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Book Review: “The End of Religion”
Posted in: Reviews,Spirituality by bill-o on August 05, 2008
“The End of Religion” is a book with a serious and provocative title. Yet even though this is indeed a serious work, its touch and tone are light for those readers who are truly seeking Jesus but not a religious institution. As the author, Bruce Cavey, teaching pastor of the Meeting House in the Toronto area, freely explains, this book is for those who love Jesus but who are burnt out on religion.
Even though this is ultimately a theological book, it is conversational in tone. For example, Mr. Cavey’s story of his own marriage having matured into a love-based relationship does more to explain why love is better than law than a long, technical theological dissertation ever could. The author’s retelling of a chance meeting with an atheist who loved the Golden Rule but didn’t know Jesus had said it also provides an important touch of humanity and personality. The reader gets a sense of actually sitting across a comfortable living room and talking to the author over a casual cup of coffee, even though weighty spiritual issues are being discussed.
For those readers more inclined to a Bible-teaching style, a substantive discussion of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, as well as an examination of the Greek word skandalon in the gospels, will you provide you with what you are looking for.
The essence of the book can probably best be summarized in the author’s story (parable) of the couple Bob and Sue. To rekindle the romance in their marriage, Bob planned a special dinner at a restaurant, capped off by the presentation of a blue rose. However, Bob then invited Sue to several more dinners just like it at the same restaurant. What started out the first time as something romantic and special became routine, monotonous, and even more than a little strange each time after the first dinner. And so it is with religion.
For Mr. Cavey, excessive religion is an “organzational dependence”. This is where a person depends in whole or in part in a organization (institution) for access to God. Religion, as he sees it, is marked by the presence of fear and not its absence. It seems that avoiding this fear-and-dependence trap will bring someone much closer to the religion-less life that the author extols.
What does the author means when he says “the end of religion”? Mr. Cavey’s ideas about this title phrase come to a climax in the chapter, “The Day Religion Died”. Here, he writes:
“Yes, the Bible says that Jesus died for our sins. But it also says that he died for our religion. In Christ, God crucified the whole mess once and for all. In fact, by repeatedly emphasizing that Jesus died for our sins, the biblical writers were emphasizing the end of religion as a way to God.”
There is not necessarily a lot of practical application in this book (other than a paragraph at the end encouraging readers to “seek out intentional community”). In other words, if you agree with the author that Jesus declared the end of religion, then what do you now? Such a question is valid. However, that’s not the point of a book like this. “The End of Religion” challenges and confronts long-held assumptions about Jesus and religion. The author properly leaves it to others (expressly including his readers) to illuminate the next steps in turning this theory into practice.
It’s not a main theme of the book, but I do appreciate when the author mentions his own church congregation, the Meeting House. The Meeting House is evidently “a church for people who aren’t into church”. Rather than seeking to build the largest possible institutional church, Mr. Cavey freely admits that he expects his church to exist in a radically different form in another gerenation. Mr. Cavey clearly seems not to be a pastor who is writing his book as a stepping stone to megachurch superstardom or as a vehicle to prop up his own ministry.
If you’re looking for a long, technical treatise on theology, this is not the book for you. However, if you’re looking for a breath of fresh air about Jesus and his love, then I would recommend this book to you.
For more information, see:
http://www.theendofreligion.org/
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Very interesting review.
It’s hard for me to think about topics such as “the end of religion” these days without reflecting on a few things:
(1) Our churches (and denominations) often have no holistic understanding of an individual’s spiritual journey from children to sons to fathers (to put it the way John does in his first epistle). Many churches cater to only one stage in the spiritual journey. Therefore, when someone grows spiritually, she may outgrow her church. She may find many aspects of her current church as amounting to “religion”: some time- and energy-wasting, legalistic, or unmeaningful activity, perhaps. To employ John’s distinctions again, one church may be for children, the one across the street for sons, and the one down the block for fathers.
(2) I’ve spent years working on various new forms of church (especially for children), and I love innovating in church. Lately, though, I’ve started to wonder whether our myriad forms really help rather than hurt. We want our worship to be relevant to people on the basis of their culture and maturity level, but tinkering with the forms of church never allows those forms to be tested over several generations and cultures. The forms, then, may not lead to the depth of experience and spirituality we seek. Each form usually starts with a new church, too, and that furthers a fragmentation that, if plotted on a graph over the last thousand years, may look like one of those “power of compound interest” curves. People get hooked on externals so easily. Instead of, “I am of Paul,” it’s “We play instruments,” “We focus on liturgy,” etc.
(3) People may never understand the depths of spirituality with a focus on forms that makes things easier for them. (The church seating with built-in latte cup holders has become the symbol for this in many circles, I guess.) “As you have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk you in him.” How have these people received Jesus? (Of course, the book you review isn’t advocating a watered-down faith, but books like this lead my thinking in this direction.) They also may not accept some very beneficial forms of devotional or church practice that has stood the test of time because they aren’t part of the set that their particular church advocates.
(4) From a purely theological perspective, I wonder about forms. Forms matter (“build it according to the pattern,” Moses was told), or do they? We change our forms so often for so many reasons. How many patterns did God hand down to Moses? Are forms where we should be flexible or firm? I’ve been in the flexible camp for so many years, and I think I understand the arguments, but I wonder . . .
Comment by Peter — August 6, 2008 @ 6:32 am
In the Western world, we are continuing to enter into the period of Post-Modernity. One of the hallmarks of post-modernism is fragmentation. Groups and ideas that were neglected in the Modern era (the one that preceded this Post-Modern era) are now given a much greater focus and appreciation. However, the downside of concentrating a society’s attention on its once-overlooked fringes is a neglect of the center, that which binds all groups together. I would prefer the best of both worlds (Modern and Post-Modern), but that is not how the progress of a society normally works. When epochs change, a society often overreacts against the ills of the passing-away era. And so it is, too, with the life of the church. Old forms are discarded sometimes too hastily. Many traditions are there for a reason and enrich the lives of many. I do take some hope from books like Brian McLaren’s “Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices”. Mr. McLaren is definitely a post-modern, and he sees a great value in many of the ancient traditions of Christianity. This “ancient-future” perspective will serve the church well as we move forward further into the 21st century.
Comment by bill-o — August 6, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
I didn’t know McLaren had written a book with that title. I’d love to read it.
We pay attention to centuries — it’s helpful shorthand that also shapes our thinking — and the turn of this current century was an eye-opener. We entered it focused on technology — the Y2K hang-ups that were to have sent planes crashing — but the planes crashed for another reason: an ancient, religious feud Americans had never focused on reemerged globally. I think 9-11 may be connected somehow with the West’s accelerated look at ancient religions and practices.
Comment by Peter — August 8, 2008 @ 7:54 am