I continue to work through Peter Rollins‘ theological proposals for the final paper of the Fitch/Holsclaw course about which I have written. The following quote connected with a conversation I had with Chris Seay this past weekend,
The difference between the idea that our Christian traditions describe God and the view they are worshipful responses to God is important to grasp, for while the former seeks to define, the latter is engaged with response. (Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God, p.21)
Chris has spent the past couple of years working on The Voice Project. He is excited the New Testament part of the project will be coming out soon. Questions about his view of the Scripture in many ways center around the very matter Rollins works through. You can listen to Chris describe his understanding of the Scriptures here.
What most of us must acknowledge is that we are far from being able to consider matters in something akin to an antiseptically clean environment. Claims of pristine objectivity cannot stand up today. To claim so buys the fallacy of modern science which purports unbiased objectivity. And, further ties our conversation to the language game of science. We all know should know assertions to that kind of objectivity are no longer acceptable. Global warming debates anyone? I recently read a friend’s research. A number of responses were given. Each response varied based on the perspective of the respondent.
God is not “object” to be defined. The Triune God is “subject” to be engaged and known. The Apostle Paul seems to communicate as much in Phil. 3. That somewhat famous place where Paul catalogs his would-be qualifications only to arrive at the desire to know God, and not in an encyclopedic, systematic sense. Instead, his desire is to know him in the experience of the power of the resurrection, sharing in his suffering and being like him in his death. These are not intellectual intimations, these describe an eagerness of transformation – being like.
Sometimes we worship out interpretations when we need to offer worshipful, life-transformed-by, responses.
