the ontological priority of the future
I am fascinated by Genesis 1 and 2. I tend to avoid the conversations that revolve around the questions: Was it factual? Were Adam and Eve actual people? Was everything really created in seven twenty-four hour days? We can't know the answers to these questions with the certainty that the questions themselves beg. However, we can respond to the truth, small "t," that is infused in them.
One particular part of Genesis rings through my head with every breath that I take: "God spoke, 'Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature.'" Created in the image of God. That blows my mind, and I have been trying to figure out what exactly this entails. My senior year at Baylor, I wrote a paper that dealt with what being created in the image of God might look like. In short, we are the representatives of God on this earth. That is quite a demanding title, is it not?
As I worked on that paper, almost a year ago, and as I continue to think about this idea, I consistently run into authors who talk about our being created in the image of God. Long before I read Stanley Grenz's and John Franke's book Beyond Foundationalism I thought that our creation in the image of God has much to do with Jesus and his life. I am %99 convinced that at least part of our salvation has to do with the restoration of our creation in the image of God. I don't think this intimation is explicit in the Bible, but as an intimation, it is subtly hinted at. If you want concrete proof, go read for yourself. Or, wait a few years until I write the book (fingers crossed on that one).
You may be asking, "What does this have to do with 'the ontological priority of the future'" (a phrase borrowed from Beyond Foundationalism)? It has everything to do with it. Martin Heidegger, a twentieth-century German philosopher, was obsessed with the idea of what it meant "to be." In other words, he was obsessed with ontology. He believed that we should live fully aware that we could at any moment die. This "being-towards-death," as he called it, causes the person to live every moment as if it were his or her last. Our creation in the image of God has a similar effect.
You see, if at least part of our salvation has to do with the reestablishment of our creation in the image of God, then this future hope has drastic effects on our present life. By hoping someday that we will be living as we were created to live, as Jesus himself lived, we begin striving to live in such a way. We create because God created, we participate in a loving community because God too participates in a loving community, we are fully present in life because God is a God of the living (he is I AM), etc. Why wait for the "beautiful by and by" for all of this to begin? We can start now. Living in hope of the future has an impact, at least should, on the present. I guess you could call this being-towards-the-restoration-of-our-creation-in-the-image-of-God. Sound good? peace
One particular part of Genesis rings through my head with every breath that I take: "God spoke, 'Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature.'" Created in the image of God. That blows my mind, and I have been trying to figure out what exactly this entails. My senior year at Baylor, I wrote a paper that dealt with what being created in the image of God might look like. In short, we are the representatives of God on this earth. That is quite a demanding title, is it not?
As I worked on that paper, almost a year ago, and as I continue to think about this idea, I consistently run into authors who talk about our being created in the image of God. Long before I read Stanley Grenz's and John Franke's book Beyond Foundationalism I thought that our creation in the image of God has much to do with Jesus and his life. I am %99 convinced that at least part of our salvation has to do with the restoration of our creation in the image of God. I don't think this intimation is explicit in the Bible, but as an intimation, it is subtly hinted at. If you want concrete proof, go read for yourself. Or, wait a few years until I write the book (fingers crossed on that one).
You may be asking, "What does this have to do with 'the ontological priority of the future'" (a phrase borrowed from Beyond Foundationalism)? It has everything to do with it. Martin Heidegger, a twentieth-century German philosopher, was obsessed with the idea of what it meant "to be." In other words, he was obsessed with ontology. He believed that we should live fully aware that we could at any moment die. This "being-towards-death," as he called it, causes the person to live every moment as if it were his or her last. Our creation in the image of God has a similar effect.
You see, if at least part of our salvation has to do with the reestablishment of our creation in the image of God, then this future hope has drastic effects on our present life. By hoping someday that we will be living as we were created to live, as Jesus himself lived, we begin striving to live in such a way. We create because God created, we participate in a loving community because God too participates in a loving community, we are fully present in life because God is a God of the living (he is I AM), etc. Why wait for the "beautiful by and by" for all of this to begin? We can start now. Living in hope of the future has an impact, at least should, on the present. I guess you could call this being-towards-the-restoration-of-our-creation-in-the-image-of-God. Sound good? peace
Comments
Peace n love
dugan, i hope i surprise some folks at fuller. we will see.
good post, as always....
no i didn't take the picture on my blog...
:)
I'm not sure I see the logical connection there. I mean, I see how it's possible that this hope might drive us to live more like Jesus. But I can also see in the lives of a lot of people today how this hope leaves them unmotivated to try at all because they know in the end they will be restored by God, not by their effort. Your later statement to the effect "why wait for this when you can have it now?" is a good answer for these people, but there will still be people who are too lazy and will just wait. So, maybe you meant to say "by hoping... we may begin striving..." As it currently is stated -- as cause and effect -- I cannot see the logical or practical connection from A to B. Perhaps you can fill in the gap for me.
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You will understand when you get there that we've been thinking of you (as usual). Keep hope alive.
Peace n luv