Lumpkin 1

Matt Lumpkin
Ethics of Life and Death
Dr. Erin Dufault-Hunter
February 16, 2009

Hall, Amy Laura. Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism and the Spirit of
Reproduction. Grand Rapids, Mich: W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 2008.

Riffing on Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," Amy Laura

Hall brings her own brand of penetrating sociological analysis to bear on important shifts in

cultural authority during the last century. Using image exegesis of cultural artifacts as varied as

advertising and women's magazines, Hall argues that the ascendancy of scientific authority in the

domain of pro-creation (or "reproduction") brought with it a whole new narrative of justification

for the old evils of racism, elitism, and the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable by the strong.

This narrative framed those who opposed these activities as "backward," or "opposed to

progress." Through her insightful and creative analysis not only of images but their larger

context and juxtaposition, she leads us down a dark path of the enthusiastic, Church complicity

in an effort to promote widespread cultural acceptance of new narrative crafted by corporate,

scientific, and military interests.

Hall's evidence for this subtle manipulation of public perception seems at first to be

slight, even at times, overly imaginative or interpretive. The advertisements from last century

over which she labors are, after all, from a "simpler era." Is it fair to impose upon them an

interpretive agenda from today when they were only trying to sell their products? And yet as she

stacks up example after example of at times humorous, at times deeply disturbing images, we
 Lumpkin 2

begin to accept her point. While the intent of the Ad-men may have been to move units of 7-up

(to be mixed with milk for baby's bottle) or Lysol brand disinfectant (for the maintenance of

"intimate daintiness dependent on effective douching") they are harnessing strong currents within

the culture and in so doing, shaping and reinforcing public perception. A culture's ads, it seems,

are an effective barometer for its values.

She marshals many influential and persistent women's magazines (McCalls, Good

Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Cosmopolitan and others) from secular publishers to show

a wide range of ways in which this new narrative is over-writing American values surrounding

sex and children in the commanding, active-voice of science and progress. More disturbing for

Christian readers is the way she holds these secular publications we expect to be swaying to the

winds of cultural change alongside church publications (especially the Methodist magazine

"Together"). We might hope that these church publications would be calling their readers back to

an older Story. Instead we find a Christianity all to eager to prove its modernity by lending its

cultural authority to the civil religion of "progress" with its agenda set by the "sciences" of

eugenics and atomic-energy driven consumer culture. Though it should be noted that a few of

the brighter moments of hope in the dark, at times conspiratorial tone of Hall's narration, come

from Christians who stand and using the resources of the Gospel Story. Rev. M.T. Lamb and

others like him bear witness to an alternative reality of generosity and hospitality to the weak in

contrast to the new narrative of progress through elimination of weakness (Hall 2008, 395).

While these Christian voices do offer hope they are the exception to the rule.

Yet Hall does not stop in the women's magazine section. Especially in her later chapters

focusing on eugenics and atomic science, she digs into scholarly monographs that shaped public
 Lumpkin 3

and academic perceptions about the "scientific" grounds of race, heredity and the promises of

science. She watches old Disney-influenced propaganda films commissioned by the government

in order to spin public opinion of the horrific destructive power hidden in the atom into a friendly

little fellow who can take care of your washing for you.

It is in the breadth of materials she takes in and the insight she applies to them that Hall

truly distinguishes herself. Rather than restricting herself to researching academic analyses of

the era, she digs into the primary documents with an eye that sees through the surface to the large

arcs of social pressure that lie behind both turn of the century soap ads as well as eerily

subversive pharmaceutical ads. Both are animated by the creation of a story in which there is a

desirable "normal" the consumer may achieve by means of Ivory or Ritalin in contrast to the

shameful, abnormal child that is dirty, messy and less than expected.

While Hall stares with unflinching penetration at these cultural artifacts, at times her

conclusions are obscure. She frequently prefers to end her pages-long discussion of a particular

ad with a rhetorical question rather than a strong connection to her argument. Perhaps this is

indicative of my own eroded capacity for attention, but I believe that her readers might better

navigate through her hundred-page chapters if offered more concrete announcements of what she

sees and is leading us to see in her illustrations.

