Tag Archives: unknowing
The Way of Unknowing
Unknowing The Way of Unknowing Friday, February 5, 2021 Descriptions of the “dark night of the soul” from the Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542–1591) have become the marker by which many Christians measure their own experience of unknowing. He fits an entire life spent exploring God’s mystery into memorable poetry, and even dares… Continue Reading The Way of Unknowing
Faith and Doubt Are Not Opposites
Unknowing Faith and Doubt Are Not Opposites Wednesday, February 3, 2021 The imagination should be allowed a certain freedom to browse around. —Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action Basic religious faith is a vote for some coherence, purpose, benevolence, and direction in the universe. Unfortunately, the notion of faith that emerged in the West was… Continue Reading Faith and Doubt Are Not Opposites
Love Is the Movement; Doubt Is the Method
Unknowing Love Is the Movement; Doubt Is the Method Tuesday, February 2, 2021 Candlemas Day [1] Today Brian McLaren shares brilliantly how doubt has often been a tool of love, drawing him ever closer to the heart of God. Applying his four-fold spiritual growth process of Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony to himself, Brian writes:… Continue Reading Love Is the Movement; Doubt Is the Method
Doubt: A Necessary Tool for Growth
Unknowing Doubt: A Necessary Tool for Growth Monday, February 1, 2021 My good friend and colleague Brian McLaren’s recently published book, Faith After Doubt, shows how doubt and periods of unknowing are necessary for spiritual growth. Brian proposes a four-stage growth process of Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony. He writes: Doubt, it turns out, is… Continue Reading Doubt: A Necessary Tool for Growth
The Inadequacy of Words
Unknowing The Inadequacy of Words Sunday, January 31, 2021 My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways. . . . As high as the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are beyond your ways, and my thoughts are beyond your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9) Jesus had been formed by this… Continue Reading The Inadequacy of Words
Knowing and Not Knowing: Weekly Summary
Knowing and Not Knowing Sunday, January 26–Friday, January 31, 2020 Alongside all our knowing must be the equal and honest “knowing that I do not know.” (Sunday) It is amazing how religion has turned the biblical idea of faith into a need and even a right to certain knowing, complete predictability, and perfect assurance about whom God… Continue Reading Knowing and Not Knowing: Weekly Summary
Love: The Highest Form of Knowing
Knowing and Not Knowing Love: The Highest Form of Knowing Friday, January 31, 2020 My good friend, Franciscan sister and scientist Ilia Delio, has written a wonderful autobiography. In it she recounts how her parents decided to name her Denise. (She would have been named Denis had she been a boy.) Later in life, she was delighted to find a… Continue Reading Love: The Highest Form of Knowing
God Cannot Be Thought
Knowing and Not Knowing God Cannot Be Thought Thursday, January 30, 2020 Augustinian priest Fr. Martin Laird is an author, retreat leader, and professor of early Christian studies at Villanova University. He is a gifted teacher who makes the history and practice of Christian contemplation accessible to people of all backgrounds. Here he relates the… Continue Reading God Cannot Be Thought
The Cloud of Unknowing
Knowing and Not Knowing The Cloud of Unknowing Wednesday, January 29, 2020 God, it seems, cannot really be known, but only related to. Or, as the mystics would assert, we know God by loving God, by trusting God, by placing our hope in God. It is a non-possessive, non-objectified way of knowing. It is always… Continue Reading The Cloud of Unknowing