https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/living-wonder/
I rather enjoyed reading this review though I have not decided whether I will pick up Dreher's book. The work in question is Rod Dreher's 'Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age'. I found myself disagreeing with both Dreher and Darville the reviewer, but there's a great deal of food for thought.
Questions of enchantment and disenchantment have been on my mind for years, all the more as I began to understand some of the negative aspects of the Magisterial Reformation. While never for a moment tempted to embrace Rome, I nevertheless found some Catholic critiques of the Reformation to be rather provocative and sometimes compelling. Again, this is not to say Rome was or is right in blaming modern secularism on the Reformed, but rather the narratives Protestants tell about themselves and their movement are far from unassailable.
The Magisterial Reformation engendered an epistemological crisis that was exacerbated by the sundering of Catholic Christendom. This fragmenting process involved terrible destructive wars and great societal upheaval. And if we're honest, we'll admit that both sides conducted themselves in an abominable fashion. Further, this crisis in epistemology did not in fact originate with the Reformation. It would be more accurate to say that with the Reformation it found its tipping or even breaking point.
Confidence in the Church (however understood) collapsed and the Bible also lost its standing. Men began to look elsewhere for answers. Philosophy had undergone a revival during the larger Renaissance period (which includes the Reformation) and new ideas about the state and epistemology were explored. This gave rise to science and the epistemological beginnings of the secular age - a turn that some Evangelicals seem to celebrate. There are other factors of course. With the discovery of the new world, the printing press, and changes in military and other technology, a new world began to emerge and with it new ideas about economics, society, and eventually ethics as well.
It was not the intention of the Reformers to secularize the West and for a long time many of the transitional figures straddled the fence between science and the occult. Everything was in flux. But in certain respects it cannot be denied the Protestant movement did place a greater emphasis on the secular and the sanctifying of it, and an elimination of any hint of a nature-grace dualism.
Nevertheless, the world remained enchanted (as it were) for some time. It was after all the age of alchemists and witch hunts. Some of the greatest names associated with magic and esotericism, Paracelsus and Agrippa were contemporaries of Luther and other figures such as John Dee and Giordano Bruno were born just as the Reformation was emerging. The 'dark enchantment' mentioned in the piece is not unique in our day.
However once the forces of philosophy had been unleashed, they ran riot and by the end of the 17th century Europe was weary of religious conflict. The faith of many had been watered down if not destroyed. All that remained was empty form. A pathway was opened up and the philosophers filled the gap leading to the Enlightenment and the banishment of the supernatural - or at least its place in terms of epistemology.
Even today, Bible believing Christians believe in the supernatural but often live as if they do not. In other cases philosophical theology has generated a reductionist set of doctrines and concepts that interpret the world through a narrow lens. In some cases the influence of Calvinism has so absolutized the concept of God's sovereignty that there is no room left for means or dynamics, suppressing certain spiritual or metaphysical concepts of the Scripture in order to maintain the integrity of the larger paradigm. For others, the Whiggish progress that once was associated with Protestantism and postmillennialism lives on in secular progressivism. The Social Gospel was the bastard, secularised offspring of the postmillennial ethos.
To blame the Reformation for secularism as some Traditionalist Catholics are wont to do is misleading and represents an oversimplification - but to suggest the Reformation played no role as some Protestant proponents and Confessionalists will do - is guilty of the same.
Part of the notion of re-enchantment is simply to acknowledge that reality is primarily metaphysical or spiritual. Also, we can acknowledge the reality of the occult without endorsing it. I find many Evangelicals and Confessionalists struggling with this and insisting that all such practices and phenomena are fraudulent - a position I find unsustainable in light of both Scripture and the historical evidence. In like fashion the realities of the spiritual realm are curtailed or explained away under the aegis of God's sovereignty and a 'consistent' theology.
