What "texts" besides scripture are people reading/eating where you live and work? What "texts" besides scripture are shaping their lives and getting lived out in the day-to-day. Perhaps all of these "texts" are examples of the sovereign self/personal experience, but exactly what are the "texts" themselves?
For example, here are some of the things I hear people say a lot, and they usually say them as though they have an a priori authority of some kind: It is what it is. Everything happens for a reason. This [particular situation] will work out the way it's supposed to. Where is this kind of stuff coming from? Does it come from scripture or from other "texts"? If such statements don't come from scripture -- or, perhaps are mixing a little scripture with a little something else -- what other specific "texts" are people drawing on? Who and what is authoritative for them besides, or instead of, scripture?
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Eugene says on page 17, " I want to confront and expose this replacement of the authoritative Bible with the authoritative self." Once we flesh out a little what kinds of replacing we actually see in ourselves and others, and hear from ourselves and others, I'd like to talk about what it might mean for us to "confront and expose this replacement of the authoritative Bible with the authoritative self." How is such replacement work a part of our various metaphors for pastoral ministry, and how do we/ought we to go about it?
1 comment:
I was laughing at your texts "It is what it is" and "everything happens for a reason." There's a guy in my Sunday school class whose life mantra is "it is what it is." He says it every week. I also cannot count the number of times since my miscarriage that someone has offered some version of "everything happens for a reason" or "it's God's will." The good thing about these texts is they do drive me to The Text. Is it really God's will or the result of our broken universe? Does everything happen for a reason or is God able to redeem everything to make it work for good? When people say these things, it does make me hunger to know what God is saying and examine what trite little things I'm allowing myself to live by.
I think another text people live by is related somehow to "if I have faith, I should be happy" or "if I have faith, I'll have it all together." I just see how much we struggle as a community to be authentic, and I think it's because we're living by this false assumption rather than by the Bible which is full of sharing in the suffering, mourning, tears, faithful people who make huge mistakes, etc.
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