The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Questions relating to Richard Beck's book, "Unclean"

Featured Writers Dr Richard Beck
#1

Dr. Beck,

I love your blog. I am new to this forum (this is actually my first post), so I’m sure this isn’t the right place for this post. But anyway lol… I have a question for you that is driving me crazy
I have been discussing some thoughts from your book “Unclean” (which I haven’t got to read yet, but love what I’ve heard), and I am stumped. You talk about the importance of hospitality over personal “purity”, but how do you understand 2corinthians 6:14 - 7:1? What do you think Paul was meaning about separation? How can we not fellowship with unbelievers yet eat with sinners?

Any help with this would be appreciated more than you know! Thanks

#2

Welcome to the EU forum Tom. And please take time to share a little about yourself in the introductions section.

#3

Great question. Two quick responses:

  1. One way to think about this is how “purity” is reframed by Jesus in texts like Matthew 9.13. What makes the Pharisee’s “impure” was their exclusion of “tax collectors and sinners.” We see in this a fusion of the Greatest Commandments as described in 1 John: To love God is to love your neighbor, and vica vera.

  2. We can’t deny the role of purity in protecting the moral integrity of the community. So there are locations where boundaries need to be protected. That said, the book is about how boundary monitoring affects how we treat others, affectionally and behaviorally. Boundaries set into motion a host of psychological processes that cause us to dehumanize others. What I try to do in the book is throw light on that dynamic so that when boundaries are erected we can be intentional in resisting the impulses pulling us toward the dehumanization of out-group members. This takes extraordinary discipline, what Miroslav Volf calls “the will to embrace,” and few churches contemplate what needs to be done in this regard. Unclean is asking them to pay attention to this.

Finally, in many ways the book is more descriptive that proscriptive. That is, I can describe what happens when purity boundaries are erected. Given that description any given faith community will have some discernment choices to make.

#4

Given Richard has written an interesting book, and some questions relating to it have already come up (the above, which I’ve moved here), I thought it sensible (especially when Richard suggested it :smiley: ) to have a dedicated thread for them :slight_smile:

#5

“What makes the Pharisee’s “impure” was their exclusion of “tax collectors and sinners.” We see in this a fusion of the Greatest Commandments as described in 1 John: To love God is to love your neighbor, and vica vera.”

That is an awesome thought! Thanks so much for responding. This is definitely a book I’m excited about reading.

#6

Hi Richard, Just finished Unclean last night and wanted to say “thanks” for a very stimulating read. As somebody whose theology has moved in a liberal progressive direction, I needed to hear your warning about the downside of conflating the two greatest commandments into one and the danger of losing the transcendent understanding of God (reminded me of a line of thought which David F Wells pursued in “God in the Wasteland”). The diagrams in your conclusion are really helpful and your theory about the regulatory function of the Eucharist really hits the nail on the head for me, the way it holds together the necessary tension between hospitality and purity etc - brilliant insights here! I need to do more pondering on this and think about what I am doing and projecting to others when I celebrate Holy Communion (I’m an Anglican priest). One brief question - do you think baptism has a similar function, in its holding together of cleansing, pure white robes, death by drowning and so on?
Thanks again for a top book! :slight_smile:

#7

Hi Andrew, I’m honored you read the book and so glad to hear you liked it. To your question, I’ve had one other person make that observation about baptism. It seems clear that baptism holds together two of the three disgust domains, purity and mortality. That is, the ritual is a cleansing ritual that enacts a “death.” The part the seems left out, in relation to those pictures in the final chapter, is hospitality, how baptism enacts the welcoming of others.

#8

I guess I need to read this book. I have no trouble hanging with non-believers. But my brother, who is maniacally pharisaical, and uses his knowledge of scripture to justify abominable behavior (stealing, adultery, drugs, drinking) --I’m struggling with my family to “set him outside” - effectively quarantine him per Pauls instruction regarding brothers in sin.

I say brother smokes pot using scripture as rolling paper, and his continued interactions with his ex-wive(s!), children and siblings in this state is corrosive and destructive. His behavior has me reconsidering my views on possession - “you say there is one god! Good! So do demons, and shudder!”.

I hadn’t used the word “unclean” until I went to visit him in jail with my dad. That is the word we both used after talking to him, listening to his self-justifying gobbledegook.

#9

Thanks Richard, although I’d say hospitality is in there too. For example our Church of England baptism rite opens with this response:

In fact, the way we practice infant baptism in the C of E, an observer might think hospitality the most visible (some of my Baptist friends might say “risible” :wink: ) purpose of the sacrament. Very often we are baptising the children of unchurched families who, under family pressure or following tradition, feel the time has arrived to have their child “done”. There is often little evidence of faith or christian commitment, yet hospitality is extended, at least liturgically but also, if I have anything to do with it, wholeheartedly. And most vicars have stories of families whose journey to lively faith began as a result of the hospitality they received at a “token” baptism. God works in mysterious ways indeed!