Never before have humans been in a position to know
so much, yet to know so little about how much there is still to be known, which
seems so vast and somewhat unpredictable. Science has surely played a
significant role in informing us for centuries. Nowadays, scientific advances
are monumental. Just think of genomics and the neurosciences. I don’t mean to
say that science always gets it right. Nevertheless, when it gets it wrong, it tends
to be at least somewhat self-correcting. In addition to science, many suggest
that the biblical text has also contributed in major ways to informing us. Its
centrality has a long tradition and the history of interpretation through the
OT to the NT flows out to us today. But what more than ever has to be addressed
is the stature of this text as the center piece of Christian belief. Thus, when
it comes to the biblical text, reliability and authority are weighty and vital issues
that pertain to the ‘status’ of the text. It is not viable to comment, as some do,
‘well, the Bible says,’ because this assumption of expertise actually presupposes
the validity of the very text that’s in question. Sometimes there’s not much
self-correcting going on here. Furthermore, behind this text and the crucial matter
of its standing is the primary and inescapable question about the God it refers
to. Unless Christians are willing to dig deep and come up with something
plausible concerning the value and place of the biblical text and its God, the
legitimacy of the former will surely fade, while the credibility of the latter
could also diminish in a substantial manner.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Living Spiritual Rhythms - November 30
Monday, November 28, 2016
Reflection for the Week - November 28
In
contrast to the pervasive and impoverished mantra of living in a disenchanted
world, imaginative variations of poetry and art raise the screen and open us up
to the possibility of re-enchantment. Ironically, or better perhaps strikingly,
poetry and narrative art dominate the landscape of the biblical text. The story
is so full that the meaning of its words could never be entirely contained
in-between the covers of a book. This beautiful, yet fragile treasure and its
capacity for creativity and critique in describing God, humans, and the world,
gives us living formulations that re-ignite a sphere of the sacred and a space
for the spiritual, which are all too often today buried under the technological
revolution of a de-natured naturalism.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Genes & Genesis - November 27
Friday, November 25, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Un florilège - from - les Alpes Suisse.
Un florilège - from - les Alpes Suisse. Cows anxiously awaiting us. This
fox looks well fed. Tried to steal our picnic, but didn't get it.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Thoughts - November 23
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Living Spiritual Rhythms - November 22
Luke’s
Acts is neither epic, nor a straight telling of history. Rather, it is a story
of beginnings and functions as a ‘founding narrative’ for the unfolding drama
of the Christian faith, which in Luke’s context was moving towards credibility.
Thus, in his re-counting, the reality of a religious movement became narrativized
for the first time. This re-telling is deeply engraved with complexity and
mysteriously forged by extravagance, and the multiple informers in the story present
significant challenges for readers, taking us to the limits of imagination. In fact,
this author’s founding narrative sets out a theological, historical, and
literary redescription of the world in a quite unique and controversial manner
when read in dialogue with other Greco-Roman portrayals of the times.
Monday, November 21, 2016
Reflection for the Week - November 21
The “all’s” or
“nothing’s” (like: we have total or no control of our lives) are illusions.
Both require deep levels of pretending. We demand it all, and when we don’t get
it, we embrace nothing. When tenacious attempts to have closure and
completeness fail, we fall again and again into the void. Yet, and the point
is, we’re just not the kinds of selves that can attain or be resigned to either
of these fantasies. What is true and full of life is most frequently found
somewhere in the middle, not on an extreme or pole. Thus, figuring things out
is far from a done deal. Admitting this puts us in a position where the real
work begins concerning how to be and how to live in a complex world.
