In my post on Inexhaustible Profundity I asked whether the Bible, like nature, “is so infused with mysteries that we could never explore it completely.” I believe that it is, but for the sake of this series of posts I’m going to assume that assertion without defending it. My next question then is, “How do we make progress in understanding the mysteries of the revelation of God in scripture?” And I’m going to explore as a point of departure Michael Polanyi’s discussion of what he calls “The Republic of Science” to see whether he offers us some helpful direction. I expect this to take several posts, but I also suspect that I will never get to them. But perhaps I’ll sow some seeds for reflection…. (more…)
In July I read Theodore Dalrymple’s Our Culture, What’s Left of It, and recommended it highly. I’ve just finished his latest, In Praise of Prejudice: The Necessity of Preconceived Ideas, and encourage you with even more vigor to read it. Dalrymple takes apart the prevailing idea that any sort of prejudice is bad, and that, if we want to be authentic human beings, we much each choose every idea based on our own examination of it, and accept nothing at all on authority. He demonstrates the obvious absurdity of the notion, shows its clear roots in J. S. Mill’s essay On Liberty, and illustrates again and again the mess that this sort of thinking gets us into.
In a few chapters he shows how the doctrine of the absolute autonomy and sovereignty of the human will has shaped (or rather distorted) our notions of rearing children and education, and how that has led not to the anticipated liberation of the human soul, but has led to a new and destructive bondage: (more…)
A friend asked me to review Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved when I finished reading it. I’m done, and here are my thoughts.
Nouwen wrote this book in response to his friend Fred’s request for something about the spiritual life, but addressed to secular people like Fred and his friends. So Nouwen set out to write a book that wasn’t couched in the language and symbols familiar to religious people with a church or synagogue context to their lives, yet still a book that touched the central yearnings of the human heart. I wanted to read it precisely because of its goal – because I’d like to learn how to do the same (if it is possible).
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The phrase “blessed to be a blessing” caught my attention earlier this year, and I was happy to see it pop up as a major emphasis in a chapter of Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved. As you read this tiny excerpt, think about how you might bless one person today. Be specific – get down to the concrete actions you would take, or the words you would say. Then, if you get the chance, go bless them.
The blessed one always blesses. And people want to be blessed! This is so apparent wherever you go. No one is brought to life through curses, gossip, accusations, or blaming. There is so much of that taking place around us all the time. And it calls forth only darkness, destruction and death. As the “blessed ones,” we can walk through this world and offer blessings. It doesn’t require much effort.
Hmmm… What do you think? Is it really so easy? How do you bless others?
Another quotation from Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved that makes me squirm:
Our brokenness is often so frightening to face because we live it under the curse. Living our brokenness under the curse means that we experience our pain as a confirmation of our negative feelings about ourselves. It is like saying, “I always suspected that I was useless or worthless, and now I am sure of it because of what is happening to me.” (more…)
Some dear old friends sent me a book: Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved. I’ve only just begun it, so I won’t declare my approval or disapproval any more than simply to report this searching passage, and ask whether you recognize yourself here or not:
Beneath all my seemingly strong self-confidence there remained the question: “If all those who shower me with so much attention could see me and know me in my innermost self, would they still love me?” That agonizing question, rooted in my inner shadow, kept persecuting me and made me run away from the very place where that quiet voice calling me the Beloved could be heard. (more…)
We Lundgaards took a short vacation from Slovakia to return to the Czech Republic for another warm reunion with our friends from an English Camp that Paula and I worked at in 2005 and 2006. We like to live “on the edge,” so Paula put herself in harm’s way by standing beneath the warning sign to the right. In order to understand the danger, you will have to either learn Czech, or interpret it from the context….
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