Zizek

Tyler and I saw this philosopher at Calvin a few weeks ago and he was an interesting character at the least. Here is some information seth sent me about his ideas and I also heard about, but have not yet seen, a video recording of his speech on some website. So we could maybe find that out too. Thanks

***UPDATE***
I posted this at The Church and Postmodern Culture:

The Calvin English Dept. has streaming video of the lecture here: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engl/
The quality of the video/audio is very good.There are about 6 minutes of milling about before Zizek says anything but, in classic Zizek fashion, his first words are "...it's kind of an aggressive phallic..." in reference to the microphone.

Christinity: Tragedy or Comedy?
Geoff Holsclaw's notes from Slavoj Zizek (an atheist Protestant) “Only an Atheist Can Believe: Politics between Fear and Trembling” given at Calvin College on November, 10th, 2006.
For those of you who have never read anything by Zizek, well, his lectures are exactly the same: entertainingly full of pop-cultural references, able to keep capture the attention of the ADHD generation through frequent (if not confusing) jumps in topic; and simultaneously keeping things light, yet able to sustain a certain gravity to the issues discussed.
It would take too long to summarize all the twists and turns of Zizek’s presentation, so instead I will focus on the themes of tragedy and comedy.
As fate would have it, just before hearing Zizek’s lecture, my wife and I saw “Stranger than Fiction,” a film about a woman writing a book, but the main character is a real person who hears her narrating his life. Eventually ending up at the door of a literary professor, he is told that the main thing is to find out if his story is a tragedy or a comedy. The professor explains that comedies affirm the continuity of Life and end in a wedding, but that tragedies express the inevitability of Death, ending with the demise of the hero.
So the question before us concerns whether Christianity is a tragedy or a comedy.
Zizek began his lecture interrogating two recent films concerning the events of 9/11: Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center and also United 93.
The problem that Zizek has with these films is that they are terribly apolitical, both avoiding the context and situation of the event, and resisting the horror of their actual occurrence. Instead these seek to inspire the audience, to bring out the best in the American people. Zizek claims these films (as with most catastrophe movies) offer us an implicit “Blessing in Disguise” theology. What he means by this is that they seek to inspire us by giving these tragedies a redemptive meaning. But for Zizek this attempt at giving disaster a meaning is ultimately a pagan aspiration of inscribing everything into a unified whole.
But for Zizek, Christianity is not about giving tragedy a meaning. Zizek turns initially to the Biblical story of Job to confront the pagan political theology of “blessing in disguise.” You can always tell a story to inspire and make sense of things, and this is exactly what Job’s friend attempt to do. But Job refuses to make sense of it all. He refuses to give an understandable meaning to his circumstances. Giving meaning to everything, even the disasters, is a pagan process of bringing the universe into a unified totality, even if through the tragic perspective. It brings the excessiveness of the human situation back into an understandable frame of reference. The gesture of Job is to refuse to fall into this pagan discourse.
So for Zizek, Christianity is not a Tragedy, attempting to reinsert a minimal order and meaning, but instead, as revealed on the Cross, the God of transcendent Order, giving meaning from above to our darkest hours, dies. The Cross reveals that there is no One to give reasons beyond humanity, beyond the God working within human history and freedom.
Excursus on Fundamentalism:The problem with Fundamentalism is that it, like Tragedy, attempts of giving a clear meaning to everything. It attempts to fill in all the Gaps. But Belief is full of gaps. That is what makes it faith, not certainty. Belief is never belief concerning the facts, but rather between the facts, or rather is itself counter-factual. The problem with fundamentalism is that it obliterates all the gaps, or rather fills them all in, such that there is utter continuity between faith and facts. But this reall y ends up being the end of faith, the end of belief. Usually this loss of faith is manifest in a believers life in a moment of disaster where they realize they haven’t had faith for a long time. Fundamentalism, for Fact-amentalism destroys the gaps within which faith grows.
Fundamentalism is congruous with the films such as World Trade Center and United 93 because they are seek to give a definite meaning to all circumstances, which even in its tragic form, is a return to pagan universal holism (everything has its place). In this we can see how it is that conservative evangelical theology falls in line with Bush administration politics.
But if Christianity is not a Tragedy, then it must be a Comedy right? Well, yes, but not like you might think. According to Stranger than Fiction, a Comedy is life affirming, and doesn’t the Book of Revelation end with the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Sounds like a Comedy to me.
But for Zizek, Comedy is not merely life affirming. While Tradegy pretends to stare straight into the horror of death, ultimately it turns away from the meaninglessness of Death, replacing it with a reason, a “blessing is disguise.” But for Zizek, Comedy is an indirect means of looking into the meaningless of death, and the horrors of life. He draws our attention to movies of the holocaust. A movie, a tragedy, which brought us right into the life and death of the concentration camp would be profane. How could a movie really attempt to portray the “blessing in disguise” of the death camps. Impossible! But a Comedy could depict this meaninglessness, even if indirectly, where we laugh to keep us from crying.
Now there was quite a bit more that Zizek discussed, but I will finish here with Zizek’s suggestion that Christianity offers a political theology, not of the pagan variety bringing meaning into the disaster, but rather a political theology of Christian Comedy, able to look at the horrors of life, not demeaning them by giving them meaning, and thereby offering a particularly powerful position for bringing about change in all areas of life.
Asides (from Q/A session):
1) The prohibition not to make idols in OT is not meant to lead to mysticism (lacking conceptual/aesthetic form), but rather to point us always back to the truth that God is found within humanity in the face of the neighbor. The image of God is found in the redeemed community, it is not a denial of cognative or aesthetic representations.
2) Zizek the Protestant: Zizek is against Eastern Orthodox view of theosis and its attempt at union with God. How could an atheist ever buy into that? But he is also against Catholicism because of it “symbolic exchange”. That’s what he said and I have no idea what he means by this. He says that Protestantism expresses what Christianity always was. It is the true rendering of Christianity.
Geoff's Thoughts: I’m not sure what to make of it that an atheist could feel so secure with Protestantism. Does that means we are already so fall off the path that an atheist finds it so inviting, or just that it picture of redemption is so compelling an atheist can’t resist it?
3) Predestination is Right On!: Asked by an astute, and very Reformed student, how Zizek’s account of freedom might relate to predestination, Zizek responded, “Yes, salvation is not about good deeds. It is predestination!” The predestinational paradox that our salvation is already decided, we just don’t know it, that it is a type of retroactive constitution of necessity, is very appealing to Zizek. Or as he says, “True Freedom is about choosing your necessity. True Freed is not a choice between deserts (cake or brownies), but a compulsion of destinies (to join the freedom fighter, the civil rights movement, acting justly).”

