Another Week Ends: Yancey on AA, Whit Stillman, Dawn Treader and Ron Swanson

1. A great little interview with evangelical author Philip Yancey on CNN about his new book What Good Is God?, in which he responds to one of our all-time favorite questions, i.e: What can churches learn from AA?

Yancey: Two lessons stand out sharply to me: radical honesty and radical dependence. Alcoholics Anonymous members can spot a fraud, hypocrite, or liar the minute he or she walks in the door. They know the only path to healing begins with a frank self-assessment of failure.

When we go to church we like to look good and gain the respect of others. A married couple may fight all the way to church, but when they pull into the parking lot they’re all smiles, “We’re just fine, Mrs. Jones, how about you?” You’d never get away with that at AA.

AA also forces each person to admit their dependence on God (or at least a Higher Power) and on each other. Most AA members freely admit they could never make it on their own. People of faith believe that, too, yet how many of us practice it as passionately as those in a twelve-step group?

FYI: From now until the end of the month, our publication "Grace in Addiction: What the Church Can Learn from Alcoholics Anonymous" is now discounted by 25% over at Magcloud!

2. "Why the World Still Needs Whit Stillman" at The Atlantic sums up the Stillman charm nicely (I for one am counting the minutes til Damsels!):
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Mini-Conference Recordings - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Again, an enormous and very heartfelt Mockingbird thank you to everyone who helped out with last weekend's mini-conference in Pensacola! In particular, Jeff & Kerry Hual and the Christ Church Pensacola staff. We are so thankful for how it all went.

Links to the recordings of the presentations are below. If you find them to be helpful (and you were not able to attend the conference in person), we ask that you *consider* making a donation to help cover the cost of putting it on. In fact, do so and as a token of our appreciation, we'll send you the audio files of Dr. Zahl's fantastic/invaluable pre-conference Preaching Seminar. Enjoy:

Talk 1. Grace Again (and Again) Part 1 - Dr. Paul Zahl

Talk 2. Grace Again (and Again) Part 2 - Dr. Paul Zahl

Talk 3. Broken on the Wheels of Living: Grace in Suffering - Jeff Hual

Talk 4. Addiction and the Theology of the Cross - John Zahl
Closing Question and Answer Session. 

Closing Sermon. The Advantages of a Weak Resume - John Zahl

Entire Mini-Conference.

Grace In Addiction: Extremes, Free Will and Sobriety

One more excerpt from our recent publication Grace in Addiction: What The Church Can Learn from Alcoholics Anonymous. To order your copy, click here, or for more excerpts, click here.

Martin Luther’s biographer Roland Bainton once wrote in his classic volume Here I Stand:

Those who are predisposed to fall into despondency as well as to rise into the ecstasy may be able to view reality from an angle different from that of ordinary folk. Yet it is a true angle; and when the problem or the religious object has been once so viewed, others less sensitive will be able to look from a new vantage point and testify that the insight is valid (p. 283). 

Bainton is suggesting that one person’s extremity may reveal an aspect of truth that applies to all people. Such is the case with addiction, which paints a portrait of the human condition in very stark brush strokes. As such, it offers considerably more insight than the picture we typically find in Hollywood or on CNN or in our own head – where we hear that we are free agents making choices, and that life is a matter of performance and accomplishment. Instead, addiction echoes the biblical portrait of original sin, where man is in conflict with God and unable to surrender his prerogatives.

As far as the Twelve Steps are concerned, alcoholics are not free to choose sobriety. Bishop FitzSimons Allison once said, “The amazing thing about the alcoholic is that he can choose between gin and beer and whiskey, but he can’t choose not to drink”. This is the same view of humanity that we find played out in the Garden of Eden – that man is free to choose everything except the one thing he should be choosing: God, over and above himself.

