Wednesday, September 2, 2009

A ‘non-religious’ view of Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- #143

[May 2001 journal entry]

‘Religion’ and the T/O paradigm failed/collapsed/died for me under the accumulating and combined weight of

  1. an expanding/deepening awareness of the harsh existential realities of human suffering,
  2. an open/unrestricted method for historical inquiry,
  3. my willing acknowledgment that I view experiences from a ‘modern’, scientific, ‘from below’ angle,
  4. my caution re the limits of human language,
  5. the resolve to speak consistently with my closest collaborators (i.e., the very diverse circle of physicians with whom it has been my privilege to work over the past twenty years).