But Christendom has abolished Christianity – on the other hand, it would like to inherit Him and His great name, to gain advantage from the immense consequences of his life, coming pretty close to appropriating these consequences as its own meritorious achievement and making us believe that Christendom is Christ. Every generation has to begin all over again with Christ and thus to present His life as the paradigm; but instead of this, Christendom has taken the liberty of interpreting the whole relationship simply historically, beginning by letting Him be dead – and then it triumphs! Since that time Christendom has been increasing in numbers year by year – and what wonder; for people are only too eager to take part when there is nothing whatever to do but to triumph and to join the parade. And therefore to be a Christian in Christendom is as different from being a Christian in the situation of contemporaneousness as paganism is from Christianity.
Training in Christianity, 109
Category: Personal
book and coffee
What’s a simple pleasure in life that brings you joy?
TBH, I am not sure that anything gives me joy. But I enjoy a good book and a nice coffee. And, maybe some music. Again, I am not sure that is simple.
dude
If you could erase one movie from your memory and watch it again for the first time, which one would it be?
The Dude, The Big Lebowski. So funny and absurd. And an absolute style icon.
The nihilists!!!
what goes first
or why order matters.
Faith is the highest passion in a human being. There are perhaps many in every generation who do not even come to it, but nobody goes further. Whether there are also many in our age who do not discover it, I do not decide; I dare only refer to myself, who does not conceal that it may not happen for a long time to come for him, yet without his therefore wishing to deceive himself or the great by making it into a trifling matter, into a childhood malady one must wish to get over as soon as possible. But life has tasks enough also for the one who does not one day come to faith, and if he honestly loves them, then his life will not be wasted, even if it never becomes like those who were sensible of and grasped the highest. But the one who has come to faith (whether he is extraordinarily gifted or simple-minded does not matter) does not come to a standstill in faith. Indeed, he would be shocked if someone said this to him, just as the lover would feel indignant if one said he had come to a standstill in love, for he would answer, “I am not standing still at all since I have my life in it.” Yet he gets no further, nor to something else, for if he discovers the latter, then he has another explanation.
Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy), 108-109
oodie
What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?
I am wearing a red oodie that I got years ago. It makes me look a little like Father Christmas. Someone has described it as “very medieval”. Not sure about either.
“I am”
Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
John 18:4-6 KJV
Further to Truth and Jesus …
Thought 3: The reaction (fell to the ground) is unexpected. Why? When Jesus says “I am”, He connects Himself to revelation of the Divine Name (Exodus 3:15). He is the Divine Truth revealed to Moses in the burning bush. He is Truth Incarnate.
Thought 4:
Ascetical theology makes the bold and exciting assumption that every truth flowing from the Incarnation, from the entrance of God into the human world as man, must have its practical lesson. If theology is incarnational, then it must be pastoral.
English Spirituality, 21
Truth and Jesus
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6 (KJV)
I am not much of a theologian (says the fool all proud!) but these are some random thoughts on the verse above.
Thought 1: Jesus does not say, “I am going to give you the truth”. He says, “I am the truth”. It is not a truth about Jesus but Jesus Himself. Jesus does not provide a system of thought, a way of living, or a way of locating truth – He says, “I am the truth”. In Buber’s terms, truth is not an it (facts and inference) but a You (a relationship). There is no “truth” beyond Jesus.
Thought 2: Jesus does not say, “Wherever you think you find truth, there am I.” Yes, there is truth apart from Jesus. Yet finding truth and finding Jesus are not the same thing. Jesus is a person and so truth is personal. Jesus says, “I am the truth”. There is no “truth” beyond Jesus.
I am going to add to this via other posts, methinks.
I am me
Are you a leader or a follower?
Like to think of myself as a follower (of Jesus). In reality I am just me.
east of what?
What’s a classic book that you think is overrated?
So a book I think is overrated? Let me make sure, I could not get into this book no matter how hard I tried. Well, only one: East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Online claims are that it is the “perfect book” (and I agree that it has merits) but I could not get through it. It simply did not connect with me.
Maybe I should try it again?
der garstige breite Graben
Who are some underrated people in history?
I will not say Jesus because he is a person of faith, for me, more than a person of history. But …
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) and his ditch (der garstige breite Graben) is highly underrated. Good insight into epistemology! And into faith. Only Kierkegaard, methinks, gives an answer.
In religion, St Mary of Egypt – penitence without the institution.
And maybe me!?