And finally I also don't know what to say about Chevrolet. Oh well.
Love,
Lander

Round-Up (Updated)

UPDATE***I also wanted to add this link at opensouretheology concerning the whole Bible Super Store deal and at least adding another facet to the conversation - I was absolutely speachless after the commercial that you can watch at the beginning of the article.***

A couple of interesting things I found on the 'Net this week:

Kruse Kronicle was mentioned by me before but they guy writes so much on such a diverse set of topics that I must link again to him. He tackles the role of women in church but if you search around his blog you will find all sorts of stuff - from economics, climate initiative and neanderthal DNA to T-Bone Burnett, emerging church and pink jail cells. Kruse writes a lot and writes well.

Another place I frequent, Internet Monk, has done a piece called Do Chinese Students Need an American Jesus? I thought I would mention it as a thread (or sutra) of my thought lately has been translating Christianity into other cultures as per the New Buddhism article, the African Creed and a couple conversations with friends.

Lastly, the topic of Universalism is floating around still. Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank is a good collection of bloggers and has just mentioned an NPR broadcast on church leaders catching heat for questioning Hell. An author trying to avoid this same fate has written a book under the pseudonym of Gregory Macdonald (two people who inspired his search) called The Evangelical Universalist. Leaving Munster, a very interesting Anabaptist blog, has done a two-part interview with "Gregory." And then to top off the massive link to Jason Clark's blog where he provides links to D.W. Congdon's collection of links - it reminds me of this - the way links work, not anyone's communist leanings.

