Have you noticed how firmly the concept of “Treat Yo Self” is entrenched in our society? After a long day or week, or after just completing some difficult task—well, you deserve that cupcake or some other treat! Yes, go ahead, live it up—you’ve earned it!
It all sounds good, even grand, in theory (and cupcakes are amazing!). And psychologists rightly note just how helpful little motivational rewards can be for kids and grown-ups alike (because, again, cupcakes are amazing!). And yet, there’s a thin line between rewarding yourself and turning such treats or other acts of self-care into idols of selfishness.
The difficult thing about the gospel is that it calls us to sacrifice our comforts on a regular basis. That’s hard.
I’m not saying this to take away your (or my) cupcakes. Rather, I’m thinking here about more serious situations—times of societal crisis, that require us to care for others at a time when we feel like we can barely take care of ourselves. I’m thinking of those situations where we might be in the place of the Good Samaritan, yet we are sorely tempted to pass by, giving some excuse for why this just isn’t convenient today—as Phil Christman so effectively showed in his retelling of this parable a year ago.
The Third Century Crisis, which forms the focus of this chapter, was certainly such a time of crisis and extreme need in the Roman Empire. Imagine everything we were dealing with in 2020, but with a more devastating pandemic with higher mortality rates, and then throw in some intense religious persecution to boot.
I focus on a single pastor and his church as the case study here for a simple reason: this pastor, Cyprian of Carthage, left us a lot of documents about his ministry, including letters, and various treatises and essays that may have (in some cases) started their lives as sermons/homilies.
And his advice to people who were spiritually and physically exhausted, and tempted to retreat to the cave of nothing but self-care was… care for others harder. And in the Roman Empire, where there were no official government networks of care—no welfare programs, if you will—this care that the Christians provided to their neighbors even at the cost of their own lives turned out to be transformational. Of course—and this is a book about cultural Christians—they didn’t do it perfectly, and it took Cyprian’s repeated exhortations to convince church-goers to love others better.
Still, the work of pastors in calling cultural Christians, ancient or modern, to sanctification, makes a difference.
I mention in this chapter sociologist Jessica Calarco’s viral tweet from 2020—that “other countries have social safety nets, but the US has women.” But in the Roman Empire, I noted, someone could have said something like “other countries have social safety nets, but the Roman Empire has Christians.” The extraordinary spike in conversions during this period shows the fruit such witness bore.
Reading Questions: Chapter 6
1. What made the third century AD such a stressful time for the residents of the Roman Empire?
2. Who was Cyprian, and why is his witness important?
3. What kind of safety network did people in the Roman Empire have, in case of crisis in their lives?
4. What kinds of arguments did Cyprian present about almsgiving and the care of the others in crisis?
5. In what ways are we tempted to embrace self-care rather than care for others in times of crisis, big or small?
Good question....how often do we prioritize our own creature comforts, rather involving ourselves in the messiness of someone else's life.
I struggle with the questions raised in this chapter about self care vs care for others. Our congregation has a cancer support group(which my wife attends even though she has been free from cancer for 5 years) that provides emotional support to cancer patients and also shares their own experiences with this horrible disease. We also have a group of members and non members who are trying to cope with and share Christian love with members of families who have family members in the process of transgender change. This group attempts to be faithful to Christian anthropology while also assisting those who must deal with this reality each day. I am an Elder in our church and we had divisions over masks, distancing, etc during Covid. My wife and I are involved with Christian education, visitations, and church governance. Each of these essential activities takes both physical and emotional energy( I am 80 and my wife is 78). Each of these activities have involved a balancing act between self care and care for others. I hope we are more like Cyprian.