Theological Proposition 0.5
Wednesday, August 03, 2005 by niebuhrian
I don't know why I place these things out here. I am not ashamed of the way I think or believe, but more the inability to coherently translate all of my ideas from the brain to the fingertips. If this makes sense, great. I feel that it jumps a little bit, but then again that only proves the somewhat futile attempt to describe the indescribable....
There are assumptions that I make in all of the theology I do and believe. These assumptions are a part of my heritage, my education, my experiences, and my emotions. When I write, preach or teach, these basic ideas, basic to me at least, are factored into every result that bursts forth from my mouth and the material used.
In my short lifetime, I have come to rely upon three assumptions. First, within each person is a mark or imprint of the Ultimate Projection. Second, within that same person, the mark or imprint is hidden through the individual and communal acts of sin perpetrated throughout his or her lifetime. Third, the Ultimate Projection remembers, despite the actions of an individual, what has been previously given and desires that each person attain, as best they can, congruence with that imprint.
I realize these three assumptions are fairly standard for systematic theology; they coincide with creation, fall, and redemption. However, the emphasis placed on each can only be particular to the experiences of one’s own life. For example, I am drawn to the redemptive piece of this tri-fold puzzle. This comes through my experience of being exceptionally hard on myself. The appealing nature of this particular aspect of my relationship to an Ultimate Projection stems from my need for grace, forgiveness and hope.
I could choose, and many do choose, to only focus on this assumption and its interplay in my life. However, doing so would only create a lop-sided view of what it is that I believe greater than myself. Therefore, an Ultimate Projection can only be more completely described through relationships with ourselves and one another. My sense is that the more we begin to understand ourselves, through internal and external means, the better we understand that which is imprinted within us.
To do or be good in this world is to rely on the insights of our collective encounters with this Ultimate Projection. I can only project those qualities of God that I experience in myself or in others. You can do the same. We can share these projective ideas with one another in a way that builds a greater sense of who God is; a Projection that takes on a larger meaning that we could intend.
Throughout the millennia, there have been attempts at describing what or who this Ultimate Projection is. Largely, these exercises are futile, because any attempt to describe only places restrictions on that which is believed to be indescribable. The best we can hope for is a close approximation of who/what the Ultimate Projection might be based on the experiences we have with that which is greater than we believe ourselves to be capable of doing/being. Love or hate, sadness or joy, hope or futility are all things that can push us beyond what we thought ourselves capable of handling. Each of these, in turn, could be used to describe the various states of an Ultimate Projection in an anthropocentric way. However, an Ultimate Projection must not be bound by our descriptors as well, it also must be free to be more than the mere emotional or even rational states we wish to ascribe to it.
There are assumptions that I make in all of the theology I do and believe. These assumptions are a part of my heritage, my education, my experiences, and my emotions. When I write, preach or teach, these basic ideas, basic to me at least, are factored into every result that bursts forth from my mouth and the material used.
In my short lifetime, I have come to rely upon three assumptions. First, within each person is a mark or imprint of the Ultimate Projection. Second, within that same person, the mark or imprint is hidden through the individual and communal acts of sin perpetrated throughout his or her lifetime. Third, the Ultimate Projection remembers, despite the actions of an individual, what has been previously given and desires that each person attain, as best they can, congruence with that imprint.
I realize these three assumptions are fairly standard for systematic theology; they coincide with creation, fall, and redemption. However, the emphasis placed on each can only be particular to the experiences of one’s own life. For example, I am drawn to the redemptive piece of this tri-fold puzzle. This comes through my experience of being exceptionally hard on myself. The appealing nature of this particular aspect of my relationship to an Ultimate Projection stems from my need for grace, forgiveness and hope.
I could choose, and many do choose, to only focus on this assumption and its interplay in my life. However, doing so would only create a lop-sided view of what it is that I believe greater than myself. Therefore, an Ultimate Projection can only be more completely described through relationships with ourselves and one another. My sense is that the more we begin to understand ourselves, through internal and external means, the better we understand that which is imprinted within us.
To do or be good in this world is to rely on the insights of our collective encounters with this Ultimate Projection. I can only project those qualities of God that I experience in myself or in others. You can do the same. We can share these projective ideas with one another in a way that builds a greater sense of who God is; a Projection that takes on a larger meaning that we could intend.
Throughout the millennia, there have been attempts at describing what or who this Ultimate Projection is. Largely, these exercises are futile, because any attempt to describe only places restrictions on that which is believed to be indescribable. The best we can hope for is a close approximation of who/what the Ultimate Projection might be based on the experiences we have with that which is greater than we believe ourselves to be capable of doing/being. Love or hate, sadness or joy, hope or futility are all things that can push us beyond what we thought ourselves capable of handling. Each of these, in turn, could be used to describe the various states of an Ultimate Projection in an anthropocentric way. However, an Ultimate Projection must not be bound by our descriptors as well, it also must be free to be more than the mere emotional or even rational states we wish to ascribe to it.
