Wright begins this chapter with a penetrating parable. The parable clearly can be adapted to any era of humanity. I see it, however, as a critique of Modernism and its inadequacies: "The water that people needed would be brought to them by a complex system of pipes" (p.17). It eventually failed us. And now we are dealing with the angry mood of Postmodernism, as evidenced by deconstructionism and liberationist theology.
The springs that so freely expressed themselves, even making life uncomfortable at times, were paved over with concrete so thick, they were "silenced" (Ibid.). This was to mark a better life for the inhabitants, for "the water people needed would be brought to them by a complex system of pipes" (Ibid.).
Then he interprets this parable: We in the Western world are the citizens of that country, the dictator is the philosophy that has shaped our world for the last two or three centuries, and the water is our spirituality, the hidden spring that bubbles with our heart (p.18).
There has always been that hidden spring. Man has always tried to satisfy that groping for spirituality. And every system he has designed has failed.
Life in the premodern world created dissatisfaction. The modern world endeavored to meet the needs of the premodern, but it too faltered even though we have benefited greatly. Then along came the postmodern mindset, attempting to satisfy that groping for spirituality by its relativism.
So spirituality seeks to find escape and comfort from the concrete-thick world of modernism in postmodernism. Wright goes on to point out that globally, man everywhere has had to deal with the stifling of the hidden spring of spirituality by some form of concrete pavement.
But what makes us so thirsty is that voice that we hear. A voice that keeps beckoning us to a life of justice and love. Wright observes, "People who have been starved of water for a long time will drink anything, even if it is polluted" (p.25).
And because we have somehow been starved of water by the modern world, we plunge head first into the upset ocean of postmodernism, attempting to quench our thirst. But I think what we have discovered is not so pleasant. What we have discovered is now the bitter taste of skepticism in one form or the other (pp. 26, 27). By the way, I think the Emergent Community is a fitting example of this skepticism.
TC
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I really like this chapter. The thought that comes to mind is the "Hound of Heaven," the irrepresible Holy Spirit that keeps drawing lost humanity. The structures of modernity, including the highly programmed church, offers life without effort. It suggests that the abundant life promised by Jesus in John 10 can be safely delivered with every convenience to the human heart. It offers a prepackaged spirituality tailored made for the spiritual consumer. We can "have it our way," as if we could plug true life into the emptiness offered by the world and be satisfied.
How different is the authentic call of Christ: "Go, sell all you have," "seek with all your heart," "you must be born again." Grace is absolutely free in Christ, but as Bonhoffer expressed so well, it costs us everything we have.
The psuedo-spiritualy of the prepackaged, highly programmed offerings of the modern era along with the anything goes experimentation of the leading edge postmoderns are all empty. Worse, they are evil because they distract from the simple truth of the true life offered in Christ.
Let us be the church of the living God, "the fullness of him who fills all in all."
Our search for justice and spirituality, Wright says, are echoes of a voice. The question is, "Is this voice of our own making or does it point to God who made us as spiritual beings to love and pursue justice?" Of course Wright believes the latter and so do I.
Either our longings are "useless passion[s]" as Sartre claimed (Being and Nothingness) or they are evidence that there is such a thing as justice and as spiritual beings (not just bags of bone and blood) we seek it.
The naturalist/atheist/materialist "knows" that these passions are meaningless and yet passionately writes and lectures (ala Harris,Dawkins,Hitchens,Dennett) the rest of us that what we are really doing is caused by our brain chemistry.
Pascal Boyer attempts to "explain religion" (Religion Explained) by reducing religious passion and spirituality to material causes formed by evolution. Not being very reflective of such theories, Boyer does not recognize that his explanation explains too much. If evolution has caused spiritual thoughts, it has also caused atheistic ones. Thus, why should we trust that materially caused atheistic thoughts have anything to do with truth?
Pure materialism doesn't just destroy spirituality, it destroys objective truth itself. Therefore if one believes in objective truth, he must reject materialism.
Postmodernism is the mood created by the realization that modernism destroyed objective truth through its materialism. So rather than rejecting materialism postmodernists reject objective truth and thus really prove that they are still modernists.
When we erect false gods like modernism and now postmodernism, we lose far too much. God warned us this would happen, but we keep whoring after false gods.
