Yes, it is an intimidating title for today's weblog, but don't panic, it won't be that deep of an entry today...
I was continuing slowly through Gadamer's Truth and Method on the plane ride back from Florida, and was very intrigued by the concept of "contemporaneity," which he borrows from Kierdegaard. Gadamer claims that contemporaneity "constitutes the essence of being present." He speaks of this specifically concerning art, which "in its presentation...achieves full presence, however remote its origin may be." Art is always contemporary in this sense.
This was originally a theological concept stemming from Kierkergaard's belief that two non-concurrent moments can come together, specifically "one's own present and the redeeming act of Christ" so that "the latter is experienced and taken seriously as present." Gadamer expands on this, claiming that in the case of art we participate in the art, as the art participates in our lives.
Flipping Gadamer back around to shed light on our theological inquiries and specifically Kierkergaard's dialectical theology, the present moment becomes a time that is ripe with importance. I would add that this is especially the case because the present is not only full of Christ's redeeming act, but also Christ's future redemptive action in the eschaton. These are future and past events, but are also events that are causing different reactions in the present, and as such are experienced even now. Christ is always contemporary in this sense, as he comes near to save us (the incarnation and the cross) and as he pulls the present into its eschatological fulfillment.
All of this only supports what I spent last weekend studying, which is the sacrament of the present moment. This is what we are supposed to see a glimpse of in Sabbath time, but it goes beyond that. Every moment is ripe with the workings of God. Every second has been redeemed by Christ's action, is being sanctified through the power of the Spirit, and is being pulled into a future which will appear only when the Father wills it. Our time is holy because our God is present.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The newest issue of Mother Jones magazine. It has some tough articles this month on overwork in America as well as the continuing physical and sexual abuse of women in America.
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7 comments:
"Observe This Moment! From the gateway, This Moment, there runneth a long eternal lane backwards: behind us lieth an eternity...
And are not all things closely bound together in such wise that This Moment also draweth all coming things after it? Consequently - itself also?"
-F. Nietzsche from Thus Spake Zarathusa (p. 108)
Nietzsche? C'mon, Matt.
I like him.
Yeah, he's great -- as far as amoral anti-Christian humanists go.
your black, I'm green, so
what?
If you are hearing God's voice
you need mental help.
Kiergarde speaks old myths as
ancient as ancient Egypt in
which time it was believed
that the soul of a man could
be captured in art. Why do
you express your race before
your brains? Start your studies
from 50,000 B.C. and follow
religion from the first burials.
Why did these people, who appear
suddenly, without any connection
to the dimwit Neanderthals, bury
their dead with things to take with them. Could they have come
from a dead planet? They had no
sex, or other types of intercourse
with the Neanderthals, who soon
were gone.....killed by our
ancestors in self defense? You
will find the first cause in the
ancient past. Read Plato.
Have a nice day.
Jcservant
your black, I'm green, so
what?
If you are hearing God's voice
you need mental help.
Kiergarde speaks old myths as
ancient as ancient Egypt in
which time it was believed
that the soul of a man could
be captured in art. Why do
you express your race before
your brains? Start your studies
from 50,000 B.C. and follow
religion from the first burials.
Why did these people, who appear
suddenly, without any connection
to the dimwit Neanderthals, bury
their dead with things to take with them. Could they have come
from a dead planet? They had no
sex, or other types of intercourse
with the Neanderthals, who soon
were gone.....killed by our
ancestors in self defense? You
will find the first cause in the
ancient past. Read Plato.
Have a nice day.
Jcservant
is this a dead site....no new
postings in a week.
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