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The Dark Night of the Evangelical Soul John of the Cross once wrote:But those that are on the right path will set their eyes on God and not on these outward things nor on their inner experiences. They will enter the dark night of the soul and find all of these things removed. They will have all the pleasure taken away so that the soul may be purified. For a soul will never grow until it is able to let go of the tight grasp it has on God. As I read these words, I wonder how John's reflection on the soul's journey towards God is manifested in 21st century American evangelicalism. I am assuming prima facie that John's words are an accurate description of this spiritual phenomenon, which he calls "the dark night of the soul." Continue reading... Many evangelicals have experienced what I would call a hyper-spiritual, emotionally charged conversion to Christianity. For many of us, this experience occurred in a church or youth retreat led by a charismatic, "firery" preacher/evangelist. Hence many evangelicals have a hard time understanding the conversion language uttered by our Catholic, Orthodox and Presbyterian sisters and brothers. We struggle to get our minds around how God could call anyone to be God's son or daughter over a period of time. This phenomenon is a marked departure from our radical, specific-point-in-time conversion experience. But I am digressing. For many evangelicals, we follow this conversion by a radical departure from our "old ways of life." We destroy or sell our "secular" CDs or tapes. We stop hanging out with our "non-Christian" friends because, let's face it, "if you lie with dogs you're gunna get fleas." Or so we are told. We are "on fire" for Christ. We become "Jesus Freaks" committed to the task of "saving" our "heathen" neighbors and classmates from the very pits of Hell. We begin to consume the Bible and other supporting Christian literature. We may even open an account at the local LifeWay or Family Christian Book Store. We become spiritual gluttons. We pray. Some of us fast. For many of us our faith become intertwined with ardent biblical literalism and its twin-cousin, fundamentalism. Our new-found faith is palpable and our spiritual exercises are reified in our lives. I then believe that something akin to John of the Cross' dark night of the soul takes hold. Our prayer life dwindles. That evangelistic flame that was once a roaring bonfire becomes cooling embers. All of a sudden, so it seems, our "quiet time" becomes a perfunctory task, lacking the joy and mystical adrenaline it once produced. We find ourselves at the midnight hour of this dark night with no hope of once again seeing the light of day. This leads the evangelical soul in one of several directions, as I see it. One route leads to a kind of petulant fundamentalism that begins to fill the void left by spiritual fervor with rancor and discord. Such individuals seem to be somewhat like the character, Angela, from The Office, where all the joy of being a Christ-follower is hidden or gone. Another route leads one to doubt the experience altogether. This person may speak of that time in his life when he went to church or youth group a lot. However, the waning 'rush' of Christian spirituality has yielded a commensurate abatement in participation in things Christian. Christianity becomes, for such a person, that thing I used to do one time. Yet another direction leads to Christian intellectualism. Such a person may even chose to major in religious studies in college and go to seminary in pursuit of greater Christian acumen. She will progress further and further intellectually in hopes of enervating the pain felt from the emotionless spiritual void. This path can lead to an abandonment of the faith, as the intellectually "enlightened" has moved beyond such "simple" notions of faith. A fourth route follows what John of the Cross advocates: pushing through the void. Such people realize that their faith is more than the "warm fuzzies" they experience. They perceive that their commitment to follow Christ carries with it certain crosses to bear. Again John of the Cross writes: The problem is this: when they have received no pleasure for their devotions, they think they have not accomplished anything. This is a grave error, and it judges God unfairly. For the truth is that the feelings we receive from our devotional life are the least of its benefits. The invisible and unfelt grace of God is much greater, and it is beyond our comprehension. Hmmm. So what do you think? Have I missed another alternative in this rumination? How does this reflection speak to those of you who have not experienced a "radical conversion? I welcome your input. Peace.< /scan> posted by Jake at 12/15/2005 08:58:00 AM  
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Wow Jake. I think that is the best post you have ever writen in this blog. My temptation has been the third path...
Jake,
Great post. I think it's interesting how you put St. JoC's position as "pushing through the void," rather than, say, embracing or being enshrouded in it. But regardless of how we read JoC, maybe that's yet another option--falling into grace in abandon? Giving in to the void, the abyss. Equally, I wonder if your categories are static--for instance, in many ways being an intellectual and "pushing through the void" or embracing it can be the same thing, I think. Just something to think about.
Interesting take on conversion. I think I had a very unique experience in that I went through a "conversaion process" in a fundamentalist, evangelical church. My tendency has been to pursue the third path that you speak of, but I doubt very seriously that my intellectual pursuits will ever cause me to abandon my faith.
Thanks for the insightful post. It has given me food for thought...perhaps enough for a post of my own.
Perhaps a fifth way is to try to recreate the emotional experience by going to more charismatic services, camps, prayer meetings, etc. These want to re-capture that "feeling" they had at conversion, to spark the flame to get them through one more week, month or year. They feel the emotional void and try to manufacture it through altar experiences.
Really good post here Jake..so maybe fundamentalism, but one more characteristic of the Holiness tradition..I had a good AG and COG friend in high school and looking back, I saw this a lot in their lives..
The fourth way is tough. There is little support in the church or in the university to make this kind of push. In fact, using language as "dark night of the soul" doesnt fly well in Christendom.
fascinating post..Is John bringing balance to the focus on emotion or denying the efficacy of emotional religion. (im not up on his context)
mark
Chuck Colson relayed his own experience with this (and gives a wider range of others who have struggled) in a Dec. 2005 CT artticle -
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/012/15.80.html
<>< Ron Troup