes the theory redundant (‘so, after those five chapters on ideology and the psychoanalysis, you’re telling me to help the homeless and buy Fair Trade?’) But if reflection doesn’t issue in praxis (at least in some fields) then it’s impotent. (Of course, not all theory has immediate application, etc, etc). Bretherton has dared to write about our  mundane lives and to suggest that small, ordinary, ambiguous actions can be the site of divine working. He does it with intelligence and experience. He deserves to be widely read.