Integrating Missionally

The following is a two part series on the images of knowing. Today I look at the images that form the idea of truth.

The message education should convey is not identified by words like “fact,” “theory,” or “objective”. Instead, the message is called “truth.” The English word for “truth” comes from a Germanic root that also gives rise to the word “troth,” as in the ancient vow “I pledge thee my troth.” With this word, one person enters a covenant with another, a pledge to engage in a mutually accountable and transforming relationship. To know something or someone in truth is to enter troth with the known. To know truth is to become betrothed, to engage the known with one’s whole self. To know in truth is to allow one’s self to be known as well, to be vulnerable to the challenges and changes any true relationship brings. To know in truth is to enter into the life of that which we know and allow it to enter into ours. Truthful knowing weds the know and the known; even in separation, the two become part of each other’s life and fate.

Therefore, truth has nothing to do with manufacturing a world, keeping it at a distance, or manipulating it to suit our needs. Truth involves entering in to a relationship with someone or something genuinely other than us, but with whom we are intimately bound. Truth contains the image we are seeking – the image of community in which we were first created, the image of relatedness between knower and known.

Educating towards truth does not mean turning away from facts and theories and objective realities. If we devote ourselves to truth, the facts will not necessarily change. What will change is our relation to the facts. Truth requires the knower to become interdependent with the known.

The following was adapted from Parker Palmer’s book To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey

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The following is a two part series on the images of knowing. Today I look at the images that form the idea of objectivism.

The shape of our knowledge becomes the shape of our living. Seeing people as thinkers requires that we acquire knowledge in a certain way, a way much different than seeing people as lovers. It also shapes the knowledge we trust and value.

If we are thinkers, we value worlds like “fact” and “theory” and “objective.” The images and metaphors developed from these words give us insight into not only on the knowledge we value, but also in how we understand our world and shape our lives.

The word “fact” is vital. Finding the “facts’ marks the turn from primitive superstition to modern science, from subjective knowledge based on feeling, intuition, and faith to objective knowledge that can be tested by our senses. Fact comes from the Lain facere, “to make.” This image of “making” suggests that a fact is something created by the human hand – meaning that is most clearly seen in our words manufacture and artifact. This tells us something interesting about our way of knowing: we are busily engaged in trying to construct a livable world with our facts.

Another key word is “theory”. Our facts do not arrange themselves automatically into structures we can inhabit. So we spin theories, webs of connective logic, to order and integrate our facts. Theory is the thread that weaves our factual world together.

“Theory” comes from the Greek theoros, or “spectator,” one of a complex of Greek words having to do with the sort of viewing and observing that characterize a theatre audience. This image suggests another feature of modern knowing: we regard what we know as “out there,” on a stage, and we relate to it from a distance. Our knowledge does not draw us into a relationship with the known, into participation in the drama. Instead, it holds us at arm’s length as detached analysts, commentators, evaluators of each other and the world. The Greeks regarded drama as integral to life, not a spectator sport but a soul-making force. We, however, made a rigid distinction between the observer and the observed for the sake of objectivity. Where Greek audiences were able to put themselves at the center of the play – literally allowing it to “play” upon them – we hold ourselves apart for fear of distorting the objective facts with our subjective needs. Read the rest of this entry »

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Zephaniah

This is a continuation of my series on Journeying with Zephaniah. I am looking at the book through the lens of rhetorical structure. Today I want to focus on the books macro-structure, or overarching themes.

This book is enclosed by the speaking of God. In 1:1, the verse begins, hwhy-rbd, “the word of the Lord.” The book ends in 3:20 with hwhy rma, “says the Lord”. It all comes from the Lord. Zephaniah may add some comment or speak for God, but the message is all from God. Because it is from God, it is a surety. It will happen just as he said.

This book also has two movements that climax in 2:1-3 and 3:10-20. From 1:2-1:18, there is the judgment of God upon all the earth and then upon Judah. In 2:4-3:7, there is judgment upon the area countries and upon the city of Jerusalem. So a pattern exists with judgment. But in between the judgement, there is hope. In 2:1-3, the hope is conditional. In 3:10-20, the hope is promised and unconditional. Therefore, the two movements are judgment then conditional hope, 1:2-2:3, then judgment and the promise of unconditional restoration in 2:4-3:20.

