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Document Details : Title: The Long Strangeness Subtitle: God Lost, God Found, God Loved Author(s): GODZIEBA, Anthony J. Journal: Louvain Studies Volume: 42 Issue: 2 Date: 2019 Pages: 124-150 DOI: 10.2143/LS.42.2.3286592 Abstract : This essay deals with two narratives. The first, given in a thumbnail sketch, concerns modernity’s long dalliance with God, a default story of the extrinsic view which results in the 'loss' of God, even when God’s presence was the intended assertion. Postmodern discussion of God, emphasizing negative theology, is a direct reaction to this view. But much of it leaves us with a disembodied extrinsicism no better than its catalyst. Second, I retrieve a more reticent alternative: an incarnational narrative played out over everyday praxis rather than in theory. This performative and aesthetic narrative has its more proximate roots in a post-medieval tradition, extending from Renaissance humanism to the praxis of Pope Francis. This sacramental narrative of 'God found' and 'God loved' connects what currently seem to be two separate considerations of God: the necessary apophatic postmodern emphasis on 'impossibility', and the just-as-necessary kataphatic lived experience of everyday theophanies with their mystical and political implications. |
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