{"id":20829,"date":"2019-01-17T15:34:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T23:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=20829"},"modified":"2019-01-17T15:37:36","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T23:37:36","slug":"certainty-of-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/certainty-of-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Certainty of Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. David John Seel, Jr. harmonizes in thought with Taylor and Smith in his book The New Copernicans<\/em> and suggests, \u201cWhen belief and doubt are binary rather than a fused experience – as preferred by New Copernicans (Millennials and Generation Z) – the stakes are too high to be honest about doubt. The church is not a safe place to voice confusion.\u201d[1]<\/a> If we don\u2019t come to grips with our certainty of uncertainty, we will never be able to engage the fellow skeptics that surround us. When we come to grips with our own doubt, we give others permission to approach the throne of grace with the same authentic expression of honesty – we give humanity a glimpse at our fluctuation and God\u2019s fidelity.<\/p>\n

Dr. Charles Taylor, professor of philosophy at McGill University[2]<\/a> and Dr. James K.A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin College[3]<\/a> explore the parallel contradictions that create the constructs of one\u2019s convictions and concourse in their books, A Secular Age and How (Not) to be Secular Reading Charles Taylor. <\/em>They believe that there is a duality within one\u2019s theological framework – a faith that is not the antithesis of unbelief, but paradoxical layers of one\u2019s pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

Taylor delves into this dichotomy of vacillation and adaptation and challenges his readers to understand the dynamics of living in a secular age. He suggests that secularization is not a threat to Christianity, but a realistic counterpart that is intertwined in one\u2019s DNA. Taylor defines secular as, \u201ca situation of fundamental contestability when it comes to belief, a sense that rival stories are always at the door offering a very different account of the world.\u201d[4]<\/a> He asserts that due to the influx of choice, faith has the ability to be conclusive in loyalty and fluctuating in conviction. Therefore, one is always questioning the validity of one\u2019s faith and the ethical implications of its practice. \u201cFaith is fraught; confession is haunted by an inescapable sense of its contestability. We don\u2019t believe instead of doubting; be believe while<\/em> doubting.\u201d[5]<\/a> Therefore, one\u2019s faith is not blind, but perceptive and reactionary.<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s definition of secularization is not cast in the shadows nor brought to the light but found within the grey arena of one\u2019s ability to contest one\u2019s convictions. He believes that \u201cSecularity is a condition in which our experience of and search for fullness occurs; and this is something we all share, believers and unbelievers alike.\u201d[6]<\/a> This is why Smith asserts a universal duality of belief and unbelief and claims that, \u201cWe’re all secular now.\u201d[7]<\/a> We are caught in the influx of uncertainty and given permission to abide in vacillation.<\/p>\n

Taylor and Smith explore the facets of religious history and reveal the ramifications of the Reform and its reconstruction of one\u2019s perception of the spiritual. \u201cAt its heart, Reform becomes a drive to make over the whole society to higher standards rooted in the conviction that God is sanctifying us everywhere.\u201d[8]<\/a> Hence, piety, civility, stoicism, and rationality became the measurable concepts of Christianity. They also served to separate the wheat from the chaff[9]<\/a>, which in turn, gave more credence to one\u2019s works than one\u2019s worth. According to Taylor:<\/p>\n

The newly remade society was to embody unequivocally the demands of the gospel in a stable and, as it was increasingly understood, a rational order. This had no place for the ambivalent complementarities of the older enchanted world. The new order was coherent, uncompromising, all of a piece. Disenchantment brought a new uniformity of purpose and principle.[10]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This shift from enchantment to disenchantment changed the sociological and anthropological landscape as well as the theological framework. Individualism replaced the collective voice and personal effort replaced engagement. This, in turn, led one to adopt a position of \u201cDeism, and eventually exclusive humanism.\u201d[11]<\/a> Therefore, religion was replaced with moralism[12]<\/a> and self-flagellation.<\/p>\n

Smith reveals that \u201cWhile stark fundamentalisms – either religious or secular – get all the press, what should interest us are these fugitive expressions of doubt and longing, faith and questioning. These lived expressions of \u2018cross-pressure\u2019 are at the heart of the secular.\u201d[13]<\/a> These contradictory realities are always present within our consciousness; however, due to our tendency towards rationality, we live out the tenants of our faith, blindly and faithfully. We believe that stoicism will bring us closer to the good graces of Christ because we have been trained to understand society and our convictions in light of faithful certainty. These two texts are pivotal for our research and our theological framework. They challenge us to see topics from the standpoint of ambiguity and engage our doubts without reconciling to absolute resolutions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>David John Seel and Jr,\u00a0The New Copernicans: Millennials and the Survival of the <\/em>Church<\/em>\u00a0(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2018),\u00a028.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u201cCharles Taylor,\u201d www.mcgill.ca, accessed January 16, 2019,\u00a0https:\/\/www.mcgill.ca\/philosophy\/people\/emeritus-faculty\/taylor<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>\u201cJames k.a. Smith,\u201d www.calvin.edu, accessed January 16, 2019,\u00a0https:\/\/calvin.edu\/directory\/people\/james-k-a-smith<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>James K.A. Smith,\u00a0How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014),10.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>James K.A. Smith,\u00a0How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014),4.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a>Charles Taylor,\u00a0A Secular Age<\/em>, Reprint ed. (United States of America: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2018), 19.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>James K.A. Smith,\u00a0How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014),28.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a>Ibid., 36.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a>Matthew 3:12<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a>Charles Taylor,\u00a0A Secular Age<\/em>, Reprint ed. (United States of America: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2018), 146.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a>Ibid., 117<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a>Ibid., 225.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a>James K.A. Smith,\u00a0How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor<\/em>\u00a0(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. David John Seel, Jr. harmonizes in thought with Taylor and Smith in his book The New Copernicans and suggests, \u201cWhen belief and doubt are binary rather than a fused experience – as preferred by New Copernicans (Millennials and Generation Z) – the stakes are too high to be honest about doubt. The church is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":20831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[835,833],"class_list":["post-20829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charles-taylor","tag-james-k-a-smith","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20830,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829\/revisions\/20830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}