The voice that we hear deep within, longing for justice and love, is that voice that God has implanted within each of us. A voice that sinful man has either tried to silence or redirect, in favor of his own odysseys.
In a sense, Andy, you are right. Postmodernism is only putting a band-aid on the old wounds of skepticism and disillusionment that modernism attempted to heal.
But what are we left with? We are still left with that voice, crying out for justice and love. Governments have failed. Politicians are a subset of the governments. The arts become a kind of a placebo. The media have been hijacked by the leading godless philosophies.
Then comes along the Emergent effort, trying to navigate the confusion that is postmodernism, another reaction to that voice.
Kyle said: "The psuedo-spiritualy of the prepackaged, highly programmed offerings of the modern era along with the anything goes experimentation of the leading edge postmoderns are all empty. Worse, they are evil because they distract from the simple truth of the true life offered in Christ."
Isn't that what we are all finding out? But the hidden spring of spiritually is still bubbling,because it was not meant to be hidden.
Andy writes, "Pure materialism doesn't just destroy spirituality, it destroys objective truth itself. Therefore if one believes in objective truth, he must reject materialism."
The great issue of our time, of course, is that people aren't "pure" anything, certainly in a philosophical sense. Cultural presuppositions, such as the contemporary materialistic orientation, shape people's perceptions and responses all the time without them understanding the philosophical underpinnings of their behavior. Folks who will respond to a Christian witness with "Well, that's true for you...." reflect the spirit of the age without the slightest idea of why they think that way, or whether they should or not.
Yet even in their non-reflective lifestyles, people still hunger and thirst for something they can't quite put their finger on. The bubbling streams of spirituality NT Wright identifies are humanity's attempts to get at this deep longing. The vast majority try to get at it in the mundane offerings of the world, consumerism, entertainment, sexuality/romance. A relative handful seek it in esoteric metaphysics or extreme expressions of traditional religion. (Ea., most Moslems are not suicide bombers or jihadists.) The fact remains that the need for authentic relationship with God remains, and the happy truth is that the Lord actively reaches out to the lost, hungering soul.
Wright’s, "Hidden Spring" bubbles out of John 4 where Jesus engages the Samaritan woman at Sychar's well. I love this simple dialogue where Jesus tenderly draws the women into the depths of the truth of her own life. He gently confronts her with the reality of her longing that she has attempted to satisfy with an endless cycle of temporary relationships, and sexual encounters. Jesus does not engage her in an abstract conversation about "truth." Rather, he talks with her about what is true about herself, and from that connection with reality brings her to the revelation of himself, the One who is True, and the object of our worship in spirit and truth. The Lord could reach the woman at the well because she was engaging in what was true. It really was a shared encounter with truth, both in the subjective experience of her brokenness and the objective reality of her need and the Lord as her satisfaction.
The Lord draws the woman into the depths or her own experience and need. She is able to perceive "the living water welling up into eternal life" because the Lord has drawn her desperation into her consciousness. He empowers her will through helping her make the connection between her need and himself.
I see that dynamic as a central function of the church's work. We have to get people to seek below the superficial surface of our contemporary lifestyles centered around the toys, amusements, comforts, and draw them into an engagement with first, what is true about themselves, followed by, what is true about the Lord.
It's tough work. I was reading in Ezekiel this morning:
Ezekiel 33:30-33 (ESV)
"As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, 'Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.' [31] And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. [32] And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. [33] When this comes—and come it will!— then they will know that a prophet has been among them."
In our day, the preacher has become "one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice." The Word of God has become one more source of entertainment in a world filled with amusements. The world looks at the church and sees simply another venue of distraction for those who like that sort of thing. They don’t see the Living Water. The challenge remains for us to proclaim the Truth and live the Truth that the world might see the authentic Spring of Living Water that wells up into eternal life and turn from the polluted cisterns that everywhere beckons.
Kyle said: "The Lord draws the woman into the depths or her own experience and need. She is able to perceive "the living water welling up into eternal life" because the Lord has drawn her desperation into her consciousness. He empowers her will through helping her make the connection between her need and himself."
This would be true of every culture. St. Augustine was right, "“My heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
Like the woman at the well, we all need that well-experience to discover who we are and what we were created for. The Samaritan woman then becomes a prototype of every culture.
From her own experience, her life was made to terminate in what we were created for, worship of the one true God.
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