You Can't Put God in a Box: Thoughtful Spirituality in a Rational Age

197 Pages·2013·0.96 MB·English

by  Kelly Besecke

Y OU CAN’T PUT GOD IN A BOX
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YOU CAN’T PUT
GOD IN A BOX
Th oughtful Spirituality
in a Rational Age
Kelly Besecke
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Besecke, Kelly, 1970–
You can’t put god in a box : thoughtful spirituality in a rational age / Kelly Besecke.
p . cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–993094–4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–19–993092–0 (hardcover : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978–0–19–993093–7 (ebook) 1. Faith and reason. 2. Religion—Philosophy.
3. Reason. I. Title.
BL51.B544 2014
204—dc23
2 013011617
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
In memory of
David Lyons, Cecil Findley, Wayne Teasdale, and Ron Miller.
Your words live on.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i x
Preface: Meaning, Mind, and Religion in Two Lives 1
1. Refl exive Spirituality: Finding Meaning in Modern Society 9
2. Refl exive Spirituality in Context 27
3. Th e Tyranny of the Technical 47
4. Flat Religion and Flaky Spirituality 69
5. Using Reason to Find Meaning in Religion and Life 81
6. Th e God of Refl exive Spirituality 119
7. You Can’t Put Refl exive Spirituality in a Box 135
8. Connections 153
Notes 159
Bibliography 171
Index 1 77
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Th is book began its life in 1997, so I have more than fi ft een years’ worth of
gratitude to express. I’ll start at the beginning: Dan Prince gave me the Joseph
Campbell tapes that sparked my imagination and led me to this project. Har-
mony Voorhies Tucker was the fi rst person I talked with about these ideas, on
the best road trip I’ve ever taken. Dan, Harmony, and I had been students
together at Carleton College, and as the saying goes, I am a part of Carleton
and Carleton is a part of me. My Carleton friends are still as amazing as they
ever were. Th ey’ve given me support, cheerleading, and suggestions as I’ve
transformed what was a dissertation into a book. I’m especially grateful for
Kathy Richards, Dan Simons, Kim Betz, Lory Hess, Catherine Dietz Spencer,
and Gillie English Bishop. My professors at Carleton taught me to think so-
ciologically and culturally; I am grateful for Nader Saiedi, Jim Fisher, John
Ramsay, and Beverly Nagel.
Lyn Macgregor helped with the book’s title and a variety of other titles
through the years. Lyn, Tona Williams, Rebecca Krantz, Rachel Dwyer, Greta
Krippner, and Susan Munkres were the graduate school cohorts who read
chapters and helped sort out ideas in the coff ee shops, parks, and neighbor-
hoods of Madison, Wisconsin. Nina Eliasoph, Phil Gorski, Pam Oliver, and
Jerry Marwell provided support and suggestions when I was a student and
they were my professors at the University of Wisconsin.
Wade Clark Roof coined the term r efl exive spirituality . His talk on this
topic at the 1999 American Sociological Association meetings left me more
animated than I have ever felt at an academic conference. His book S piritual
Marketplace is a treasure trove. Every time I think I’ve had an original idea, I
fi nd that he wrote about it there fi rst. I’m also grateful for Th omas Luck-
mann’s Th e Invisible Religion , Robert Bellah’s B eyond Belief , and the writings
of Victor Turner, Paul Ricoeur, and Joseph Campbell for making refl exive
spirituality come alive and fall into place at the same time.