our 'reflection pool' just met in new haven this past weekend. it is a rowdy and yet reflective group of laity, youth pastors, senior pastors, and theologians. it always excites me that we're working together on what i think is the fundamental question for people of faith today: are we responding to the complexity of our lives with thoughtful, deep, and lived faith. miroslav volf calls this thick religion (in among other places, this article on christianity and violence). he means not shallow, not a veneer that covers other motivations for action such as nationalism or consumerism.
the challenge, however, is not giving in to the compartmentalization that says faith has nothing to do with citizenship, work, or family.
yet we cannot overcome complexity by going back to a pre-modern period where society is simple and integrated. our lives are fragmented. we talked about the need to embrace a ‘second naiveté’ (Ricoeur). that is what we are trying to build, visions of faith as a way of life that embody a second naiveté, that can envision life as a whole with faith as the driving vision. more soon on how we're going to goe about this work. for now, the above is a simple description of what we're trying to do.
anon, and +peace
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