Christian Quotation of the Day, August 8, 2005
Verily, if thou desirest to have the Creator of all
creatures, thou must renounce all creatures; for it cannot be
otherwise, but only insomuch as thy soul is emptied and bared;
the less of the creature, the more of God: this is but a fair
bargain.
... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way
CQOD Compilation Copyright 2005, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page: http://www.cqod.com/
I find it interesting that this quote comes from the 14th century. It clearly represents the breakdown of the medieval synthesis, which taught that goods must be RIGHTLY ORDERED, rather than renounced. I've always found it frustrating when Christians think that in order to know and love the Lord, they must reject what God has himself called "good."
This quote mocks the very idea of the Incarnation, which tells us that in Christ, God empted HIMSELF and entered into His creation. It also seems to deny the power of His sacraments, water and wine, to be means of His grace. All in all, this quote has the sulferous smell of gnosticism to me.
1 comment:
Thanks for letting my readers read your remarks on cqod.blogspot.com. Evidently you are not aware of the preacher Tauler, an early evangelical. He was writing and speaking from a Biblical perspective. The things being rejected are those things apart from God that could claim our allegiance. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Would we express these ideas differently today? I certainly would have, avoiding “thy soul is emptied” because it sounds too much like transcendental meditation, for instance. But what is Tauler’s intent here? It is to generalize the command of Jesus not to love anything above God: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37) Tauler recognizes that this kind of radical commitment is vital and natural to the believer.
As to “mocks the idea of the Incarnation” and “deny the power of the sacraments,” these inferences seem quite far-fetched to me. I am equally puzzled by the charge of “gnosticism.” Perhaps these critiques would be a good subject for discussion over a more substantial sample of Tauler’s writing, which I am unable to give for lack of space in the current medium.
I appreciate your having written.
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