Bulletin 11.12.23

High anthropology is the tie that binds together nearly every account of religious burnout and disillusionment. It is the foundation of legalistic and oppressive forms of religion, without which they cannot find oxygen. A high anthropology approach to religion devastates. I am speaking mainly about Christianity, but you can encounter instances of it in other traditions as well. Anytime you hear someone refer to a former religious observance with some form of “I just couldn’t keep it up anymore,” you are in the vicinity of high anthropology.

High anthropology… tells us we deserve what we’ve received. It tells us that the God who created everything in existence needs us to accomplish his mission in the world. That feels like hope… until it doesn’t.

A high anthropologist looks to God as helper and guiding force but in the long run has a hard time remembering that he is a savior. A religion of low anthropology understands that God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves: he forgives, he saves, and he resurrects. More than being someone to emulate, Jesus delivers those who fail to emulate him with any consistency.

– David Zahl, Low Anthropology – The Unlikely Key to a Gracious View of Others (and Yourself) (2023; CH 10; emphasis added)

To make confession of sin a part of worship is simply good spiritual hygiene. We are taking out the garbage. We are also trying to work against our almost fathomless capacity for self-deception. Confession isn’t a perfect antidote to self-deception because our shifty psyche, on its knees to confess sin, will generate only a short list. Still, to say with the people of God, “I am a sinner, saved by grace,” is to die and rise with Jesus Christ.

— Cornelius Plantinga, Discerning the Spirits

Psalm 115:1-9 (NLT)

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory
for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
Why let the nations say, "Where is their God?"
Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.
Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.
They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see.
They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound.
And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
 
O Israel, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield.
(Prayer)