Stone Life

Tell me, what are we so afraid of? I realize even before I begin that this may once again reek of offensiveness, and so let me emphasize the use of “we” in my premise. OUR behaviour should seem to us offensive, though. I have stood upon this soapbox more than a few times, but I shall mount it again, because it physically and psychologically pains me to continually encounter what I encountered last night.

Last night was a banner-evening in The Recent World (My final Humanities requirement for my MA), because we got the opportunity in a usually historical, literary or political intensive course to read “The Genealogy of Morals”, a philosophy text by Friedrich Nietzsche. I was thrilled with this selection for several reasons, not the least of which was the fact that I had read the book three times in the last five years or so, and so I would not have to reread it last week. Mainly, I wanted to get Dr. Sullivan’s take on it, because he is mainly a historical-political scholar, and I had only discussed the book in strict philosophical circles up to this point.

What a mess last night turned out to be. We were not five minutes into the lecture, Sullivan giving strictly biographical data about the man, Nietzsche, when snide remarks about his madness begin buzzing about the room and gross generalizations in the questions and comments of the students are all but begged to replace the complexity of the truth of his life. I get it, it is much easier to categorize his “death of God” into a side-effect of syphilitic-madness than to delve into it fully, meeting Nietzsche on his terms and divorcing ourselves from preconceived notions of Judeo-Christian morality, but are we not then acting the role of bigot and dogmatist that we accuse Nietzsche of being himself?

At the halfway point of the three hours we took our customary break, and apparently many took this as their cue to break with decorum and, at the very least, academic integrity, which basically compromised any idea of having civilized discussion for the rest of the evening. Until class ended, the professor continued to be lambasted on all sides by a vocal group of pious individuals who would not concede the most basic points to Nietzsche. The arguments were a specimen in absurdity, from accusing Nietzsche as philologist (person who studies the history and origin of language/words) of not defining his terms correctly, and even extending to the argument against a basic understanding of history and the development of something like the social contract. Nietzsche is thorough in his retelling of history, and he undoubtedly has an agenda in mind in “Genealogy”, but you must approach him with a semblance of rationale, as a philosopher on his terms, otherwise you sound more like an angry child who has been deprived a toy than a scholar.

I will not bore you with a recounting of “Genealogy” and its value for humanity and Christianity; rather, I will repeat: what are we so afraid of?

If we put aside our lexicon of “grace”, “sanctification”, “sin”...etc, and we dialogue with philosophers on their own terms, will we cease to be Christian? Does the reading of dirty-secular-texts absolve us of our faith? Is that what is in fact meant by blasphemy?

Or might we be so bold as to “get a little dirty” and join in actual conversation with those who have gone before us and are still proclaiming their gospels loudly today? One cannot go to a Protestant church without hearing about “servant-evangelism” or “meeting people where they are”, but it appears that this only applies to the homeless of the abused, to the neglected or the poor, not the scholar, not the artist. We will serve meals to the homeless on Thanksgiving as a sign of Christ’s love for ALL people, but we will not be approachable when it comes to matters that question our faith. It is as if we showed up to the T-giving Day meal, but only served those who could show their proof of employment and homeowner’s insurance.

If we believe God’s truth to be truth, if we hold that nothing can separate us from His love, and if we agree that there is an imperative to proclaim the gospel to ALL people, we must be not afraid to engage the culture we live in. We might have to concede a few points here and there, we can certainly “claim back [truth] as if from its unjust possessors”, but you will have to get your hands a bit dirty. I am not advocating that we all read Nietzsche, far from it, but I am asking that we approach our various disciplines with a measure (large-measure) of grace and liberality.