Christians and the Other
Honzo December 16th, 2007
Question of the day (this time with an answer):
How do we, as Christians, conceptualize the Other?
How should we treat these people, both to their face and within our communities while they are not present? They think that they know how to best relate to that which is “wholly Other” - whether it be God, gods, the numinous, whatever you want to call it(s). We think we know how to as well. What do we do with such an impasse? Shall we let loose upon them the canon and be done with it? Do we assume all roads generate the same journey?
A good friend of mine and fellow author here at Theology for the Masses, JR Madill, navigated these very issues a few weeks ago in a talk on Christianity and Pluralism. Now, I don’t want to give away what he had to say, but I do want to say that I found his reply to be quite good and worthy of your consideration.
- Culture , Imagio Dei , Othering , Unity
- Comments(2)
JR nice work, particularly your handling of paul. our views differ in places, but i like your direction.
the question i’ve been asking lately is whether Jesus intended to start a religion? whether he wanted to institute christianity? i haven’t quite answered it yet, but i wonder if judaism wasn’t a pilot project rather than the only project. did Jesus mean his ministry to criticize, not just the pharisees, but the religious impulse?
on another subject, i think it’s really difficult to perscribe/describe what the christian distinctive looks like, behaves like today. how do i demonstrate a servanthood that is conspicuous in my judeo-christian culture? i think sacrifice has to be a part of the conversation. poverty, too. but this leads to the problem not of a culture that is judeo-christian, but a church that is fully american and capitalist.
but again, kudos. (i also especially liked the immutable household God part. i wanted you to push it further, but i realize you ARE indeed a baptist minster. i hope you got good feedback, btw.) although i couln’t see your drawings, it made me smile knowing you were making them. i teach by stick figures. we are one in the spirit.
actually, i wasn’t drawing. i was running around the stage, flailing and jumping on stuff
glad you enjoyed it. i’d be curious and grateful to hear your criticisms.