Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Ethics

Postat den 7 november, 2011 av phagman

I feel less ambiguity about this book than about Discipleship. It is well worth reading, even if its unfinished state is annoying, not only because so many chapters stop in the middle of the discussion (did he get bored? Did he feel that the argument he was making was failing of going in the wrong direction? In some cases I suspect the latter) but because he seems to work on a number of different positions that in some ways are very different from each other. In other words, he seems to develop his case as he writes, but since he never got around to editing it all together, we get different stages in that development, which is hard to handle unless you want to so a really in depth study.

What I see as the great value of the book is that Bonhoeffer is very good att pointing out the relevant aspects of a theme, in a way that helps me think about things in a way that makes ”secular” influencese more obvious in my thinking. At the same time, however, a times he seems to loose touch with ”reality” and ends up creating, for example, a quite hypothetical account of the way Church and Government are related.

I also finds his notion of ”mandates” strangely rigid. Here his ”lutheranism” becomes a problem IMO. I simply don’t see these four mandates – labour, marriage, government and church – as so clearly biblical as Bonhoeffer does. Why these four? I think there is a lot more to think about here, and frankly I do not find the bible as tidy in this respect as Bonhoeffer seems to do. That said, what he has to say about these for is mostly interesting and worth attending to.

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Stanley Hauerwas: The Hauerwas Reader

Postat den 2 november, 2011 av phagman

Hauerwas considers himself to be first and foremost an essay writer, and although With the Grain of the Universe, Matthew, and Hannah’s Child, might mean that this statement needs to be qualified, it still is true that the greatest part of his writings are in that form. This means that it is quite easy to grasp his take on a certain topic, but it might be difficult to find the right essay. This is why the reader is important. It is also the book all theologians, including those that do not like Hauerwas, should have on their shelf.

It features essayes on all the important fields of interest Hauerwas has worked on throughout the decades, and it is a great selection. And besides the 31 essayes included, there is also Readers Guide by Micahel G. Cartwright and a Selected Annotated Bibliography, both very useful for finding further reading. William Cavanaugh’s biographical introduction is also valuable, and at least entertaining.

So, this is a great place to start exploring Hauerwas’s work, but it would be wonderful if Hauerwas’s critics would go to this book, rather than to the random collection of essay’s bearing the title one finds to be appropriate, which is too often the case. This selection is balanced and representative, and there are short introductions to each text that places it in context. There is more to Hauewas than what one can find here, but this is enough for most people’s needs.

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Livet är inte rättvist. Eller orättvist.

Postat den 1 november, 2011 av phagman

När hemska saker händer, speciellt åt dem som är svaga och oskyldiga, som min lilla pojke med hjärntumör, händer det ofta att människor säger ”livet är orättvist”. Om man skulle fråga vad de menar skulle de kanske säga att de helt enkelt inte tycker om att sådana saker händer, men det är ändå intressant att man uttrycker sitt misstycke i termer av rättvisa/orättvisa.

Nu är ju rättvisa något vi vanligen i första hand väntar oss av andra människor och av samhället. Så vad är det vi gör när vi använder ordet om livet som helhet, verkligheten som sådan? Jo, det vi gör är att skapa teologi. När vi uttalar oss om verkligheten som helhet, om hur den är eller borde vara, då bedriver vi teologi. Teologer är vi allihopa.

Härmed inte sagt att en sådan här teologi är en kristen teologi. Kristen teologi har mycket att säga om rättvisa, men den hävdar inte att livet är rättvist. Inte ens att Gud är det. I Bibeln är rättvisa framför allt något som de med makt skall bekymra sig om, och något som borde bekymra de som har makt. Enligt Bibeln är det Guds vilja att vi skall vara rättvisa mot varandra. Ja, egentligen är kravet ännu strängare, vi förväntas älska varandra.

För kristen teologi har det ständigt varit en stor frestelse att försöka ge svar på frågan om varför de oskyldiga måste lida. Men kristendomens ”svar” på lidandet är just detta att vi inte kan svara på den frågan, vår okunskap är en del av lidandet självt.

