Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
Some things never change. The April/05 issue of the United Church Observer [named changed to Broadview in 2019] features an extended letters–to–the–editor section because of the huge response to an article from the February/05 issue — “Believing Outside the Box” by Jennifer McPhee. The article is about a minister, Rev. Gretta Vosper, who decided to come clean with her congregation about her struggles with the orthodoxy of the United Church.
Today, in the west, we scrutinize everything with a presumption of incoherence. We use post-modern theoretical models to call into question even the possibility of coherence, suggesting that the world we inhabit is fundamentally fractured.
We assume, without question, that our lives must conform to the strictures of an unwavering consistency. But this is impossible. And yet we further burden ourselves by demanding that we apply this standard over time, inquiring about yesterday’s behaviour to ensure that it is consistent with today’s.
There is a metaphor for the religious life that has been gaining ground for years now. In fact, it is an ancient metaphor. But you hear a lot about it nowadays. We speak of the religious life as a journey. We are on a faith journey.
Fall term is over. I can only describe it as harrowing. To on outsider, I am certain there was little indication of the interior foment.
I haven’t had much blogging time as I’m struggling to finish two papers for the end of term. One is on Martin Luther and in my reading, I stumbled upon an interesting digression about the Kabbala. We’ve all been hearing more about Kabbala lately. It’s all the rage in Hollywood. And its chief pop proponent is that intellectual giant and spiritual icon, Madonna.