onesies

Revelation through Placher

Reflecting on Chapter 1 of The Triune God by William C. Placher

I loved this piece. I felt that Placher started in a place I found myself not long ago, as I began attempting a pursuit of the knowledge of God. And as the chapter went on it spoke of various theologians of midiavil and modern thinking--Anselm Eckhart Aquinas Kierkegaard--addressing different questions I happened upon in my journey, and truths that have shed light on them. Basically, this was an articulate, intellectual, illuminating bibliographical guide to my last few years of thought. :) Who knew? I didn’t! I found that very helpful.

I identified with so many questions being asked and answers being given...but at the end of each page, just as at the end of each day, I still had the lingering question of the ANSWER. Where is it? Is anyone ever going to actually get there and talk about it? Or are we going to continue talking about what God isn’t... and how hard it is to know God... and how big God is...?

This is where Placher’s long awaited conclusion comes in. The last section of the chapter is titled “Between Idolatry and Secularity.” The quote in this section that I believe sums up the meaning and question most clearly is found in the 2nd paragraph: “Answering the questions in clear language would give us idols; abandoning them would leave us with flat secularity.” Reaching this sentence I thought I should maybe let that sit for a while. This is where I have come, after all. I have felt uneasy about making any steps forward.

thoughts I’ve had...

1. I believe God has called me to be in relationship with Godself.
2. John 16:12 remarks about the Spirit guiding us into truth. I believe that God can and does guide humans into a real and objective truth.
3. I think that part of discovering this truth and part of figuring out how to line oneself up with truth is by looking at Jesus.
4. Pray. pray. pray. ask for grace. pray. ask for mercy. pray. pray.

I loved Placher’s final remarks and I feel encouraged to read the rest of his book. Most of all, it meant a lot to hear the reality of God and a relationship between God and humankind from an intellectual.

favorite quotes from end of chapter:

“ The only way we can be connected with the utterly transcendent is if it/he/she reaches out to us in love, overcoming all the intervening levels in one act of condescension. That is what happens in Jesus Christ, and explaining the logic of how that can be led Christian theologians to the Trinity.”-p 40

“Great religious texts from many traditions keep the questions alive ...never comes to closure. Like Jacob at the Jabbok, we see God only in nights of wrestling with unknown strangers.... Nothing captured by the clear light of day. No marching forward. No answer, really, to the puzzling question of why we thought the stranger was God and felt compelled to worship. ...

Biblical texts tell us more.”-p 41

“It is different when God comes among us as an ordinary human being, in the form of a servant. Nothing tempts us to say that we now understand God, yet God has been present among us.”

-p 42

i luh you too cur line

fashion paradox

Last night my roommate and I were preparing to go to a private indie concert in a studio apartment in Wicker Park. SO trendy and hip, right? (maybe I shouldn’t go. wouldn’t want to be too ... ya know. who am i kidding? of course i’m going.) I got back from class in my BDG forest green V neck, Free People skinny jeans, and black ankle rise Converses. I thought I was ready to go. Then I thought again. I can’t wear a V neck and skinny jeans and Converses. “Why not? That’s what you wear.” says my boyfriend. Yes. yes. But it’s also what every twenty something who goes to an indie concert wears. I can’t just be another indie kid. “Then wear a dress.” Well I don’t want to stand out.
...What?

You see, I want to be edgy and cute and fit in. But I don’t just want to be another kid whose outfit was completely constructed for me by Urban Outfitters. I want to be different, but I don’t want to wear something that makes it obvious that I was thinking about trying to look different.

And this is the paradox of being a cute-enough young anthropology major making a decision about what to wear.

It’s all about the balance.

best friend

snowball Christianity

“...then quite possibly, we are getting a foretaste of the Christianity of the next generation. Or--as some worry--might it be less than a pure Christianity? Just how much have the newer churches done to fit in with the cultures in which they find themselves?”

Christianity was inculturated, absorbed, into Northwestern culture. As it is absorbed by Southern and Eastern Cultures, is it further from its origin? It’s hard to imagine what truth we could possibly have remnant of after 2,000 years. One idea: to study theologians of several cultures, and sort of “average” them out. Extract common themes, truths... revelations if you will. This reminded me of my Weber reading. The vetoed idea of “averaging” cultures in order to find some sort of object truth, or paradigm through which to see.

“...we must be able to establish the core idea from the incidentals.”

“Christianity as ‘infinitely translatable.’ Christianity became inculturated in different societies, and each in turn contributed to the larger package of Christian beliefs.”

I haven’t the first clue how to establish the “core idea from the incidentals.” Is this part of culture theory and anthropological studies? Is objectification to be sought after in order to discern truth from the culture it has been absorbed into? Is it possible to observe Christianity, faith, truth, outside of culture/practice? As fallen people in a fallen world how capable are we of experiencing, and being able to identify truth? It’s important that I ask all these questions with the common presupposition that truth exists in the form of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Why did Dr. Howell tell me that of all people I am not culturally determined? What could that mean? And what could possibly convince me of that? Even my thoughts on what could convince me of this are culturally determined. I want a logical book.

The Holy Spirit MUST play a larger role in the church than has been attributed to H.S.

I’ve been thinking so much about how nothing is original. Nothing is creative. Nothing is new. You know, Ecclesiastes. We determine culture and culture determines us. Popularity of music and style and academia ebbs and flows according to the environment each individual of a generation is exposed to. What are the independent variables here? Everything depends on everything, everything is cyclical.

Not God. God is original. God is creative. God is the only one who has been, and continually is, creative.

Am I a vessel of creativity? Does the Holy Spirit creatively reveal God to each generation?

-cultural/sociological deterministic ideas disallow room for God, Holy Spirit, creativity,

-consistent interaction between God and people is necessary if truth is allowed to persist in culture today.

What is condemning my understanding of Christ and his teachings?

I think answering this question and helping others to answer this question may be more important for speaking truth, rather than attempting the great task of deconstructing another’s entire worldview in order to replace it with a “Christian worldview.” Aren’t the condemnations and lies and paradigms that hinder me towards an understanding and closer relationship with God, similar to those of Indians? The example of Karma was brought up in my reading. Is it syncretism when an Indian feels freedom from the weight of karma through Christ? Or is it Christ’s truth breaking into their worldview? Isn’t it impossible to completely deconstruct worldview? One cannot lift every experience of an individual and start them from scratch in such a way that they might understand God, Christ, or “Christian worldview” perfectly.

Americans are syncretistic too. Just because we are unable to identify our flaws, does not mean we are perfect.

-quotes from Jenkins The Next Christendom

I am too alone

I am too alone in the world, and not alone enough

to make every minute holy.

I am too tiny in this world, and not tiny enough

just to lie before you like a thing,

shrewd and secretive.

I want my own will, and I want simply to be with my will,

as it goes towards action,

and in the silent, sometimes hardly moving times

when something is coming near,

I want to be with those who know secret things

or else alone.

I want to be a mirror for your whole body,

and I never want to be blind, or to be too old

to hold up your heavy and swaying picture.

I want to unfold.

I don't want to stay folded anywhere,

because where I am folded, there I am a lie.

And I want my grasp of things

true before you. I want to describe myself

like a painting that I looked at

closely for a long time,

like a saying that I finally understood,

like the pitcher I use every day,

like the face of my mother,

like a ship

that took me safely

through the wildest storm of all.

-Rainer Maria Rilke