Hoping Against Hope: Confessions of a Postmodern Pilgrim by Caputo John D

Author:Caputo, John D. [Caputo, John D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5064-0150-8
Publisher: Fortress Press (NBN)

The Evidence of the Rose

I spent my earliest years having as little to do with books as I could get away with and as much time as I was allowed on the city streets playing cards and baseball. If I am reincarnated I would like to come back as a bookish child who is taunted by the other kids. I would have thick eyeglasses earned at an early age from too much reading, having started on my own the study of Sanskrit at the age of six—instead of memorizing baseball statistics. I would go on to a career as a biblical archeologist, my life’s work being dedicated to unearthing a lost fragment of the book of Exodus in which Yahweh says to Moses, “I am not who I am. I am certainly not who you think I am. I am wholly otherwise than you expect.” It would be perfect if this fragment continued to say, “I live like the rose, without why,” but I must be realistic in my expectations, even in a reincarnation.

In the absence of discovering an authoritative, inerrant text to back me up, or of the election of a pope who could come to my aid by just declaring my views infallible, I fall back on the only evidence I have, the sole evidence of the rose. All the phenomena that I have presented up to now, the gift and hospitality, forgiveness and works of mercy, love and compassion, point in the same direction. Wherever we turn, the results are the same: these bountiful and beautiful works are what they are in virtue of their unconditionality. Only when a gift is given unconditionally, without the expectation of a return, is the gift what it is. Only when hospitality is offered unconditionally, without dividing the invited from the uninvited, is hospitality what it is. So too with love and forgiveness. The conclusion is inescapable, try as I might to flee from it, it pursues me down every corridor. The name of God, of the God who is love, of the God who is the giver of all good gifts, is the name of the unconditional. God loves, gives, and forgives unconditionally, without why, nothing hidden up the divine sleeve (where there would be plenty of room, infinite room, to keep things concealed).

Does this mean I am trying to come up with another proof for the existence of God? Does it not follow inescapably? God is the unconditional ground of all good gifts and of everything unconditional. Ergo, God is The Unconditional, capitalized and in the singular. You see the problem. We are back in the business of religion, the old theological business, the big business of large-cap Big Being omnipotence theology. We are back in a theology of The One with all the power to reward and punish. This One you anger at your peril. A so-called wisdom begins in fearing Him (sic!), and if you ask Him (sic!) too many questions he will get red in the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.