Däremot har kristen tradition många råd om hur vi skall hantera lidandet. Här är rättvisa relevant – vi kan göra vad vi kan för att den som lider och fått lida inte behöver lida mera i onödan. Det är en innebörd i den kristna förståelsen av kärlek. Därför är vård av sjuka en så central kristen angelägenhet att när samhället tog över ansvaret för vård av sjuka från kyrkan innebar det en kris för kyrkan som den kanske aldrig har hämtat sig från.

Men kristendomen har också något att säga om hur vi bör möta vårt eget lidande. Kristendomens råd är svårt, hårt och nästan omöjligt att ge någon annan. Vi måste försöka se lidandet som en gåva. Det handlar inte om att fly från att lidandet verkligen är ont eller orsakas av något ont. Det handlar om att vi måste försöka använda den frihet vi har som människor att själva bestämma hur vi ser på vår verklighet.

Vi kan se på vårt lidande som orättvisa. Då stänger vi oss för möjligheten att se någon mening i det. Eller vi kan, ursinnigt och envist, försöka tro att det lidande vi upplever kan komma att bli del av en helhet som till sist är något vackert, sant och värdefullt. Sällan kan vi se detta när vi lider. Det är då vi behöver hålla fast vid tron på att vi en dag kanske kan se annorlunda.

Det är lätt att med logiska argument och rationellt tänkande hitta problem i denna syn. Och även detta kan bli groteskt om vi använder det som en förklaring till det onda. Men som väg igenom lidandet är detta en välbeprövad väg.

Problemet är att det inte går att bara bestämma sig för att tänka så här. Och man kan inte lära någon annan att tänka så på ett ögonblick.

Det avgörande är alltså att förbereda sig. Att vänja sig med att se var dag som en gåva, båda de goda dagarna och de mindre goda. Då kanske man har något att falla tillbaka på när de onda dagarna kommer.

För de kommer. Livet är inte rättvist eller orättvist. Det är som det är.

Publicerat i Vasabladet 1.11.2011
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Stanley Hauerwas and Charles Pinches: Christians among the Virtues

Postat den 19 oktober, 2011 av phagman

This book is probably among the ones that are more often mentioned, no doubt because it is rather clearly focused on the theme of Virtues. Thus it is often cited as the book containing Hauerwas’s understanding of the virtues, which is obviously a bit problematic since this book is a collaboration between two writers, and parts of it is more Pinches than Hauerwas – though I would not want to try to formulate how they differ.

It is made up of three parts. The first part focuses on ”Aristotelian themes” mainly happiness and friendship. The second part deals with modern ”Virtue ethics” and since it probably is a question that many asks in what way Hauerwas relates to names associated with this academic trend, one should note that according to the introduction these chapters are predominately written by Pinches. The third part discusses some ”Christian virtues” and includes the essential ”Courage Exemplified” (also available in the reader), as well as discussions on Obedience, Patience and Hopefullness. It is perhaps surprising that Hauerwas has written fairly little on concrete Christian virtues, so these texts are absolutely central.

So as long as one acknowledges Pinches contribution, this book is a good place to start an investigation on Hauerwas’s ”virtue ethics”.

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Stanley Hauerwas: After Christendom?

Postat den 18 oktober, 2011 av phagman

This collection of essayes comes very close to being an actual book, and one where Hauerwas in a rather polemical tone discusses several key issues. This is the book where Hauerwas infamously argues that justice is a ”Bad Idea for Christians” and that freedom of Religion is ”a Subtle Temptation”.  Even though those statements have been blown out of proportion, they still form the core of the popular perception of Hauerwas.

In other words, this is a good book to read for those interested in Hauerwas’s political theology. The chapter ”How we Lay Bricks and Make Desciples” is important in order to understand his view of the Church, and ”The Politics of Sex” is one of is better discussions on sex and marriage. I find the book useful and have used it (and parts of it) in class. It seems to work well with the students.

