Faith and modernity

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

Nonc Hilaire wrote:I'm losing the direction of your conversation here, but admit that Christianity is integral to my existence and will be be confounding at some point. Considering the subject, I pray that will enlighten rather than obfuscate.
Same here.

It is hard to explain faith. I have never been able to do so very well.

Works are an articulation of one’s spirit and can certainly be a flowering of faith, but faith, for me, is a state of being, not a notion, a belief, a set of actions, or an understanding. Faith is a direction, an orientation, a turning to be present to God, silent and totally exposed. It is facing what we really are, what we are really meant to be, not what think, want, or believe ourselves to be. This is a very difficult challenge in our current age. We are so preoccupied with our words, possessions, images, passions, and narratives that we become so completely surrounded by the lights and sounds of our own making that we are unable to hear the word of God or to be illuminated by His Light over the swirling dust and din we habitually live in. So, when the time comes when we stand before God with our contrived selves, God, in the spirit of Matthew 7, will know us not, since we have become so identified with our idolatrous images and noises that we have become only empty fabrications that must live in a darkness we have failed to notice.

I have been thinking a lot about Robin Williams lately, who hung himself earlier this week. No one can say what he was experiencing, but somehow I have a real sense that I have been there. At that moment in my life many years ago, there appeared to me to be only total darkness. There was no way out through my usual plans, ideas, experiences, beliefs, etc. My usual contrivances would be quickly crushed under that great blackness. Yet for some reason I don’t understand to this day, I received the grace to accept my complete powerlessness, the absolute, total nature of my radical contingency, dependency, and vulnerability. The presence of God in my life at that time was the harshest experience of my life, but I would not be here without it.

I usually don’t talk about this with people, but sometimes I need to write about it. The sense of anonymity helps. I don’t expect people to understand, but I have been feeling an increasing sense of urgency that life is very short and it is tragic to waste it on triviality. So much is at stake for all of us whether we know it or not.
User avatar
Parodite
Posts: 5643
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Parodite »

Maybe my problem is that I wrongly assume that people of faith must be in various trouble, struggling with all kinds of mental contradictions, on top of the struggle of bare boned life and that they need my help. Mea culpa. :oops:

What I usually try do do in these types of discussions is find alternatives.. adaptations, different ways to look at things, so that maybe da-faith is much less that undigestible concoction of dogmatic rocks and sauer kraut that I perceive it to be. Forgetting it may also be sweet honey for many and maybe even most religious people.

I understand people who struggle with their faith and with empathy, who loose their religion, searching ways to cope and continue without it... but can't say I understand the positive value it seems to have for those who still adhere to it and can speak of God without hesitation or doubt. I really don't, it feels like I'm color blind to that.
Deep down I'm very superficial
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

Parodite wrote:I understand people who struggle with their faith and with empathy, who loose their religion, searching ways to cope and continue without it... but can't say I understand the positive value it seems to have for those who still adhere to it and can speak of God without hesitation or doubt. I really don't, it feels like I'm color blind to that.
Parodite, If I could speak of God without hesitation or doubt, I would not know God. The strength of my faith is derived from a grace that I was offered and chose to accept. It is not something I created or figured out for myself. It is not something I adhere to, it holds me.
User avatar
Parodite
Posts: 5643
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Parodite »

kmich wrote:
Parodite wrote:I understand people who struggle with their faith and with empathy, who loose their religion, searching ways to cope and continue without it... but can't say I understand the positive value it seems to have for those who still adhere to it and can speak of God without hesitation or doubt. I really don't, it feels like I'm color blind to that.
Parodite, If I could speak of God without hesitation or doubt, I would not know God. The strength of my faith is derived from a grace that I was offered and chose to accept. It is not something I created or figured out for myself. It is not something I adhere to, it holds me.
Ok. Maybe this has something to do with my inabilities?

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them."

- John 12:40
Deep down I'm very superficial
Simple Minded

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Simple Minded »

Marcus wrote:
Simple Minded wrote:Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend certainly thought so. They called it faith/love/trust/bonding.

The grizzlies called it a two course self-delivering lunch!

The importance of perspective. ;)

Apparently, even God believes in Darwin. :)


Some years before Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard met their unfortunate end, my wife and I watched a PBS/National Geographic special on TV about Treadwell's antics among the grizzlies of Katmai National Park.

When it was over, I turned to my wife and said, "There's a walking dead man."
My wife and I watched about ten minutes of the video made about Treadwell after his death.

