Brooklyn Hermeneutic Association
By Pr. David H. Rommereim You get to a certain age and, at times, you look back at your library, or your collections that household many thoughts and experiences, and a few books keep jumping out from the shelf. I have followed a career of one theologian by the name of Mark I. Wallace. He has helped me prepare for sermons and think through the theological ramifications of two types of oppression by human beings: that which is inspired in our societies, and an oppression toward what we now call ecocide, or the mismanagement of earth and her resources. Dr. Wallace has written stories and mixed them with careful theological ingenuity. The one book that keeps peeking out of my library is called, The Second Naiveté. The book is a profound invitation to rethink the Sacred text before it becomes an empty memory, or collect so much dust on the book shelf looking regal, yet unused, that it becomes impotent. As we study and live with the Bible today, it is perfectly reliable to think of it as a journey. To rethinkthe Bible (according to Dr. Wallace) means we must reenter the text in such a way that it becomes fresh and new, challenging and empowering. In the first line of the book called the Second Naiveté, we are reminded that interpreting the Bible always involves risk. We may approach the text with a certain set of presuppositions as to its meaning, only to find those presuppositions unwarranted in light of a further understanding of the text's subject matter and its context. It is Max Weber, the great German economist and sociologist from the early 20th Century, who frightened Christians when he said: "We {Christians} are building an iron cage, and we're inside of it, and we're closing the door. And the handle is on the outside." [Quote from "What Fundamentalists Need for Their Salvation" by David James Duncan, Orion Magazine]. For the writer David James Duncan, "(t)here is, for most humans born on earth, just one mother tongue, and a given tongue at a given time consists of only so many words. These words can absorb only so many abuses before thy cease to mean. America's spiritual vocabulary ~ with its huge defining terms such as 'God,' 'soul,' 'sacrifice,' 'mysticism,' 'faith,' 'salvation,' 'grace,' 'redemption' ~ has been enduring a series of abuses so constricting that the damage may last for centuries. Too many of us have tried to sidestep this damage by simply rejecting the terminology. But the defamation of a religious vocabulary cannot be undone by turning away: the harm is undone when we work to reopen each word's true history, nuance, and depth. Holy words need stewardship as surely as do gardens, orchards, or ecosystems. When lovingly tended, such words surround us with space and mystery the way a sacred grove surrounds us with peace and oxygenated air. But when we abandon our holy words and fail to replace them we end up living in a spiritual clear-cut." It is my esteemed prayer that our Easter writings challenge you, lead you to study and journey with the Bible, and call you to Siloam (the healing pool) as often as needed so that we may see together the wisdom of these stories. This Sunday we have an opportunity to hear the passion narrative of Jesus according to Matthew. It is a text that will challenge us to pay attention to the deep dynamic of the story, to dig deeper into the spiritual soul of the narrative. Perhaps you may be invited into a new naïveté of exchange with the story as an epicenter of our faith. As you listen, remember we will be deliberating on words that accompany the story. I hope to offer the in a fresh and contemporary way. Those words are: cross, salvation, sin, repentance, renewal, hope, and ultimately, resurrection. ~ Rev. David H. Rommereim Brooklyn Hermeneutic Association - Faith & Public Life
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