In my doctoral program, we are reading Postmodernism 101 by Heath White. For the most part I think White's treatment of postmodernity is solid. But at the end of the day, I felt like there was a perpetual hermeneutic of suspicion throughout...especially as it relates and tries to speak to the relativization of truth, history, and the denial of absolutes.
The truth is that we're almost a century behind the times as POSTMODERNS. Einstein's special relativity exploded the notion of a preferential perspective in spacetime; there is no created perspective that is absolute...at least none you and I can ever have. The only constant (or absolute) is the speed of light. Light moves at the same speed from all perspectives at all velocities. I think that culturally we are only now really wrestling with what this means.
What I think this means is that our rational inquiry into the nature of the universe has brought us back to the very basic reality or our creation. Our quest to be God has been denied. The "objective" perspective, God's perspective, cannot be ours. We are by definition finite and there are simply limitations that come with this.
In a world as varied and beautiful as our own--in a universe as vast and surprising and impossible as our own--the only appropriate response is one of humility.
I remember that as a seminary student in my first year, I worked feverishly to master everything put in front of me. I felt like I had just four years to learn EVERYTHING. My systematic theology professor freed me from this particular hell however, when one day he made this assertion. "If truth is really Truth, then it's not something you can ever have. Instead, it's something that will have you" --Don Luck. I remember the tension in my shoulders melting immediately.
I think that as long as we cast the faith as a laundry list of intellectual propositions pitted against all other truth propositions we'll be in a losing game. There's always more knowledge; one more piece of evidence. Let's face it cause scripture insists on it; faith is a gift. The gospels are stories, not propositions and in their own self-disclosure honest about the fact that they aren't even ALL the information...only SOME of the holy story told for the sole purpose that we might simply believe...simply trust that in the end, God's love for us ALWAYS wins.
4 comments:
it makes me think about what the resurrection means... love is greater than sin, love is greater than death, we experience this all the time and it seems like if we focused on this simple idea, rather than getting all wrapped up in dogmatic slumber, things would look a lot different in our lives; in our churches.
Thanks for stopping by Todd.
I think that the most powerful question we can ask is, "What would we do and how would we be if we actually believe and lived as if Jesus' tomb is really empty?"
I think that question quickly begins to restructure things. Peace!
When I read your post I thought of the scene in John's book where Pilate asks Jesus, "What is truth?"
I've always found Jesus' response amazing. He just stands there. Jesus is the Truth who stares down our supposed attempts to believe that we can 'know' it.
Pastor Art had a great line today in speaking about Romans 8 where Apostle Paul is talking about God's foreknowledge. He said that "foreknew" is a relational term before it is ever intellectual. It's in the same way that Adam "knows" Eve. That's how God foreknows.
And what if we had that kind of "know-"ledge of the truth. I wonder what our essays would look like.
"If Jesus is really Truth, then He's not something we can ever have. Instead, Jesus is someone who will have us."
In all humility, God is our absolute Truth. You are absolutely right - we are not God, He is. We just need to get over it and get on with the program. Blessings bro.
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