“Every time
I think I understand what is happening, I am surprised by something new.
Perhaps one
of the hallmarks of an abiding passion
is that it
always provokes new thinking and learning.”
Judith
Lingenfelter.
Author,
missionary and cultural analyst.
I’m home now and the back patio has replaced the cottage
deck for my go-to place to read. Either
that or a corner I’ve set up in my home office.
Or when the weather turns cooler, in the family room by the fire. Or, let’s face it, there’s always a book beside
my bed. Okay, yes. I guess I’ll read just about anywhere.
Over these past three months of a different way of life
there’s been a bit more room for reading. Good thing because, as I’ve mentioned here
before I’m sure, my current course is a Directed Reading and Research credit, which just assumes they’ll be lots of
reading. Two thousand pages, to be
precise, and that’s just what’s necessary to collect the data needed for the
research paper.
But never mind.
I’m bookish enough for this to be a delight, especially with all these
wonderful places available to me to curl up in and hunker down with a good
book. In fact I’m doing other reading
besides what’s required for my course, because, well, a lot of reasons. They’ve been recommended by a friend. They were written
by a friend. They’re on tap for a
fascinating discussion in this amazing discussion group I’m part of. They’ve been in my ‘want to read’ pile for I
don’t know how long. The title sounds
like it will disturb me in good ways. I have to justify my book spending
somehow. Lots of reasons.
And what a rich three months of reading it’s been.
So I thought I’d share some of my favourite quotes, just
for some random reflections, and to see if any of it ‘provokes new thinking and
learning’ for us together. Who knows?
_____
On the risks of being influenced by relationships, Parker
Palmer suggests,
“Otherness,
taken seriously, always invites transformation,
calling us not only to new acts
and theories and values
but also to new ways of living our lives
– and that is
the most daunting threat of all.”
(2017)
_____
On
the maturing process, Ronald Habermas observes,
(Stage
theorist) Piaget concludes that all people constantly move
between
disequilibrium and equilibrium.
Because
the latter is so uncomfortable
....most of us are motivated to resolve
unsettling conditions
and to seek equilibrium as soon as possible.
As painful as disequilibrium is, here’s the
important lesson:
Nobody can grow cognitively without disequilibrium. (emphasis mine)
This
one interested me because of the disequilibrium we experience in cross-cultural
experiences. And, come to think of it,
the disequilibrium of moving from one life-focus to another.
_____
On
our obsession as evangelicals particularly with getting all our doctrine “right”
and that bringing as sense of order and control over our lives, theologian and
muck disturber (he’d like that I said that I think) Peter Enns states,
“Then
we can see the inevitability to letting go of the need to know and trust God
instead
– as best we can each moment – because God is God.
Trust like this is an affront to reason, the
control our egos crave.
Which is
precisely the point. Trust does not work
because we have captured
God in our minds.
It works regardless of the fact that, at the end of the day,
we finally
learn that we can’t.”
This
book is disturbing me in all the good ways.
God is too big to figure out, this I have experienced for myself. I love Enns' humility. Oh how arrogant we Bible folks can be!
____
Tremper Longman and John Watson like to shake it up a bit
too when they point out,
“[T]he Bible is not hesitant to describe historical
events hyperbolically
to produce an effect in the reader in order to make a
theological point.”
This one just makes me go "hmmmmmmm." Looking forward to the discussion on this!
_____
And then, from a book that was waiting for me when I got
home with a title that might not suit everyone, Parker Palmer again (who can
turn a phrase like few others),
“Above all, I like being old (he’s approaching 80)
because the view from the brink is striking, a full panorama of my life
– and a
bracing breeze awakens me
to new ways of understanding my own past, present,
and future.”
(2018)
I have a feeling I’m going to be glad I'm reading this now,
when I’m in my early 60s. Lots of wisdom to gain from this brilliant and loving soul.
_____
So, like I said, a random sampling and a smattering of
thoughts. Without a doubt it is helping to “provoke new
thinking and learning”, even launching me into new and different ways of approaching this next adventure I'm on.
And because this blog post isn't book-nerdy enough already, I’m
going to go ahead and include the bibliography.
Enjoy.
Enns,
Peter. The Sin of Certainty: Why God
Desires our Trust More Than Our “Correct” Beliefs,
New York: Harper One, 2016.
Habermas,
Ronald T. Introduction to Christian Education and Formation: A Lifelong Plan
for Christ-Centered Restoration, Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 2008.
Lingendfelter,
Judith E. & Sherwood G. Linenfelter,
Teaching Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational
Model for
Learning and Teaching, Michigan:
Baker Academic, 2003.
Longman, Tremper III & John Watson. The
Lost World of the Flood: Mythology,
Theology, and the
Deluge Debate, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2018.
Palmer,
Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s
Life, 20th Anniversary
Ed. Sommerset: Jossey-Bass, 2017.
___________ . Palmer, Parker K., On the Brink of Everything:
Grace, Gravity & Getting Old,
Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Inc., 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment