three stages of truth
"All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed. second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
– Authur Schopenhauer
I wonder what relevance this quote has for the Emergent Church. We don't really ascribe to disembodied truth. Truth for us has flesh and bones. It has a perspective and a culture. We can see that the life of Jesus has passed through the stages of ridicule and violent opposition. And one day our hope is that he will be self-evident.
We, as the Church, live in the "not yet" tension between violent opposition and becoming self-evident. In the past 2000 years of our history, we have been on both sides. We have been the ones being ridiculed and opposed. Most often, however, we have been the ones to ridicule and use violence. Ironic.
posted by Mark @ 8:20 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I'm not sure about this part: "Most often, however, we have been the ones to ridicule and use violence. Ironic." But I feel like an awful lot of church goers want to be made self-evident. We attempt to identify with church so that we can be realized ourselves.
brendar,
If you want to read a book on how violent the church has been over the centuries, this is a good one: "Must Christianity be Violent?" by Chase & Jacobs
The book is divided up into thirds and the first third deals with what violence Christendom has done in the history of the world.
Hi Christy!
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