For this reason, any kind of behavior that willpower has proved insufficient in controlling or curbing – workaholism, manic-depression, compulsive exercise, obsessive parenting, road rage, to name just a few – offers a relevant glimpse into the problem of life to which both AA and Christianity seek to respond.  Regardless of whether society views these proclivities positively or negatively, worldly accomplishment can indicate neurotic preoccupation as much as dire failure can. As a result, it would be hard to find a person for whom some aspect of this material does not apply.

Grace In Addiction: What AA Can Learn From The Church

All of the other excerpts we've posted from our new publication, Grace In Addiction, have dealt with what the church can learn from Alcoholics Anonymous. Of course, it is not a one-way street. So we thought we'd post a portion of the inverse section toward the end of the pamphlet "What AA Can Learn From The Church." Be sure to order your copy today! 

Far from being completely misinformed about Twelve Step groups, the Christian community does have some legitimate and helpful input to offer people in recovery. To quote The Big Book on this matter: “Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships… Be quick to see where religious people are right” (pp. 28, 87).

In Twelve Step programs addiction itself can become an idol. People in recovery often become interested in human identity only as it relates to addiction and recovery. Consider the student in early sobriety who was kicked out of one of his college classes for sleeping during a lecture. In his defense, the student told the professor about his recent experience of “rehab” and former drug addiction, how he was seriously involved in Twelve Step groups. Essentially, he was asking the lecturer to pat him on the back for sleeping through his class. How awkward for the poor professor! While most people in recovery soon learn not to manipulate the world into thanking them for their sobriety, the story illustrates a bigger problem that can plague the recovery mindset.

In the world of AA, there is often talk about two kinds of human beings: “alcoholics,” and (normal) “earth people.” And the two conceivably cannot make heads or tails of each other. Alcoholics understand alcoholics, and earth people understand earth people. The alcoholic may find that they have a lot in common with a drug addict, and even a gambling addict, but nothing in common with the those people out there who don’t struggle with the problem of personal powerlessness and the compulsive behavioral meltdown that accompanies it. This view is naïve.

Traditional Christian theology, in contrast, understands the universalities that unite and define all people. The church teaches that addiction displays, in fact, the true nature of what it means to be a human being living in a fallen world. The bridge between the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic is called sin, and faith affirms that the alcoholic has no greater need for God’s grace than the “earth person” does, even if the circumstances in one case are more dire. Both people will die, and both people need love. The same is true for men and women, people of different races, and ages, etc. Is the cancer patient who feels “fine” really any less sick than the depressed person who cannot get out of bed?
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More From Grace In Addiction: Still Bob, Still Sober

Another plug for our still hot-off-the-presses publication, Grace In Addiction: What The Church Can Learn From Alcoholics Anonymous. For those of you who have yet to pick it up, do so now! And spread the word - we need your help getting it out there. Here's a truncated version of a section that deals with matters of sanctification:

In Christianity, the term “sanctification” refers to the way in which God’s grace transforms an individual life. It is a topic which has divided Christians for centuries. AA has become a kind of contemporary think tank on the question, and has some valuable contributions and considerations to offer Christians.

First and foremost, recovering addicts would suggest that, in spite of newfound sobriety, the sober alcoholic still struggles with the same powerlessness (or bound will) that afflicted him in the midst of his drinking. Many Christians would instead suggest that, once a person establishes a relationship with a saving God, they become empowered, to one degree or another, to fend off temptation and self-centeredness through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. AA would look upon this claim with skepticism: “Once a pickle, you can’t go back to being a cucumber, even if you’re not sitting in the jar of pickle juice.” In other words, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.

One gentleman put it like this: “I thought when I got sober that I was no longer going to be Bob, but guess what? I’m still Bob, even though I’m sober.” God’s transformative work in the life of a sober alcoholic has more to do with perspective and faith, than with ontological alteration. Or in more strictly religious terms, sinners remain sinful, even after they find salvation. The empirical evidence in support of this claim is overwhelming, though its implication is somewhat disappointing for the struggler who hopes all will be well once a life is placed in God’s care.

