During his 18 minute talk at Q, Calvin College Professor James K.A. Smith said something that really made me think about how we communicate with others. It made me think about how important stories and imaginative thinking are to engaging others and moving people to action. About how we often are wasting our breath when we try to convince others of our position with intellectual argument. He made me really consider how we as the church, as Christian organizations, as passionate human beings created for purposeful works need to start thinking more outside the box and being more creative when we share the Gospel and when we work to recruit people to fight against oppression throughout the world.
So what did he say? Here it is:
"Stories train our affect - our perception of the world is deeply and fundamentally shaped by our emotional take on things. If we want to change action, we need to change perception. If we want to change perceptions, we need to recruit imaginations - this will call us to a space that makes us want to act toward shalom. The church has overvalued logic and undervalued the aesthetic. Overvalued thinking and undervalued imagination. If we don't appreciate this, we will be formed by different narratives. Liturgies are tactile stories that captivate our imaginations. There are liturgies all around us and they captivate you by working on your love and longings. If we let the devil have all the best liturgies, and we try to counter it with more intellect, who's going to win?"
Thoughts?
It's something I've thought a lot about.
ReplyDeletePassionate, yes. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind -- everything, yes. Using stories -- true ones, or ones that teach and illustrate truth, yes.
Using our imagination to know God, or to communicate His truth, no.
John 1:1 ... "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God."
That's the one word that best describes Jesus. The Logos Himself. 'Logos' is where we get the word 'logic.'
Everything else (imagination in particular) pales in comparison.
The word is hardly used at all in Scripture, and in the negative whereever it appears.
Ezekiel 13:2-3 "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: 'Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!" (NIV)
Smith is mimicking the post-modern notion of narrative, in which truth doesn't matter. It's just a story that motivates us (true or not). That is counter to the truth-claims of Scripture. The notion of the post-modern 'narrative' doesn't fit.
Or if it does, we have to state that God is the author of all true narratives, and we (unlike the post-modern, who doesn't really care about the true/false duality) must discard false narratives. But this contradicts the post-modern notion of 'narrative'.
So I have to disagree with Smith on his last sentence. Satan isn't imaginative at all. He speaks in monotonous half-truth, always using the same story. Always half-truth.
Nowhere in Scripture are we commended to use our imagination to understand God. In fact, it is always spoken against (Ezekiel 13:2 for example, and Isaiah 65:2).
So what did David do when he wrote the Psalms? Yes, he used his creativity, infused and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Like Exodus 35:31.
Countering Satan with the intellect will always win. But of course our intellect is created by God, and is filled with His creativity. And His passion.
So yes, we do use all our created abilities to communicate the Gospel and to change our world.
But consider the defintion of 'imagination'. Item (2) is OK, but (1), (3), and (4) must be discarded when dealing with the truth of the Gospel.
1a. The formation of a mental image of something that is neither perceived as real nor present to the senses.
1b. The mental image so formed.
1c. The ability or tendency to form such images.
2. The ability to confront and deal with reality by using the creative power of the mind; resourcefulness
3. A traditional or widely held belief or opinion.
4. Archaic
4a. An unrealistic idea or notion; a fancy.
4b. A plan or scheme.
Since the word 'imagination' has such divergent meaning, and since the word is closely tied to the post-modern notion of 'narrative' (in which what counts is the power of the story, not whether or not the story is true or false), and since Smith's statement actually connects imagination with the notion of 'narrative' (thus revealing a post-modern outlook), I'd have to say we can't use Smith's notion of 'imagination'.
In addition, the word 'imagination' hardly appears in Scripture (and in the negative where it does). Yes, that might be a result of the translation, but even in the Greek / Hebrew the notion just isn't there.
So let's use all our passion, all our minds, all our logic, all our soul, all our strength, all our creativity, all our heart, to know God, to love Him, to communicate His truth, and to act accordingly (doing the deeds He has set before us to do before the foundation of the world). But let's not use our own imagination.