"The idea of the "word of God" becomes pale and anemic when reduced to the idea of a factual description of historical events... the Word of God can be described as that dark core around which the words of the text find their orbit, the unspeakable Source within the text that cannot be reduced to the words themselves but that breathes life into them."
So then, if we were to imagine someone rewriting the text in such a way that all the tensions and conflicts were exiled, if we were to do the impossible and render the text into the ultimate fantasy of the fundamentalist (a text at one with itself), then the Word of God would not be clearer; rather the Word of God would have been systematically eradicated. This attempt to systematize the text would be nothing less than a form of exorcism in which the Word of God is cast out--removing the spirit until we are left with nothing but the letter of the law."
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
the reduction of God
Pete Rollins, The Fidelity of Betrayal:
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4 comments:
Thanks, now I have another book I have to read. I was feeling really good that I didn't have a reading list. Oh well.
you're welcome Chad!
I am reminded of much in Merton and earlier contemplatives about the "dark light" and "dark nimbus" of God. Ultimate light so pure we can't or don't or won't even see it as light, because we can't comprehend it all.
Jim
Yes, Rollins writes about the Bible as, rather than telling us what we know about God, showing us what we don't know. Similar themes. I don't try to paraphrase many of Rollin's thoughts because I don't want to mangle them.
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