This book is intriguing in that it is constantly moving from the general to the specific. In 1:2-3, there is judgment upon the entire earth, and in 1:4-18, there is judgement upon the nation of Judah. Then, in 2:4-15, judgment comes upon specific nations, and in 3:1-7, judgment is on “the oppressing city.” In 1:8-13, judgment is first spoken to the religious and political leaders, which represent the nation, then to specific people in specific places.

Another intriguing aspect of this book is the fluctuation of the speaker. At times, Yahweh is speaking, at others, Zephaniah, though not referred to as speaking, comments. At times he continues the judgment; at others, he simply seems to comment. It is noted that Paul Brand wrote a commentary on the book that explores the idea. Though not developed by this writer, it is an interesting fluctuation.

With all that, an outline of the book can be determined. It is as follows:

• Superscription – 1:1
• Judgement – 1:2-1:18
  • Judgment against all the earth – 1:2-3
  • Judgment against Judah – 1:4-18
• Offer of conditional hope – 2:1-3
• Judgment against the nations – 2:4-15
• Judgment against Jerusalem – 3:1-7
• Image of restoration – 3:8-9
• Promise of unconditional hope – 3:10-20

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The Prophet Zephaniah

Today, I would like to begin to work through a series on the book of Zephaniah. I developed an appreciation for this book while taking a class on the Minor Prophets in seminary. I will not look at the book in a verse by verse manner. I will look at the book through the lens of rhetorical structure. This will be a fascinating perspective of the book.

Zephaniah means ‘the Lord conceals’, ‘the Lord protects’ or, possibly, ‘God of darkness’. The superscription of the book is lengthier than most and contains two features. The name Cushi, Zephaniah’s father, means ‘Ethiopian’. In a society where genealogy was considered extremely important because of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the author may have felt compelled to establish his Hebrew lineage. In fact, this lineage is traced back to Hezekiah, who was king of Judah. The author of Zephaniah does not shrink from condemning the Cushites or Ethiopians. Chapter 2:12 contains a succinct but unequivocal message: “You also, O Ethiopians, / Shall be killed by my sword.” Zephaniah’s family connection with King Hezekiah may have also legitimized his harsh indictment of the royal city in 3:1-7.

The author, Zephaniah, traces his ancestry back four generations.

1. Son of Cushi
2. Son of Gedaliah
3. Son of Amariah
4. Son of Hezekiah, (possibly the famous Judean king [c. 716-687 B.C.])

Zephaniah was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. King Josiah ruled over Judah from approximately 640-609 BC. Some scholars believe that the picture of Jerusalem which Zephaniah gives indicates that he was active prior to the religious reforms of King Josiah which are described in 2 Kings 23. These reforms took place in 622 BC. Scholars also cite the reference to “the officials and the king’s sons . . .” in 1:8 as evidence that the kingdom was still ruled by a regent for Josiah. The portrait of foreign nations in chapter 2 also indicates the late seventh century. Zephaniah was probably the first prophet following the prophecies of Isaiah and the violent reign of Manasseh. Both Zephaniah and Jeremiah urged King Josiah to enact religious reforms, which he eventually did. Zephaniah would have been the first prophet to Judah in the 60 years since Isaiah.

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Ps 95:1-7 (The Message)
Come, let’s shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
lifting the rafters with our hymns!
And why? Because God is the best,
High King over all the gods.
In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns,
in the other hand grasps the high mountains.
He made Ocean—he owns it!
His hands sculpted Earth!
So come, let us worship: bow before him,
on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

Prayer for the day:
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.

Prayer for Haiti:
O Father of the poor and the oppressed: Enfold in your arms the suffering people of Haiti. Comfort those in mourning; relieve those in pain; give shelter to the homeless and hope to those in despair. Feed your people, O God, with bread both earthly and divine, and give them your water and wine. Help them bury the dead, nurse the sick and wounded, and raise their faith and dignity, for they are some of your dearest children. Silence those who falsely claim that Haiti is somehow accursed; proclaim the truth that this vibrant, creative nation still shines as a beacon of freedom throughout the Americas. And help us all, the nations of the world and the people of means, to rebuild this colorful land in the image of your Son Jesus Christ, who knows our suffering because he took our mortal pain into his own body on the Cross; then rose again to live and reign with you and the Holy Comforter. Amen.

Taken from The Daily Office, Jan 24, 2010

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