-seth

Difficult

I am not sure what to think or do. There is a lot I could say on the subect but I need to think more. An airport is also not the best suited for me to think in, but nonetheless. This article has a few points worth considering. I added the italics. Thanks. Lander
11.09.2006 Thursday - ISTANBUL 21:26

[COMMENTARY]
The Saddam Hussein Death SentencebyRichard Falk
The timing of the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein, so suspiciously convenient for Republican aspirations in the mid-term elections, will only deepen the sectarian tensions in Iraq, fanning further the flames of civil war.
While President Bush predictably greeted the news as yet another ‘milestone’ in the effort of the Iraqi people ‘to replace the rule of the tyrant with the rule of law,’ a less partisan reaction would lament the timing as intensifying sectarian strife in Iraq that has by now become a civil war intertwined with a war of resistance.
The American stage-managing of this judicial process in Baghdad has been evident to close observers all along. It always seemed legally dubious to initiate a criminal trial against Saddam Hussein while the American occupation was encountering such strong resistance by Saddam loyalists, especially as the US-led invasion was widely regarded throughout the world as itself embodying the crime of aggressive war, a crime for which surviving Nazi leaders were charged and punished at Nuremberg after World War II. This reality constitutes a fundamental flaw in this whole judicial process. In effect, why Saddam Hussein? Or differently, why not George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld?
The cost of this political opportunism by the United States goes beyond the narrow circumstances of this trial. No one doubts that Saddam Hussein and the other defendants were substantively guilty of crimes against humanity when they killed 148 civilians in the town of Dujail back in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt; collective punishment is an international crime whatever the provocation. But the potential contribution to building a legal tradition of accountability applicable to political leaders has been undermined in this instance by the circumstances and auspices of the this tribunal, and by the way the prosecution proceeded. Defense lawyers were not adequately protected, and three were killed; evidence presented to the tribunal was not made available to the defense in advance; the judge was switched midway through because he was alleged to be too permissive toward those accused; there were no international judges on the tribunal; and some of the evidence appeared to be fabricated. Justice is not done if the appearance of justice is not present. This is particularly true if there is deep political cleavage about whether those accused should be prosecuted in the first place.
Finally, the impact of this death sentence is morally and politically questionable. At this point, internationally, a death sentence is not considered to be an acceptable punishment; the International Criminal Court, and other international criminal tribunals, reject capital punishment as an option. Almost all political democracies in the world have done away with the death penalty, and so to impose it here, especially by way of hanging, can only be regarded as an expression of primitive vindictiveness, an act of vengeance far more than an expression of justice that brings discredit to the whole process.
Politically, as the sectarian demonstrations throughout Iraq have already demonstrated, the verdict at this point by an Iraqi tribunal acting under the authority of the American occupier, intensifies the problematic situation in the country. It fans the flames of Sunni/Shi’ia strife, which possesses most of the characteristics of a civil war, and it reinforces the impression of an aggressive occupier imposing its historical narrative on a still deeply divided society. It also poses a dilemma. If the death sentence is carried out, it will ensure Saddam Hussein’s status as a Sunni martyr, and make even more unlikely an accommodation among Iraqis as an alternative to civil war. On the other hand if the sentence is not carried out, it will give further evidence that this is a political, not a legal, process, and sadly, encourage the most cynical views of these efforts to hold political leaders responsible for crimes of state. As well, it will sustain Saddam Hussein’s claim to be still the leader of the Iraqi people, a hero in captivity.
All in all, the outcome of this first trial against the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein, should have been internationalized, or at the very least, waited until normalcy had been restored in Iraq. To convert this criminal process into a tool to vindicate the narrative of the Bush administration as to what was achieved in Iraq by the invasion and occupation was itself misguided even if the only audience was here in the United States. By now, even naïve America no longer listens when Washington claims that another milestone establishes progress in the war. As the milestones pile up, so do the bodies!
November 06, 2006

Found this at Opus...

A great reflection by one of my favorite writers / bloggers.

http://www.opuszine.com/blog/entry.html?ID=3229

-ryan

Prayer Labyrinth and New Buddhism

The Prayer Path has been up and running now for a couple days. I don't know why it was changed from Labyrinth to Path, maybe Labyrinth has too many scary Minotaurs connected to it like David Bowie. And to tag off of Daniel's excellent news, this is a small, humble way to experience an ancient practise here in our very big, modern, faceless building (godblessit!) .

