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I finally finished reading The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. I strongly recommend it! I need to refine my understanding of all she says, because I want to share a lot of it with my children. Also, I am making a list of books Armstrong refers to in the end notes of each chapter for future reading.
Since I am in a rush, I am going to copy one of the paragraphs from her "Epilogue":
"We now understand basic religious terms differently and in a way that has made faith problematic. 'Belief' no longer means 'trust, commitment, and engagement' but has become an intellectual assent to a somewhat dubious proposition. Religious leaders often spend more time enforcing doctrinal conformity than devising spiritual exercises that will make these official 'beliefs' a living reality in the daily lives of the faithful. Instead of using scripture to help people to move forward and embrace new attitudes, people quote ancient scriptural texts to prevent any such progress. The words 'myth' and 'mythical' are now often synonymous with untruth. 'Mystery' no longer refers to a ritualized initiation but has been routinely decried as mental laziness and incomprehensible mumbo jumbo. The Greek fathers used the word to describe a truth that could not be put readily into words, could be understood only after long immersion in ritual, and, as the understanding of the community deepened, changed from one generation to another. Today in the West 'dogma' is defined as 'a body of opinion formulated and authoritatively stated,' while a 'dogmatic' person is one who 'asserts opinions in an arrogant and authoritative manner.' We no longer understand Greek theoria as the activity of 'contemplation' but as a 'theory,' and idea in our heads that has to be proved. This neatly demonstrates our modern understanding of religion as something that we think rather than something that we do."
Armstrong, Karen. The Case for God. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 323-324.
(I added the emphatic bold font, because I want you to pay attention to at least that much!)
7 comments:
What can we do without our brains? Not much, and certainly not much of value to one's self or anyone else.
That's the problem of taking words out of context!
Not to negate thinking, but not to isolate religion merely to thinking. I see this as a problem that I have experienced when I worried too much about right belief, rather than relationship with the Divine.
Jan, this is something our priest talks about a lot, and it makes total sense to me. It does take something thinking about to understand what she means though. It's not anti-intellectual by any means. It is that much of modern religion has reduced belief to the necessity of giving mental assent to pre-formulated statements. The relationship with God as a living being who can change us through encounter is not stressed because such transformation can challenge the very dogmatic statements the leaders want us to swallow. My experience of a faith that embraces mystery is that it requires far more intellectual engagement than the more cut-and-dried acceptance of authoritatively formulated dogma.
Hi ... reading last few posts ... regarding Friedman ... good stuff ... do you also have a copy of "Friedman's Fables"? It's definitely one you would like.
Wow - so well put. I have been wanting to read that book.
I just came home from a leadership training from our diocese, so interesting to see this in light of that.
Thanks for posting these profound and pertinant words.
Words to read, mark and inwardly digest - over and over again.
Aha. I have been working on living in my body and not my head so much. This fits. My body KNOWS with a deep knowing what to do with belief. My head is too talky.
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