November 27, 2024

Becoming Athletes of Attention

At least once a day, as I work on writing, editing, and other tasks that occupy my hours at CT, I’m suddenly seized with an overpowering impulse. Yes, there are assignments to complete and emails to answer. But a beguiling inner voice whispers that I really ought to be spending my time elsewhere—namely, on websites filled with ephemera concerning my football team of choice, the New England Patriots.

And so I click on these websites, flitting between articles and blog posts on offensive line woes, underperforming wide receivers, and other subjects of questionable relevance to the making of evangelical magazines. By the time I return to productive labors, 10 or 15 minutes have gone poof! And naturally, none of it leaves me remotely refreshed or rejuvenated.

Both online and off, we all have our go-to diversions—the little pleasure centers that vacuum up energies better invested not only in our jobs, but also in the health of our souls. In his latest essay for CT, writer and classical educator Christopher Benson suggests, for an antidote, inclining our ears toward the advice of ancient Christian monks. Even without the pixelated enticements of today, these forbears in the faith knew the battle of training their minds against being tugged in different directions.

One enduring testament to their hard-won insight is a body of writings known as the Collationes (or “Conferences”) of John Cassian, a fifth-century monk who journeyed around Egypt asking other monks about their tips and techniques for strengthening concentration. Benson reviews a new translation of these writings, How to Focus: A Monastic Guide for an Age of Distraction, published as part of a Princeton University Press series called Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers.

“We all suffer from attention deficit,” writes Benson, “whether it rises to a disorder or not. In her 2023 book Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity, psychologist Gloria Mark shares her empirical research. As summed up in a Wall Street Journal article, ‘Back in 2004, we found that people averaged 150 seconds on any screen before switching to another screen. By 2012, it had declined to 75 seconds, and between 2016 and 2021, it diminished to 47 seconds.’

“Studies show that fast attention shifts result in higher anxiety and stress and lower productivity, along with increased errors and delays in completing tasks. ‘When we spend time switching attention and reorienting back to a task,’ Mark writes, ‘we are draining our precious and limited cognitive resources. It’s like having a gas tank that leaks, leaving less fuel for the mission at hand.’

“As a humanities teacher, I assign my students reading from great books in the Western canon, such as Homer’s Iliad or Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. They fight against distraction, struggling to maintain their attention from paragraph to paragraph when nearby screens offer small dopamine hits every time they text a friend, check Instagram posts, watch a TikTok video, or browse the internet.

“Unlike my students, who are digital natives, I am a digital immigrant with memories of a simpler media ecology—a time when focus seemed easier to achieve. With the advent and integration of digital technology, I have assumed different roles in Aesop’s fable about a foot race between two animals: I once was ‘slow and steady’ like the tortoise, who ‘plodded on straight toward the goal.’ But now, more frequently, I reach ‘the midway mark’ and begin to ‘nibble some juicy grass and amuse [myself] in different ways’ like the hare, whose speed proves disadvantageous.

“To become an athlete of attention, one must undergo rigorous training, because there is no quick fix to ‘the confused, dazed, scatter-brained state,’ as 19th-century philosopher William James wrote in The Principles of Psychology. James defined attention as ‘the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.’

“Cassian’s Conferences is important reading if we care about attentional athleticism, especially in our obedience to the double command of loving God and neighbor. If love attends to the other, then frenetic distractibility will vitiate its quality.”

The Burdens of Black Christian Women

Our era is dominated by headlines about believers exiting the church for a host of reasons, from scandal and corruption among the ranks of ministry leaders to unease with more challenging Christian doctrines. Unsurprisingly, dynamics of dissatisfaction and departure play out differently within different demographic contexts.

Sarita Lyons, a speaker and women’s ministry leader based in Philadelphia, has her eye on trends within her own cohort of Black Christian women. In a recent excerpt for CT, taken from her book Church Girl: A Gospel Vision to Encourage and Challenge Black Christian Women, Lyons explores how believers in this category can minister to sisters who might be poised to leave the church or renounce their faith.

“Despite Black women historically being considered the backbone of the church and earning the distinction of outnumbering men in the pews, there is a disturbing trend that we must address,” writes Lyons. “Though we as Black women are among the most religious groups in the United States, there is an exodus of Black women missing from churches for a variety of reasons, and some of us aren’t just leaving a specific congregation; we are leaving the faith completely.

“Aswad Walker of the Defender wrote about the top reasons Black millennials say they are leaving the church: (1) The church is too judgmental, (2) they are choosing traditional African spiritual practices, (3) the church is too anti-intellectual or closed to new information, (4) the church is too apolitical, and (5) not enough of their peers attend. Others have included the impact of patriarchy in the church and Black women not being able to adequately see themselves as image bearers of the triune God.

“Do these conclusions surprise you, or are you familiar with what is being sourced as the reason for Black women leaving our churches?

“I believe our collective eyes, ears, and empathy are the tools we need to make sure Black women aren’t invisible, ignored in the church, or unnoticed and unfound when they depart. Whether you are in leadership or are a lay parishioner in the pews, we each have a part to play in helping one another stay rooted where God plants us so we can flourish in our lives and local churches.”

Matt Reynolds

Senior Editor, Books

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in the magazine

As this issue hits your mailboxes after the US election and as you prepare for the holidays, it can be easy to feel lost in darkness. In this issue, you’ll read of the piercing light of Christ that illuminates the darkness of drug addiction at home and abroad, as Angela Fulton in Vietnam and Maria Baer in Portland report about Christian rehab centers. Also, Carrie McKean explores the complicated path of estrangement and Brad East explains the doctrine of providence. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt shows us how art surprises, delights, and retools our imagination for the Incarnation, while Jeremy Treat reminds us of an ancient African bishop’s teachings about Immanuel. Finally, may you be surprised by the nearness of the “Winter Child,” whom poet Malcolm Guite guides us enticingly toward. Happy Advent and Merry Christmas.

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