Also, I found this paper on the way of Jesus as New Buddhism. I was a little raw from the small view of Buddhism (but I suppose if it is limited to popular Thai Buddhism then it is excusable) and I didn't exactly like the wording of a God who owns Heaven and decides who can get in and who doesn't but these are minor little semantics I'm splitting. It is an interesting viewpoint of how to do evangelism and how culture interacts with the Good News (or the Dharma). Check it out.

Ancient Faith for the Church's Future

Autumn is upon us. As you all are gathering around the fire with your hot cup of tea on these cold evenings, pondering the coming months ahead, I know you all are imagining what to do once springtime arrives. Even if you are not, it is never too early to begin looking to the future, especially when it concerns Wheaton College's annual theology conference. Why would any of you want to take the sixteen hour trek out to the cold-hinterlands of Chicago, Illinois when you could be spending the time in lovely colorado, you might ask? Well simply because the conference this year will be focusing on some things near and dear to our hearts.

The conference is entitled "Ancient Faith for the Church's Future" and to quote from the website "One of the most promising developments among evangelical Protestants is the recent rediscovery of the rich biblical, spiritual, and theological treasures to be found within the early church. This conference focuses on the life and thought of the early church with a view towards the future asking: How do we appropriate the riches of the ancient church in ways that are both faithful to its own world and relevant to ours? In what ways do the ancient practices of spiritual life and devotion inform and sustain a vital contemporary spirituality and practice of reading the Bible? What does the emergent Christianity hope to find in the ancient faith and how does it represent a vital catalyst to the development of faithful community and witness? Is the ancient church the first example of emergent Christianity?" As one who is somewhat uneasy about some of the directions the Emergent Church is going and as one who is not-quite willing to identify himself with that moniker (i know ironic, coming on a website entitled "CoEmergentCo), I am definitely interested to look into attening the conference as it will be featuring folks associated with the Emergent movement like Tony Jones, and those outside of it but who still think it has some compelling things to speak into our current situation like Ray Anderson. i am interested to partake in the dialogue which will be going on there.Anyway, all that to say, I know it is a ways off and you all have plenty of time to think about it, but I would definitely be interested in road tripping out for the conference (April 14-17 I believe) simply because the Wheaton theology conference is realisitically one of the best theology conferences in the country (i know, a somewhat inflated claim) which has really dealt with some of the pressing issues to the church in recent years (women in ministry, the question of the church, beauty and the arts (or often lack therein) and Christianity) and it looks like it could be quite exceptional this year as it seeks to move forward as the global face of christianity is chaning. i could probably find some friends we could stay with, so lodging wouldn't be a problem. anyway, think about it and let me know if you'd be interested, it's a ways away, but i thought i'd mention it now. check out the link above for complete info as well as a list of all the speakers and the schedule.

daniel

The Bible Superstore Signs

If you are reading this, it might mean that you've seen our signs on the bulletin board outside the Bible Superstore. Perhaps you have come here for further explanation.

First off, let us introduce ourselves. CoEmergentCo is shorthand for Colorado Emergent Cohort. We are a group of mostly college-age kids who have chosen to join God as He saves the world.

(for more info on what emergent cohorts really are, go to http://emergent-us.typepad.com/cohorts/)

Here's an explanation of each sign that appeared on the bulletin board:

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE IS A DEN OF THIEVES. Jesus called the temple a den of thieves when He turned over the moneychangers' tables and disrupted their business. (see Matthew 21:12-13). He was outraged that they were exploiting the worship ceremony for profit. The contemporary equivalent is the Bible Superstore, which traffics in worship CDs, worship compilations, worship books, worship calendars, and well, just go in and see for yourself! And all at high prices, higher than most other "secular" media outlets. Go and compare prices for yourself!

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE EXPLOITS THE NAME OF GOD FOR MONEY. A similar sentiment to the previous sign, but including mass-produced t-shirts, keychains, ballpoint pens, greeting cards, and even mints plastered with the name of our Creator and our Savior. These things are completely unnecessary for Christ-like living. On the contrary, they trivialize and dilute the name of God. What a sad, disgusting practice compared with Jewish tradition, which holds the name of God so sacred that it is never even written down.

