NB - some readers have bee directed here by Peter Fitzsimons and others. It should be clear from a careful reading of this long paper (and not just the intro) that I make the case that is the OPPOSITE of the quote from Mark Driscoll with which it opens. Peter, embarrassingly, didn't bother to read the paper before accusing me of holding positions that I don't hold.
1. Yoga and its Christian critics
If
you just sign up for a little yoga class, you're signing up for a little demon
class
Mark Driscoll[1]
Can a
Christian practice yoga? Ought a Christian church rent its premises to a yoga
teacher? Should a church school offer yoga?
For leading
US evangelical commentator R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the answer is ‘definitely
not’.[2]
Mohler notes how the practice of yoga has become a completely mainstream part
of contemporary Western culture, such that even the First Lady, Michelle Obama,
would announce that yoga was on offer as part of the annual White House Easter
Egg Roll – essentially a Presidential party for children.
Citing a
book by Stefanie Syman entitled The
Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America, Mohler notes that that yoga’s
history is not uniform, and is extremely complex. The tradition involved
thousands of gurus with an enormous variety of beliefs and practices.
Nevertheless, as the practice has been introduced to the West, it has become
more singularly ‘a way to stay healthy and relaxed’.
For Mohler,
Synan’s history makes it clear that ‘yoga cannot be fully extricated from its
spiritual roots in Hinduism and Buddhism’. Its arrival in the West has signaled
a shift to a post-Christian era, in which a nebulous ‘spirituality’ has
replaced traditional Christian adherence. Yoga’s advance ‘points to the retreat
of biblical Christianity in the culture’. He concludes:
When
Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga
represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitment
and their embrace of yoga. The contradictions are not few, nor are they
peripheral. The bare fact is that yoga is a spiritual discipline by which the
adherent is trained to use the body as a vehicle for achieving consciousness of
the divine. Christians are called to look to Christ for all that we need and to
obey Christ through obeying his Word. We are not called to escape the
consciousness of this world by achieving an elevated state of consciousness,
but to follow Christ in the way of faithfulness…
Christians
who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual
practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a
“post-Christian, spiritually polyglot” reality. Should Christians willingly risk that?
Mohler’s position
contra yoga is that, in the words of
evangelical scholar Douglas Groothuis: ‘All forms of yoga involve occult
assumptions’. Practicing yoga as merely a physical activity is not possible, he
argues, because in yoga body and spirit overlap completely. Thus, the Christian
who engages in yoga may actually be in contradiction of what the gospel says
about human nature and its relation to the divine. Yoga’s emphasis on meditation
as ‘emptying the mind’ is, for Mohler, at odds with a Christian view of meditation,
which involves contemplation of the Scriptures.
Mohler is
sensitive enough a critic to realise that yoga as it is practiced in the West
is not simply a replication of an ancient Indian practice, but is a form of
syncretism. It has become something else again. But it is still, as far as he
is concerned, a form of spirituality;
and, as such, in contradiction to Christian discipleship, a ‘symptom of our
postmodern spiritual confusion.’ This means that, for him, yoga is not simply
incompatible with Christianity but actually a threat to it.[3] Yoga distracts from Christianity, providing
inferior and erroneous answers to questions of human flourishing and life after
death. A Christian who practices yoga is sampling an ‘entry drug’ to a New Age
spirituality which is essentially individualistic and selfish.[4] The
entry of yoga into the cultural mainstream is evidence that American culture
has become syncretistic and decadent.
There is no
question but that Biblical religion demands exclusive worship of the one true
God. He is to be worshipped alone, and is to worshipped according to the way he
himself sets out. One must not have false gods, but it is also the case that
one cannot worship the true God falsely. The syncretism of Israel receives the
most vehement opprobrium throughout the Old Testament. The New Testament
reasserts this message. The Gospel calls Israel to worship the true God truly,
through Jesus Christ. It also calls Gentiles to abandon their worship of idols,
and their syncretistic practice, and follow the true God (1 Thess 1:9). There
is no hint of compromise here. Idolatry is listed As John says: little children, keep yourself from idols (1
John 5:21).
