Absurdity & Waiting on God

Last updated on: January 24, 2013 at 5:17 am by Matthew Tan

Absurdity & Waiting on God 2013-01-24T05:17:00+10:00 Matthew Tan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In introductory philosophy at Campion College, a theme that is touched upon is that of absurdity. Put simply, it is the expectation of meaning and order meeting up with the (apparent) reality that says that no such meaning or order exists. When studying this theme, students would have been introduced to the writings of Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche. The general trajectory of their thought goes that the lived experience of meaninglessness must be given priority over notions of order (whether physiological or metaphysical), which Nietzsche condemned as mere illusions propagated by Modernity. The solution of both of these thinkers is to either give in completely to this utter meaninglessness or embrace it and commit yourself to riding the waves of sheer luck, in a manner similar to Harvey Dent (better known as Two-Face) in The Dark Knight, who is quoted as saying that “the world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance”.

Christians might be tempted to dismiss these thinkers and with it the notion that lived experience would never be marked by order or meaning. But such Christians would struggle to find a satisfying answer to a school shooting resulting in the experience of parents having to attend an offspring’s funeral. It may be that such Christians forget that the Scriptures themselves articulate the frustration borne out of what may on its face look like the realisation that relying on the goodness of God is an exercise in futility. Chapter 10 of the book of Job is a powerful case in point, but his experience may be summarised by the third verse in Psalm 69, which is said in the Office of Readings on 21st December 2012:

I am exhausted with calling out, and my throat is hoarse,

my eyes are worn out with waiting for my God

These and a host of other passages indicate that Divine Revelation is not indifferent to the experience of absurdity. The American Catholic spiritual writer Thomas Merton once wrote that the Christian life, rather than an ordered existence, is one of constantly staring despair in the face. Thus in a sense, Christians are in a manner similar to Camus and Nietzsche, called to embrace and bear absurdity, and be suspicious of those who deign to give easy answers in the face of suffering. In contrast to the often facile schema of pre-packaged answers popular with many well-meaning Christians, Psalm 69:3 provides a highly poetic, almost Romantic, alternative. The second line of Psalm 69:3 suggests a psalmist standing at a precipice, awaiting the arrival of an order that only God can bring, whilst at the same time becoming spiritually mummified by the heat of a nihilistic onslaught. But as much as it is a recognition of the precariousness of the Christian vocation, Psalm 69:3 is not a call to resign oneself to meaninglessness, since the line hints towards an eventual vindication of one’s waiting in the form of God’s triumphant arrival.

Indeed, the New Testament provides in the crucified Christ the embodiment of the mode of living articulated in Psalm 69:3. In actively and willingly moving towards His death, the Jesus in the Gospels embodies the embrace of absurdity of an innocent suffering the violence of a justice system, an open-armed embrace which results in the stretching out of His arms on the Cross. On Golgotha, Christ’s standing at the precipice is summarised by his uttering the famous lament in Psalm 22:1 – “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”. Whilst articulating a lament and embracing this absurdity, Christ is also choosing to commit not to meaninglessness, but to the embrace of God, a commitment encapsulated in the cry “Father, into Your hands I commit my Spirit”.

bible

bourgeois Christianity

Campion College

Church and Culture

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post

Previous Post

January 14, 2013

The Most Read Posts of 2012

Next Post

January 31, 2013 Sunday as a Prophetic Act

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category architecture art Augustine Belloc Benedict XVI bible blogs books bourgeois Christianity Campion College Chesterton Christianisation Church and Culture Church Fathers citizen conference conservative consumer culture cybernetics Desert Fathers discipleship distributism drinking ecclesiology economics education environment Evagrius of Pontus formation Foucault George Weigel Girard Graham Ward http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post interfaith Jacques Ellul John Chrysostom Julia Kristeva Latin liturgy mall marriage monasticism Music Narrative news philosophy polis politics pop culture postmodern city postsecular prayer prostestant quote Quotes Radical Orthodoxy resources Rome Rule of St. Benedict saint Saints secular sociology theological anthropology theology transcendance Uncategorized videos William Cavanaugh

Select a Month December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 October 2009 February 2008 December 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Saul held the coats of those who stoned Stephen.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE