“The hard fact, beyond all sentimentality, is that either we share suffering in love or outside of love, and it is not the same in one case as in the other.” -Daniel Day Williams It seems like this topic is coming up a lot for me. And rightly so because it’s definitely one of the…
Posts Tagged
suffering
Harmony or Intensity? Process Philosophy and Suffering
Greater complexity of experience overcomes triviality, but it does not guarantee bliss… Recently Tripp Fuller from Homebrewed Christianity chatted with Leon Niemoczynski, a philosopher and nature lover who teaches Philosophy and Theology at Immaculata University and East Stroudsburg University. It’s a great interview. I like Leon quite a bit and read his blog, After Nature,…
Unfolded Ep. 12 – The Cold Inside
By Jesse Turri I grew up in a little town in North Dakota called Devil’s Lake. Devil’s Lake got it’s name because the Sioux people called the lake nearby mni wak’áŋ chante, or “bad spirit lake.” The word “bad” in the name referred to the high salt content of the lake, making it unfit to…
On Job and The Web of Existence
I recently read a great blog post by Matthew McCracken on Job and the evil that God brings upon him. Citing a commentary found on the AUFS blog, Matthew focuses on one verse in particular found in the prologue of Job: “…all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.” It’s this “narrative concession”…
‘Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend’ By Gerard Manley Hopkins
Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum; verumtamen justa loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur? &c. Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just. Why do sinners’ ways prosper? and why must Disappointment all I endeavour end? Wert thou my enemy, O thou…
Will you lie to vindicate God?
Will you lie to vindicate God? Will you perjure yourself for him? Will you blindly stand on his side? Pleading his case alone? What will happen when he finds out what you are doing? Can you cheat him as you would a man? Won’t he judge you severely if your testimony is false? Your answers…
Feeling the Pain
I put down the bread and the cup and get up on my knees, twisting a little. I pull up my shirt so she can see my wound. She gives it a sympathetic frown. “I can clean that.” She gets up and goes for something. When I was a kid and skinned my knee or…
New Poem: The Question NOT To Ask
The Question NOT To Ask Start from the top. Pretend like I don’t know a thing and see if that helps you explain it. oh I get it, this is about what you know and what I have yet to learn. Don’t act as if everything is obvious. Smugness is not a good substitute for…
Communion in the agony of Christ
“The Christian hope that is “not seen” is a communion in the agony of Christ. It is the identification of our own agonia with the agonia of the God Who emptied himself and became obedient unto death. It is the acceptance of life in the midst of death, not because we have courage, or light,…
Who you think God is, God isn’t.
Richard Rohr writes: Our usual definitions of God depict him as omnipotent, infinite, perfect in every way. Yet if the suffering Jesus is the image and revelation of the invisible God (Col. 1:15), this is totally at odds with all the other philosophical and theological definitions of a supreme being. Jesus doesn’t fit. Even after…