When the headlines scream that a politician or church leader is being “divisive,” and the thought police, educators, and culture warriors demand “inclusivity,” it should cause a pause for thought. What exactly is “inclusivity” and what causes division? Inclusivity is the desire and demand for a unity (and therefore peace) in a nation or population.

The desire and demand for unity then raises another question: “What is unity?—What is it that unites us—or at least should unite us?”

In his book The Eucharist the Eastern Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann ponders the question. He acknowledges Christ’s prayer for unity in the seventeenth chapter of  St John’s Gospel and asserts that all forms of unity must derive from the essential unity that is the Holy Trinity itself. God is unified, therefore, the source of all unity is the simple unity of the Godhead.

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that Divine Love is the energy source that binds together the members of the Trinity. It is this supernatural caritas that also draws human souls into the unity that is the Trinity. The unity to which we are called is both personal unity and societal unity. In other words, we are called to unity within our divided selves and within our broken relationships with others.

The Book of Deuteronomy God commands, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” This is a call to personal unity from the Unified One. Our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies are divided. They are at war with one another. As St Paul writes, “That which I would do I cannot do and that which I would not do, I do.” It is only by participation in the Divine Love that we have the power eventually to attain the personal unity that is the mark of the integrated personality—the mature soul.

This integration is what the spiritual masters refer to as ultimate purification or deification. That is “to share in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4)—to be “in Christ,” for “if any man be in Christ he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This personal unity is then the model and first step toward societal unity. We are commanded to love God but also “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Once a person attains personal integration, balance, and unity, he can become an instrument of reconciliation and unity within relationships of family, the workplace, school, parish, and society in general.

This form of unity, however, is hard work. It requires “a condition of complete simplicity costing not less than everything.”[*]

Schmemann notes that in the church and the world we fall into the temptation of attempting this unity through easier and lesser means. The desire for unity radiates from God through the unity we perceive in nature, in art, and in the trinity of beauty, truth, and goodness; we seek that unity, however, not through union with God, but through shortcuts: political stratagems which end in manipulation, intimidation and media campaigns.

Schmemann calls this “unity from below” rather than “unity from above.” In the culture wars, political and media manipulation is used to force conformity to an agenda and an ideology. In the church we fall for the seductive sirens of a false ecumenism, which undermines the quest for authentic unity from above by means of clever plans for denominational mergers, contrived shared worship, and superficial statements of unity where none actually exists.

To the end, the “unity from below” as Schemmann writes, “to the degree that it ceases to be unity with God and in God and is transformed into an end-in-itself and an idol, it becomes not only ‘easily transformable’ unstable and easily shattered, but also the generator of every new division, evil, violence and hatred. Itself being turned downward—to the earthly and natural, to things below—and regarding flesh and blood as its principle and source, this unity from below begins to divide in the same measure that it unifies.”

In other words, when you seek merely human standards of inclusivity, you end up with cancel culture. When you seek to unify yourself or others on any principle less than divine unity you must exclude others. To put it simply, “To attain unity in the Republican Party I must exclude Democrats”. To achieve unity in the Catholic Church I must exclude Protestants.” And so forth and so on…

That this “unity from below” leads to division, violence, and hatred is Schmemann’s most vivid observation. It is this exclusion at the heart of calls for inclusion that leads first to cancel culture and then to the demonization of the excluded. Schmemann’s thought illuminates the scapegoat mechanism highlighted by René Girard, for the excluded and demonized must ultimately be destroyed. Those who are perceived as a threat to unity must be eliminated. American conservatives presently being labelled as “white supremacists” and “domestic terrorists” are a contemporary example of this process of terrifying group think.

What is the solution? Both Schmemann and Notre Dame theologian David Fagerberg believe it is not only in the pursuit of authentic Christian spirituality, but that this enterprise is expressed within the liturgy. It is within worship that man is integrated by entering into his proper relationship with his Creator. He can achieve unity by being united in worship with the Unified One.

Fagerberg sums it up in the theme of his book, Liturgical Dogmatics. He writes, liturgy is “the perichoresis of the Holy Trinity kenotically extended to invite our synergistic ascent into deification.” Which translated is, “Liturgy is the dance of Divine Unity poured into our own response to the summons to share in the divine nature.”

It is through Divine Worship that we put ourselves into our appointed place in the Divine Providence and thus enter into the Divine Energy of Love that transforms us from within—making us share in the Divine Unity, which subsequently empowers us to counter false inclusivity and radiate true Unity into our fractured world.

Dwight Longenecker’s latest book, Beheading Hydra-A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age, is published by Sophia Institute Press.

The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics—we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.

[*] T.S.Eliot, Little Gidding.

The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay.

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