As I read this discussion about the worst, entrenched parts of us coming out in politics, I kept thinking about something I recently heard from Collin Hansen from The Gospel Coalition. In a recent visit to one of my classes he was discussing his upcoming book about Tim Keller's influences. Keller, according to Hansen, suggests the fundamental contradiction in Western culture that counters a post-enlightenment paradigm is the attempt (or demand) to be simultaneously moralistic and relativistic. Some would argue that our culture has become extremely immoral. The reality is just as much morality as ever, evidenced by widespread demand on individuals to rally behind certain justice issues (and those who don't are morally reprehensible, not simply wrong). At the same time we also can't escape the "you do you" belief-narrative. In effect, it's "Choose your own identity and way in the world apart from outside influences, as long as you choose from the following pre-approved options." As for morality and guilt, the concept is alive and well. It's just that morality has shifted from something that happens at the individual level to something that happens between groups, and the result is destructive. Alan Jacobs' label for this is incisive: "the problem of the repugnant cultural other."
Jacobs: "If I'm consumed by this belief that that person over there is both Other and Repugnant, then there is no reason to interact with them as a neighbor or to consider their perspective." "The cold divisive logic of the RCO impoverishes us, all of us, and brings us closer to the primitive state that the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes called 'the war of every man against every man.'"
It is helpful and peace-producing to consider that morality and guilt, in God's design, have a restorative function rather than simply a destructive one.
I appreciate the remark about being the change we're responsible for. I recently wrote a short piece in my blog about this issue. We can only repent for ourselves, so rather than throwing stones at culture we should consider the ways our own failures have contributed to issues in culture.
As I read this discussion about the worst, entrenched parts of us coming out in politics, I kept thinking about something I recently heard from Collin Hansen from The Gospel Coalition. In a recent visit to one of my classes he was discussing his upcoming book about Tim Keller's influences. Keller, according to Hansen, suggests the fundamental contradiction in Western culture that counters a post-enlightenment paradigm is the attempt (or demand) to be simultaneously moralistic and relativistic. Some would argue that our culture has become extremely immoral. The reality is just as much morality as ever, evidenced by widespread demand on individuals to rally behind certain justice issues (and those who don't are morally reprehensible, not simply wrong). At the same time we also can't escape the "you do you" belief-narrative. In effect, it's "Choose your own identity and way in the world apart from outside influences, as long as you choose from the following pre-approved options." As for morality and guilt, the concept is alive and well. It's just that morality has shifted from something that happens at the individual level to something that happens between groups, and the result is destructive. Alan Jacobs' label for this is incisive: "the problem of the repugnant cultural other."
Jacobs: "If I'm consumed by this belief that that person over there is both Other and Repugnant, then there is no reason to interact with them as a neighbor or to consider their perspective." "The cold divisive logic of the RCO impoverishes us, all of us, and brings us closer to the primitive state that the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes called 'the war of every man against every man.'"
It is helpful and peace-producing to consider that morality and guilt, in God's design, have a restorative function rather than simply a destructive one.
I appreciate the remark about being the change we're responsible for. I recently wrote a short piece in my blog about this issue. We can only repent for ourselves, so rather than throwing stones at culture we should consider the ways our own failures have contributed to issues in culture.