Monday, September 13, 2004

a taste of what i'm reading

i just wanted to post some hauerwas quotes on here. this is the theologian i want to study with at duke, and he's fantastic. so here it goes. this is from "the hauerwas reader," an essay entitled "why the sectarian temptation is a misrepresentation: a response to james gustafson," and is on page 100.

therefore, the most important knowledge christian convictions involve, and there is much worth knowing for which christians have no special claim, requires a transformation of the self. christianity is no "worldview," not a form of primitive metaphysics, that can be assessed in comparison to alternative "worldviews." rather, christians are people who remain convinced that the truthfulness of their beliefs must be demonstrated in their lives. there is a sense in which christian convictions are self-referential, but the reference is not to propositions but to lives. while such a view has similarities to some pragmatic theories of truth, i suspect that the christian sense of "fruitfulness" involves a "realism" that might make some advocates of those theories uneasy.

there you go, some really good and challenging stuff. this is what i want to spend two years studying starting next fall. man, i really can't wait. but i can, since i have to. so i will.

1 comment:

Krispin Mayfield said...

I like it a lot, the idea of Christianity not fitting in the category of simply a world view.