Does yoga
as it is practiced in the 21st century West fall under this category?
Is it as dangerous practice which indicates the de-Christianisation of the
participant and the society in which we live?
To
summarise, then, the concerns are that:
a)
Yoga is a form of Hinduism, a religion Christians
believe to be false
b)
Yoga is occult, or pagan
c)
Yoga is spiritually distracting, and an entry drug to
the New Age
d)
Meditation as encouraged in yoga is an anti-Christian
and dangerous practice
2. The broader context: globalization and
multi-culturalism
In order to
analyse the contemporary practice of yoga in the West, we need to step back and
try as best we can to grasp the social and cultural conditions under which we
labour as Christians to honour our Lord. These social and cultural conditions
have also shaped the contemporary practice of yoga.
The late
modern phenomenon called globalization is marked by the growth of vast urban
centres inhabited by diverse sub-cultures, such that each large city begins to
look more like each other large city and less like it belongs to the country
that it is in. The novel telecommunications technologies and airlines connect
the world, and facilitate an extraordinary complex of interactions between
peoples of different cultures. What has emerged, broadly speaking, is a truly global culture, in which people who
might have a different skin colour or a different faith have as much in common
– say, a love of Manchester United, or an interest in chess – as someone of the
same skin tone and religion.
In
addition, Mohler is right to observe that the permanently wired world has left
Westerners disconnected from the more traditional forms of religion associated
with their cultural heritage. Christian adherence has waned, and there is a
palpable loss of faith in (and thus influence of) the mainstream Christian
churches. For many contemporary people, the business of ‘spirituality’ is an
individual affair. People now say in increasing numbers that they are
‘spiritual but not religious’. One study, cited in the Guardian newspaper, found
that 20% of Britons and 25% of Americans called themselves ‘spiritual but not
religious’. In the 2009 Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, the number of
Australians describing themselves as spiritual (47%) exceeded the number
describing themselves as religious (39%); and twenty-nine per cent of young
people under the age of 30 described themselves as ‘spiritual but not
religious’.
Eastern
‘spirituality’ has thus become a significant phenomenon in the West, especially
since the 1960s. Partly, this is because of the lure of the exotic and the
alternative. Partly this is because the practices of Eastern religion have been
adapted to suit Western lifestyles and tastes. The entry of Eastern religious
practices was popularized like never before with the visits of major pop stars
to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1967. Connection with celebrities – people with
the fame and the power and the funds to travel, and renowned for the
individualism so beloved of the West – was a powerful conduit running East to
West, and remains so.
In
addition, we inhabit what we might call a ‘popular’ or ‘consumer’ culture, in
which the conditions of freedom expressed through economic choice prevail. That
is: Western individuals value their freedom to express their individuality
through consumer choices, and will pay for authenticity and variety. For
example, the availability of cuisine from around the globe is a way in which a
middle-class Westerner can purchase and sample an experience that is at once
exotic and yet (literally) consumable. I delight in the choice I can make
between Serbian, Nepali and Peruvian cuisine, all in the one urban street, and
I feel like a citizen of the modern globe as I do, sampling Serbian-ness or the
alternatives.
A
contemporary world city, like Sydney, is not a place in which a particular
religion can be said to have a stranglehold. Christians who live in such an
environment are called on to live with neighbours who bring with them the
cultures, customs and religious practices of many different places; and they
are called upon to live with neighbours who are keen to sample many of these
strange new things. It is in such an environment that the contemporary
phenomenon of yoga, as practiced by many Western people who have no other
connection with Eastern religion, has developed.
