communitas: What does this mean?

Communitas is different than community. Community can too often mean just a bunch of people, who have some things in common, just hanging out for fun. Communitas is a term coined by an anthropologist who studied an African tribe's tradition of ushering boys into manhood. The men would raid the women's camp and take the boys who lived with their mothers their entire lives. The men would then take them to the African bush, which is very dangerous and hard to survive. The men would then commission the boys to survive in the bush for 6 months at a time. If they are still alive by the end of the time, they would then be ushered back into the tribe, but this time as men. The term communitas is used to describe what happens to the boys out in the bush. They quickly learn that, in order to survive, they need each other. They form a group to fend of the predators, gather food, and support each other so they will be alive at the end of the 6 month period. Anthropologists call this a communitas, a group that gathers together because they are going through an ordeal that is very dangerous and very adventurous. I would say that describes Christianity very well. Allen Hirsch made this connection in a book called "The Forgotten Ways." He says that the community of Christ-followers are experiencing an ordeal that is very hard, yet very adventurous. The group dynamic is not optional if one hopes to survive the bush. The loner is as good as gone in the bush. The group dynamic is a necessity in the bush, so it is in God's story of redemption and reconciliation. If we are to experience and live out this story in our lives, we need a communitas around us because, well, the bush is very difficult and hard to survive.