'instrumentum conjunctum cum deo'

I've enjoyed Alan Jamieson's Chrysalis - a good analysis of what it is to move from a pre-critical expression of faith, through a desert, darknight faith existence, into post-critical faith.

Jamieson develops:
  • French Philosopher Paul Ricoeur's description of move from 'naivete of faith through a desert of criticism and into a second naivete of faith';
  • Fowler's 'move from a conventional faith into a period of faith dislocation and self-focused exploration towards a paradoxical and mystical understanding of faith embraced with deep integrity';
  • Briege O'Hare's transition from certainty to searching and on to intimacy and
  • Brueggemann's threefold description of movement in the prayers of the psalms from orientation to disorientation and on to reorientation.

Jamieson uses the metaphor of the development of caterpillar through chrysalis to emergence as a butterfly to explain the stages of faith that for so many have either been ignored or left unexplained. I like where Jamieson finishes, nothing like a bit of Latin to look good - 'instrumentum conjunctum cum deo' is the place where 'we become the instruments in the purposes of God... fashioned, shaped and prepared for use', Jamieson sums it up by saying.
"As we live the way we were designed to live, we thrive. This is what we were meant to do. What initially seemed awkward very quickly becomes graceful. We can become an 'instrumentum conjunctum cum deo': an instrument shaped to the contours of the hand of God. This is the ultimate purpose of the transformative faith journey" (Jamieson, A. 2008:78)
Jamieson, A. (2008). Chrysalis: The Hidden Transformation in the Journey of Faith. Carlisle: Paternoster.

Comments

Anonymous said…
didn't realise there was so much to belief and not sure about whether there is!!
9:20 AM
JDK said…
Sounds interesting - I'll add it to the list (Just started Fred Brown's 'Faith Without Religion'). We use a DVD series here called 'Living the Questions' in which Marcus Borg talks about the movement from pre-critical naivete, through critical thinking to post-critical naivete. It's worth checking out (www.livingthequestions.com), in addition to Borg, appearances are made by Brueggemann, John Dominic Crossan, Hans Kung, John Cobb and a number of other first class theological thinkers.

Regards, JDK
12:30 PM
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