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Fleming Rutledge is a preacher and teacher known throughout the mainline Protestant denominations of the US, Canada and parts of the UK. She is the author of five books and has received a grant from the Louisville Foundation to complete a book about the meaning of the Crucifixion.
One of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, she served for fourteen years on the clergy staff at Grace Church on Lower Broadway at Tenth Street, New York City. A native of Franklin, Virginia, Mrs. Rutledge has been married for forty-five years and has two daughters and two grandchildren.
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Ruminations: Are you absolutely certain, or fairly certain?Monday, July 21, 2008Are you absolutely certain, or fairly certain?Peter Steinfels writes a "Beliefs" column every other week for The New York Times. It is always buried inside, below the fold, and is very difficult to find in the online edition. I am nevertheless encouraging a greater readership of this fine column, always of the highest quality, which has been appearing for at least 15 or 20 years. Steinfels is a Roman Catholic but very conversant with Protestantism.This past Saturday he posed a question about faith and doubt. Acknowledging the difficulty of Christian faith in our era of irony and skepticism, he refers to a Pew Forum poll in which believers choose between "absolutely certain" and "fairly certain" of their beliefs. He wonders if the "fairly certain" might not hold a key to the future of the church in our time, continuing to attend worship and practice the faith in spite of doubts. My guess is that Steinfels himself might be in this category. He puts it this way: "If it turned out that the answers of the 'fairly certain' came even close to those of the 'absolutely certain,' it would confirm the idea of a stable strata [sic] of deeply committed, actively practicing religious believers who have also integrated a significant degree of doubt and uncertainty into their faith." Steinfels calls this the "steady-state hypothesis." As one who has tried to encourage this sort of churchmanship for as long as I can remember, I commend this way of being Christian to those who are not "absolutely certain." We need more "negative capability" (a phrase of John Keats') as a counterbalance to simplistic assertions. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC has been giving a series on the wisdom of the Proverbs, and he (following Gerhard von Rad's lead) is describing wisdom as insight into the complexities of life when there are no clear guidelines to follow. Amen. Here is the link to the Steinfels piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/us/19beliefs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin And here is a link to another column which I found helpful, about the controversy concering homosexuality: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800EFDC1739F93AA15757C0A9669C8B63 And finally, here is a nice one about Rowan Williams when he was first appointed, before Gene Robinson: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905EED9133AF936A25751C0A9659C8B63
Permanent Link for this Post: http://www.generousorthodoxy.org/ruminations/2008/07/are-you-absolutely-certain-or-fairly.htm |
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1 Comments:
Those who confess a "significant degree of doubt and uncertainty" may carry the germs of dissent and questioning that bless the body of Christ with robust, healthy faith.
Among believers who are "fairly certain" and not "absolutely certain" of their beliefs, I expect one might find two distinct subsets.
One group is convicted of the Gospel and committed to serve the living God, but consciously acknowledges the limits of human perception, and especially the limits of words, experience the transcendent. Members of the second group are not entirely in accord with the faith claims of the Church, either by dissent or by indecision.
Though each of these groups may choose the same survey response for different reasons, yet I think they share the same singular blessing: openness.
The "fairly certain" camp confesses their unknowing, and I pray that we may preserve openness to revelation for the sake of the whole body, include the "absolutely certain" camp.
Kirk Vandezande, Toronto
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