earticle

영어

Since the postmodern world we live in today closely mirrors that of the Classical Christianity, Robert E. Webber claims that the resources of the Classical Christianity will be the most appropriate for our age. Based on this claim, which he calls the Ancient-Future paradigm, Webber who sees consumer culture as secular argues that Christians in consumer culture will move from experiencing time as constraint to experiencing time as rhythm in Christ by observing the Christian year and that, as a result, they will become better people. Unlike Webber, however, Dell deChant who interprets consumer culture as religious insists that contemporary people do not experience time as constraint but as different rhythm. According to him, observing the Christian year is a matter of choice between two rhythmic patterns. While considering deChant’s understanding of consumer culture, this paper modifies Webber’s interpretation of time: practicing the Christian year is a matter of choice between a rhythmic pattern that makes contemporary people experience time as constraint and a pattern that makes them free in Christ. In order to use the Christian year more effectively for contemporary Christians’ spiritual growth, the church must consider the concept of three levels of meaning of ritual: the official, the public, and the personal meaning. When the church effectively communicates the official meaning of the Christian year to people so that they will accept it as their personal message in worship, they will probably choose the proper rhythmic pattern. Then, the Christian year will be a means of genuine spiritual changes as Weber hopes.