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As Christian Anabaptist Mennonites we like to perceive ourselves as being a compassionate people, however we have a complicated relationship with compassion.
Joan Swart (South African psychologist) indicates that compassion includes the ability to see clearly the nature of suffering, and that we aspire to transform that suffering by engaging in activities to alleviate the pain of others. It seems like when we suffer personally, then we are able to see and respond to the suffering of others with compassion. When we live in relative ease and comfort, then we have more difficulty empathizing and responding to others' dilemma.
This seems to be evident in a new book forthcoming by Mary S. Sprunger (EMU) titled, "From Communalism to Capitalism: Mennonites and Money in the Early Dutch Republic." The Anabaptist communalism of the Schleitheim Confession era (1527) was relatively short-lived as Mennonites in the Netherlands became enamored with the rise of the Dutch mercantilism which ultimately resulted in the full-fledged capitalism we know today. By 1661 Thieleman von Bracht was rewriting the Martyrs Mirror as an indictment of the evils of the Mennonite pursuit of wealth and empire. The compassion of communalism dissipated with the lure of capitalism.
Aside from the lure of wealth and material comfort, our ability to be compassionate may be hindered by religion itself. In "My Brother's Keeper," Saslow, Willers, & Fernberg of the University of California at Berkeley cite findings which indicate that "religiosity moderated (weakened) the relationship between compassion and prosocial behavior" (generosity), and that less religious persons were more likely to be and act compassionately towards others than more religious persons.
This seems counterintuitive at first, however perhaps our religiosity produces a certain contented lethargy of inaction which inhibits us from acting on initial feelings of compassion. Perhaps religion does inhibit compassionate action, however perhaps too, religion could address both the capitalistic inclinations of Anabaptist Mennonites as well as the zealousness of our religiosity by our following the injunction of someone we claim to know well who said "sell all you have and give it
Note: Here are links to two contradictory studies regarding the claim that religious people are less compassionate:
https://www.alternet.org/2013/02/busting-myth-christians-are-more-generous-non-believers/
2 comments:
Perhaps the concept of compassion could find new life in us if we were to view it less from sociological and religious perspectives and look at it instead from the perspective of the ancient Hebrews. I have mentioned to our brethren at FOH that the idea of having a good eye--or having an evil eye rests in the Torah passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-5: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. By Jesus' time, the full implication of these words had perhaps been lost, for He added; and thy neighbor as thyself.
To have a 'good eye' is to see a person's need and do all that you can to fill it. To have an 'evil eye' is to see a person in need and ignore it. Like a branch on a tree, compassion is an adjunct to love...that is, to loving God and to loving all those to whom He has given life.
Where there is love, there is compassion. It is an issue of the heart.
Wise and insightful, Elly. Thanks for the response!
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