One of the things I’ve never understood is the belief that I should follow, without question, what common sense tells me to do or to believe. What exactly is common sense that it has such a claim upon me?
Common sense is an ambiguous term. It means different things to different people in different contexts. It is generally based upon a socialized hermeneutic which a culture has imparted upon its people, so that they engage the world with the same postulates about the world, and end up coming to the same conclusions. In this way, common sense is not value neutral, but rather, is aimed at reproducing the mores of a given society so that it will be passed on to the next generation. Claiming we should follow its dictates, because its beliefs are held in common by most people, is a nice way to mask how those dictates were established so that we do not question whether or not they are valid.
Since cultures are human, with human failings, common sense works to justify those failings. Thus, common sense in the American situation tells us that promiscuity is fine. Social norms are used to justify this: we are called to a life of liberty to pursue those goods which make us happy. For many, that is a life in pursuit of sex. If someone questions this, they are asked why they are so un-American. Common sense is, for the American, based upon the hermeneutic of individualistic freedom, and anything which would limit an individual’s freedom is to be rejected. Of course, for the Christian, such common sense must be rejected. Christ came to teach us the way of the cross, the dying of the self, the exact opposite of our common American values.
It is not, however, just in America where common sense is to be rejected. All societies, where they fail to meet justice, socialize so as to justify their injustice. All societies will have their forms of common sense which will run counter to the cross. In this way, Christianity will always appear as foolishness to those who judge things by the dictates of common sense. The cross, which is seen as foolishness to the world, is my hermeneutic to the world. Cool me foolish, if you wish. I would be blessed if I were Christ’s fool, because “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise” (1 Cor 1:27 RSV). But don’t try to justify yourself based upon some notion of “common sense” — if you do, you just are asking me to deconstruct that common sense to see the unjust political reality behind it.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In