Following a glorious celebration of the Resurrection it is time to begin taking the next steps in the journey.  This post was prompted by an article in the April 18, 2012 edition of The Christian Century – which incidentally carries the sub-title: Thinking Critically, Living Faithfully – excellent words of wisdom for living.

The article is written by Michael L. Lindvall, Pastor of The Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.  I have had the privilege of hearing or reading Lindvall’s work on numerous occasions and having always been inspired by his words, his theology, and his faithful living.  This article is titled “Truth is proportional: The limits of what we can know” and offers a comparative study of “18th century Swiss-French social theorist” Jean-Jacques Rousseau and theologian, author, teacher Karl Barth.  Following is the text of the two concluding paragraphs of this outstanding and thought provoking article.

The contrast between these two thinkers lies in their utterly distinct understandings of the way in which their attempts to know and articulate truth mattered.  Rousseau’s understanding of the truth of his ideas is in no sense proportional to other truths or to any transcendent truth.  He and his understanding of truth are humble before nothing, not even God.  He dares to imagine that both God and the angels might be illuminated by what he has to say.  It is he and his thinking that are at the center of the cosmos.  In such an intellectual geography, it’s only natural that the angels would cease their praise of God to hear what Jean-Jacques has decided.

Karl Barth knew that his theology mattered profoundly.  He would not have poured his life into his work had he not held the highest estimation of the importance and truth of what he wrote, taught and believed.  But Barth understood that his mortal understanding of the divine truth was proportional.  He fathomed that God’s thoughts were not finally the same thing as Barth’s thoughts.  He understood that his theology and the truth it captured must be set next to his awareness that even the “Church Dogmatics” would end up ‘on some heavenly floor as a pile of waste paper.’ (The Christian Century, April 18, 2012, pp. 12-13)

Do we over estimate the importance of our thinking, our accomplishments, and our human understanding of truth?

Grace and peace