Reasons Why has an interesting post on pragmatism and movements such as the Purpose Driven Church / Life. I think the analysis falls short, however. Read on….
Reasons Why is surely correct that mere pragmatism can’t be an ultimate justification for a belief or practice. Let’s unpack this a bit, though.
In the first example given, embryonic stem cell research, reducing the justification for such research to mere pragmatism sets up a straw man. No one really claims that ESTR is acceptable simply because it leads to treatments that work. The heart of the argument is that a fetus isn’t morally equivalent to the person suffering from, say, Alzheimer’s. The fetus may have some moral status, but this lack of moral equivalence makes the research justifiable, particularly if the research is promising. Note that this has a pragmatic component, but it isn’t mere pragmatism. (I disagree with this line of reasoning, but I also don’t think it’s helpful to reduce the opposing arguments to a straw man.)
Now let’s extend this to church movements, such as the Purpose Driven Life (PDL). It’s true that, at some popular level, people might be inclined not to examine such a movement critically because “it works.” I’m not convinced, however, that most church leaders accept the material so uncritically.
We are doing the “40 Days of Purpose” at our church, for example. I’ve read through the PDL book and I think, for the most part, that it’s pretty well Biblically grounded. The overarching point of PDL, as I see it, is that we are designed to be in a relationship with God in which we serve and glorify Him rather than ourselves. It’s really nothing more than classic, orthodox Christianity.
Does this mean I think PDL is flawless? Of course not. Warren frequently takes scriptures out of context, and the section on “mission” lacks any discussion about social justice, poverty relief and the like. But here is where I’m a realist, if not a pragmatist: there is no perfect resource. If running a “40 Days of Purpose” campaign is accessible and gets people thinking about God’s broader purpose for their lives, great! We can take what’s good from those materials and then fix what isn’t and build on what’s missing.