The old expression "a stupid man dies a stupid death" instantly came to mind.
User avatar
Nonc Hilaire
Posts: 6168
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:28 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

Parodite wrote:
kmich wrote:
Parodite wrote:I understand people who struggle with their faith and with empathy, who loose their religion, searching ways to cope and continue without it... but can't say I understand the positive value it seems to have for those who still adhere to it and can speak of God without hesitation or doubt. I really don't, it feels like I'm color blind to that.
Parodite, If I could speak of God without hesitation or doubt, I would not know God. The strength of my faith is derived from a grace that I was offered and chose to accept. It is not something I created or figured out for myself. It is not something I adhere to, it holds me.
Ok. Maybe this has something to do with my inabilities?

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them."

- John 12:40
No. You are asking questions and seeking confirmation. That is not blind or hard-hearted. Continue to love others and you will surprised at what develops.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”

Teresa of Ávila
User avatar
Parodite
Posts: 5643
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Parodite »

Nonc Hilaire wrote:
Parodite wrote: Ok. Maybe this has something to do with my inabilities?

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them."

- John 12:40
No. You are asking questions and seeking confirmation. That is not blind or hard-hearted. Continue to love others and you will surprised at what develops.
Can´t beat that last suggestion. I think love is served sometimes by action against urges as in "I don´t feel like being nice or helping.. but do it anyways" which is almost like a rational choice. But also by negation of what love is not, identify what is in the way sometimes, many times.. most of the time. I have the impression that God died for people because he was being served on a daily basis.. as a dead corpse wrapped in dogma and speaking via ancient forms of poetry that may have helped people back then.. but have entirely lost meaning and credibility.

Had a discussion once with Ibrahim where I claimed that the Qu'ran is filled with hateful spooky texts about the nature and fate of the unbeliever. For the modern mind those text are exactly that: outpoorings of poetry you'd expect come out of the mind of somebody like Charles Manson. Which is how I also imagine the God of the Old Testament but also depicted in parts of the New Testament so no exclusiveness for the Qu'ran in capricious evil here.

I copy-pasted and highlighted Qu'ran text that I consider to compete with Charles Manson; the cruel sadistic destruction of your enemies, or the "otherners". A totally bi-polar us-versus-them hate-fest. But Ibrahim assured me that "all that those text are saying... is that the unbeliever has no future and will wither away in time...". Of course this can be watered down further to something so general and vague that even the cat will accept it: "Bad things have no place in our future; things will be OK, you'aaaall be fine, except those who are not."

You mentioned "blind faith" as an early stage in the development of religion and culture. Has the time come in your opinion to radically break away from endlessly digging up old texts in holy books trying to find the true and ultimate meaning and message? Should this now not be shelved as "merely"(no disrespect intended) interesting literature... Christian literature.. Islamic literature... other and much more literature.. all equally necessary and valuable steps on this journey..but that are now past us? To borrow a biblical phrase: don't look backwards lest though not changeth in dead pillar salt!

I see no future for religious cultures with eyes still looking backwards.. noses stuck in old texts.. waisting tons of times on preserving the status of expired holy books and other cherised holinesses.

Probably renewal, if any, comes from the modern day non-believers or even militant atheists standing alone long enough in full day light and full darkness at night. When life once again and from scratch asks that first and primordial question. When somebody just listenes to it, undistracted by noise. A new spirit, free of old answers. Maybe just a kid who looks into the starry skies for the first time.. and wonders.
Deep down I'm very superficial
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

Scriptures do not exist in some fixed, defined, given form. They frequently were developed as responses to the social, political, and existential challenges of times long ago, and they are selected and read through the centuries as those contexts keep changing. How scriptures are used can tell much about the character and problems of the times, both in historical and contemporary conditions.

Scriptural passages have many layers of implication, and how a person selects and interprets those reveals more about their hearts and minds than anything else. This is why it is best to remember that when people talk about scripture, they are really talking about themselves and what is important to them. This is as true for those who reject or vilify scriptural traditions as well as those who celebrate and honor them. Scriptural discussions require the art of careful, compassionate listening and discernment, not deciding who is right or wrong about what they supposedly mean or imply, whether good or bad. There is no “true and ultimate meaning” only the path of growth that defines our destiny through which the wisdom of scriptural traditions can provide critical touchstones.

