Intersection of Faith and Globalization with Miroslav Volf

On October 28th I had the opportunity to attend Miroslav Volf’s lecture in the Faith, Law and Culture speaker series at Seton Hall Law School, where good friend David Opderbeck teaches. Volf spoke on the intersection of faith and globalization, and what the religious ramifications of globalization are.

Volf argued that globalization has a purpose to promote human flourishing, something that all religions, in their truest sense, have in common. That being said, he noted that globalization has erased geography as a determiner of religion, bringing on the following questions:

What are the effects of a globalization that both pushes people together culturally while pulling them apart (economically and socially)?

Many different religions now inhabit a shrunken world. How do we learn to live together as geography is erased?

How then does religion promote violence and/or peace in a globalized world?

For Volf, globalization and religion find common ground in the quest for human flourishing. For Volf, the meaning of life and human flourishing are the most pressing issues today, and the removal of the meaning of life and human flourishing from academic and cultural dialogue is deeply disturbing. Volf navigates the intersection of faith and globalization by understanding religious exclusivity as necessary in a religious, not political, context. Within the political framework of pluralism, religion can be utilized as a proponent of human flourishing and social justice. This is what is seen in the American separation of church and state, something Volf admires. The love of neighbor and God is central to the world’s monotheistic religions, and this love needs to guide the political sphere’s political projects. Indeed, in Volf’s opinion, one of the greatest threats to our civilization is our culture’s refusal to discuss good living and human flourishing at all, something that has been brought on through academia’s refusal to discuss the meaning of life in the arts, sciences, or humanities.

All theologians’ and philosophers’ projects, for Volf, are centered around the shaping of desire. We will be better off as a culture/civilization if we quarrel about how to live rightly instead of refusing to talk about it. We need a robust discussion about human flourishing and how to live one’s life well. Human beings are born with the search for transcendence; therefore, both the commonalities and distinctions between religions should be acknowledged. The commonalities between religions is where Volf sees the most fertile ground for discussion, because the overlaps between religions are the framework for a common moral universe. An example: Muslims, Jews, and Christians believe in the same God; the same moral universe is set up for conversation.

In the intersection of globalization and religion, religion becomes dangerous when it becomes synonymous with identity, e.g. when it becomes a flag for someone. Religious voices need to be respected in the public sphere because market economics do not bring people together in solidarity. Religions go at each other when they are tied to political states or real estate; both equal a fight for political or geographical power, which is a recipe for conflict. Religions should not associate with political or geographical identities. Freedom of conscience is implicitly ascribed in Christianity and explicitly in Islam: the kind of choice that is part of today’s culture bends toward market shaped choices instead of the freedom to choose rightly. Religious faiths should preserve the quality of freedom of conscience against the market forces of capitalism (which are evident in seeker sensitive and prosperity gospel churches).

Further arguing his point, Volf elaborates that the separation of church and state should be viewed as impartiality and license for spiritual influences to bring on cultural transformation. Muslims, Christians, and other faiths should join together to fight experientialism and individualism in contemporary society. Religions should take on the project of replacing the pleasure principle and market-driven desire with a moral framework for good living and human flourishing. The major concern of globalization is not secularism then, but the quest for pleasure that is unrestrained by a moral framework. Freud has said that without repression there is no culture, so what repression do we need to make a better culture? Volf ends with arguing that the repression of the quest for pleasure is necessary.