…Bob’s simple statement reflects an incredibly important insight that emerged in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation. Simul iustus et peccator is Latin for: “Simultaneously Justified and Fallen.” Though this can sound obscure, the idea carries great weight and relevance in matters having to do with spirituality.

Martin Luther believed that the Christian stands before God completely exonerated of all guilt, treated by God as though his or her life is as righteous as Christ’s own. At the same time, Luther claimed that the person, in and of themselves, still struggles with themselves in exactly the way they did before they found faith. In other words, a spiritual person is simultaneously Saint (from God’s vantage point) and Sinner (from a human vantage point). Rather than being either good or bad, the Christian is viewed as both good and bad in the same moment. In contrast to so much modern Christian self-understanding, the sanctification of a believer is understood in classical Protestantism to be imputed, rather than infused or imparted. This is a fancy way of saying that God operates outside of and upon a human agent, rather than primarily from within.

A wise man in recovery once told the following story about himself:
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Grace In Addiction: AA on Weakness and Spiritual Growth

Two more small excerpts from our new publication Grace In Addiction: What The Church Can Learn From Alcoholics Anonymous. To order your copy, go here. And for two more previews go here and here: 

The first of the Twelve Steps requires the “admission of powerlessness”; the addict cannot gain access to sobriety without traveling through that ugly door. To quote Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, “The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our society has sprung and flowered” (p. 22). In a practical sense, this means that the addict who is not in a state of despair about his or her plight needs to be made to feel worse if they are ever to find lasting sobriety. It is sometimes said in AA that “a person doesn’t attend AA in order to stay sober; they attend in order to remember that they are drunks.”

In theological terms, this tells us something about God: He is a God who meets people in their weakness, not their strength. He is a God who saves people from themselves. Rescue is the thrust of the Bible and the heart of the Christian Gospel. Sadly, this simple catch-22 – that the only way you can find God is if you desperately need Him – stands in direct opposition to the widespread, even dominant notion in today’s churches that spiritual life finds its origin in decision-making/virtuous intention/choosing God. There is some talk in churches of God as redeemer, but there is also an enormous amount of talk of God as teacher, friend, inspiration, coach, etc. In AA there is only one thing: God is who you need to save you. And if you do not find him, you are in serious trouble – in exactly the way St. Paul talks about or the way the jaywalking example illustrates.

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AA rejects the notion that spiritual growth is ever ultimately fueled by virtue, insisting that all sanctification is born out of continued need. A classic line from the Twelve & Twelve posits: “Pain [is] the touchstone of all spiritual progress” (p. 93-94). In sobriety, attention is always focused on those areas where holiness seems to be lacking, whereas little to no attention is paid to perceived progress. The need for help also creates and fosters the desire to pray. Without struggle, the believer would never need to pray, but with continued weakness, there always remains an open channel of prayer and trust in God as the deliverer and counselor.
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From Grace In Addiction: AA As Church?

A few excerpts from the aforementioned section of our new publication:

The ironic and sad truth is that in AA one finds a much better example of Christian community than in most churches. This is a controversial statement, but there is much evidence to support it. AA presents an impressive model for church, not to mention evangelism: it started with two drunks in 1939 and today has almost as many members as the Anglican Communion. How has this happened? Especially when there is nobody saying “we have to grow”? There are no altar calls in AA. A small percentage of people are pushed there by the courts, but most attend because they want to be there. AA, in this sense, is truly phenomenal, having grown far beyond what any of the founders ever could have envisioned.

Of course, the same could be said of the growth of Christendom with regard to the twelve disciples from Galilee, that they never in their wildest dreams could have imagined the impact their ministry would have upon the world, even 2000 years later. But with AA, the growth is so fresh, unavoidable, and seemingly uncontrived. It is no wonder that author Kurt Vonnegut once claimed that America’s two greatest contributions to the world were “AA and jazz.”