While the Bible is an immeasurable treasure, we live in an age of spiritual renaissance. Spiritual wisdom from traditions throughout the world are readily available in prodigious quantity. Contemporary spiritual writings are constantly being generated in endless quantity with a range of quality. The major challenge is choosing what to study and how to work with it. This places substantial demands upon one’s capacity for discernment.

For me, taking significant time in silence and reflection is critical for me to be able to hear how my faith is guiding me. I cannot possibly use the signs of the greatest wisdom for my path if I am unclear as to really where I am to start. Keeping grounded in the Christian spiritual tradition as my home base has been critical for me in that effort. Nevertheless, spiritual traditions must be living traditions, living and growing now. I honor them by letting God continues his work of creation of growth and discovery within me. That is an endless, innovative process that I blessed with every day.
User avatar
Nonc Hilaire
Posts: 6168
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:28 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

You mentioned "blind faith" as an early stage in the development of religion and culture. Has the time come in your opinion to radically break away from endlessly digging up old texts in holy books trying to find the true and ultimate meaning and message?
Me genoito! New textual discoveries and improvements on translation are important, and new revelations keep popping up. We are not just finding new answers, but whole new questions.

The story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 is a good example. For centuries we had this idea that David whacked a big Philistine infantryman in the head with a rock. Seems implausible, so maybe it is a legend. Some biblical scholars even questioned the existence of an actual King David.

Now archeologists and historians have found and translated more descriptions of Phoenician/Philistine battles and we find out that the detailed description of Goliath's armor in 1 Samuel 17 is a remarkably accurate description of a Phoenician charioteer from this period. The veracity of the text now has solid extra-biblical support, and the narrative is much more believable with David trying to hit an unwieldy charioteer instead of foot soldier.

Scripture isn't just a bunch of old books. It is an open doorway to revelation, and an invitation to imagine some fascinating scenarios. One does need the right colleagues and teachers, though. Avoid the dull and uninspired.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”

Teresa of Ávila
User avatar
Parodite
Posts: 5643
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Parodite »

Being openminded, re-investigate old sources discovering more treasure... all fine of course. No need to throw away babies with the bathtub water. That is not really my suggestion. Just that there is more treasure to be found than produced by the three Abramic cultures, that there is no reason not to be a religious polygamist or even a spiritual anarchist.

I suppose that exploring the wider world we can only start from where we are born into and that this place never looses its motherly comfort and scent. For many people whoever it is like a uterus they are never able nor willing to leave. North of The Wall it is deadly cold and dangerous, full of mysterious evil.

kGcKOXk9Qbs
Deep down I'm very superficial
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

Parodite wrote:Being openminded, re-investigate old sources discovering more treasure... all fine of course. No need to throw away babies with the bathtub water. That is not really my suggestion. Just that there is more treasure to be found than produced by the three Abramic cultures, that there is no reason not to be a religious polygamist or even a spiritual anarchist.
Yes, Parodite, of course. There are vast spiritual riches in many traditions both secular and religious, East and West, and new wisdoms are being created all the time. I read outside my tradition regularly and these works, particularly those that have most challenged my settled understandings, have deeply enriched my Christian life.

I would only suggest that the necessity of discernment and direction may require the vessel of a tradition of some kind for grounding. Without that, I, at least, would likely go around the vast body of human insights skimming about the surface picking up spiritual morsels that appeal to me for a time before I got bored and moved onto the next. Sort of like spiritual wandering about in endless circles never seeing, witnessing, or learning anything fresh, new, and alive. Just an endless rehashing of my familiar understandings, appetites, dispositions, and affections...
Parodite wrote:I suppose that exploring the wider world we can only start from where we are born into and that this place never looses its motherly comfort and scent. For many people whoever it is like a uterus they are never able nor willing to leave. North of The Wall it is deadly cold and dangerous, full of mysterious evil.
Yes, although I probably would use the term mystery and avoid the term evil. We have to leave and wander; we have no choice in that, only in the direction we take. I have been in dark places where I was confused, disoriented, and afraid, realizing the impoverishment of my own love and understanding. Grace frequently does not offer happy comforts and palliatives. John of the Cross put it well: “Faith is a dark night for man, but in this very way it gives him light… Like a blind man he must lean on dark faith, accept it for his guide and light, and rest on nothing of what he understands, tastes, feels, or imagines...”
User avatar
Nonc Hilaire
Posts: 6168
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:28 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

that there is no reason not to be a religious polygamist or even a spiritual anarchist.
Yes sorta kinda but mostly no. Many religious people explore other religions. Thomas Merton was quoted earlier and he was a Trappist monk who invested a great deal of time studying Zen. His reflections on this are profound. I have personally found that investigating other religions has made me a better Christian but there are real limits.

