On David Tracy’s Fragments, Chapter 5, “Metaphysics, Theology, and Mysticism” How do I write about our infinite God? Besides being only finite, my mind has an extra problem – I don’t like infinity. I remember learning that scientists found the universe wasn’t infinite. I realized then that I liked the world better that way. What’s to like about an infinite world, anyway. It’s not a place to feel at home in. As soon as I learned that the scientific world... Read more
An article by The Guardian’s liberal columnist George Monbiot could have been written by any of the last several popes. It explains why a movement to limit births had a change of heart. BirthStrike was founded by women who want the world to focus on impending environmental collapse. Their attention-getting strategy was to announce their intention not to have children. Next week the group will dissolve itself. Founders Jessica Johannesson and Blythe Pepino explain that they had “underestimated the power... Read more
On Tracy’s Fragments, Chapter 4, Christianity and Suffering Suffering looms large in Tracy’s recent thought, so it’s disappointing that the chapter on “Christianity and Suffering” is the shortest in the book. This chapter also demonstrates a quality almost inevitable in a collection of essays written at different times in an author’s career. It repeats themes found elsewhere in the book without expanding on them much. Central realities of suffering Tracy lists five “central realities,” things we need to say about... Read more
On David Tracy’s Fragments, Chapter Three Suffering and tragedy has been an important theme for David Tracy’s theology for a long time. It appears in many places in Fragments and in the titles of two chapters. The chapter presently under consideration intensifies the idea of suffering with the addition of “horror.” The Christian response waits for Chapter Four. In Chapter Three, “Responses to Horror and Suffering,” Tracy considers the human, pre- or extra-revelation responses to suffering and horror. He finds... Read more
Now everybody knows about Juneteenth because Trump, unwittingly, was about to desecrate that day of remembrance for Black people. That is, until he postponed his political rally by a day. June 19 is the day in 1865 that Black slaves in Texas finally heard about their “Emancipation.” (See this post.) It is not a day for a campaign rally by a president for whom Black lives don’t matter. Trump didn’t deliberately schedule his rally for Juneteenth. In fact, he says,... Read more
Part 4 on David Tracy’s Fragments: The Existential Situation of Our Time, Chapter Two Continued Modern Christians easily think of God as infinite – Infinite power, infinite love, limitless patient endurance. But it wasn’t always this way. Christianity grew from Jewish roots but quickly absorbed Greek ways of understanding their experience of God through Jesus. And for centuries before and after Jesus, Greek philosophers wanted nothing to do with the concept of infinity. But Tracy goes so far as to... Read more
Part 3 on David Tracy’s Fragments, Chapter Two I’m returning to David Tracy and his new publication Fragments: The Existential Situation of Our Time. Two earlier posts on Fragments are here and here. In Chapter Two Tracy takes up two topics that most people associate with divinity–the invisible and the infinite. Questions on Tracy’s mind include: Do these concepts make sense, or are they just empty words when we apply them to God? Do these concepts apply to anything else... Read more
The dangerous use of analogy over protest marches People often resort to the literary technique of analogy when arguing about emotional issues. In fact, it’s unavoidable. Pure logic simply won’t do for the matters that are closest to the heart, like God, beauty, morality, politics and what we ought to hope for. To my elementary school students I taught what I had learned in college classes, namely, that these are all matters of opinion. I had learned wrong and... Read more
An on-the-spot reporter for Twin Cities WCCO TV thinks the country will look at Minneapolis and find an example of how to both protest and uphold the law. One can hope so. Last night Minnesotans demonstrated that there’s a big difference between protesters and rioters. After days of violent confrontation, Saturday and Sunday saw peaceful civil disobedience and well-organized, measured responses by police and national guard. I’m still waiting for clarity on the issue of outsiders vs. Minnesotans. In my... Read more
Do you sympathize with owners of looted stores? I do … but not too much. Friends and relatives are disputing back and forth on Facebook about the now-alleged murder and subsequent riots in Minneapolis. They include a son and daughter-in-law who live a mile from the site of the police killing. Others live far from my home state of Minnesota. Some express sympathy for the rioters and, of course, George Floyd and his family. They recall many other incidents of... Read more
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