Ordination Questions
Question 1
Question 2:
Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God's word to you?
The writers brilliantly illustrate a subtle shift taking place in the postmodern world; namely, our tendency to trust the map over the terrain. In other words, we have arrived at a point where we so privilege technological representations of knowledge that we accord them more authority than our own experiences. Here is a small example of what I'm talking about for those of us techno-savvy, iGadget-using, postmodern folk. When we want to know how warm or cold it is outside, how many of us check the internet instead of just opening the door and standing on the porch for a few seconds?
Philosophers and writers have written about the difference between map and terrain, often quite humorously, for centuries. Lewis Carroll, for instance, wrote in Sylvie and Bruno Concluded about the "paradox of the complete map"
"That’s another thing we’ve learned from your Nation,” said Mein Herr, “map-making. But we’ve carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"
“About six inches to the mile.”
“Only six inches!” exclaimed Mein Herr. “We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!”
“Have you used it much?” I enquired.
“It has never been spread out, yet,” said Mein Herr: “the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well.”
And in Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the title character writes his diary so precisely that it takes an entire year to relate the events of a single day. Both of these examples whimsically demonstrate the usefulness of representing lived experience or phenomena - such as a day or a landscape - using referential tools designed to capture such detail in an abridged form - such as a journal or a map. Text cannot replace experience, but it can helpfully cite it. A map cannot replace territory, but it prove a useful guide. A picture of the Rocky Mountains cannot replace the range, but it can be a beneficial reference or reminder.
So, noting the difference between map and territory are nothing new, but we are entering into an unprecedented moment in human history when the line between the virtual and the real is blurring. For many, there is no longer a distinction between the two. Our maps have become so "real" that we no longer need the territory they once referenced. We are content with representation.
Let me try to describe this using a different sort of example. There is a famous Buddhist story that goes this way:
The nun Wu Jincang asked the Sixth Patriach Huineng, "I have studied the Mahaparinirvana sutra for many years, yet there are many areas I do not quite understand. Please enlighten me."
The patriach responded, "I am illiterate. Please read out the characters to me and perhaps I will be able to explain the meaning."
Said the nun, "You cannot even recognize the characters. How are you able then to understand the meaning?"
"Truth has nothing to do with words. Truth can be likened to the bright moon in the sky. Words, in this case, can be likened to a finger. The finger can point to the moon’s location. However, the finger is not the moon. To look at the moon, it is necessary to gaze beyond the finger, right?"
The finger is not the moon. The map is not the terrain. Both point beyond themselves and reference something other than themselves. It is as foolish to stare at the finger of a man pointing to the moon as it is to follow GPS directions into a lake.
So what does this have to do with the ordination question? Listen to these words attributed to Jesus in John 5:39-40.
"You study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures which testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."
Throughout John 5, Jesus is concerned with questions of authority and where people find legitimation. He is concerned that they often cannot distinguish between the finger and the moon. I, for one, spent much of my Christian life confusing the words for the Word. I studied the Bible for its own sake, often reducing it to an instructional manual or an ethical treatise. I quickly judged fellow Christians based on how well-versed they were on debates regarding Biblical infallibility or inerrancy. I distinguished between good and bad churches based on how many people came to worship holding their own copy of the Bible, as if this represented some sort of Christian mandate, oblivious to the fact that most Christians throughout history have been illiterate or without access to a copy of the scriptures even after the invention of the printing press. It is a modern luxury to be able to read, let alone to possess, our own "map" of Christian territory, but we are in danger of misusing the blessing, contenting ourselves with the representation.
The Bible is a record of the experiences of two ancient communities - the Hebrews before Jesus and the first century Christians after Jesus. Their experiences of God are often at odds with one another. Their descriptions of the natural world are sometimes confused, and understandably so. Both communities habitually interpret historical events through a theological lens that needs constant refocusing. But the authority of the Bible is not found in its scientific or historical accuracy, nor is it found in a divine, versus human, origin. Rather, the authority of the Bible is found in its unique testimony regarding the the Hebrew hope for a Messiah, the Gospel witness of the man from Nazareth, and the early Christian theology of the Christ. That is, the Bible is not a witness to itself but a testimony about Jesus.
The Bible is a finger pointing to the moon. It is a map, providing a guide to our experience of God, pointing out sources of fresh water, where to find bread for the journey, and potential dangers. But the map is not the terrain. This journey is all about the territory of the lived experience of communion with Christ and the Church.
I am going to read this one a few more times. Engaging and challenging. If you didn't write this stuff that stretches my brain I wouldn't get any exercise!
Resonance. The epistemology of testimony. Very good Riley.
And therein lies the rub for so many. Many people want to be told where to look and what rules to apply for looking so they can use their fingers to point at others who are not driving into the lake as they are being told to. It's maddening to me as well. Let each person find their own path as they stand and look up into the world. Don't worry so much about your neighbor's journey. Wonderful post Riley.