One common thread in the major religions is that spiritual consciousness is always ready and available. It is not a quest for something beyond the North Wall. It is personal practice to attain a level of clarity which permits spiritual reality to be percieved.

Even though most religions share this macro goal, but on the micro level the individual practices differ greatly. Advocating religious polygamy is like recommending a musician try to learn every instrument in the orchestra. Plus the accordions.

Ain't nobody got time for that. At some point, and relative soon, the prospective musician needs to settle down with a single instrument and practice. That is the only way to get an instrument to integrate with the personal will.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”

Teresa of Ávila
User avatar
Marcus
Posts: 2409
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:23 pm
Location: Alaska

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Marcus »

Nonc Hilaire wrote:. . At some point, and relative soon, the prospective musician needs to settle down with a single instrument and practice. That is the only way to get an instrument to integrate with the personal will.
“An open mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth. Mouths and minds were made to shut; they were made to open only in order to shut.”

“The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”

—G K. Chesterton
“For such is the noble nature of man, that his heart will never wholly lose itself in one single passion or idol, or, as people call it apologetically, one idea. On it goes from one devotion to the next, not because it is ashamed of its first love, but because it must be on fire perpetually. To fall for Reason, as our grandfathers did, is but one Fall of Man among his many passionate attempts to find the apples of knowledge and eternal life, both in one.

"When a nation, or individual, declines the experiences that present themselves to passionate hearts only, they are automatically turned out from the realm of history. The heart of man either falls in love with somebody or something, or it falls ill. It can never go unoccupied. And the great question for mankind Is what is to be loved or hated next, whenever an old love or fear has lost its hold.”

—Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, from Out Of Revolution
Book recommendation for you, Nonc:
fruit-of-lips-130.gif
fruit-of-lips-130.gif (21.68 KiB) Viewed 1399 times
To Rosenstock-Huessy, Christianity is not a religion and Jesus was not a religious figure. Instead, in its fullest sense, Christianity should be recognized as an historical process in which man’s history before Jesus plays as critical a role as his history in the Christian era. Jesus stands at the center of this history, not at its beginning. . .

This book is neither a commentary on the Gospels nor an analysis of their contents. It seeks instead to lay "the foundation for a history of the human spirit." It shows that the four Gospels together form a whole; its fourfold-ness having profound meaning. Each evangelist, starting with Matthew, addresses his own audience among the pre-Christian social orders: tribes, empires, the Greeks, and the Jews. Writing did not come easily to such men in their time, and in the process of writing, they themselves were changed: the next one starting where the former left off from Matthew to John.
"The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson's time."
--- Richard Nixon
******************
"I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels."
—John Calvin
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

I will only add that perhaps the challenge of faith in the modern era is not whether to be open or closed minded. The challenge really is whether we can shut up long enough to actually listen to what God is saying to us. We have become very skilled at our assorted narratives. So-called “open minded” people can prattle on endlessly about the assorted spiritual commodities they have been sampling lately, and so-called “closed minded” people can tirelessly recite the same, self-satisfied formulas for their versions of happiness, salvation, etc.

For me, the process of repentance to support an open mind and heart before God is central to my spiritual life. It is not up to me to set conditions as to how, when, and why God is supposed to speak to me. I only have to gently move myself out of the way so I can actually hear what He is trying to tell me and see what He is trying to show me. He is full of surprises.

It is not that my various narratives, religious or otherwise, are necessarily false or unreal, It is just that they need to be in their proper place at the side of me and not square in front of me. The sacred needs to rest very lightly in my hand. It is not mine to grasp.
User avatar
Heracleum Persicum
Posts: 11571
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:38 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Heracleum Persicum »

kmich wrote:.

The challenge really is whether we can shut up long enough to actually listen to what God is saying to us.

.

With all due respect, kmich, you guys no communicating with G_D, rather the DEVIL whispering into your ears :lol:

kmich wrote:.

