A World Without the Other
Volf discovers, in visiting the newly formed country of Croatia, that he could not just relax and enjoy the pleasure of being proud of his heritage. Instead, he discovers that having friends in Serbia and living in the United States somehow disqualified him: "I must be Croat through and through, or I was not a good Croat."
I think it is easy to see parallels to this struggle within the United States today. If you question a decision of the government, you're not being "patriotic;" if you call for an end to the presence of military personnel in Iraq, you're not "supporting the troops." We must be all for the country all the time, with no room for critical thinking or disagreement. We must be American through and through, or we are not good Americans.
Yet this type of thinking can only lead to a very narrow field of vision, and, in fact, leads down a dangerous path for everyone. What does it mean to be Croat through and through? What does it mean to be American through and through? How far back do you have to trace your ancestry in order to have the "right" blood? Where do you have to live? What do you have to believe? What kind of life experiences must you have in order to completely qualify? All of these are questions of identity, and are asked with the goal of creating the same identity, a suitable identity, for every single person.
I think it is fair to say that this is not what God intends. The sheer variety and difference among people around the world must be part of a creative Creator's intentions. Our effort to fit everyone into tidy little boxes is clearly at odds with God's work. And yet, we keep at it, seemingly unable to help ourselves. Only when we can begin to recognize that each person is fundamentally different than the next person, even the person you grew up with and know "everything" about, can we begin to break out of the trap of universality.
Social Arrangements, Social Agents
To this end, Volf examines three current options: 1) Universalism, 2) Communitarianism, 3) Postmodernism. All three options fall short, though, because they "share a common concentration on social arrangements." This concentration on structure instead of content misses the struggle that is at the heart of Volf's work. "Instead of reflecting on the kind of society we ought to create in order to accommodate individual or communal heterogeneity, I will explore what kind of selves we need to be in order to live in harmony with others."
This change in emphasis makes simple sense. We know that the only thing we can change in the world is how we act and react within the events taking place around us. We cannot force other people to change, at least not in ways that are healthy and appreciated, but we can choose to change ourselves. Focusing, therefore, on how we can change in order to live in harmony with others allows us to approach the difficulties of difference from a practical point of view.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Preface & Introduction, pages 9-16
Summary of the Preface
The preface of Volf's book is a powerful setting of the stage for the work to follow. His recounting of his own internal struggle when asked if he could embrace those responsible for the widespread devastation of his homeland is honest and clear. This is the question that he wrestled with, and that we will begin to wrestle with: "How does one remain loyal both to the demand of the oppressed for justice and to the gift of forgiveness that the Crucified offered to the perpetrators... The tension between the message of the cross and the world of violence presented itself to me as a conflict between the desire to follow the Crucified and the disinclination either simply to watch others be crucified or let myself be nailed to the cross."
Introduction: Images of Three Cities
The three cities Volf is referring to are Sarajevo, Berlin, and Los Angeles, which Volf says are "connected by a history of vicious cultural, ethnic, and racial strife." Of course, these cities are not alone in their strife, and these cities are not only centers of violence. But for Volf, they signify the widespread conflicts that arise around the world, and throughout time. These conflicts, taken at their most basic level, all come down to the fact that one person is different from another person, and that difference cannot or will not be tolerated. As Volf says at the end of this section, "the problem of ethnic and cultural conflicts is part of a larger problem of identity and otherness."
In theology, the term "other" is used to help us be aware of the fact that we are all different from each other, while all created in the Divine image. Even the person I know better than anyone else in the world is "other" than myself; I cannot know every thought in that person's head, every feeling in that person's heart, or every experience that person has ever had. If I cannot know these things about the person I am closest to, then it is clear I cannot know these things for any other person on the face of the earth.
As human beings, we tend to think that the people around us feel the same way we do about everything. Just think of a time when you have been surprised by someone else's opinion on a current event, or when you've seen a bumper sticked that shocked you and you wondered how someone could think that way. This tendency can become a serious problem if we do not constantly remind ourselves that each person on this earth is different, intentionally created that way by God. Using the term "other" is a very helpful way to keep that fact in our minds, especially as we consider what it means to "love our neighbor as ourselves."
The preface of Volf's book is a powerful setting of the stage for the work to follow. His recounting of his own internal struggle when asked if he could embrace those responsible for the widespread devastation of his homeland is honest and clear. This is the question that he wrestled with, and that we will begin to wrestle with: "How does one remain loyal both to the demand of the oppressed for justice and to the gift of forgiveness that the Crucified offered to the perpetrators... The tension between the message of the cross and the world of violence presented itself to me as a conflict between the desire to follow the Crucified and the disinclination either simply to watch others be crucified or let myself be nailed to the cross."
Introduction: Images of Three Cities
The three cities Volf is referring to are Sarajevo, Berlin, and Los Angeles, which Volf says are "connected by a history of vicious cultural, ethnic, and racial strife." Of course, these cities are not alone in their strife, and these cities are not only centers of violence. But for Volf, they signify the widespread conflicts that arise around the world, and throughout time. These conflicts, taken at their most basic level, all come down to the fact that one person is different from another person, and that difference cannot or will not be tolerated. As Volf says at the end of this section, "the problem of ethnic and cultural conflicts is part of a larger problem of identity and otherness."
In theology, the term "other" is used to help us be aware of the fact that we are all different from each other, while all created in the Divine image. Even the person I know better than anyone else in the world is "other" than myself; I cannot know every thought in that person's head, every feeling in that person's heart, or every experience that person has ever had. If I cannot know these things about the person I am closest to, then it is clear I cannot know these things for any other person on the face of the earth.
As human beings, we tend to think that the people around us feel the same way we do about everything. Just think of a time when you have been surprised by someone else's opinion on a current event, or when you've seen a bumper sticked that shocked you and you wondered how someone could think that way. This tendency can become a serious problem if we do not constantly remind ourselves that each person on this earth is different, intentionally created that way by God. Using the term "other" is a very helpful way to keep that fact in our minds, especially as we consider what it means to "love our neighbor as ourselves."
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