Radical Orthodoxy and "Lord of the Rings"
I've been reading a little bit of Radical Orthodoxy lately. Let me say first that I think I like it; second, I don't understand it. (Third, I think it's detrimental to study a linguistically driven theology when you are a pastor in a Wesleyan Church. Longer story required, I know...)
I like RO because it sounds cool. It is intriguing. It takes Christianity seriously. Theology is the Queen of the Sciences for RO. I don't understand RO because it is neo-Platonic and exceptionally abstract. It feels foreign.
It reminds me of Lord of the Rings. The first time I read LOTR I didn't finish it. How could you finish such a book when you're 10 years old? The second time I read it, I liked it. It had a new world. It felt different. It confronted my boring world of television. But I still didn't understand it.
I think that quality of not-understanding is important for both RO and LOTR. Not-understanding is the first step to taking something as fresh. RO does not simply want to warm-over the faith; it seeks an all out confrontation between the world and Christian theology. Since I live both in the world and in a Christian theology the fight of RO is happening around me. The casualties are evidenced by my simultaneous not-understanding but liking.
I think if I could describe RO in two words they would be: Intentional Obscurity. Sounds like some prophets I have read about...
I like RO because it sounds cool. It is intriguing. It takes Christianity seriously. Theology is the Queen of the Sciences for RO. I don't understand RO because it is neo-Platonic and exceptionally abstract. It feels foreign.
It reminds me of Lord of the Rings. The first time I read LOTR I didn't finish it. How could you finish such a book when you're 10 years old? The second time I read it, I liked it. It had a new world. It felt different. It confronted my boring world of television. But I still didn't understand it.
I think that quality of not-understanding is important for both RO and LOTR. Not-understanding is the first step to taking something as fresh. RO does not simply want to warm-over the faith; it seeks an all out confrontation between the world and Christian theology. Since I live both in the world and in a Christian theology the fight of RO is happening around me. The casualties are evidenced by my simultaneous not-understanding but liking.
I think if I could describe RO in two words they would be: Intentional Obscurity. Sounds like some prophets I have read about...
posted by Aaron Perry at
3:57 PM
4 Comments:
I haven't read a lot of Radical Orthodoxy, but it's all the rage on emergentchurch.com
Thats your favorite website right? ;)
(tongue-in-cheek)
(like the use of a smiley [winky] face)
Tim
tim--that reminds me of something i've been thinking about and will likely blog about some time. is the emergent church an intellectual movement? if they like RO, then i think it is.
glad to hear that you "see" something positive in RO and the emergents.
i always have. who do you like in the RO, jo? (see my post on drury and barna)
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