In sum:
a)
The cultural context in which we live is impacted by
globalization
b)
Consumer individual choice is much prized
c)
There is a sense of disconnection from community and
self, health and life balance in the fast-paced world
3. What is ‘yoga’?
‘Yoga’ is
notoriously difficult to define, and even its proponents and practitioners
disagree about what it is, and what it means. The Wikipedia definition reveals
this complexity:
Yoga
is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline that denotes a
variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (including
Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism) and Jainism, the best-known being Hatha yoga
and Raja yoga.
This
definition tells us that Yoga is diffuse and not linked with one particular
religion. Its origins are certainly within Eastern religious systems,
particularly Hinduism. The history of yoga, however, is not restricted to one
religious tradition, and indeed, scholars note the malleability of yoga, as it
moves from tradition to tradition.
This is not
the place for a description of the complex varieties of traditional yoga. That is
not our focus here. What we need to note is that, while yoga’s origins lie in
Eastern religion and philosophy, its adaptation for practice in the West has
transformed it. As Andrea Jain argues:
Postural yoga is a
‘transnational cultural product’.
Jain
contends that, while yoga is undoubtedly has its origins as a form of
meditation within Hinduism, yoga’s use in the US since the 1980s has
undoubtedly ‘diluted its spiritual content.’ Scholar David Gordon White writes:
in the United States in particular, yoga has become a
commodity… There is a gap between the ancient,
“classical” yoga tradition and yoga as we know it.[5]
Yoga, as it
is practiced in Australia, is more an American consumer product than an Indian
spiritual practice. Thus, the definition of yoga offered on the yoga.org.nz
website states that:
Yoga
is a practical aid, not a religion. Yoga is an ancient art based on a
harmonizing system of development for the body, mind, and spirit. The continued
practice of yoga will lead you to a sense of peace and well-being, and also a
feeling of being at one with their environment.
Westerners who practice yoga do so for
the most part without seeking to engage in a deeper study of Hinduism. Yoga is
marketed to consumers for its health benefits, and for its capacity to produce
relaxation. Claims are made for its ability to enhance physical strength, and
improve heart health. The website http://www.bikramyoga.net.au/index.php/newcomers/postures-a-benefits, for example, while having various
‘Eastern’ symbols in it (which gives the impression of authenticity), indicates
that none or few of the teachers are of Asian or Indian background, and nothing
in the material advertising Bikram[6] yoga
suggest that anything religious is on offer. The benefits are listed as:
·
Endurance is boosted through consistent
practice
·
Your peripheral circulation improves
·
Willpower, self-control, concentration
and determination are strengthened in this challenging environment
·
Just as when your body raises its
temperature to fight infection, the raised temperature in the room may assist
in improving the proper functioning of your immune system.
·
With regular practice, discipline and
honest effort you will:
·
Reshape your body
·
Reduce the risk of sports injury
·
Reduce the effects of stress
·
Clear your mind and calm your soul
·
Tone and strengthen muscles
·
Develop increased strength, balance,
flexibility, coordination and endurance
·
Increase your energy level
‘Calm your soul’ is the only vaguely
religious term used, although it is possible to use this word in a broad sense
not indicative of any religious or metaphysical claims.[7] The
claim is often made that yoga is a ‘spiritual’ form of exercise. It is hard to know what is meant by
‘spiritual’ in this context. It is a vague word in 21st century
culture, indicating perhaps a drive to inner peace and a balance of the mental
and physical in one’s life. It may be offered as an alternative to ‘religious’
(see above), but not necessarily.
Andrea Jain
notes that both Christian critiques and some Hindu advocates of yoga pursue
what she calls an ‘essentialist’ definition of yoga (for which, see Mohler
above). These definitions emphasize the Hindu origins of yoga, and claim that
the contemporary practice of yoga, if it is to be authentic, will lead to
involvement in Hindu religious practice and belief. Nevertheless, there is no
evidence that Westerners are turning en
masse to accept Hinduism via yoga. Indeed, my own quick survey of local
Christians discovered a number who have been practicing yoga for a length of
time and were not remotely concerned about the possibility of a compromise to
their faith. One respondent, for example, wrote:
I've been practising Bikram yoga for 11 years mainly
for my back health but for an all over comprehensive workout. There is nothing
about it that compromises my faith. Some of the instructors are a bit herbal
but nothing is indoctrinated. A measure of maturity and wisdom along with a large
grain of salt keeps you spiritually safe.
Another
said:
From my experience, albeit limited to one location but
with 4-5 'yogis', they vary in the why though the exercise experience is
similar. Some of the call to be in the moment and learning to respond to
stressful positions by breathing and noticing, can be useful and not only in
the class. What I am uncomfortable with I don't do, in terms of 'ohm' chanting
or joining in the namaste.[8]
There are a variety of styles that I think reflect different aspects of the
practice so probably worth being accurate about which practice you're
critiquing.
A third said:
I am yet to find anything that offers the same
physical benefits as yoga for me... I have neither forgotten nor am ignorant
about the actual origins of yoga. Doing the physical poses, stretching, etc
does not necessarily equate to a link with the spiritual aspects of it. It's a
heart matter. I know to whom my heart is connected and placing my body into a
particular position in order to stretch muscles, etc doesn't alter that…
What these
quotations reveal is that, quite apart from any religious or spiritual
component, yoga encourages the individual to a self-acceptance of him or
herself ‘as they are’, without judgment. For Westerners, it does not point to a
higher power or an alternative deity as the source of comfort and inner peace.
Rather, it teaches reliance on the self for these.
In
conclusion:
·
Postural yoga as commonly practiced in Western
cultures is not a religion, nor is it directly religious, but it emerges from
an Eastern religious background. It therefore retains some of that vocabulary
and outlook, but it is important not to assume that origins equate to
contemporary belief or practice.
·
Yoga is chiefly sold as having health benefits for the
practitioners, but does so by inviting them to consider themselves as more than
bodies. In this way, it has a quasi-spiritual component.
·
Yoga teaches self-acceptance and inner peace through
self-discipline and self-reliance.
4. Scripture, Theology and Mission
Holy
Scripture is adamant that the God of Israel is God without peer or parallel (Dt
6:4). The commandment that came to Israel and was to shape their life was to
worship Yhwh only, without addition. He was not to be introduced to a fertility
goddess and made her husband, or to be considered as an option amongst a pantheon
of deities. He would brook no rival. The challenge of Elijah to the prophets of
Baal (1 King 18) proved that not only was worship of another deity blasphemous,
it was also futile, since Yhwh was the only true god. To enumerate the passages
of the Old Testament where Israel is condemned for allowing the shrines and
temples of other gods to flourish alongside the Temple of the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the one who made the heavens and the earth, would be
exhausting.
The
jealousy of God (Heb zqn) is one of
his most definite and fierce qualities. He is no mute idol, nor is he to be
represented by the creation of idols. His exclusive love for his people, and
his faithfulness to them, was to be met with a response of exclusive worship.
The holiness (qds) of the people was
to be a representation of his holiness (Lev 20:26). God’s choice of only them
as his people, from the nations that surrounded them, was to be mirrored by
their singular devotion to him. That is to say: monotheism and election are two
companion doctrines in the Old Testament.
The tension
for the New Testament comes with the inclusion of the once-excluded Gentiles,
who were marked by their worship of false gods and the impure practices that
flowed from such worship. Jesus Christ himself anticipates the mission to the
Gentiles throughout his ministry, and then the book of Acts records the
preaching of the gospel as it travels through the Greco-Roman world. There are
several encounters with pagan religion recorded in Acts, including the riots in
Ephesus because of the cult of Artemis, and the observation of the many
religious shrines of Athens by Paul.
At the
heart of the theology of Acts, and at the heart of the theology of Paul the
apostle, is the shocking discovery that the gospel of free justification by
grace through faith in Jesus Christ comes first to the Jew, and then to the
Gentile; and that this means that table fellowship between the two groups was
now permissible, since the old boundary markers had dissolved. Indeed, segregation
of the people of God was unacceptable. This meant that the old scruples of the
torah about food and ritual impurity were no longer to be required for entry
into membership of the people of God.
