Page 6 of 7 | Original Research
do not exist. Stories or narratives are the woof and warp of the human experience, always on the go, in process, on trial. However, this does not mean relativism. Rather, the fact that creation is in process, on trial, on the way – and this deserves underlining, indeed headlining – is an ethical call to increased vigilance. Every decision we take makes a difference – whether for good or for evil. Responsibility, in Postmodernism, is once more front and centre.
Whereas in Modernism, ‘freedom-from’ is the first word,
Postmodernism insists that, before anyone says yes or no to the call of the other, we are already summoned to be
responsible for the other. The face of the other, says Jewish
philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, convicts us, calling us to responsibility (Olthuis 1997). As a result, in contrast to Modernism’s focus on solving the problem in order to maximise individual freedom, the ethos of Postmodernism is: listen to the singular who! See the suffering. Respond! Be wary of the human propensity for violence and evil – including our own. Act justly with compassion without any pretensions that we have the final solution. And pray without ceasing! Looking at responsibility as the first word reinterprets freedom, not in terms of being free from, but, in biblical terms, as being free to love and minister to the other.
This ethical call to responsibility is not only congenial with
the ethos of the Gospel, as I read it, but it also challenges
us to readjust and refocus our worldview formulations. In our usual articulations of a reformational worldview, the place and role of suffering has not been given the place and
attention that it deserves. There is a pressing need for that to change.
I still remember with surprise and shock when I read, as if for
the first time, that we are ‘heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him …’ (Rm 8:17). Then, my
eyes opened, I discovered that this theme of suffering with
Christ is underlined and highlighted by Peter and Paul. Peter
encourages us, ‘if you can have some share in the sufferings
of Christ, be glad …’ (1 Pt 4:13). Paul, in Philippians 3:10,
challenges his readers to imitate Christ by sharing in his
suffering by becoming like him in his death if somehow we may attain to the resurrection of the dead. In Colossians 1:24, we are called to be part of Christ’s continuing ministry of compassion, ‘completing’, as did Paul, ‘what is lacking in
Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church’. And, particularly in view of the current environmental crisis, it is important to recall that Paul, in Romans 8, goes on to tell us that the entire creation is ‘groaning in pain’ awaiting on tiptoes, as it were, for the revelation of the sons and daughters of God.
Jesus, in Matthew 25, gives us a clue as to how we are to
suffer with him. The righteous, he reports, will ask: When did we feed you, visit, or clothe you? Then, the ‘King will
answer, ’Inasmuch as you did this to one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ As God is compassionate, and as God is with us (Emmanuel), so we are to be with others. As God suffers with those who suffer, we are called to suffer-with. In contrast to involuntary suffering from that we all undergo, it is crucial to understand that we
are called to a suffering-with. Suffering-with is a voluntary
act in which there is the liberating power not only to resist
suffering, but also to redeem creation. With-ing is the way
to be, it is the way of love (Olthuis 2006). Right in that
sentence, I see the beginning of a Christian post-postmodern
worldview. Not fusion with the other, nor abandonment of the other, not rescue or persecution of the other, but being with the other in blessing, suffering-with and celebratingwith. Each day anew we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in us.
Whereas Modernism seems fixated on its need to control,
dominate and exploit reality with all its attendant oppression
and injustice, Postmodernism, with all of the positive features that I have noted above, is nevertheless so impacted by the unspeakable atrocities that afflict us, so mesmerised by the human penchant for evil, that, even as it works for and longs for the coming of justice, it seems captive to the fear that, finally, we live only by Chance and, in the end, there is only death.
God: Trinity of Love
Right at this juncture in human history, it strikes me that there is a novel and abundant opportunity for Christians to confess anew, that because God is Love and that Love is stronger than death, we live, not by Fortune or Blind Chance, but by Grace and Truth. Such a vision of and for Love encapsulates the heart of what could be called a Christian post-postmodern worldview. It is a vision we bear witness to in all humility, not as those who possess the truth, but as those who, overwhelmed by the depth and width of the Love of God which they experience, are eager to invite others to share and join in.
God is love itself, ipsum amore. Only as communion can God be at all: that is, as the Trinity of Love. Out of the overflowing of the excess and passion of Love itself the creation came into being. Eberhard Jüngel (1983:327) says it well: God is Unoriginate Origin because God ‘alone can begin to love without any reason, and always has begun to love’. God alone, as creator, does not have to be loved in order to love. God as Love is the origin of love. Love is therefore not a property of being. Love is the very mode of God’s existence. If God is love, creation will be. If God is love, God could not be God without creating. ‘To be God is to be Creator of the world’ (LaCugna 1973:355). God as Love seeks the other, disseminating, overflowing. With-ing is God’s passion. Compassion is God’s best name. God-with-us is who God is: Love. And because God is creator of the world ex amore (Olthuis 2008:155–170), the ultimate dynamic of the world is also to be found in love. We find our identity through participating in the divine dynamic of love. We are called to love in response to being loved (gifted) into existence.
