"The Lord knows our human thoughts; how like a puff of wind they are." (Psalm 94:11)
It seems to me that the most important factor in reading Kierkegaard is exactly how one does it. You can assume, as he himself demanded, that his pseudonyms are individual personae, writing from each one’s particular perspective and experience. Or, you can approach each book as a puzzle, sifting for meaning inside every perplexing sentence … Read more
In the last section, Ellul called out the fact that Christians know “how the story ends” – with the Kingdom of God. But they are still called to live fully in the world’s present reality, pointing their fellow human beings toward Christ, rather than to withdraw and wait for the end. So Christians must live … Read more
In last Sunday’s gospel reading, Jesus responded to a question about taxes with his famous remark to give to Caesar what is his, and to God what is his (Matthew 22). Often when I’ve heard this gospel preached (usually around pledge time, coincidentally), it’s been framed as Jesus being clever — threading a needle so … Read more
A friend of mine who has been following along with my blog posts about Ellul’s Presence in the Modern World asked if, based on the discussion of actions in this post, Ellul was dismissive of “the way words are also actions?” Here we come to the answer, which is no, he isn’t dismissive; in fact, … Read more
Let’s keep going with Chapter 1 of Ellul’s Presence in the Modern World, because by God, I want to finish it. In the last post – well, let’s see if I can summarize Ellul thus far (and please correct me where I’m wrong): Whew, ok. Does this mean that a Christian can do, willy-nilly, whatever … Read more
Returning to Chapter 1 of Ellul’s Presence in the Modern World. (Remember, I’m taking these notes as I go, section by section, so I reserve the right to realize later that I’m making incorrect assumptions and assertions! In other words, maybe I’m getting it wrong; feel free to tell me so.) In my last post, … Read more