"Theology is a patient on life support waiting for the right person to come
along and pull the plug."
I really like this quote that Eric Daryl flung my way after his visit to Duke...I don't know the context - maybe E will comment with some more info -
But, i'll post it to supplement many of my conversations that I have been having around Theology these days. So to those who see "theology" and the "church" as a big mess "political" or otherwise.. I agree, pull the plug. Many theological arenas need death-by-pull in order to listen to the powerful message of life that is prying its way incarnately forth from unexpected areas of the world...sort of reminds me of the old question, "can anything good come from Nazareth!!!?"
Can anything good come from Guatemala? haiti? inner-city San Fran? Fort Benton!!!!?....eehem,,,yes!
...pull the plug, where's Nazareth today?
comment in a spirit of fecundus!!
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3 comments:
Ok, Casey. I don't think fecundus is a word. I had to look up fecund and one definition is 'fertile' so i guess fecundus would mean something along the lines of 'fertility' ?
HI!!! How are you doing? pls. don't hesitate to email me sometime and tell me all about it. tacyjane@gmail. i guess you are farming and taking cool ministry trips, from the looks of the blog. i have a blog too! ha! so much for personal forms of communication.
anyhow.. glad to link to you via the ol' gang. your life looks so healthy!
Thanks Case,
For the record, the quote comes from J. Kameron Carter (who teaches at Duke). Neither he, nor I, are as enthusiastic about the plug pulling... He'd be a good one for you to look at though - all sorts of thoughts about theology from the under-side.
My question for you Casey: what do you do with whatever comes out of your next "Nazareth" once you've pulled the plug? I can sympathize with a disdain for "systems" (I hung out with Kierkegaard for long enough), but whether they call it a system or not, people keep on thinking and writing.
I'm not convinced, that you can do real liberation apart from real theology. That's not to say that it can't be done in Haiti, Guatemala, Ft. Benton, (or perhaps even Vancouver). Pull the plug on theology, and be careful about whose version of "liberation" you are being fed next.
Fecundity: The ability to have children, usually lots of them with ease.
Etymology:"Fecundity" comes from the
Latin "fecundus" meaning fruitful. "Fecundity" emphasizes abundance or rapidity in bearing offspring (or fruit).
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