We have become very skilled at our assorted narratives.
.


seconded, very much so :)


.
User avatar
Marcus
Posts: 2409
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:23 pm
Location: Alaska

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Marcus »

Heracleum Persicum wrote:With all due respect, kmich, you guys no communicating with G_D, rather the DEVIL whispering into your ears . . :lol:
With all due respect, speak for yourself, ALI . . . ;)
"The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson's time."
--- Richard Nixon
******************
"I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels."
—John Calvin
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

Heracleum Persicum wrote:With all due respect, kmich, you guys no communicating with G_D, rather the DEVIL whispering into your ears
Maybe so. This is one of my all time favorite songs:

AsWR0CTWazQ
User avatar
Parodite
Posts: 5643
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Parodite »

Gents, thanks for sharing. Good clarifications. Not sure if for me its food for more thought or an invitation to silence and listening. Maybe its just a writers block. :P
Deep down I'm very superficial
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

Performance of Ivan's parable "The Grand Inquisitor" from the Dostoyevsky novel The Brothers Karamazov. What is the nature of salvation? What do we really want?

om6HcUUa8DI
User avatar
Marcus
Posts: 2409
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:23 pm
Location: Alaska

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Marcus »

kmich wrote:. . What do we really want?

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." —St. Augustine
"The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson's time."
--- Richard Nixon
******************
"I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels."
—John Calvin
User avatar
Parodite
Posts: 5643
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:43 pm

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Parodite »

wsbH_ljJ1fY
Deep down I'm very superficial
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

OsFEV35tWsg
User avatar
Torchwood
Posts: 496
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 12:01 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Torchwood »

It would be nice to have an imaginary friend, like I did when I was little. It might even help, especially with that wayward weakling, the Will.

I thought some years ago that I would give this Kierkegaardian thing a go, on the just-assume-and-see-what-happens basis. "Jesus in my heart" wasn't going to work, too many saccharine images from childhood, none of which looked remotely Jewish. A better bet was a guardian angel, whom I saw as a tough but compassionate busty blonde called Anima. Problem was, I already had a God, as demanding and capricious as YHWH, called " the most reasonable scenario on the basis of present evidence FAPP (for all practical purposes)". That is as long a name as an 18C aristocratic von und zu, so I call Him "the Truth" for short, until such time as the good ship Induction arrives in Australia and shows that not all swans are white.

He tells me that it seems more than likely that a stroke of (probably unconscious) marketing genius by Paul of Tarsus, stuck between two cultures, converted a wandering Rabbi, most of whose message was not original, into a dying and reborn Graeco-Roman god. I counter by saying that, yes, but Jesus fulfilled an archetype, and these may be real and work on the psyche. Yes, He answers, but there are innumerable fits to that Archetype, many of which will repel you, so which to choose - and you do know that this is a mental construct, don't you?

Damned literalism, as bad as the fundie Bible/Koran thumpers, but then the latter are very modern as well. Perhaps I could try to think like a classical Chinese or Indian, or a quantum physicist, and believe in several contradictory ideas at once, but no, stuck in that dysfunctional Western culture...

Now I learn that even if you work at it, nothing may happen, you have to wait for something called "grace". So on with everyday life...
User avatar
kmich
Posts: 1087
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:46 am

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by kmich »

I had to have my intellectual, emotional, and spiritual decks completely cleared before I was given the opportunity to accept or reject the faith that was inviting me. The invitation didn’t appear to me because I wanted it to. It happened because my world, my understandings of who I was and my place in creation, was collapsing around me in a sea of booze and the consequences of my bad behavior. Dark time.

It probably doesn’t have to happen that way; it just worked out that way for me. I really wouldn't wish that on anyone else. I believe though that, one way or the other, the decks have to be cleared and the heart and the mind have to be open in a radical vulnerability for us to have the space to receive grace.

Since then, I was able to build back some understandings I express from time to time, mostly derived from what I have learned from experience combined with my readings and reflections, but I also learned that I need to hold those very lightly. The space in my mind and heart has to stay open, and my words will be stripped away from me in time also. As the Preacher said, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.

May grace accompany you on your own journey, Torchwood, wherever that takes you...
User avatar
Marcus
Posts: 2409
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:23 pm
Location: Alaska

Re: Faith and modernity

Post by Marcus »

" . . However, this little book is meant for everyone, including you, dear Sir. Yet we can hardly expect you to condescend to such an inclusion. On the contrary, your strongest confidence and self-assurance comes from the certainty that no one will dare to think of you when the simple word 'everyone' is utttered."

—Franz Rosenzweig, from the preface to Understanding the Sick and the Healthy

If the shoe fits . . . ;)
"The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson's time."
--- Richard Nixon
******************
"I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels."
—John Calvin
Post Reply