Co-authored Proposal (with Jason McMartin)
As Western Christians seek to discern their contribution to and benefit from global evangelicalism, we need to understand our unique cultural outlooks. Social science can be of some utility, but its findings must also be carefully sifted and evaluated theologically. Social scientists increasingly note that the methods and the findings of their disciplines are WEIRD: western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic. Moreover, WEIRD psychology differs in significant ways from the non-WEIRD world, being characterized by individualism, moral universalism, and an analytic cognitive style. Anthropologist Joseph Henrich contends that the moral teaching of the Christian church through the centuries caused WEIRDness (2020; Henrich et. al., 2010). Many psychological characteristics thought to be universal by social scientists may actually only apply to small subset of humans geographically and historically.
In this paper, we show how the commitments and traditions of evangelical theology provide a basis upon which to correct the faults of WEIRD cultures while also bolstering their areas of congruence with the gospel. Since they are descriptive characteristics, we won’t cease being WEIRD, nor should we want to. Some elements of WEIRD psychology and morality, however, call for scrutiny and correction.
We first show that theological disciplines possess built-in distinctions from WEIRDness. The Scriptures were written in a non-WEIRD context, and the first pivotal centuries of theological reflection were also not WEIRD in significant respects.
Second, responsible theological work will enable prescriptions for our current cultural condition, including the following: 1. Given the crisis of loneliness, evangelical theology provides tools for undercutting rampant individualism and showing the profound connections we have to our fellow humans, rather than seeing “a world full of separate objects” (Haidt, 2013). 2. We reaffirm the truth of moral universalism and its benefits without falling into tribalism or relativism. 3. We can expand our moral repertoire beyond the thin theory of the good represented by the moral foundations of care and fairness, which are characteristic of expressive individualists (Trueman, 2020) in WEIRD cultures to include the moral grounding present in non-western cultures (loyalty, respect, and purity; Haidt, 2013). 4. The use of analytic cognitive tools support biblical holism of the human person, while avoiding the pantheistic tendencies of non-Western versions of “holism.”
We conclude the presentation by noting some of the deficiencies of using liberation and location theologies to diversify evangelical theology, since these fall prey to several of the pernicious effects of WEIRD psychology, including rampant, competitive individualism.