The Christian Imagination

I just stumbled across Hayhow’s Review, which has the tagline: Welcome to Steve Hayhow’s Blog, where we talk about what we’ve been reading and thinking about lately.

He has a long post with notes on Christian Imagination which is a good read.

Steve also has some quotes about Christian Imagination, including ones by Douglas Wilson and G.K. Chesterton.

I like this quote from Wilson: “We need to take a special care to tell stories that are “not suitable” for modernists. The Bible contians dragons, giants, principalities, satyrs and unicords.”

The We Are Not Strangers blog has a post quoting an article by Clyde S. Kilby published in 1969 called The Bible as Imagination.

Kilby makes these three assertions:
1. The first is the Bible belongs to literature; that is, it is a piece of art.
2. The second indisputable fact is that, because one—and possibly the greatest—ingredient of literature is imagination, we must say that the Bible is an imaginative book.
3. The third indisputable fact is that the greatest artist of all, the greatest imaginer of all, is the one who appears at the opening of Genesis.

This is a post a long time coming. I’ve debated with myself how much I even want to talk about politics, versus art and imagination. But really, imagination is a key component in this discussion. Walter Brueggemann, a Bible scholar, wrote The Prophetic Imagination several years ago, and talked about how rulers often discourage imagination and out-of-the-box thinking because it makes for a society that is easier to control, and makes it easier for those in power to stay in power. Prime examples of this can be seen in some African countries where the rulers live large and their people are without hope.

In the United States, we’re more in danger of becoming comfortable, lethargic, and apathetic, and still losing our imagination. But every 4 years, we get to be at each other’s throats over the Presidential election. Now, the next leader of the world’s most powerful country is not insignficant, but sometimes I get the impression that this is all people care about, as if there aren’t a number of other things people could do with their lives that matter, beyond arguing and voting for a single candidate.

Now, even with a moderate Republican and liberal Democrat, it seems people are settling into the liberal vs. conservative, Republican vs. Democrat camps to talk about how the other guy will bring about the end of civilization, like people said about Bush, like people said about Clinton, and on and on.

And the part that really annoys me is the oversimplification of it all. Somehow all the complex issues and complex people are able to be reduced into soundbites and various logical fallacies, and that’s assuming the candidates stances and platforms aren’t just words said to get votes. Yet, not only can we reduce the candidates, we can simplify so much that one side is always right and the other side is always wrong. Once we get there, we can just say, “Well, they’re a liberal,” and the discussion can be dismissed with those words. And actually, in a recent discussion I overheard, a guy said that Emergents were usually liberals and then equated them with socialists. Reductionism at it’s finest.

Funny thing is, I used to be squarely on the Religious Right. I went to Christian Coalition meetings, was a Republican Committeeman for a few years, was in the audience of the Rush Limbaugh show, met David Barton of Wallbuilders, and on and on. And after 4 years of going to a Christian college, I stopped thinking about just the USA and started thinking of myself as more of a world Christian, such that what’s in the best interest of the USA just doesn’t always seem like the Christian thing to do, and where the pragmatism (whatever works, common sense, etc) of Conservatism seems to rely on the wisdom of men too much while ignoring the life of faith…faith that sometimes propels us to aim for ideals. Prime example, I’ve come to be a big believer in fair trade with the 3rd world, a cause that is mostly championed by liberals. And why do I believe in it? Because, to me, it seems to be the more Biblical stance.

And so I have a hard time in election year, because not only does my search for truth sometimes lead me to different sides of the equation, but sometimes I end up off the line altogether. We can get so caught up in the dichotomies between each side that we may fail to see that there is no line, but that there are multiple choices in some cases, if we would use our imagination and actually think about it.

That’s one of the dangers of taking the Bible seriously, we may be challenged. My journey has led me to more of a moderate political AND religious stance, not because I can’t make up my mind, but because I have made choices, and they are sometimes conservative, sometimes liberal, and sometimes neither. It also forces me to look at things more wholistically. One comment I just read said that Obama is the least pro-life presidential candidate in a long time. If true (and you never know these days from what people say since there is rarely a source), and I’ll assume it is for now, then there’s the second part of the comment: thus, how could any Christian possibly consider voting for him? I honestly don’t know who I’m going to vote for because I want to research these guys myself and come to my own conclusions, and I find it insulting to have someone else reduce whether I should vote for someone to one issue crafted using problematic terminology. What about the whole body of work that the candidate has put together, coupled with who they are as a person? And while I oppose abortion, I have trouble reconciling the notion of pro-life with pro-torture, pro-war, pro-death penalty, no fair trade, and other typically conservative stances. All that to say, there is nothing simple about these issues, because there are a lot of factors surrounding them.

There’s a lot in this post that could be debated or that people could take issue with. I’m okay with that. If you want me to elaborate on anything, let me know. And if you flat-out disagree, you’re welcome to tell me that.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
–Luke 10:25-36

The lawyer was trying to trap Jesus, and Jesus, by answering with a penetrating question, trapped the lawyer. Lawyers are experts in verbal sparring. They don’t like losing.

The Jewish elite were very focused on avoiding impurity and sin. Israel’s religious idolatry and syncretism was a signficant part of why they lost God’s favor. In the process, they ended up creating a class system that devalued the impure and the sinful as second-class citizens. Samaritans were half-breeds with a syncretic religion, to be avoided at all costs. In their zealousness to follow God, they missed God’s heart: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” –Micah 6:8

The man on the side of the road, we don’t know who he was. It’s possible he was unclean, we don’t know. Mercy is a tough task, it requires risk, it requires time, it requires effort. Helping a person on the side of the road requires involvement. It’s also difficult to know whether it might be a trap, an ambush. Would it be worth it? The person was half dead, after all. Is it the type of person who’s worth helping? We don’t know. What we do know is that the Priest and Levite, not only saw him, but avoided him, passed by on the other side. Isn’t that what we often do when we’re around people or circumstances that make us uncomfortable?

Not only did the Samaritan, the unclean person, the person who Jews avoided, have mercy, but he took the time to help the person. He poured oil and wine, items of worth, on this man’s wounds. Then what? He brought him to an inn and payed them to take care of him while the Samaritan finished his journey. We don’t know where the Samaritan was going, but it certainly appears he had an agenda and some place he had to be. He seems like he was traveling on business. So, he interrupted his plans to help a man, but didn’t forsake his obligations to others, only delayed them as much as he could. It’s so easy to say we don’t have time. On the other hand, our existing commitments are important too.

Jesus said, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

Notice the phrasing of the question. The lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was? Jesus turned it around and asked if he was BEING a neighbor. No matter how you look at it, it is both challenging and offensive. The Samaritan, the person who I may feel is less than me, is more of a neighbor to others than I am. The Samaritan is my neighbor. The person beaten and bloody on the side of the road asking for help is my neighbor. People I have never met are my neighbors.

Am I being a neighbor, or just walking right on by?