As I was catching up with the blogs I like to read, Baxter Kruger was the first to have added a new post since last time, as I ran down that list. And he seems to touch on some of the things I have been pondering in my last few posts about truth and reality. Baxter often talks about us needing the prescription changed on our glasses which also reminds me of hearing Paul Young say that we all continue to want our oil changed but unless we have the filter changed along with it we will continue to process things in the same way. I believe this is what Ellul is basically speaking of also in his book The Humiliation of the Word, the book (content) that I have been processing openly here over the past few days, well actually for the past couple years.
So, today I'm going to link to Baxter's blog and let him help out here a little bit since he says it in just a little bit different way. Ellul is certainly diving deeper in his study of why we find ourselves acting as we do in the situation we find ourselves but Baxter draws attention to the problem it creates for us.
3 comments:
Kent,
I thought that Baxter's post was excellent as well, and immediately saw the connection to what you've been writing about.
I spent some time today re-reading your posts, and pondering what you've said about Ellul's discussion of Reality and Truth. I did have a thought about the role of images in revelation, along with the spoken word. It seems to me that Father used powerful visual images through visions, dreams, or just amazing acts, although most if not all were accompanied by verbal explanations.
As an example, Peter's vision while in Joppa would have been meaningless apart from the "rise, kill and eat", and "What God has called clean, do not consider to be unclean." The spoken word put all the meaning into the images. But what power entered into that meaning as a result of what Peter had "seen" three times over.
Of course, I'm not reading the whole book yet, so there is no doubt more that Ellul has to say about all this. But I just thought I'd pass on my musings, and see what you thought.
Bones
Kent, aka Music Man :)
I like what you've been sharing Bro!
Here's a link you might like, music wise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd8X7_y-OX4
Rich, thanks for the link to the song. Pretty appropriate.
Ron, images do play a part and Ellul seems to be addressing the difficulty created when images become the over riding dominate influence, of which they have certainly become in our time...especially in Western culture.
Images become a more powerful influence in shaping us then the spoken word...that is unless we begin to recognise what has happened and begin the process of learning to live free of it.
The example that you used is a wonderful one.
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