What do you think?
Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Spaces: Putting God in Place
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 27, 2022
Basis for a lot of my work at Seminary. How the church ought to be facing the world.
May 30, 2012
Christianity in a consumer society
29 May 2012
I must say that it is always refreshing when one stumbles upon a book that has been written by a Christian who actually gets it. What I mean by that is being able to understand the nature of the world, of God, and our relationship with both. One of the strange things that I have noticed is that in many cases Christians seem to live double lives, and in a lot of cases when the pastor at the front of the church points that out, we usually look at him with that look on our face that says, 'he certainly cannot be referring to me'. That is probably the greatest danger that we face as Christians, namely seeing all the wrong in those around us but refusing to look into ourselves and actually seeing that what we see in others is actually a reflection of ourselves.
Now, we can say that Christians can either put themselves too far into the world and only attend church as a matter of course, or they can lock themselves inside the church and have little to do with the world, and both ways have their dangers. However one thing that we, as Western Christians, fail to see is that the two aspects I have laid out relate more to other people as opposed to the world in which we live. In many cases we judge our godliness based upon who we associate with and what we do with these people. For instance we might only hang around with our friends from church, go to the beach, maybe have a dinner in town, and generally spend our time being good people. On the other hand we could spend all of our time with friends from work or uni, drink excessively in the pub, and go to strip clubs. I suggest that both ways are as bad as each other because while we are associating with our Christian friends we may not actually be taking advantage of that. In many cases, the only difference between the two examples above is what we are doing with our friends, but in neither case would we be seen as being really Christian. Sure, we spend our time with our Christian friends, but together we never pray, we never read the Bible, and we never share with each other our pains and our encouragements.
This is probably drifting away from the premise of this book, but I believe that it is important because we are called to set ourselves apart from the world, but we never truly understand what is meant by that statement. Let us consider the world of Ancient Rome. The centre of public life was the Forum. It was the market and it was also where the magistrates met to dispense justice. However, there was a very overt religious element over the place and in many cases (particularly in Rome) the Forum was dominated by the local temples. The Roman Forum has the Saturnine Temple standing over it and no matter where you stood you would be able to see it.
In times past, the centre of public life was the village square, and in many cases all of the important buildings could be found around or near it, the church, the courthouse, and the market. However, things have changed in the last fifty years and the centre of public life has moved out of the village square and into the shopping mall. In many cases the building is so huge that it is a cathedral in and of itself. How many churches do you find in shopping malls? Well, in all my time, I have only ever found one, and that church owned the mall (and I was quite impressed with that as well). In a way we have rejected our spirituality and shifted it from God to the marketplace and that is what this book is about.
Many of us will jump up and say 'yes, that is so true', but I think that I better let you know that Pahl is writing to Christians, and so am I. The ungodly and the heathen simply don't care, and as far as I am concerned, they can do what they like. However, it is us who have moved ever further away from understanding and knowing God. Church has become little more than a social club, albeit, a rather cultish like club. I would not say every church is like that, but what do you do? I many ways we like to push God away from our world and imprison him in heaven. Sure, we behave ourselves, but do we really love? Do we show love for the poor and disadvantaged? In fact, do we show love to those whom we do not see eye to eye? Do we surround ourselves with the beautiful and compliant people, and if somebody challenges us, do we fly into a rage, or argue bitterly despite not having a leg to stand on? I guess these are the questions that I have to ask myself, for, as Plato once said, 'The unexamined life is not worth living.'
29 May 2012
I must say that it is always refreshing when one stumbles upon a book that has been written by a Christian who actually gets it. What I mean by that is being able to understand the nature of the world, of God, and our relationship with both. One of the strange things that I have noticed is that in many cases Christians seem to live double lives, and in a lot of cases when the pastor at the front of the church points that out, we usually look at him with that look on our face that says, 'he certainly cannot be referring to me'. That is probably the greatest danger that we face as Christians, namely seeing all the wrong in those around us but refusing to look into ourselves and actually seeing that what we see in others is actually a reflection of ourselves.
Now, we can say that Christians can either put themselves too far into the world and only attend church as a matter of course, or they can lock themselves inside the church and have little to do with the world, and both ways have their dangers. However one thing that we, as Western Christians, fail to see is that the two aspects I have laid out relate more to other people as opposed to the world in which we live. In many cases we judge our godliness based upon who we associate with and what we do with these people. For instance we might only hang around with our friends from church, go to the beach, maybe have a dinner in town, and generally spend our time being good people. On the other hand we could spend all of our time with friends from work or uni, drink excessively in the pub, and go to strip clubs. I suggest that both ways are as bad as each other because while we are associating with our Christian friends we may not actually be taking advantage of that. In many cases, the only difference between the two examples above is what we are doing with our friends, but in neither case would we be seen as being really Christian. Sure, we spend our time with our Christian friends, but together we never pray, we never read the Bible, and we never share with each other our pains and our encouragements.
This is probably drifting away from the premise of this book, but I believe that it is important because we are called to set ourselves apart from the world, but we never truly understand what is meant by that statement. Let us consider the world of Ancient Rome. The centre of public life was the Forum. It was the market and it was also where the magistrates met to dispense justice. However, there was a very overt religious element over the place and in many cases (particularly in Rome) the Forum was dominated by the local temples. The Roman Forum has the Saturnine Temple standing over it and no matter where you stood you would be able to see it.
In times past, the centre of public life was the village square, and in many cases all of the important buildings could be found around or near it, the church, the courthouse, and the market. However, things have changed in the last fifty years and the centre of public life has moved out of the village square and into the shopping mall. In many cases the building is so huge that it is a cathedral in and of itself. How many churches do you find in shopping malls? Well, in all my time, I have only ever found one, and that church owned the mall (and I was quite impressed with that as well). In a way we have rejected our spirituality and shifted it from God to the marketplace and that is what this book is about.
Many of us will jump up and say 'yes, that is so true', but I think that I better let you know that Pahl is writing to Christians, and so am I. The ungodly and the heathen simply don't care, and as far as I am concerned, they can do what they like. However, it is us who have moved ever further away from understanding and knowing God. Church has become little more than a social club, albeit, a rather cultish like club. I would not say every church is like that, but what do you do? I many ways we like to push God away from our world and imprison him in heaven. Sure, we behave ourselves, but do we really love? Do we show love for the poor and disadvantaged? In fact, do we show love to those whom we do not see eye to eye? Do we surround ourselves with the beautiful and compliant people, and if somebody challenges us, do we fly into a rage, or argue bitterly despite not having a leg to stand on? I guess these are the questions that I have to ask myself, for, as Plato once said, 'The unexamined life is not worth living.'
Read
February 22, 2010I published this in 2003 to critique American devotion to malls, Disney, and the suburban home, and to recommend healthy and sustainable sacred places: living waters, the light of the world, the rock of salvation, the true vine, one body, and cities of God.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews