So, while I'm going to leave the specifics of this whole Oprah/Tolle thing behind, I want to deal with this idea of synkretism. As I said last week, we are now seeing within the Western world a generation rising that does not have a "Christian/Western" worldview as it's default perspective. People that we would normally think of as relatively intelligent, thoughtful people are adopting strange views of the world that, a few generations ago, we all would have scoffed at. Not only that, but they are starting to merge together seemingly incompatible modes of thought without even batting an eye. How does this happen?
Up until the last half century or so the "Modern" worldview (coming out of the Enlightenment) was the default in the Western world. This means that logic and reason are supreme. To believe anything requires definitive proof; either a flawless philosophical argument or undeniable empirical evidence. Thus, religion is ushered off to the sidelines of society while science takes it's "rightful" place at the head.
Contrast this with the Eastern Pantheism that is beginning to emerge: mystery is supreme. Life is not to be understood (that is impossible) but experienced. One cannot know the unknowable... but to experience the unknowable... now that's something!
Of course, these are ridiculously brief generalizations but I hope you get the gist of what I'm talking about. The difficult thing is that both of these perspectives have little bits of Truth in them yet are both incomplete. In his book, The Universe Next Door, James W. Sire argues that the only complete wordview in existence is Christianity (Christian Theism). In Christianity we see reason and mystery working in tandem.
We cannot say reason is supreme (because it denies all of the wonder and mystery that is so evident in our world) nor can we say that mystery is supreme (because the world works in a logical, orderly way... and we can prove it!). It is not a matter of "either/or." But neither is it a matter of "both/and" in the sense of merging the two together synkretistically.
One cannot simply supplement the weaknesses of one's worlview by merging it together with a contradictory one. Yet this is exactly what Oprah and Tolle are doing. Tolle says that we can't use logic to understand God... but he obviously used logic to figure that out! Mystery is a great and beautiful thing and God is full of mystery. But mystery is not nonsense. Nonsense is just plain old nonsense.
But in Christianity reason and mystery come together, not as enemies but (dare I say it?) as lovers. One without the other is incomplete but taking them and forcing them together is not how they were meant to be. In Christianity we can see how "Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness..." (1 Tim 3:16) but at the same time Paul criticises the people of Israel because "...they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2).
The final word goes to the Apostle Paul:
Colossians 2:1-4 (ESV) "1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments."
6 comments:
Since you had pictures of Lewis and Tolkien with pipes, the least you could do was have Wright with a beer.
When are you going to start writing stuff as T.R. Braun? Or possibly T.R. Brown?
Yeah, your scholarly stuff can be T.R. Brown, and your works for the 'popular' audience can be simply Tim Braun.
Where have I heard this before...
Interesting thoughts T. R.. The way I see it, we have an amazing opportunity to reach those who are longing for mystery and the spirituality. God is mysterious and the spiritual world is what a lot of people are trying to figure out. However, there are a lot of people (and these would probably be the majority of people in our churches) who are coming from the "reason" way of thinking. They do not understand the mysticism way of thinking and thus reject the whole lot. How do we reach both without either side rejecting each other. Or do we need two churches with different focus?
Tim S.
Woah! Hold on. I said only super smart people can do the inital thing. You take that back, MD Morson... or should I say, Dr. Morson, MD.
Yeah, Tim, I agree that it seems like many "church" people are stuck in Modern mindsets and still think that PostModernity is the enemy (as if Christianity has never faced a worldview shift before).
I think it comes to us as pastors and teachers to do some serious educating. The way I see it, the Bible has a huge emphasis on holistic living and unity. That means unity of "heart" and "mind" (Mt.22:27), "soul" and "might" (Dt.6:5). This means embracing both the logic, reason, and order of the way God created the world while only grasping the tiniest mite of who God is in His entirety.
True, true, T. R. I look forward to your book on this subject.
Tim S.
I think the three of you should write a book. You all seem so knowledgable but you all communicate differently so many different types of communicators could understand what you're talking about. It would be perfect!
Maybe we could get you, Lisa, to intersperse our ramblings with delightful short stories to illustrate what we're talking about. Then we'd have all our bases covered!
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