What is America?



In a previous post, I discussed the need for us as Orthodox ministering in the U.S. to begin to understand what America is so that we might incarnate Orthodoxy in American clothes.

I need to clarify some things. I don't envision Uncle Sam presiding over the Divine Liturgy or jumbotrons with rotating icons. This is not about becoming politically American or adopting our Hollywood/entertainment culture. Our liturgy, doctrines, and lifestyle have stood the test of time and are trans-historical and trans-generational.

My intention is regarding ministry and how we take the gospel to the streets and neighborhoods of our countrymen.

So back to the question that I asked in the last post: What is America? What are the true, good, and beautiful characteristics of America that should be adopted as we take the gospel throughout our country? It is easy to pick on the sins and excesses of our country. By now, they should be obvious to all, but can we identify what we love and what is good?

Here's my list:

America is:

1. Entrepreneurial: The more I have thought about this, I believe this is our overriding characteristic. We are risk-takers, innovative, future-oriented, creative, and progressive. Because we are a country of immigrants, this naturally follows. Anyone, regardless of whether it was 1600, 1800, or the 2000’s, that is willing to leave something behind to make a better way has this characteristic. This is ingrained in who we are.

2. Individualistic: This can be negative, but let’s look at the positive portion of this. Individuals are radically responsible for their behavior and freedom. Individual achievement is celebrated. We tend to emphasize individual over community, but community is not ignored. De Tocqueville, in his Democracy in America, mentioned that America loves the individual but cooperates well.

3. Competitive: This flows out of our democratic ideals. If speech and religion are free and not enforced, then for ideas to be accepted they must win out in the marketplace. This makes everything competitive in America, even religion.

4. Generous: In spite of our materialism and wealth, in times of crisis and need we step up and are generous. This generosity is not just internal but can extend around the world.


5. Evangelistic: There is a belief that what we have is the best, and should be spread throughout the world, not in the sense of old-school colonialism, but by the acceptance of our ideals. We believe they are applicable to all and should be embraced by all. I am sure there is a correlation between this and #3 (I could not resist the picture below).


6. Transparent: Our ideal is that leadership, government, business, churches, etc. should be transparent. Bribery is not an accepted part of the system. There is no divine right of leadership that places anyone above the law.


7. Optimistic: Even in our deepest depressions, and conflicts optimism always bubbled up because we tend to believe that better days are always in front of us.


8. Orderly: We love organization, systems, and efficiencies. Didn't we invent the day-timer and time-management?


There you go. What do you think? Am I right? Does this change the way we reach out and do ministry? How?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Theistic Evolution Orthodox?

Image
Everyday Theology or Speculative Theology? Eagle River Institute, I’m disappointed.  Your institute has produced consistent edifying lectures for the Orthodox Christian. Yet, you allow someone to present on Evolution as if this is the only sensible position for an Orthodox Christian.  It is not! The presentation is upsetting. Maybe you found the arguments edifying for the average Orthodox Christian, but please qualify it. This is a historical aberration and deserves to be contrasted in the light of the historic Christian position. This article stands as a counterpoint to the theistic evolutionary position held by Dr. Gayle Woloschak in her presentation at the Eagle River Institute in August. There are more episodes to come, and depending on their content, I may put together another response. First of all, I am not judging this person’s Christian faith and commitment to Christ and Orthodoxy.  I am not judging her piety or personal holiness. I am judging her ideas about th
Read more

4 Senses of Scripture

Image
Scripture is a critical element in the life of a Christian, but it does not take much effort to see the abuse and twisting that the Bible has endured at the hands of well meaning and not-so well meaning people over the centuries.   To protect against such error, the Bible should be read within the context of the Church.  This means many things but one aspect of context is a particular approach to reading Scripture.   This approach can be summarized as the Four Senses of Scripture.  From early times times, the faithful approached Scripture this way.  Faithful Jews prior to Christ used this method, and it became incorporated into the life of the Church from the beginning.   Later in history these 4 Senses were listed and categorized with helpful labels by St. John Cassian (360-435).  The labels stuck and have been used ever since.   What are they? Literal:   Another way of stating this is literary.  Obviously not every Scripture is meant literally.  Genre must b
Read more

The Problem of Orthodox Culture

Over the past months several Orthodox writers have taken up the topic of Orthodox culture and whether we can create one in this country.  Much of the writing flows out the pens of artists, so I am sure that this is a desire longing for an ethos where there is a richness of art seen in places like old Russia with majestic architecture, beautiful music and haunting works of literature.  I long for this too. What is the critical mass of people for such a culture to emerge?  Evangelicals have had this mass in America for some time, but only recently is there a serious arts movement bubbling up.  Rather than a culture of high art, I propose we are looking for community, and this is the base where we must start. The magnet that draws Americans into the Evangelical world, robust Catholic life, and even stranger American movements such as Mormonism is not theology, but community.  This is a place where you can enter and every part of your life is infected by it.  For these be
Read more