Promising needs a referent beyond the promisor and promissee. It has to be anchored in someone or something that substantiates that “the promise” is worth keeping because it is “good” to do so. Promise, therefore, never escapes ethics. The “act” of promise cannot be reduced to itself.
Monday, February 11, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Thursday Thoughts - February 7
Many Christians assume that their biblical text interpretations are definitive because a Spirit led criteria signifies to them that there is no way of measuring if one interpretation is better than another. These same believers are strongly against relativism, but here they unwittingly embrace it. To embrace, in any form, what you critique is foolhardy and careless. Leave it to Christians to do what they say you shouldn’t.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Living Spiritual Rhythms - February 6
If the biblical text is claimed to be the unique source of explaining human nature, which it often is, I’d wager there’s a lot left out. Thus, consulting other informers, including science and the world, is an essential enterprise for a better understanding of who we are.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
Monday, February 4, 2019
Reflection for the Week - February 4
Metaphor,
symbol, and story may be first order forms of discourse that need to be taken
seriously when we seek to understand God, ourselves, and the world. Poetry, for
example, may be a fuller expression of truth than mathematical formulations and
imagination a more reliable guide than reason to the real over the unreal.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Thursday Thoughts - January 31
Attempts to do theology without science are like trying to fly a kite
without wind. As crucial as it is to read the early Genesis stories through
ancient eyes, it is all the more essential to consider current scientific
informers when it comes to drawing theological conclusions today. If you’re
interested in these issues check out our book From Evolution to Eden.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Living Spiritual Rhythms - January 30
Misrecognizing that there will always be a relation and distinction between self and other leads to inappropriate ways of connecting that both demand too much, and expect too little. Self and other deserve to be ‘mutually recognized’ as having worth and value, which is to result in developing a finely tuned dialogical interaction between them. But when self or other is the sole referent for life or no referent at all – each becomes artificially constituted in a double misrecognition – neither should be perceived in such roles. Since it is always tempting to ignore the complex tension of relation and distinction, it will be ‘hard work’ to avoid false characterizations of who we are and thus to reject the liabilities of forcing self to be other or other to be self. Yet, work it out we must, though as we do so let it be in a careful and compassionate manner, delicately balanced on the tight rope of trust and suspicion.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Looked up from my work in the office this AM and noticed these two wandering by. Les cerfs - Alpes Suisse 1000m
Monday, January 28, 2019
Reflection for the Week - January 28
The eschatological plotline of the biblical narrative is deeply connected to our ability to imagine. God’s promised future can only be accessed through our imaginations, but this picture helps us live lives of imaginative faith, love, and hope in the present, where redemption and renewal are real possibilities to be embraced and embodied. Since we are tethered to the already and acquainted with the not yet, this gives us a new perspective for ‘seeing’ reality in a fuller, yet not complete way. While the parts and the whole imaginatively fit together, there is always more to be imagined and lived, as the relation and distinction between them will never entirely disappear.
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