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A Writer Who Tells Us Where He Stands

Friday, August 24, 2007. 2 Comments:
At August 28, 2007, Blogger ~m said...

i haven't read bradshaw, a whole lot of augustine, or much of aristotle... BUT: if you treat a god as an object to be dissected, understood, and appreciated from afar - rather than a being to interact with - aren't you idolizing it? the hebrew critique of pagan gods was their lack of sentience... is bradshaw arguing that such a critique might be plausibly levied against the western god?

 
At August 29, 2007, Blogger Kevin said...

I think Bradshaw is arguing something along these lines, though I now realize that the heart of his book is on explaining the East's view of God and His energy, rather than critiquing the West (though he does get a few shots in). I'll try to put more info up when I get to reading the book. Right now I'm focusing on Greek.

 

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Today I received my latest order from Indigo. One of the books is "Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the Division of Christendom" by David Bradshaw. I haven't read the book yet, but I ordered it because the author's thesis appears sound: one of the greatest differences between Eastern and Western Christianity is their views of God's energy / actions. For the West, God is known by his actions, but these actions can only be known from a distance - intellectually. For the East, God is also known by his actions, but we only truly know these actions when we participate in them. The east emphasizes knowing God by synergy - by participating in his actions.

As I was thumbing through this book (published by Cambridge), I was shocked to hear the author tell things the way he sees them. Rather than hiding behind the illusion of neutrality, he states "If I am right... the eastern tradition is fundamentally sound... If I am also right that the western tradition was already unsound as far back as Augustine - then our entire view of history will have to change."

I enjoyed his conclusion most of all: "We children of the Enlightenment pride ourselves on our willingness to question anything. Let us now ask whether the God who has been the subject of so much strife and contention throughout *western* history was ever anything more than an idol. We may find that Nietzsche was wrong - that the sun still rises, the horizon still stretches before us, and we have not yet managed to drink up the sea."

Bradshaw's critique of the west goes too far, but nevertheless, there is something commendable about him saying it as he sees it. If nothing else, it makes for interesting reading.

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