It is monumentally important to realize that there is no absolute certainty concerning God, the biblical text, the self, or the world, but degrees of knowing – more about this or that – less about that or this. When such a discovery takes place, shock therapy can set in. What to do and who to be might leave one in a quandary. No more hyper conservative on one side – hyper liberal on the other, since both fail. Then what? Weighing up options and possibilities comes to the fore. Finding the viable middle somewhere is less stifling than embracing polarization, though it often appears to leave one without a voice. Yet a veracity tension in the middle “says more” and is far preferable to the alternatives.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Living Spiritual Rhythms - August 30
A realistic faith is a constant dialogue between the
because of and the in spite of. In living a spiritual life,
we traverse periods of belief in God that are like the vistas of a changing
landscape. Sometimes the viability of the reasons for faith are convincing and
firm, while at other times we are clinging to faith with little conviction or strength.
We can experience the joy of sufficient answers or the dread of the awareness
that many questions are left unresolved. Passing through, as we are, invites us
into this tension, which is inescapably connected to life in this world.
Monday, August 28, 2017
Reflection for the Week - August 28
In addition to
Freud’s atheism, there are many others, including Nietzsche, Barthes, and
Foucault, who argue that God is a contradiction to life, for the death of the
Author, and that the strategic alignments of power interests are out to control
knowledge, relationships, and truth. While these thinkers have some salient
insights, their wayward conclusions have contributed to the cultural construction
and propagation of a cynical, pessimistic, and decentered self. Yet, in the
face of such views, the counter-cultural and always avant-garde perspective of
Christian promise and hope defies this manufactured status quo. Destroying
idols and listening to symbols is one of the keys that unlock living
spirituality and possibilities for engaging God. When this takes place we are
no longer trapped within a network of self – other power plays that exploit us,
but we are embraced by a Divine love without measure, where freedom leads to
redemption and transformation. Being loved in this manner supplies us with a re-centered
self and an identity that goes far beyond any of our own making.
Friday, August 25, 2017
Friday Musings - August 25
Imagination is a fascinating topic of interest and debate today. The deeply significant issues of the real and the unreal have never been as evident as in our own cultural context. Discerning between fact and fantasy, objectivity and subjectivity in our post-modern setting, means we have to deal with a new blurring of categories, which may threaten older precision crafted paradigms and previously settled ways of thinking. So be it. Engaging the challenges of post-modern thought, for better or worse, calls for a reassessment of our imaginative understanding of God, ourselves, and the world. That which has been assumed to be real or unreal may not be.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Thursday Thoughts - August 24
Life
& Death seem to be inextricably woven together,
Fiction or History in Genesis 1-3?
Claims are made
by some that early Genesis is fictional in character, while others contend it
is history. What distinction, if any, is to be made between the actual past, a
report of the past, and literature (narrative fiction)? If you’re interested in
this topic, check out our book From
Evolution to Eden, which deals with these types of crucial questions in the
context of Genesis 1-3. www.amazon.com/Evolution-Eden-Making-Sense-Genesis-ebook/dp/B06XCL47P2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1449475580&sr=1-1
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Living Spiritual Rhythms - August 23
As difficult as it may be to believe in God, it’s even
more difficult to believe that materialism is a plausible explanation for
humanity and the cosmos. Materialism is valid, but insufficient to better
explain reality. Theism is less insufficient for this, without however being
entirely satisfactory.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Reflection for the Week - August 21
Older models of absolute laws governing the universe should be upgraded to the notion of ‘possibilities’ that may unfold in diverse and emergent environments. This newer picture will be useful for breaking down ideologies and utopias of any master narratives, Christian or otherwise, that are assumed to explain it all. There simply are not, nor have there ever been, any such ‘everything’ stories.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
New Book!
… fiction p … authors
… history a … readers
… meta r …
texts
… narrative ables …
poetics
Paul Ricoeur was one of the most prolific thinkers of the twentieth century. There have been many books written on Ricoeur’s philosophy, but very little is available on his theological trajectory and its connection to biblical interpretation. Living Hermeneutics aims to fill that lacuna and brings to life the diverse ways in which Ricoeur’s work can contribute to and open up viable possibilities for critiquing both modernist and postmodernist orientations, while offering new theological and hermeneutical directions for understanding the text, the reader, and the world. This book is aimed at a broad student audience, as well as the interested general reader who would like to know more about Ricoeur.
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