Nevertheless,
while Gentiles were admitted to the table, the criteria for admission was faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ – which was faith in the one Lord and God of Israel (1
Cor 8). That is: you couldn’t bring your faith in pagan gods to the table! Of
that, the New Testament is absolutely clear. John finishes his first letter
with the clear command: Keep yourselves
from idols (1 John 5:21). Paul intensifies it in 1 Cor 10:14: flee the worship of idols. The
exclusivity of Christian worship is not less in any way than the exclusivity of
Israelite worship – it has a singular object.
Because of
the mission imperative of the gospel of Jesus Christ, however, the exclusivity
of the people of God could not ever be maintained by a physical separation, or
by the erection of physical barriers. Further, the abolition of torah as a way
of life for the new people of God was not replaced with a new set of
religio-cultural habits. Christians were to live in the midst of the nations;
and were planted in the urban centres of the ancient world, where they carried
on as (it seemed) ordinary citizens. They were to live ‘such good lives among
the pagans’ that their lives would be a commendation of Jesus Christ. Their
gathering was a heavenly reality; and while that was to be expressed by their
regular gathering with local believers, it meant also that they did not
withdraw from gathering with and eating with pagans and other outsiders.
In
addition, the triumph of Jesus Christ means that false gods are exposed as a
nullity (Col 2:15). It is no accident that the Reformation movement led to what
Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls ‘the great disenchantment’. That is:
a return to a biblical faith in the Western church led to a commensurate loss
of faith in the world as a place permeated by spiritual forces. The gospel
eradicates superstition where it is heard (and promotes scientific thinking),
because it declares the sovereignty of God over creation and the victory of
Christ over the powers and principalities. Despite some facets of the
charismatic movement returning to a medieval fascination with exorcisms and the
demonic, biblical Christianity retains its focus on the word of the gospel as a
declaration that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. For ‘everything
created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is to be
received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by God’s word and by prayer’
(1 Tim 4:4-5).
We conclude
then that a Christian need not fear somehow an inadvertent taint by participating
in the vast majority of what is labelled ‘yoga’. Yoga as it is practiced does
not require involvement in false worship, or acknowledgement of a spiritual
reality aside from the gospel. Just as a Christian can eat Thai food in a
restaurant which has a Buddhist shrine set aside, or can eat halal food
prepared by a slaughterman who says prayers as he kills the animal with no
suggestion that by somehow eating in this way he or she is sharing in Buddhism
or Islam or risking demonic possession, so a mature Christian with a strong
conscience can participate in yoga. Indeed, I would argue that yoga is the
least of our worries. Christians are right to consider carefully the apparently
religious aspects of various activities, but an overly tender conscience in
this area may make us blind to our complicity in businesses, activities and
communities in which a really significant evil is being perpetuated.
A key
passage for this discussion then is 1 Corinthians 8 -10, where the apostle Paul
is grappling with the very issues we have been describing, namely: how does the
Christian church express its singular holiness while living cheek by jowl with
pagans – especially in a multi-cultural and cosmopolitan city such as ancient
Corinth? Paul’s nuanced and subtle argument runs something like this: food
offer to idols is not thereby tainted, since idols aren’t anything anyway, and
if you treat it as just food then you are not committing an act of false
worship. But your conscience may lead you to think that this food is somehow
still tainted by its connection to idols. Therefore, do not eat it. Likewise,
use your freedom to make sure that other believers are not tempted to break
with what their consciences are telling them. Even vegetarianism is preferable
to wounding another’s conscience. And if that is so, then something very grave
is going on. It is a very serious thing to think you are participating in the
worship of false gods, because idolatry provokes the Lord to jealousy.[9]
Above all,
Paul’s priority is what eating communicates.