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It is an openly acknowledged fact in AA that the members of any group are far from holy. They have mostly lived tragic lives.  They have smoked too many cigarettes, wrecked too many cars, done too many deceitful things ever to feel justified in their own skin.  The result is that people in “the program” will fight to keep themselves and others from being overly self-righteous, judgmental, rigid, or serious. When a newcomer walks into a room, that person is not expected to be anything other than a terrible mess. Failure is the price of admission. One does far worse in AA to deny one’s weakness than to acknowledge it.

By way of contrast, the Christian church often creates an environment where people cannot really be open and honest about their struggles.  It can appear that Christians have no besetting struggles, just “victory,” and the occasional assaults of the devil, but very few inwardly generated liabilities or recidivistic tendencies. The person in AA who denies these things is nothing more than a liar. To quote 1 John 1: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves.”

Imagine walking into a church where all who entered were asked to sign a waiver at the door that said: “I’m a sinner and by stepping into the room today I acknowledge that fact.” Ministry and church life would be tremendously more effective. Unfortunately, you can come into church these days and sign up for any number of identities: Easter/Christmas type, fanatic/Pharisee, sinner, middle-of-the-road, or whatever.  In AA there is only the option of sinner.
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NOW AVAILABLE! Grace In Addiction: What The Church Can Learn From Alcoholics Anonymous

We are very proud to announce that our new publication Grace In Addiction: What The Church Can Learn From Alcoholics Anonymous is now available. We believe that it is our best material yet - many thanks to all who helped with it!

For a preview, click here. And to order ($10), go here. OR... Sign up for any denomination of monthly support and we'll send you a copy for free!

P.S. Conference recordings, handouts and book table list coming early next week. Stay tuned. 

Grace In Addiction: What The Church Can Learn From Alcoholics Anonymous (!)

A few excerpts from the introduction to our brand-new publication, Grace in Addiction, now available for purchase at Magcloud. We are very, very excited about this:

Alcoholics Anonymous, the Twelve Steps, and the world of recovery at large represent an untapped and highly valuable resource for the Christian Church. Not only can the church learn a great deal from AA about the nature of addiction, but also about the reality of how God works in the lives of troubled people. In this sense, AA can help the church rediscover a great deal about itself, much of which has been sadly lost, at least in the majority of the church’s current mainstream expressions. Specifically, AA can recall to the Church its understanding of the human condition as intrinsically impaired, of God primarily as rescuer and of spiritual growth as a cyclical rather than linear phenomenon. AA also offers an extraordinary model for how those understandings play out on a corporate and organizational level. The aim of this article, then, is to re-establish both a basis of hope for the church and a basis for the church as hope.

The problem of addiction compels even the most convinced ideologue to re-examine his/her conception of human nature, and consequently, God. Things that seem to be true for the addict can challenge and sometimes contradict our assumptions about both subjects. Addiction presents an impasse. Its victims are countless and most treatments have little long-term impact. Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps have been one of the only avenues of hope to develop on this dark horizon. They have brought about results in devastated lives. It is not surprising that courts and schools continue to mandate that addicts attend Twelve Step programs; their success is undeniable.

But the success of AA cannot be divorced from its core understanding of human beings and their need for God. Indeed, the Twelve Step approach is based on claims about the relationship between God and man, claims which may be implicit in Christianity but are not usually stressed in so singular a fashion.

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The chief concern of Twelve Step recovery is redemption, pure and simple. The sober alcoholic who has found joyful release from alcohol epitomizes the “wretch saved by grace,” and therefore, the hope of the church. If “redeeming love is [indeed their] theme” (W. Cowper), Christians might begin to give the flourishing world of recovery more attention. It is almost as if God cut out a substantial portion of His heart in the late 1930s and hid it in church basements and community centers across the country and the world. There it continues to beat loudly and healthily, despite the buckets of bad coffee and parking lots full of cigarettes. The heart is detached from its home.