Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Fr. Gregory Jensen: East Meets West: Asceticism and Consumerism
Fr. Gregory Jensen: East Meets West: Asceticism and Consumerism
Mar 16, 2025 1:21 AM

Last Friday at Acton University, Fr. Gregory Jensen gave an engaging lecture on the dual subject of asceticism and consumerism. The “East Meets West” part might not be what many would expect. Rather than contrast a consumerist West with an ascetic East, Fr. Gregory insists that both consumerism and asceticism transcend cultures and traditions. Inasmuch as all people take part in consumption, an ascetic answer to the challenge of consumerism is (or ought to be) where East meets West. The audio of Fr. Gregory’s lecture will be available on Ancient Faith Radio in the near future, but as a teaser I would like to explore some of the themes briefly here.

Fr. Gregory began by reflecting on the meaning of human consumption. Drawing from the anthropologist Mary Douglas, Fr. Gregory noted that consumption is not negative or destructive per se but, rather, about the production of social meaning and culture. Put simply, debates about consumption are debates about culture. What we need, then, is a theology of consumption in order to evaluate the total pattern of our consumption, rather than resorting to ad hoc answers as is so often the case.

“In Genesis we learn that human beings were created hungry,” said Fr. Gregory, referring to Genesis 2:16 (“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat…”). Consumption is intrinsic to being human. We are created with a little emptiness from the beginning that conditioned our tending of Paradise, harmony in the animal world, and the creation of munity. Ultimately this served as the foundation of peace to the earth munion with each other and ultimately with God, who we bless by offering his blessings back to him. As St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, you made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in thee.” It is through culture and tradition that a biological necessity (eating), founded in our nature as dependent beings, is transformed into an act munion.

What, then, is consumerism? Consumerism, Fr. Gregory argues, is ultimately a matter of self-absorption and practical atheism. It is when, to quote St. Paul, we e one of those “whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). Consumerism, then, is misused consumption summed up by the phrase, “I shop, therefore I am,” whereas the reverse would be more accurate.

Asceticism, on the other hand, is not merely abstinence but abstinence for the sake of self-sacrifice, proper balance, munion with God. The Fall, Fr. Gregory pointed out, starts with “a refusal to fast.” This refers to the breaking of mandment: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). mand (“you shall not eat”) is a fast and it is through breaking mand that sin mars the world. While discussion of policy proposals are important, Fr. Gregory helpfully reminded us, “It is so much easier to have economic debates than to look into our own hearts.” Yet that is precisely what we must do if we hope bat consumerism in our own lives and cultures.

In summary asceticism is the right use of abstinence for a positive munion with the living God, love of one’s neighbor, and harmony with the creation. In this sense we may also characterize it as consumption rightly conceived, not as an end in itself but as a means munion and balance. The disciplines of asceticism cultivate the virtues, which, according to Fr. Michael Butler (and the fathers of the Church, of course), are natural to every human being. Furthermore, it is through the reorientation of our lives toward God in asceticism and the grace of the sacraments by which we are able e consumerism and live not only according to nature but beyond it, realizing the statement of Jesus Christ in our own lives: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
‘Hillbilly Elegy’: the choice to change vs. the choice to leave
J.D. Vance goes from washing and reusing plastic forks at home to posh dinners with seven utensils per setting. The new Netflix film adaptation of his memoir catches the details of knives and forks but misses the “meat” of Vance’s story. Though they have the same title and many of the same plot points, the book and film have different messages. While the book is primarily about the choice to change, the film centers around the choice to leave. This...
Christmas book recommendations, 2020
In what has been a very trying year of pandemic, unrest, and contentious politics we found ourselves again wrapped up in books, for “[b]ooks, both in their reading and their writing represent not just knowledge but a way of knowing, they are how we e wise.” As Christmas approaches, some members of the Acton Institute’s staff are closing out 2020 by mending the best books they have read this year: Jordan Ballor The Old House of Fear by Russell Kirk:...
Entrepreneurship boom: COVID-19 is spurring new start-ups
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 22 million Americans lost their jobs, effectively reversing several years of economic growth. This would mark the beginning of a “two-track recovery” that is increasingly divided between those whose livelihoods remained safe and secure and those whose industries or enterprises have been thoroughly upended. As governments moved to shut down key sectors of the economy last spring – promoting a series of strange dichotomies about “essential” vs. “non-essential” work –...
Religion adds billions to the economy, study finds
As church attendance and religious affiliation continue to decline across the West, many have lamented the spiritual and social side effects, including a weakening of civil society and the fragmentation munity life. What is less discussed, however, is the economic impact of such a shift. In a new report, The Hidden Economy: How Faith Helps Fuel Canada’s GDP, researchers Brian and Melissa Grimm explore this very thing, offering an estimate of the socioeconomic value of faith and religion to broader...
This restaurant owner is the face of California’s selective lockdowns
As states like California continue imposing harsh COVID-19 lockdowns on their citizens, government officials gain even more power to decide which businesses get to survive. Unsurprisingly, politicians have given powerful interests preferential treatment. One of the most blatant cases occurred in Los Angeles, where a restaurant owner’s tearful condemnation of the city’s uneven policies reveals what happens when government starts deciding whose livelihood takes priority. As Angela Marsden describes in her now-viral video, a newly imposed ban on outdoor dining...
Should the U.S. abolish the Electoral College?
The Electoral College met on Monday to cast the decisive votes in the 2020 presidential election. This year’s vote was not without controversy, a reality that has engulfed the constitutionally mandated election system since its founding. To further undermine the institution, this year Colorado voted to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an end-run around the Electoral College that includes a total of 15 states and the District of Columbia. Should the quadrennial rite of electors selecting our president...
Conservatives should not endorse Joe Biden’s family leave policy
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to support federal paid leave benefits for employees. Whether such an agenda can go through with a Republican Senate is questionable. That is unless, Democrats get the help from some misguided conservatives, who have been pushing their own version of paid leave under the illusion that the government could somehow get involved in this area of our lives without growing the size and scope of government. Let’s review what’s at stake here, since the arguments...
Rebuilding social capital
Social capital refers to a certain set of informal values and skills shared among members of a group that permit cooperation regardless of socioeconomic characteristics. It is the learned ability of individuals to engage socially and work within organizations to mon objectives. In economics, the term “fixed capital” refers to a stock of equipment, and investment and depreciation are flows adding to or decreasing the existing stock. The stock of social capital at any point in time is fixed but...
What Brussels sprouts can teach us about work and innovation
For many, Brussels sprouts are symbolic of not-so-popular childhood cuisine, remembered mostly for their bitter taste and ominous odor. More recently, however, they’ve had a revival of sorts, ing a treasured item in the kitchens of professional restaurateurs and home chefs alike. While the renaissance may at first seem like a passing fad driven by the whims of modern palettes, it began in the 1990s with the innovative efforts of a Dutch scientist. Marked by decades of incremental improvements and...
Walter Williams’ Legacy
On Sunday, December 25, 2011, at 10:55 a.m., I received an email from Walter Williams. I couldn’t believe it. The email simply read, “Does this work for you? Good luck.” It was an endorsement of my book on Thomas Sowell. It was one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. I was deeply honored to receive an endorsement from “the” Walter Williams, and to be exchanging emails with one of my intellectual heroes was the icing on the...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved