[ z ē ' n ĭ t h ] -noun 1. an arch wherethrough gleams that untraveled world…#1 - Introduction
By backgroundbob • Apr 19th, 2008 • Category: The Theologian‘the theologian‘ - the weekly column from backgroundbob
20.04.08
Imagine something impossible: a world where God made sense. An existence where the omniscient could be fully understood, where equality with the omnipotent was possible: imagine a place where lions could lie down with lions. Imagine the blue-black curtain of the night sky peeling away to reveal… well, we can only really imagine, can’t we?
For generations people have striven to understand what their critics considered to be an myth, a ghost in the existential machine. But ghostly or not, God casts a very long shadow over the philosophy of yesteryear, and only a fool would let one truth get in the way of another. In the minds of every country’s population, God lurks just beyond the edge of sight and speaks in whispers just below the edge of hearing, peeking over our shoulders and mumbling incoherently in our ears. The world may have lost its respect for religion, but it struggles to forget its fear of God, and there is far more than a few thousand years of superstitious conditioning behind that: humanity is beset on all sides by the night, darkness made of ignorance, helplessness and an existence that ploughs right on through without any respect for their wishes. Reminders of the demons of age, pain, and fear are everywhere, is it any wonder that in every evil we see what we long more than anything to be there for us: salvation?
There are no philosophies that can explain God for you, even among the endless philosophers who will tell you they can. The difference between them and a theologian, a true theologian is that any good student of theology will never, ever try to tell you about God. Because this isn’t about him, folks: in the words of Frank Castle, “God’s going to sit this one out.” This is about us, about me and you and every other God-fearing or God-hating person out there who’s ever looked at the inside of their eyelids of a night and said, ‘God, I don’t know what you’re doing but I sure as hell hope you do.’ Because this is it, ladies and gentlemen: this is the inside of your churches, the inside of your heads and the inside of your souls. This is where spirituality meets banality, the nitty-gritty of human fears and dependancies. This is everything you’ve ever been afraid to ask but were too afraid to ask: this is Theology.
backgroundbob is a theology student from Manchester, England.
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At first, the post reminded me of Coehlo’s The Alchemist, but then it didn’t. I was thinking of the moment when the boy spoke with nature to find God and instead found answers and finality.
I’m excited about learning theology from you.