While Hall's direct appropriation of Edwin Black's critique of "human genetics" and

"Genetic counseling" as a the post-WWII name for "eugenics" is hard to overlook as a

suggestion of the need to re-evaluate these publicly acceptable fields of inquiry, most of her call

for "policy change" is aimed at the church. First, she reminds the church that it is the bearer of

an alternative system of valuing that aught to view children as "unqualified gifts from God." As
 Lumpkin 4

such they cannot be risk managed. They are inherently risky and not our own. Along with this

goes the giving up of ideals of perfection, meticulous control and manipulation promised by

genetics and advanced reproductive technologies. Christians should be questioning the "standard

practices" of our medical culture that involve genetic screening that makes carrying the

pregnancy contingent upon "fitness" or selective termination based on other seemingly scientific

but arbitrary criteria. Instead we need to rediscover the strength of our own Gospel Story over

against that of our culture. Our story situates children as bearers of the image of God, able to be

redeemed by Jesus and adopted into God's family and ultimately destined to experience the

culmination of all creation in wholeness at our Lord's coming.

Next, our Story inspires us to sway, not to the strong winds of our culture but to the

mischievous wind of the Holy Spirit in what Hall terms "holy mischief" but what I might join

Ad-busters magazine in calling "culture-jamming." This involves finding creative ways (like

Rev. Lamb's extensive use of photos to show his orphans' freedom from "tainted blood") to bear

witness to the alternate view of reality, "a different system of valuing," in which we live and

thereby expose, challenge and name the false narrative for what it is: an attempt to manipulate us

into accepting the authority of the strong over the weak (Hall 2008, 393). The life of Jesus is the

lens that flips that power structure, letting us see things as they are in light of God's Story.

It might seem strange that such a book could help a beleaguered parent struggling to

balance the demands of family, work, school and church but Amy Laura Hall's book has helped

me to re-orient my own perspective of my role as a Christian parent. First Hall's book has

reminded me that embrace of children is embrace of chaos. In contrast to the "normalcy"

promoted by the ads she profiles, children are by nature, untidy, disorderly, weak and needy.
 Lumpkin 5

And yet in that chaos there is also joy, love, creativity, and new life: pro-creation. The impact of

this in my relationship with my three and a half year old daughter, Eleanor, is that I am reminded

that her need for play, my attention, affirmation, patience and kindness are not simply an

inconvenience, detracting from my worthwhile goals and pursuits. Instead they are an

opportunity to receive her as a gift from God; to collaborate with God in the creation of this new

being as she unfolds in all her vibrant life. My wife and I are expecting our second child in

September of this year and already this new baby has made its presence known through bouts of

nausea that interrupt our carefully orchestrated and balanced family schedule. Hall has helped

me to see this as a reminder of my dependance upon God and my inability to meticulously

control every aspect of my life.

Indeed this very desire to meticulously control our own lives and the lives our children

can easily become idolatrous. Some of us worship at the altar of our own power, means and

ability to provide the best clothes, schools, opportunities etc. Some of worship at the altar of

science and its promises to build a firewall between our families and anything "abnormal,"

painful, or deadly that might arrive as part of the life of a child. Hall reminds us that this is not

only idolatrous in the direction of those powers we feel can protect us but also in the direction of

viewing our own family as "A No. 1," "first-class blood; heredities all good" (Hall 2008, 398).

We run the risk of worshipping our own status quo such that we cannot imagine the Godly-

subversive ways in which our own family might be transformed by welcoming an unknown.

As a parent I appreciate the way that Hall names and unmasks these subtle, but powerful

pressures shaping expectations and ideas of what makes a "good" parent and a "good" child.
 Lumpkin 6

Indeed these forces are not new. The seemingly distant historical shames of racism and eugenics

are alive and well and still exerting their influence on parents today.

I also have to affirm Hall's hermeneutic of suspicion aimed at advertising and marketing

yesterday and today in order to discover just how we are being spun and manipulated away from

our values as Christians. This is not only an exercise in critical thinking and Christian

discernment but is also vital to the church's role in the culture to stand in witness against those

stories that would seek to marginalize or instrumentalize the weak for the benefit of the strong.

Finally, the narrative lifted from the New York Times magazine, of the mother who

selectively terminates two of her triplets in order to avoid having to leave the city and

substantially change her identity, struck home with me. As a young parent, I have frequently felt

the tension and loss involved in my role as a parent precluding me from being more involved in a

many "extra-curriculars" here at Fuller Seminary and elsewhere. While these losses are real, to

become a parent is to open oneself to profound changes in identity. Hall has helped me see these

changes as an opportunity and a gift to be embraced rather than an imposition to be struggled

against.

While Hall could have been more clear about her conclusions and their implications

within the chapters themselves, this small critique is by far outweighed by the many deep and

helpful insights in the text. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more

about how science came into authority on issues of children and families, to clergy seeking to

refine their theology children, families and pro-creation as well to reflective parents and parents-

to-be. This is primarily a book for the church, calling us back to the Story to which we bear

witness, despite strong cultural pressure to conform to rival narratives.