Preface and Introduction: "The Cross, the Self, and the Other"
thoughts by Tony Jones
The concept of "Otherness" is quite possibly the biggest philosophical/theological problematic of our day. As the great promise of Enlightment was gassed in the Holocaust, philosophers and theologians first tried to describe what went wrong, and have since tried to press forward into new, uncharted waters. Volf's doctoral advisor and theological mentor, JΓΌrgen Moltmann, has written that he is attempting a "theology after Auschwitz." We -- as humans and as Christians -- have an abysmal track record at dealing with Otherness.
Some interesting themes emerge in MV's introduction. First of all, his is no ethereal theology, conceived in the safe and sterile confines of a seminary office. As I'll share when we meet in February, I had the terrifying honor of visiting MV in Osijek, Croatia in the Fall of 1993. Amid building pock-marked with bullet holes, U.N. troops patrolling the streets, and a Serbs surrounding us on three sides, he was teaching Eastern European seminarians and beginning to work on this book. Exclusion and Embrace is truly grounded theology, grounded in MV's own real-life experience of both exclusion and embrace.
Secondly, I think it interesting that he distances himself from social analysis, opting instead to focus theologically on human agency. This is a significant choice, since so much of postmodern social theory is structuralist and post-structuralist, denying that humans really have any agency; instead, they propose that we are trapped in systems that unconsciously control us. This seems like an idea that a Christian theologian would want to reject, but it will be interesting to see how MV navigates the realities of human agency and the issues of systemic sin which so clearly lead to much exclusion.
Finally, MV sends us several signals that he is equally wary of modern and postmodern sensibilities. We'll have to watch closely for the "third way" that he proposes between these.
Well, there's lots more to talk about in the intro, so drop a comment below with your thoughts!
posted by tony @ 12:26 PM
1 Comments:
I suspet that Tony is spot on when he says that it is interesting that Volf moves away from social analysis and towards human agency. The most challenging part of the introduction still decenters me every time I read it:
"the will to give ourselves to others and 'welcome' them, to readjust our identities to make space for them, is prior to any judgement about others, except that of identifying them in their humanity. The will to embrace precedes any 'truth' about others and any construction of their 'justice.' This will is absolutely indiscriminate and strictly immutable; it transcends the moral mapping of the social world into 'good' and evil.'"
The power of this book as framed by the introduction is not that it has the thing we need to change/redeem/transform/evangelize/what-ever-else the world but that it calls us to a radical change. And I love the way that Volf assumes diversity. The goal for Volf is not uniformity. The danger for us is that we will move too quickly past our own need to "will to embrace" prior to defining "truth" and "justice" or any such thing.
Volf seems to be opening the door to a thought that puts sharp teeth to our "incarnational," "missional," rhetoric. We cannot hope of "justice," or fulfill our roles as ambassadors of reconciliation until we possess the will to embrace.
I am anxious to participate in this discussion because I struggle in deep places in my soul and numerous relationships in the context of my life to "will to embrace" the other.
Just my two cents...
James
Post a Comment
<< Home