Dear Editor,
I was a little bothered by Hope Schwartz’s opinion piece titled, “Worship: the Tension Between Ritual and Reflection,” published in the September 12 issue of the Star
In her piece, Schwartz asserted “traditional corporate worship seems to encourage Christians to live out their faith in conditioned, ritualistic ways.” She continued to say, “Can we truly draw closer to God through corporate worship that gives little attention to the need for the individual aspect of our faith?
I am most bothered by Schwartz’s assertion because it indicates a very West-centric point of view. Contrary to Schwartz’s opinion, I argue that we in the West (particularly in Protestant traditions) are in absolutely no danger of undervaluing the individual aspect of faith, especially in contrast with other Christian faith traditions, notably Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox and other faith traditions in other cultures of the world. Acute focus on the individual person is one of the most defining aspects of Western Protestantism, even since its stirrings in the Reformation. By contrast, for Catholics, Orthodox practitioners, and other believers around the world, individualism is lower on the priority list both for worship and within their faith traditions. Rather, their emphasis rests on the corporate and creedal nature of the worship and the unity of believers.Schwartz’s assessment that “insufficient individualism” (not her words) is the thing that is preventing Christians from worship doesn’t really hold very well when you examine both Protestant church history and theology and how our fellow Christians worship around the world. Perhaps the problem of Christians “going through the motions” isn’t a corporate worship issue, but instead an (yes) individual issue: an issue of the heart for worship.
Best,
Sarah Hutchinson
Class of 2014