«
»

Truth & narrative ideals

08.06.03 | Comment?

In my post on the definition of prophecy I neglected to mention the role of eschatology. Or more precisely, I subbed in “narrative ideal” where I meant, more fully, “eschatological moment.” I’ll explain.

Eschatology is key to the work of Jurgen Moltmann, whose work [link to: the crucified god] I’ll be drawing on. But first some words on general understandings of eschatology. At its roots, “eschatology” means talk of the “end time,” the “last days” or the “end of days.” In the popular imagination, this means stories of the Second Coming of Christ, the Judgement of the Nations, or the Last Judgement. But as I argued earlier, the use of any particular narrative is merely one possible rhetorical tool available to prophecy. How then can prophecy be defined by eschatological narrative, yet the use of narrative as a rhetorical device not be essential?

In the writings of Saul/Paul (and in Moltmann), eschatology is always talk of a particular moment: already-but-not-yet. It is almost an un-moment, located right between now and next. It is this schema that allows Saul/Paul to argue both that we are already saved through Christ and that we are not yet saved through Christ (often in the same paragraph). Most Christian theology of salvation is merely an attempt to work out this tension between now and next, creating some or another dialectic where one has priority over the other.

But–argues Moltmann–Saul/Paul never felt the need to resolve the tension, so neither should we. “Already-but-not-yet” is the moment that we are called to live into, a moment that tugs the present into the more whole, the more complete. For Moltman, this is the theology of hope, that we must move into greater fullness but that the groundwork has already been laid for us to do so. Dissolving the tension misses the point, misses the moment. (Moltmann likes to flirt with his readers, subtly raising the question of the necessity of a “Christ” for any eschatological moment.)

So does prophecy serve truth? Yes, absolutely. But only the truth of the eschatological moment. Modern notions of “absolute truth” are completely foreign to the biblical text and the prophetic movement. You can “absolute truth” into them just like you can read anything else into them, if you want to. Prophets are not rewarded with certainty–that would be idolatry–but with a retreat, a whirlwind, an earthquake, a fire, and a deafening silence.

Comments are closed.


«
»