What They Did
The author spent several years developing rapport with young
adults in Seattle who were homeless and discussing their concepts of God. They
found that spirituality in this setting provided people who were marginalized
by society and deprived of fundamental needs with motivation to survive and a
sense that their lives mattered. Many of the young adults believed in some sort
of spiritual entity, but few believed in the concept of God found in
Christianity. Instead, they tended to imagine a creator deity who was not
particularly involved in the world or else an internal spiritual source of
protection and meaning.
Several credited a spiritual power with helping them escape
danger or providing for their needs on occasion. They could imagine a creator
who had made the world and sporadically took interest in it but did not believe
in one who was committed to the well-being of humanity. The young adults
experiencing homelessness had more often than not encountered Christianity as a
source of pain and exclusion that made the world less habitable for people like
themselves. Neither their experience of Christian institutions nor of the
conditions of homelessness suggested the existence of a loving God. Some
considered the idea of God to be irrelevant or psychologically dangerous.
The author, who is Christian, suggests that a Christian
subfield of anthropology is needed to study human questions from a Christian
perspective and conduct research that not only helps to understand people in
different communities and circumstances but also seeks to love them.
Further Exploration
It’s hard to know how to react to an article like this.
There’s plenty that’s interesting, but it all seems trivial compared to the
suffering of the young adults experiencing homelessness. I’m not going to be
able to solve these problems in 250 words, and I’m not sure what my role is in
helping solve them overall. I donate regularly to the local shelter, and if I
have cash when someone asks for help, I share with them. It’s not much, but
it’s what I can do as a non-expert non-policymaker.
I’m not surprised that the interviewees didn’t connect to
the Christian conception of God; I’m more surprised that so many believed in
any sort of spiritual entity. On the other hand, cultures around the world have
found comfort and meaning in spiritual perspectives, so it might be a natural
human tendency, even if it doesn’t apply to every human.
The idea of a Christian subfield of anthropology is
interesting. I can imagine different questions being asked from that
perspective, leading to different kinds
of research and new understanding. I can also imagine significant disapproval
around religious views being explicitly included in supposedly neutral
academia. Yet I agree with the theologian N.T. Wright (see https://www.thecontemplativelife.org/blog/historical-jesus-nt-wright-orthodox-jesus)
that there is no truly neutral ground because everyone has perspectives that
influence their search for truth. Of course, Christians disagree on so many
things that I’m not sure how a Christian subfield of any discipline would work,
but that’s a rabbit hole for another day!
Image credit: Eeefid
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gandung.jpg
Update: 3/5/2025
I routinely contact the corresponding authors on the papers I write about in order to give them the opportunity to correct any mistakes and make sure I'm using their work fairly. This past week, I received a response from Dr. Blankenship-Lai, who had this to say about a Christian school of anthropology (quoted with permission): "I suggest noting the Christian school of thought in anthropology began not with me but the good folks at the On Knowing Humanity Research Center. The article I wrote is, in part, my imperfect attempt to help "grow the good" already present in Christian anthropology. As you know, I encourage Christian anthropologists to focus on understanding how Christians have defined and practiced love throughout space and time: both to (a) deepen our understanding of the world, and (b) for the nurturance of a more loving Christian love (that, for example, might help the world respond more effectively to the devastating, global problem of homelessness). Here I am inspired by anthropologists who have long worked to ease and transform social suffering - Kim Hopper, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, and Tanya Marie Luhrmann in particular."
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