[March 1999 journal entry]
In what way (if at all) is being ‘non-religious’ linked to being ‘modern’? Since the story/play Job, the Ecclesiastes essay, and ‘Jesus’ are subject to ‘non-religious’ interpretations, is the answer ‘not necessarily or essentially’? Perhaps the question should be amended – In what way (if at all) is being ‘non-religious’ today linked to being ‘modern’? For instance, ‘religion’ has taken certain views/forms in reaction to ‘modern’ developments. Also ‘non-religious’ alternatives are likely to be to some degree ‘modern’. Another question – What are common traits re being ‘non-religious’ in the story/play Job and the Ecclesiastes essay on the one hand and today on the other hand?
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Reflections on the Search for a Very Healthy Center
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December
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- Fragment -- #87
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- The ‘scrapheap’ Job -- #57
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- The ‘scrapheap’ Job -- #55
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- Seeing 'Jesus' From Below #23
- Seeing 'Jesus' From Below #22
- A ‘non-religious’ view of Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- #19
- ‘the ethical dimensions of patient care’ -- #28
- The ‘scrapheap’ Job -- #53
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- The ‘scrapheap’ Job -- #51
- Seeing 'Jesus' from Below #21
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- Fragment -- #83
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About the Title of This Blog
[December 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote an essay for his parents, his siblings (and their children), his closest friend (Eberhard Bethge), and his fellow covert resisters imbedded in the Abwehr. I have been privileged to have the assistance of Renate Bethge -- Eberhard’s wife and Dietrich’s favored niece by his older sister Ursala -- as I revised and finalized my translation. Words/phrases in parentheses offer additional nuances, add implied ideas, or indicate alternative translations. ]
The View from Below
"It remains an experience of unparalleled (incomparable) value that we have learned to see for once the great events of world history from below – through the perspective of the barred (put out, cut out, blocked), the suspects, the badly treated, the powerless, the oppressed (restrained), the scoffed (derided, mocked), in short the perspective of those who suffer. (It is) only in this time when neither bitterness nor envy (jealousy) has cauterized (corroded, gnawed away) the heart that we see with new eyes great and small, fortunate and unfortunate, strong and weak; that our view of greatness, humaneness, justice, and compassion has become clearer, more free, more incorruptible (not subject to bribes); indeed, (that we see) that personal suffering is a more suitable (qualified) key (code, cipher), a more fruitful principle, than is personal good fortune for exploring the world by observation and action. It follows that this perspective from below will not be the partisan claim of those forever discontent, but that we are just in all life’s dimensions out of a higher contentment that is grounded properly beyond ‘from below’ and ‘from above’. And so it is affirmed." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Ten Years Later"