‘In times of change
the learners
will inherit the earth,
while the knowers
will find themselves
beautifully equipped
to deal with a world
that no longer exists’
Eric Hoffer
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A place where we are reminded that life was meant to be lived, not just gotten through
Brothers and Sisters in Alms
- Amnesty International
- Amos Trust
- Anna
- Awareness
- Bananie
- Brian Houston
- Cary
- Christian Aid
- Father McCleary
- Greenbelt
- Handsome Kester
- Jen Gray
- Jude
- Liz
- Maggi Dawn
- Malcolm Chamberlain
- Marko
- Martyn Joseph
- Mata
- Mike Riddell
- Mister Tumnus
- mr. althouse
- Nick Thorpe
- Paul Northup
- Phil Smith
- Pip
- Rabbi Niles - The Torah According to Gonzo
- Ship of Fools
- Sojourners
- Stocki
- The Beautiful Mr Lawson
- The Good Dr
- typewriter kate
- zero28
Blog Awards
7 comments:
I like this, but wonder who will read it and ever identify themselves as a knower and not a learner!
I was thinking that those of us who are both will do what --- walk with a limp, I suppose? I confess to having a part of me as a knower. Mea maxima culpa. I'm not sure how I would do if I felt that the world was 100% new every day.
I didn't mean that to sound snarky, by the way ..I am actually feeling quite light-hearted today :-)
I think my degree of knowingness goes round in a cycle as I learn new things to take the place of others - not sure what that makes me! There are few things I'm completely sure of, guess thats what makes faith so important in my life
it reminds me of the state of the church in many respects as well as on an individual level.
In his book ‘Faith in a Changing Culture’ John Drane credits Dean W.R. Inge with the observation that a ‘church married to the spirit of its age will be a widow in the next.’ It may be a fair assumption that both the church and culture are in crisis – both now face an uncertain future. Religion has always played an authoritative role in culture, but this authority is now waning. Protestantism in particular has lost its political power and no longer legitimate (in a political sense) by many. Mike Riddell wisely suggests that the Wizard of Oz is a wonderful example of the paradigm we find ourselves in at the moment. Dorothy’s life is uprooted and dropped into a new Land of Oz. She then has to make sense of this new world (institutional authority to individual reason). The analogy I suppose is obvious.
We too have been hit by a cultural tornado – secularisation, where control has been transferred from the church to that of the State. Religion has been exiled to the backwaters of culture. It goes without saying that if modernity is Kansas in our story, then secularisation is our tornado. Consequently a substantial change in the relationship between religion and culture has occurred, and so, in context of church being evident (and having a voice that is taken seriously) in everyday language, secularisation has meant the loss of faith that was characteristic of the modern industrial, technological society.
The process of secularisation, which may just have been the overriding catalyst for our current spiritual wilderness, calls into question the assumptions that underlie much traditional thinking about religion, faith and the place of the church. Consequently, for many people, this begs the question; is there a place in post-modern culture (the Land of Oz) for the church? Especially when a large percentage of the Christian community, having found itself in the Land of Oz, still believes itself to be in Kansas. It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this book that the church is in trouble, and this is partly due to a great deal of denial by the Christian community. Eugene Peterson of ‘The Message’ fame, suggests that, ‘the pastors…have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeepers concerns – how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from the competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that customers will lay out more money.’
As a result, those who from within the church and Western world who admit, or even question they’re not in Kansas anymore, are left uncertain, uncomfortable and insecure. All that is familiar is stripped away which causes anxiety and uncertainty – leaving many with a feeling of being a spiritual refugee residing in a spiritual wilderness.
on a personal level i bloody hope i am a learner...then again i ain't that sure i know me as well as i think...
Until you realise your nothing, only then can you begin to learn.
MWL: I agree 100%
Post a Comment