[9/1996 journal entry] Why am I drawn toward silence as a centering spiritual exercise? (1) A Berdyaev-type analysis of ‘God’ language. (2) An Otto-type approach to ‘the sacred’. (3) A Habakkuk-type experience of being painfully/disturbingly conscious of the tragic, offensive, violent, hopeless, . . . .
[Note: The reference here is to Nicolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) – a controversial Russian philosopher and theologian who lived as an exile in Paris from 1922 to his death. He wrote prolifically. He stood with the French resistance against the Nazi occupation. He is usually classified as an existentialist, though he called himself a ‘personalist’. I first encountered Berdyaev’s thought (especially through The Philosophy of Freedom and Truth and Revelation) in the late 1970s as I prepared to teach a course on trends in current theology. He insisted that ‘spirit’ is that which is impossible to define, that which is situated beyond the limits of thought. He extended my critical analysis of ‘God’ language by sensitizing me to the sociomorphic and cosmomorphic (in addition to the more familiar anthropomorphic) critiques/limitations of ‘God’ language.]
[Note: The reference here is to Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) – an influential German Lutheran theologian and political activist who advocated liberal strategies for international peace and justice and who worked tirelessly for a renewal of Protestant liturgy. I included Otto’s 1917 Das Heilige (published in English as The Idea of the Holy) in the readings for a classics in spirituality literature course I taught. I especially appreciate his description of ‘the sacred’ as, beyond ideas of goodness, a ‘mysterium tremendum’ – ‘mysterium’ leading to silence and ‘tremendum’ leading to awe.]
[Note: The reference here is to Nicolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) – a controversial Russian philosopher and theologian who lived as an exile in Paris from 1922 to his death. He wrote prolifically. He stood with the French resistance against the Nazi occupation. He is usually classified as an existentialist, though he called himself a ‘personalist’. I first encountered Berdyaev’s thought (especially through The Philosophy of Freedom and Truth and Revelation) in the late 1970s as I prepared to teach a course on trends in current theology. He insisted that ‘spirit’ is that which is impossible to define, that which is situated beyond the limits of thought. He extended my critical analysis of ‘God’ language by sensitizing me to the sociomorphic and cosmomorphic (in addition to the more familiar anthropomorphic) critiques/limitations of ‘God’ language.]
[Note: The reference here is to Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) – an influential German Lutheran theologian and political activist who advocated liberal strategies for international peace and justice and who worked tirelessly for a renewal of Protestant liturgy. I included Otto’s 1917 Das Heilige (published in English as The Idea of the Holy) in the readings for a classics in spirituality literature course I taught. I especially appreciate his description of ‘the sacred’ as, beyond ideas of goodness, a ‘mysterium tremendum’ – ‘mysterium’ leading to silence and ‘tremendum’ leading to awe.]
