Monday, November 06, 2006
On the 'recovery' of Christianity III
(Read/listen to Part 1 on Day1, formerly The Protestant Hour).
(Read/listen to Part 2).
The Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers is senior minister of Mayflower Congregational (UCC) Church in Oklahoma City and professor of rhetoric in the philosophy department at Oklahoma City University.
For two weeks on this program, I have been talking about the imagination--that distinctly human faculty that makes time and space travelers out of all of us-and its role in making us more humane. For until we imagine what it is like, what it is really like to be the other person, we cannot love them wisely or well.
The imagination is a fantastic thing. It can take us anywhere, like mental stowaways, or what the airline industry calls "un-ticketed travelers," without having to leave the spot we are standing on. Long before there was something called cyberspace, the imagination could log us on to any address in the universe-across the street or across the galaxy.
I began the series by saying that the essential premise of the gospel is that when we are born we are locked into a prison of sorts, a prison of self, and that the empathic imagination is the key that can unlock the door and set us free. In fact, the same premise is assumed in the words of Jesus when he says, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
This assumes that most human problems result from our failure to embrace what we "cannot imagine," or what may seem impossible. ...
--ER
(Read/listen to Part 2).
The Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers is senior minister of Mayflower Congregational (UCC) Church in Oklahoma City and professor of rhetoric in the philosophy department at Oklahoma City University.
For two weeks on this program, I have been talking about the imagination--that distinctly human faculty that makes time and space travelers out of all of us-and its role in making us more humane. For until we imagine what it is like, what it is really like to be the other person, we cannot love them wisely or well.
The imagination is a fantastic thing. It can take us anywhere, like mental stowaways, or what the airline industry calls "un-ticketed travelers," without having to leave the spot we are standing on. Long before there was something called cyberspace, the imagination could log us on to any address in the universe-across the street or across the galaxy.
I began the series by saying that the essential premise of the gospel is that when we are born we are locked into a prison of sorts, a prison of self, and that the empathic imagination is the key that can unlock the door and set us free. In fact, the same premise is assumed in the words of Jesus when he says, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
This assumes that most human problems result from our failure to embrace what we "cannot imagine," or what may seem impossible. ...
--ER
