Straight From The Horses Mouth

Posted by Jonathan Brink
November 24, 2009

horse

“We all have a hunger for certitude.  And the problem is the Gospel is not about certitude, it’s about fidelity.  So what we all want to do if we can is immediately transpose fidelity into certitude.  Because fidelity is a relational category and certitude is a flat mechanical category.  So we have to acknowledge our thirst for certitude, and then recognize if you had all the certitudes in the world, it would not make the quality of your life any better, because what we must have is fidelity.”

Walter Brueggemann – Emergent Conversation – 2004 – Day One Part One (16:55)

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The Horses Mouth, theology

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  • I don't understand this quote at all... I know that fidelity is faithfulness, and my best definition of certitude is having certainty of something. Is there a greater context? I feel like the gospel is full of certainties? Or I should just read easier books...
  • I have watched those lectures so many times and each time I get something new. They are so rich! I watched that one just the other day, actually. And I picked up on that same quote. I also appreciated what he had to say about the Jewish tradition being okay with the tradition couched as an ongoing dialogue about the text, as opposed to the prevailing Christian notion that we have to have it nailed down.
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