Wes Hargrove // a place where art, theology, and philosophy collide.
God is not weak
God is not powerful
God is not transcendent
God is not present
God is not ignorant
God is not caring
God is not hate
God is not love
God is not a lie
God is not truth
God is not unfair
God is not just
God is not reckless
God is not in control
God is not nothing
God is not real
"We can understand religions as always-contested and ever-changing maps that orient devotees as they move spatially and temporally. Religions are partial, tentative, and continually redrawn sketches of where we are, where we've been, and where we're going."
Thomas Tweed, Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion.
My good friend Jeremy Ridenour just started a blog: http://jridenour.wordpress.com. He just (7 months ago) graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Psychology and is moving on to grad school to pursue a doctorate in Psychology.
Anyways, He's another voice that has influenced me and continual pushes me to read more and to think seriously about theology and what it means (to myself, to others, and to the church). What he will write (as you can see in his 'Charting the Future Course') will undoubtedly be of great importance to theology and philosophy.
Something has not yet arrived, neither at Christianity nor by means of Christianity. What has not yet arrived at or happened to Christianity is Christianity. Christianity has not yet come to Christianity.
Jacques Derrida, The Gift of Death
If you want a good picture of postmodernism, then think of the five year old who disrupts the best laid plans of the family or the teenager who begins to question a parent's faith. That is why the postmodern moment is so terrifying to us. It is a reminder that we are out of control, and a place where we are invited to trust a God who is beyond our comprehension.
Don Hudson
So, you see, I am a very conservative person. I love institutions and I spent a lot of time participating in new institutions, which sometimes do not work. At the same time, I try to dismantle not institutions but some structures in given institutions which are too rigid or are dogmatic or which work as an obstacle to future research.
Jacques Derrida, Villanova Roundtable Discussion
My studies have led me back to Peter Rollin's Fidelity of Betrayal. I read it in December for the first time, but I ran across this just now...
Christianity is not brain surgery or rocket science, it is not quantum mechanics or nuclear physics; it is both infinitely easier and more difficult than all of these. The fragile flame of faith is fanned into life so simply: all we need do is sit still for a few moments, embrace the silence that engulfs us, and invite that flame to burn bright within us. This act is simplicity itself, and, just perhaps, after a lifetime of hardship and struggle, a few of us will achieve it and be set alight by it.
I was struck by this the first time I read it, and I experienced a second naïveté with it just now (coincidence, to those who are familiar with the topic of Fidelity of Betrayal). I resonate deeply with the notion of infinite difficulty and ease. You can also read Peter Rollin's blog here. I definitely recommend it.
Wes