By arguing that Christians should do all ‘to the glory of God’, he is
urging that believers seek the good of the other ‘so that they may be saved’
(10:33). Believers should not naively compromise themselves by participating in
the worship of idols. But they should also develop a strong conscience by
realizing that idols are nothing. Paul is not concerned with the taint that
objects are said to carry: he is concerned about what people think about such objects to which a
particular sacredness is ascribed. It is the subjective, rather than the
objective, aspect that is his concern.
The
question is whether the practice of yoga is analogous to eating food served to
idols. We certainly live in a multi-cultural and cosmopolitan setting akin to
first century Corinth. Increasingly, Christians have to live in a world in
which East and West overlap and cannot be easily separated. On the one hand,
secular Westerners dabble in quasi- or pseudo- Eastern practices like postural
yoga with no thought to the religious or spiritual aspect of it. At the same
time, our cities are filled with people who come from cultural backgrounds
where these things do have a specific
religious and spiritual meaning. What one communicates to the culture by
participating in something like yoga may be very different depending on the
background of the person.
The analogy
is then possibly relevant because, for some people in modern Sydney, yoga does mean participation in a particular
alternative religious practice. Paul would be quick to say that a strong
conscience would have no problem with the yoga as it is practiced here. The
knowledge that Christ is Lord and the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit in
the Christian body are simply the trump cards here. The Christian should keep
her eyes and ears open for moments when her faith will be challenged or
compromised, of course, but then that might be the case in any activity outside
the church.
For the
sake of the conscience of the other, however, a Christian person or a Christian
organization may choose to forgo the practice of yoga. This takes careful
discernment of the kind that Paul encourages us to pursue in 1 Cor 8-10, and of
which this paper is hopefully a model. There is not a straightforward answer
here. What may be fine for an individual may, because of a differing context,
be questionable for a church or school. For example: there is no objective
problem, it seems to me, with an individual Christian practicing yoga in any objective
way. He may choose, however, if friends of his understand his practice of yoga
to be a participation in the worship of a false god, to lay down his right to
practice yoga. This will take an individual’s discernment of particular
situations.
A school or
a church will say more than an individual by their endorsement of yoga. Can a
church rent out its hall to a yoga practitioner? At one level the answer
depends on the practitioner, but I think there is nothing in principle against
that possibility - whereas, I think
there would definitely be a very obvious problem with renting the hall out to,
say, a witches’ coven or a Buddhist meditation class. Yoga doesn’t necessarily
fall into that class. What may govern the decision of the church is the message
that renting out the hall to a yoga class may send to the community, especially
given the multi-cultural context. Is it suggesting that syncretism is ok, or
tacitly endorsing false worship? A school is in an even more responsible
situation, since it is charged with the nurture of young souls. Is there a way
of having the benefits that yoga offers – relaxation, physical suppleness, an
awareness of one’s health, and so on – without the suggestion that an Eastern
spirituality has been endorsed? I believe compromises are possible here, but
also that the principle of conscience as outlined in 1 Cor 8-10 should be the
guiding one.
It is worth
adding that for many secular people a Christian rejection of yoga may be
provide in itself a stumbling block. That is, (and this is certainly true at an
anecdotal level at least), perceived Christian fussiness over yoga can cause a
bewilderment and anger that obscures the gospel. It appears as if the Christian
is overly fearful of what, to the secular mind, is nothing at all. That
contradicts what Christians want to declare about the clear victory of Christ
over the spiritual realm.
The
attraction of yoga for the community raises questions about the philosophy of
the self that it promotes, and whether and how this opens up the possibility
for gospel conversations. To focus on yoga as a practice contrary to the gospel
(which I don’t believe it is) rather misses an opportunity to ask why it is
that yoga has become so attractive. There are points of contact between yoga
and the gospel, and points of clear dissonance. A good doctrine of creation and
the resurrection body allows us to see that we are never whole as persons
unless we include our bodies. The secular technological world treats human
beings either as machines or as disembodied brains. We live in a world with an
inability to find relaxation or peacefulness. There is no rest. The natural rhythms of day and night, the seven day week, and
the round of the seasons simply do not exist for the inhabitants of the urban
landscape. Yoga offers a moment of escape from that world of disembodiment, a
discipline for those who are yo-yoing between hyper-work and hedonism. It also
offers a moment of acceptance in a world in which people are being constantly
evaluated and judged.