I don't think Dreher is wrong to suggest the spiritual war is at work in corporations and media - we know this element is at work with regard to governments because the Scriptures teach it. Corporations and media are part of the same framework. Now, I would say this 'demonic' element is at work not just in outlets like CNN, but FOX as well and in many of the corporations and companies Evangelicals pretend to be under Christian influence. I think with regard to that point, even many who will admit there is something going on in the spiritual realm are unlikely to recognize the dark influences at work within industries they favour, or companies they revere. For them FOX and some of the corporate titans are the 'good guys' aligned with the angels. In fact, these seemingly 'good' entities are probably the most deceitful and thus dangerous of all.
I share Dreher's concerns about AI and there are some spooky things to be sure in the realm of computing, consciousness, and virtual reality. Some have suggested the possibility of doors be opened to demonic influence and there may indeed be something to it. And while having not read Dreher on some of the other topics mentioned such as UFO's, drugs, curses, and possession - I agree, at least with the account given by the reviewer.
Prayer is not only highly effective - which is sometimes a problem for Calvinist theology, but it is also highly mystical and moving. This does not (at least for me) require some kind of special method but rather concentration and quiet. Reading the Scripture under such conditions - again in a context of non-distraction and prayerful meditation can be quite uplifting, even rhapsodic, pulling me (as it were) into the celestial realm. One of my greatest frustrations is the lack of time and opportunity to do this. I watch the people who have a phone glued to their hand and those who even use the phone as a means to read the Scriptures and I think there's no way they can experience that. You can't concentrate when you're interrupted every couple of minutes or when you place distractions and diversionary temptations right before your eyes and in your very hand.
A case can be made for the use of methods, mystical tools, or means in terms of prayer but this often gets us into trouble. I often think about Elisha in 2 Kings 3 calling for a minstrel, apparently to get him into the prophetic mode. Some have run rampant with this example and use it as a justification for music in New Testament worship - a clear misuse of the passage and a case of reading it out of its context. In one incident Christ used clay as a means to heal. We can think of other examples such as the ephod, the urim and thummim and the like.
Some run with this and justify all sorts of practices - something like the rosary comes to mind or the practice of crossing one's self during prayer. Others misuse the Scripture turning it into a kind of mantra - the Prayer of Jabez fad in the early 2000's would be an example or some of the Hesychast practices in Orthodoxy. Means are not a problem but they need to be Biblical and specifically read through the lens of the New Covenant writings - thus avoiding ad hoc instances of Judaizing. A great deal of both Catholic and Charismatic means are contrived and justified by an appeal to experience or emotion and thus fail to meet the Biblical criteria.
We also need to be careful that we do not turn nature into a sacrament. There are many roads to this error and it would be a mistake to assume they are all found within Roman Catholic thought and practice. Both Charismatic and Dominionist theology can venture down this path and given the increasingly popularity of both schools, sometimes operating in concert, the danger is there - in some cases the threat comes perilously close to pantheism.
I think McCarraher's thesis regarding the enchantments of mammon should also be taken into account. He makes a fairly powerful case that Capitalism is the religion of modernity and he discusses the way in which economics and money provide a source of enchantment. I would go further and say a great deal of modern economics is essentially alchemical - not just in the generation of gold (money) but in finding the key to the meaning of life. Capitalism functions as a kind of Philosopher's Stone, a religion for modernity with its own epistemology, ethics, teleology, eschatology, and soteriology.
McCarraher presses further and talks about technology and its role of 'enchantment' in this larger equation. The discussions regarding gadgetry take on a kind of sacramental air. In other words he's suggesting that the modern world is not dis-enchanted but rather has replaced the old viewpoint (Christian or otherwise) with something new, a re-enchantment but one specifically not Christian. But given the way in which many (perhaps most) 'conservative' Christians have embraced Capitalism with many wedding it to the New Testament (to the detriment of the latter) - they may in fact be accused of blending the faith with the very enchantments of mammon, the very thing about which Christ gives warning. Much of today's orthodoxy is in fact heresy and religious syncretism.
These are questions worth considering and wrestling with. Even though I don't think I quite agree with Darville the reviewer, I do agree with his conclusion - Dreher is interesting but must be taken with a grain of salt.