Today, as we were driving home from dinner, my wife Tamiko said, “Look! An apricot standard walking.” What she was trying to tell me?
That is the same fundamental question we were asked when we started our studies of the great literary figures. That is the same fundamental question we were asked when we entered law school. And that is the same fundamental question put to us when we enter the seminary.
It reminds me of the statement: “Keep off the grass.” Is this a sign posted by a man concerned for his lawn? Or is it a judge’s warning to a convicted offender to stop smoking marijuana?
What was Tamiko talking about? Maybe about a fruit. But a walking fruit? And what can we make of the word “standard?” What sort of standard? The gold standard? Standard deviation? American standard? What is a standard apricot? What criteria do we use to determine the standardness of any given apricot? And what about walking? Does this refer to strides? Or is it used in a more colloquial sense—to denote acquittal, for example? (Did the judge convict him? No. He walked.)
It is only by reference to the context of the sentence that its meaning appears. Our family has a fondness for a particular breed of dog—the standard poodle. We were driving along with our pet, a black standard. In this context, “apricot” is a colour, and “standard” is a breed of dog. Countless times a day, each one of us entertains communications which are incomprehensible except as they are received in a context. That context is all the mediating tools we use in common—the trappings of culture, the shared assumptions.
Many theologians eschew the word “relativism” because it appears to stand against truth. The most dangerous words ever written fell into the biblical canon thanks to John: “In the beginning was the word.” Of course, John’s truth can only be found in a language which has ceased to be meaningful to anyone. That fact alone should be persuasive in justifying the claim that all meanings must, by the nature of meaning, be something other than absolute. But evidently it is not so persuasive. In the meantime, I’ll go on walking my standard.