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE GETS AWAY WITH SELLING MEDIOCRE MUSIC, BOOKS, AND ART. The Christian niche market is perhaps the easiest to break into, for here it is not talent, passion, or excellence that matter, but the fact that something is labelled "Christian." Such as Christian Music, Christian Books, etc. The Left Behind series is a fitting example. It is full of one-sided characters, shoddy plot-kneading, and plenty of stilted dialogue. It is pulp fiction in the highest, successful as a high-paced page turner, but an utter failure as excellent art. But the fact that it is set in the "end times," and references a popular Christian interpretation of Revelation (as a prediction of the future rather than its original context as coded Jewish apocalyptic), the series has sold millions and in turn made Jenkins and LaHaye millionaires.

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE PROMOTES CONSUMERISM. As Christians we should be finding a cure for capitalism, striving for a better day when everything, including time, is not money. The way to do this is not to set up yet another store in which to buy products. More in the next entry.

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE IS A SAFE PLACE FOR CHRISTIANS. A common habit among Christians is to pull away from culture in an effort to maintain one's own personal purity or rightousness. Christians are constantly seeking "wholesome alternatives" to "secular" media. The Bible Superstore preys upon this escapism, offering a safe haven where Christians can spend their money without having to sort anything out on their own. It allows Christians to indulge their consumerist urges, but still somehow feel good about it, just because they bought something with the name Jesus on it. As followers of Christ, we are not meant to be timid escapists, afraid of "bad influences," hiding in a bubble with WayFM. No, we are meant to be a powerful force in the world, changing it for the better, joining with God as He saves it. We must not seek safety; we must start a dangerous revolution of love and reconciliation.

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE IS PART OF A MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY. As stated above, smart businesses have learned how to profit from Christian escapism. Read this and this with a few more stats. Also, this report is just sickening. The words "Christian" and "market" should never go together. The essence of Jesus's message was "Give away all you have. Do not store up treasure on earth."

THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE WILL TAKE DOWN THESE SIGNS BECAUSE THEY ARE BAD FOR BUSINESS. Although these signs proclaim truth, they will still come down quickly. Because the pursuit of truth, another central theme in Jesus's teachings, is not what the Superstore is interested in.

EVERY DOLLAR YOU SPEND AT THE BIBLE SUPERSTORE IS A DOLLAR YOU COULD HAVE GIVEN TO THE HOMELESS. STOP BUYING CHRISTIAN TRINKETS AND START SAVING THE WORLD.

Granted, there are a few good things for sale at the Superstore, such as books by C.S. Lewis. But there are other places to find these, like the library. The Bible is another thing to acquire elsewhere. The Gideons will give you one for free, as it should be. Selling a Bible is perhaps the most opposite thing to Jesus's message.

I would like to add a clause if I may:

I don't think these statements apply directly to the intentions and motivations of the owners of the Bible Superstore. This does not cut the legs out from under the truth of the post but simply avoids the presumption that we can judge the hearts and minds of those involved, whether in ownership or employment, with the store. I believe this store is not a problem in itself but rather is a sore - a manifestation of the greater disease that is thriving in the Church catholic.

With that in mind, the solution to this sickness, rather than attacking the sore that is only the result of the sickness, is to take the above truths (or simply the Truth, Jesus) into our lives which would make consumerism null and void

Please leave comments, rants, arguments, agreements, etc. They can even be anonymous, we don't mind. We just want to start a conversation that hopefully leads to a better world.

a very cool guy

I discovered a like-minded Fort Collinser!

Here's his blog. I left him a comment, hoping to get in touch.

-ryan

Humble Us Through the Violence of Your Love

"Gracious God, humble us through the violence of your love so we are able to know and confess our sins. We want our sins to be interesting, but, God forgive us, they are so ordinary: envy, hatred, meanness, pride, self-centeredness, laziness, boredom, lying, lust, stinginess and so on. You have saved us from "and so on" to be a royal people able to witness to the world that the powers that make us such ordinary sinners have been defeated. so capture our attention with the beauty of your life that the ugliness of sin may be seen as just that--ugly. God, how wonderful it is to be captivated by you. Amen"

--Stanley Hauerwas