More catching up on books

As well as finishing Quicksilver on my holidays, I dealt with some of that pile of old theology books that my dad gave me a while back. The problem with these seems to have been that I started with the wrong book! Because it was at the top of the pile, and not too long, I began with The Shaking of the Foundations by Paul Tillich. The problem is, I simply couldn’t get into it. It’s got something to do with the way he talks – he’s a relentless modernist who talks about God in the abstract, in the mould of the ancient Greeks, who imagined that they could define God into existence. So, after slogging my way to the halfway point, I decided to give up. I just don’t get on with Tillich, I guess. Don’t get me wrong – there are some good thoughts in there, but it was just too much hard work finding them.

The name of this infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of all being is ‘God‘. That depth is what the word ‘God‘ means. And if that word has not much meaning for you, translate it, and speak of the depths of your life, of the source of your being, of your ultimate concern, of what you take seriously without any reservation. Perhaps, in order to do so, you must forget everything traditional that you have learned about God, perhaps even that word itself. For if you know the God means depth, you know much about Him.

After that, though, I’ve got stuck into No Broken Swords by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This book of his early letters, addresses and papers is much more like it. For a start, Bonhoeffer placed the Incarnation of Christ at the heart of his thinking. He is concerned with living a life in relationship with Christ, and what that means. Once I’ve got some more read, I’ll undoubtedly have more to say :-) For now, suffice to say that I’m enjoying it!