Hauerwas himself seems to care a great deal about this book. In Hannah’s Child he writes:

I thought the invitation to give the New College Lectures was a good opportunity for me to develop more fully the philosophical and theological background Will and I had assumed in Resident Aliens. The lectures thus became something of a sequel when they were published as After Christendom? It did not occur to me that some people would find this book more controversial than Resident Aliens. …
I find it frustrating that the arguments I develop in books like After Christendom? are often ignored by my scholarly critics. People who focus on my “exaggerations” too often fail to see how they function to invite thought. For example, critics who focused on the claim in the subtitle of After Christendom? that justice is a “bad idea” often failed to attend to the detailed arguments I developed in the text. The subtitle itself — How the Church Is to Behave If Freedom, Justice, and a Christian Nation Are Bad Ideas — was created by the publisher to give symmetry to the chapter titles. No doubt it is a provocative title. But it is frustrating that some people dismissed the book because of such provocation. Damn it, I did my homework. Some critics were upset by my title, but they did not go on to suggest that I got Richard Rorty or John Rawls wrong. Or that I misunderstood MacIntyre on craft and was thus mistaken about an alternative epistemology. Or that the relationship I posit between the sexual revolution and the growth of power of the nation state was misplaced.

The second edition includes a useful preface that clarifies Hauerwas’s position  – one can get a lot of milage out of Hauerwas’s prefaces and introductions they are often where he spells out his position the most clearly.

Contents:

  1. The Politics of Salvation: Why There is No Salvation Outside the Church
  2. The Politics of Justice: Why Justice is a Bad Idea for Christians
  3. The Politics of Freedom: Why Freedom of Religion is a Subtle Temptation
  4. The Politics of Church: How We Lay Bricks and Make Disciples
  5. The Politics of Sex: How Marriage Is a Subversive Act
  6. The Politivs of Witness: How we Educate Christians in Liberal Societies

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Joel på sjukhus

Postat den 9 oktober, 2011 av phagman

Jag och min fru har startat en ny blogg för den som vill följa med hur Joels situation utvecklas.

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Stanley Hauerwas & Jean Vanier: Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness

Postat den 4 oktober, 2011 av phagman

Hauerwas has had a very specific interest in the mentally disabled for a long time, and it is not surprising that he would run in to the L’Arche movement sooner or later. This book is the product of the first meeting between him and Vanier and consist of two chapters each written by them, were they discuss the theological background, meaning and challenge of L’Arche.

As one could expect, Hauerwas does not really do much here that he hasn’t done elsewhere, though I think his engagement with Nussbaum here is clarifying – the problem Hauerwas has with Nussbaum is that she gives reasons to care for the mentally diabled, but not for living with them, i.e. there is in her thinking still att difference between ”them” and ”us” that seems to be about value.

But of course this book is about L’Arche, and the most imporatant purpose of the book is I think to bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical in this case. And this little book does this in a very engaging way.

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Stanley Hauerwas: Character and the Christian Life: A Study in Theological Ethics

Postat den 3 oktober, 2011 av phagman

This is Hauerwas doctoral thesis and frankly, I’d say it is mostly of interest to scholars studying the development of Hauerwas’s thinking. For those that fit that description, the foreword to the second edition is especially interesting. Also, it includes the only in depth treatment by Hauerwas of Bultmann, and perhaps his most sustained engagement with Thomas of Aquinas; and the most thorough reading of Barth before With the Grain of the Universe. Here Hauerwas is in fact quite critical of Barth.

Of course this book is a large piece of the puzzle that is Hauerwas’s theology: an attempt that from within protestant theology argue for an understanding of Christianity that takes into account the development of character as an essential part of Christian life. That said, there are also many parts missing here, characteristic Hauerwasian traits as narrative, community, Yoder and even virtues. Also, it is kind of boring. So it is not surprising that Hauerwas himself, in the aforementioned foreword is a bit hesitant about the book. In Hannah’s Child he writes:

God only knows what Mr. TeSelle, Mr. Gustafson, Mr. Hartt, and Mr. Pope (my dissertation proposal committee) thought when they let me loose to write the dissertation, but thank God they let me bite off more than anyone should. The very idea that a dissertation would provide an account of both Aristotle and Thomas on practical reason should suggest that no one could possibly treat either adequately. That I was also taking on both Barth and Bultmann should have raised some eyebrows. But they let me do it, and I am damn glad they did. I confess that I can barely bring myself to read the book today, but I still think what I did is largely on the right track.

