My Review of Vincent J. Miller

Consuming Religion by Vincent J. Miller

This is a short review of a book that I read for my theology of Church class. This book has informed me more than any other book I have read in some time. In fact I am sure that there are some out there who are sick and tired of me talking about this book. That is why I chose to write about it instead. Please give it a gander and leave some feedback.

The Dangers of Commodification

Our consumerist culture has immersed us in the practice of commodification. As people become consumers, they stop being producers. A deskilling happens that causes individuals to look to the consumer market to replace what they once could do for themselves, I.E. buying food, clothing, and shelter instead of producing them oneself. This cycle causes individuals to disconnect from the creativity of their jobs and to see their time as an exchange for a wage. Commodification turns individuals into commodities.[1] Moving from looking at commodification and its effects on religion Miller suggests commodification takes belief and practice out of their traditional contexts and makes them marketable commodities. By using corporate media, religious leaders encourage their followers to engage religious beliefs and symbols with the interpretive habits and dispositions they use for commercial popular culture.[2] Belief and practice become disconnected; belief does not always inform practice. When beliefs are embraced outside of their traditional context it is less likely that they will affect ones actions in life.[3]

The Hope that Stewarding Religious Traditions Would Counter Commodification

Miller suggests that commodification is countered by reembedding and deepening agency.[4] By strengthening the connections between symbols and beliefs with their communal traditions, people might change their role in culture from consumer to agent. People now readily engage all of culture, including their religion, as an object for passive consumption, rather than active, tradition-bound engagement. The latter is precisely the sort of agency that must be strengthened within religious communities to counter the erosion of consumer culture.[5]

Conclusion

Miller upholds that commodification is countered as each religious community opposes the cultural tide of commodification from their own resources.[6] In my assessment, this is a great thing. It means that there is no perfect answer, that each community of faith will need to work out the problem of commodification in its own context and find gospel responses that are relevant there in.

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[1] Vincent Miller, Consuming Religion (New York, NY: Continuum, 2003),15

[2] Miller, Consuming Religion, 73

[3] Miller, Consuming Religion, 76,83

[4] Miller, Consuming Religion, 182

[5] Miller, Consuming Religion, 188

[6] Miller, Consuming Religion,