Joy and Human Flourishing: Essays on Theology, Culture, and the Good Life by Miroslav Volf

Author:Miroslav Volf
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781506402864
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2015-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

Joy and Metanoia?

One last thought. There is the question of whether Christians themselves are fully able to stand behind a program centered upon a pedagogy of joy. After all, some reasonably question whether “joy” as a category can ever really capture the full range of metanoia, which involves justice and judgment as well. Perhaps focusing on joy alone would risk undervaluing the ways we should cooperate with God to work for the world’s good (justice), and perhaps it avoids the difficult work of discerning God’s will more directly (judgment). That is, we cannot forget that joy is only one dimension of the eschatological aim, and a too-exclusive focus on this word could easily return us to a kind of consumerist mindset.

This is wise and true. “Joy” is at best a noble lie, a human term applied to divine realities, and any such application will be flawed; recall Aquinas’s incept for theology: this-worldly human knowing will always only be achieved by a few, et per longum tempus, et cum admixtione multorum errorum homini proveniret.[7] Yet, if we proceed with due caution and circumspection, I suspect that a theology of joy might well produce new and surprisingly fruitful lines of enquiry.

Some of those lines of enquiry focus on the various, more immediately practical, challenges any such theology organized around joy must face. I turn to them next.

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.