The notion of character that is developed here is rather technical in nature, and Hauerwas does flesh it out in subsequent books and articles, before more or less dropping the subject it from the mid 80’s onwards. Still one can discern already here what is Hauerwas’s anliegen, although he approaches it with a language that is still fairly ”un-Hauerwasian”.

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Mitt gäng

Postat den 30 september, 2011 av phagman

Ibland händer det att jag hamnar på ett ställe där alla ser ut som jag. Det kan handla om en konsert eller en filmvisning. Jag kan se att alla som är där lyssnar på ungefär samma musik som jag, gillar samma filmer, har ungefär samma politiska åsikter, och pratar om samma böcker.

Effekten är närmast komisk, men samtidigt ställs jag inför frågan. Är det här människorna jag borde umgås med, odla kontakter med, lära känna? Jag är säker på att det skulle vara kul att utbyta spotify-länkar, leka name-dropping lekar och kanske ordna en läsecirkel med dessa människor.

Samtidigt är det inte här jag hör hemma.

Mitt folk ser helt annorlunda ut. De flesta är lite äldre kvinnor (och alla vet ju att sannolikheten att träffa goda människor är störst i den kategorin). Någon har något handikapp och i vissas ögon ser man spår av långvarig kamp med inre demoner. Ofta talar någon bruten svenska. Där finns till och med en och annan barnfamilj.

Vissa av oss är lite skrytsamma, och nån baktalar alltid andra människor, men ändå finns det ingen plats där man känner sig så välkommen och accepterad, fast man har svårt att komma i tid och pojken är i trotsåldern.

Ingen lyssnar på samma musik som jag, och alla aktar sig noga för att fråga något om de böcker jag läser. I stället har vi fått utveckla andra sätt att umgås. Bröd och vin, kaffe och kex. Det är så vi som folk har lärt oss att skapa gemenskap med människor som inte binds samman av samma intressen eller liknande smak. Här måste jag utveckla de sidor av mig själv som inte kommer naturligt, men i gengäld får jag höra berättelser jag inte anade att jag var intresserad av.

I jämförelse med denna gemenskap så känns umgänge med de andra åldrande wannabe-hipsterna snarast som… isolation.

Så jag tror jag fortsätter vara en sporadisk besökare i den värld där alla är mer eller mindre som jag. Hoppas ni inte misstycker, men ni är välkomna med i vårt gäng ni också!

Publicerad i Kyrkpressen 39/2011
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Stanley Hauerwas: Matthew

Postat den 29 september, 2011 av phagman

This book is interesting for a few reasons.

On the one hand it is a coherent reading of Matthew that unlike most conventional commentaries does not break it up into tiny pieces that no longer connect. Hauerwas is very focused on keeping the entire narrative together. He also constantly returns to the idea that reading the gospel is a training process of becoming Jesus’s desciple. He also uses for example John and Paul to interpret certain parts, which of course could be considered radical in a way. So it is interesting to read such a theological reading of Matthew, which of course is the point of the whole series.

The other interesting thing is to read what Hauerwas has to say about themes he has rarely written about elswhere, that do come up in the gospel. Two examples are fasting – in the context of Jesus temptations in the desert, and the Resurrection – where he basically repeats Jensons position, i.e. that the resurrection is the confirmation that the God that is revealed in the crucifiction actually exists.

There is obviously also a lot of ”standard Hauerwas”, like a very memorable discussion on being ”the young rich man” (Matt 19). At times Hauerwas mostly retells the gospel, and that is clearly a weakness, but one to be expected in this kind of work.

It would have been practical with more verse references – The book follows the chapters of the gospel, but that is minor. It is certainly one of the more interesting books written by Hauerwas, and one that would be useful also for non-academics.

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