This project uses literary analysis and multicultural
theory to examine a sub-field of religious studies—devotional
literature—that has not been fully explored for its rhetorical and
political components. An analysis of how such texts construct and teach
Christian identity reveals numerous similarities between the issues raised by
these texts and those raised by contemporary theorists of ethnic minority
literature. I argue that these similarities demonstrate the importance of
expatriation as a model for Christian spirituality throughout Christian
history, even during times when the culture seems to be predominantly
Christian. To describe this type of expatriation in devotional terms, as
believers become citizens of the Kingdom of God (a process that is at once
immediate and lifelong), they relinquish their earthly allegiances. Because
expatriation is set out in the Christian Scriptures as a factual aspect of
Christian identity, its presence should be anticipated in Christian history,
theology and practice: Christian faith is built on an act of voluntary cultural
marginalization.
The core of my project focuses on the analysis of six
texts from Western Christianity’s devotional “canon,” using
categories taken from contemporary multicultural theory, to show that there is
in fact a perennial thread of Christian thought and practice that sees Christian
identity as more akin to being a foreigner than to belonging to the cultural
majority or to holding political power. I supplement this analysis with
analysis of pertinent Biblical texts, theologians, and historical moments,
looking at the different ways Christians have welcomed multicultural experience
and have distinguished their Christian communities from the secular political
cultures of the day.
The devotional authors and the theologians I have
chosen are representative of the Western devotional tradition, each located
securely within the Euro-American Christian tradition. I include women and men,
Catholics and Protestants, monastics and laity; they
come from Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States. With
one exception, none of these figures would be considered an ethnic minority. By
choosing writers who are viewed as part of the mainstream of Western
Christianity, I hope to highlight the analogies between their texts and current
multicultural theory and thereby to show how strongly spiritual devotion
resembles a minority experience.
My dissertation is arranged in a broadly chronological
manner. In the opening chapters, I examine the scriptural foundations of my
project. I look first at the political implications of the Hebrew Book of Daniel, in which Daniel and his friends
resist acculturation while in exile and gain political status in doing so. This
book suggests how to live in a foreign culture while resisting its calls to
assimilate. I then examine Jesus’ teachings in the Gospel of John about the tension between
believers and the world and its ramifications for Christian identity. These
teachings are especially important as they are not suggestions to the
disciples, but declarative statements of identity: they are in fact no longer “of
the world”; these statements form the basis for the thread I aim to
uncover in the tradition that develops in Europe.
The first major section of the dissertation covers the
European Middle Ages. My focus here is on Patrick
of Ireland and Richard Rolle. In the
early days of the evangelization of Europe, Patrick left behind his native land
to serve as a missionary in Ireland; he therefore exemplifies the notion of
Christian life as exile. Richard Rolle’s
writings, written when Christianity was long-established in Britain, show how
Christian mysticism tests the limits of language and meet Gilles Deleuze’s criteria for minor literature. I introduce
these texts by surveying the polycultural aspects of
the European Church, the ways it adapted to these various cultures, and Augustine’s theology of the two cities,
the city of God and the city of man.
The second major section covers the Renaissance and
Reformations and focuses on Catherine of Genoa and
George Fox. Catherine’s life in
strongly Catholic Italy was interpreted as a living purgatory; in this respect,
her life fits Gloria Anzaldúa’s
description of borderlands. In Protestant England, George Fox and his Society
of Friends had to navigate the same debate between nationalism and integrationism that occurred in the American Civil Rights
movement. The historical component of this section examines the introduction of
Christianity into the Americas and the voices of Christians, such as Bartolomé de Las Casas and
Roger Williams, who stood up for the rights of the indigenous Americans, as
well as Luther’s theology of the
separate kingdoms of God and man.
The third and final section covers the Modern Era and
the works of Thomas Merton and Kathleen Norris. Merton is famous for his
conversations with Asian monks, but equally important for his ability to find
meaningful contact zones between Asian mysticism and that of the Christian
Middle Ages. Norris’ depiction of Benedictine life resembles that of a
surprisingly inclusive diaspora, one that welcomes outsiders of all types. The
historical component of this section examines the issues surrounding the
evangelization of Eastern Asia, such as East-West dialogue and the development
of Asian Christian theologies, and the theological implications of Kierkegaard’s critique of Christendom and
his rejection of the very idea of a Christian culture.