The
Christian gospel does teach us of a kind of rest, but it also teaches us of a
restlessness, too. The ‘peace of God which passes all understanding’ comes from
the merciful, gracious sovereignty of God expressed in the gospel of Christ. We
are offered an unsurpassable security. But a Christian ought also to feel the
true burden of the present age: that she is scared by sin herself, and that the
world is a world in open rebellion against the creator. The Christian liturgy
invites us to confess our sins as we approach God and find in him ‘no
condemnation’, not because we are fine as we are, but because what we are has
been transformed. We do not find a point of self-acceptance, but are introduced
to a moment of God-acceptance.
The Church
is not the provider of all a human being needs. It is not a separate political
world, or a separate economy. It does not exist to run exercise classes or open
hospitals. It may do these things, and many churches have, where they are
lacking. But it exists for the human being as a redeemed creature. That is:
finding that Christians are getting something out of yoga does not necessarily
mean that churches should start stretch classes! Nevertheless: it is worth
asking why the holistic and physical aspects of yoga don’t find their
equivalents in the version of Christian spirituality being offered in our
churches today. Are we really practicing and preaching the peace of God? Is our Christian faith disembodied, like so much of
Western life, or even opposed to the body in some way? How do we help people
who are in the throes of stress, or burdened by chronic illness? Doesn’t the
Christian gospel – and the practice of Christian faith – offer us help in these
moments of crisis? Further discussion of these questions is beyond the scope of
this paper.
5. Recommendations
To summarize the findings of this paper:
-
Individual Christians are free to participate in yoga
according to their consciences. They should make an informed decision about the
spiritual content of each class, and if they feel that their consciences are
telling them that there is an element of false worship involved, remove themselves.
But yoga as it is practiced in modern Sydney is not necessarily problematic for
believing Christians.
-
Churches and other institutions such as schools should
be more cautious. This paper recommends that churches examine carefully the
context that they are in, and judge accordingly; and certainly ask questions of
the leader of any proposed yoga class. The personal view of the author of the
this paper is that he would not hire out his church hall to a yoga
practitioner, just as he would not put a statue of Buddha in his garden – not
because these have any power, but because others think that they do.
-
Anglican Schools should investigate alternatives to
yoga, such as Pilates; or should strongly consider renaming yoga classes in a
suitable way (an option that one Anglican school has exercised). This keeps in
mind the possible fall out from an outright rejection of yoga, but also focuses
on the physical and health benefits of the exercise, ensuring that there is no
spiritual confusion.
-
The question of the missional significance of the
widespread uptake of yoga in the white Anglo-Saxon community should be
investigated with a view to asking what this is saying about their spiritual
openness (or not).
[1]
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/whole-life/features/23243-is-it-okay-for-christians-to-do-yoga#7ps46yR3s2FuICR8.99
[2]
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/09/20/the-subtle-body-should-christians-practice-yoga/
[3]
See Andrea R. Jain, Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop
Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014
[4]
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/09/20/the-meaning-of-yoga-a-conversation-with-stephanie-syman-and-dough-groothius/
[5]
Yoga, Brief History of an Idea,
Princeton University Press (2011)
[6]
Bikram yoga is a 1970s
synthesis of Hatha yoga techniques.
[7]
Indeed, the Hebrew word nephesh, often translated ‘soul’, is
like this.
[8]
A greeting meaning ‘I bow to
the divine in you’, accompanied by a bow with the hands in a prayer-like
gesture.
[9]
See Rosner and Ciampa
