The phrase “art of living” can have an aestheticist ring to it. Life becomes a “work of art,” a self-conscious dramatization. Someone concerned about the “art of living” may well forget to be concerned with living itself. Of course, self-forgetfulness is part of the art, but that’s another story. In short, “art of living” can seem Cartesian; the self stands outside his projects and relations to make sure it all works, putting a little fleck of paint here, knocking off... Read more
Jesus predicted the rise of postmodernism. In Luke 21:27, He says that after the tribulation there will be “distress of nations, with APORIA.” Derrida didn’t catch Jesus by surprise. Nossir. But this does put dispensational premils at a disadvantage, since it implies that Derrida’s parousia (or, better, non-parousia) is a sign that the tribulation has already happened. Read more
Sacra doctrina, for Aquinas, involves the stripping of idols. So says Fergus Kerr: “Step by step, once we learn to read the text in this way, one idolatrous temptation after another is stripped away. The apophatic theology is designed to liberate us of the pictures of God that only too easily keep us captive. To break the grip of these idolatrous conceptions is of course much more than a merely academic achievement, as if we could now answer examination questions... Read more
Denys Turner considers tradition and faith in the January 2004 issue of the IJST , but the more obvious subject is Derrida and the tradition of negative theology, particularly as expressed in Pseudo-Denys (no relation) and Eckhart. Turner deftly disposes of Derrida’s dictum that ” tout autre est tout autre “or “every other is wholly other” in this way: It “could perhaps mean that ever case of otherness ?Eof ‘this’ rather than ‘that’ ?Eis a case of complete otherness, so... Read more
Robert Jenson continues his series of essays on Christ as Culture in the January 2004 issue of IJST , arguing that “Christ is Art.” Here are a few of the highlights: 1) Jenson defines art as experimentation with possible worlds. One of his examples is Mondrian: “Mondrian and his allies, who invented truly ‘abstract’ painting, did so by inspiration of and in support of a formulated theology: they were theosophists ?EMondrian was a formal member of the society. He espoused... Read more
J. M. Coetzee, the South African novelist who won the Nobel Prize for literature last year, offers an intriguing exchange concerning the classics and faith in his novel, Elizabeth Costello (I can’t read that without thinking “Elvis.”) Costello is a highly successful novelist now in her sixties who hits the lecture circuit and pontificates on various topics. The novel is largely a collection of the pontifications and the hubbub they cause with Costello’s family and colleagues. At one point, Elizabeth’s... Read more
It would seem that non-Trinitarian ontologies cannot secure a notion of beauty, and this seems to be the case because of the tragic ontologies that dominate non-Christian thought. 1) Beauty is fittingness, a matter of harmonics. Thus, beauty requires that there be plurality. Need at least two for things to “fit” and “be fitting.” 2) Non-Christian ontologies either see difference as a contamination of an original unity (Derrida’s Plato), and hence ugly; or see difference as violent and irresolvable, in... Read more
Thursday was Ascension Day. It is celebrated to mark Jesus’ ascent to heaven that occurred forty days after His death and resurrection at the time of Passover. Though Ascension Day is rarely emphasized in the church calendar, it is essential to the whole of Jesus?Elife and ministry and to the work and worship of the church. Let me expand each of these points. First, the ascension is the climax of Jesus?Elife and ministry. If we look at Jesus?Eministry as the... Read more
In his remarkable book, Ascension and Ecclesia , Douglas Farrow points to the common modern conflation of resurrection with ascension, and points to some of the theological consequences of this conflation: “First of all, it puts in jeopardy the continuity between our present world and the higher places of the new order established by God in Christ. For in that conflation the ascension, insofar as it can still be distinguished from the resurrection, is regarded as an event with no... Read more
The ascension is one of the key issues in historical discussions about the Lord?s Supper. The question posed by many has been: How can Jesus, who has ascended into heaven, still be with us at this table, and feed us His flesh and blood? Many answers have been given, some of which I believe are highly misleading. Calvin?s answer, and I believe the answer of the NT, is that the Spirit provides the connection between Jesus exalted into heaven and... Read more
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