God Has Wired Humanity to Exist as Storied Creatures.

Last updated on: December 13, 2018 at 5:48 pm by Paul Louis Metzger

God Has Wired Humanity to Exist as Storied Creatures. 2018-12-13T17:48:29-08:00 Paul Louis Metzger

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.

Marc Chagall, “Calvary (Golgotha)”

God has wired humanity to exist as storied creatures. This conviction manifests itself in various ways and in a variety of disciplines.

Take for example philosophy and theology. The Berlin University philosopher theologian Hegel sought to demonstrate that the Christian faith illustrates best in ordinary and historical language the conceptual reality of God’s own historicized being. The Danish philosopher theologian Kierkegaard countered Hegel’s assertion by arguing for the scandal of particularity. For Kierkegaard, Jesus does not illustrate a prior and more fundamental reality that is independently true of all humanity. Those in Kierkegaard’s school maintain that Jesus is the explication of truth, and we only enter into truth through participation in his life. Christians of various persuasions find themselves situated somewhere between Berlin and Copenhagen on the question of history and theology, and not simply between Athens and Jerusalem on the question of philosophy and theology.

I edit a journal titled Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture, which will soon release an issue on theology and humanity’s storied existence in cultural context. While I personally resonate with Kierkegaard’s bold rejoinder to Hegel, we have not asked the diverse and wide-ranging contributors of this issue of the journal to take sides on this prior philosophical debate. Rather, we have asked that they simply articulate what they see as the import of story for theology and Christian existence. You will find in this issue a rich assortment of perspectives that highlight the significance of story for theology and culture.

Perhaps the contributors would all agree to varying degrees that the Christian faith unites the deeply philosophical and mystical in a creative historical synthesis. The eternal Word of God became historical flesh (Jn 1:1, 14). Each and all of us in our historical-cultural settings are invited to participate in Jesus’s life through the eternal Spirit.

By no means does the preceding claim have import only for the theological scholarly guild. Jesus’s extraordinary being was manifest in ordinary time and space among common people using common language. Some philosophers will critique Christian Scripture for its unrefined and extremely ordinary prose. They would prefer something more refined, perhaps even esoteric. But as John Steinbeck writes in his epic retelling of the Cain and Abel story in East of Eden, “The strange and foreign is not interesting–only the deeply personal and familiar.” The latter you will find not only in East of Eden and the biblical narrative Steinbeck seeks to illustrate in modern verse. You will also find the deeply personal and familiar in the pages of Cultural Encounters’ forthcoming issue on humanity’s storied existence. The new issue on theology and story in cultural context will be released sometime next week.

In the soon-to-be-released issue (volume 14/1) of Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture, you will find the following articles written by:

– Bret Saunders, “Listen to the Stories”: The Importance of the Art of Storying in Education and Life

– Benjamin S. Wall, Disability and Theology

– S. Joshua Swamidass, A Narrative Theology of Martians, Narnians, and Neanderthals

– Wm. Paul Young, The Power of Story

– Matthew Farlow, Enter the Drama: His Story Becoming My (Our) History

– Nancy Haught, Meeting Hagar, Over and Over

– Phil Wyman, The Wild Ambivalent Power Tools of Narrative

– Rodney Clapp, Story: The Medium of Salvation

– Tony Kriz, Story and Theology

With book reviews written by:

– Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church

– Kelly Liebengood, Saved by Faith and Hospitality

– Michael Gurney, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, 2nd edition

– Bobby Grow, Faith, Freedom and the Spirit: The Economic Trinity in Barth, Torrance, and Contemporary Theology

– Hannah N. Grady, How Repentance Became Biblical: Judaism, Christianity, & the Interpretation of Scripture

– Hannah N. Grady, Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second Through Fifth Centuries

– Josh de Keijzer, The Hidden God: Luther, Philosophy, and Political Theology

To subscribe to Cultural Encounters, click here and go to subscriptions. To express well your own storied existence, follow Steinbeck’s recommendation and share “the deeply personal and familiar.” To reflect well on God’s storied existence, take to heart the account of Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection until his narrative becomes your own. You will never be the same again.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 12, 2018

Post-Election, Pre-Christmas: In Whom Do We Hope?

Next Post

December 18, 2018 Jesus’ Birth Defines Divine Meekness — Strength Under Control

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 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

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz