Kierkegaard's Ghost Story

I've got to get a post up on the DWI arrest of Timberwolves' power forward Al Jefferson. But it's Lent - and I'm committed to taking account of Kierkegaard's For Self-Examination. (Al Jefferson, one suspects, is doing his own version of that as well.)

Tonight, I read a section in which SK, in discussing faith as a "turbulent thing," seemed to summon Luther from the dead to make a point:

I assume, then, that Luther has risen from his grave. For many years he has lived among us - unknown. For many years he has considered the life we have led, has been observant of all others in this respect, and also of me. I assume that he speaks to me one day and asks, "Are you a believer? Do you have faith?"

In this beyond-the-pale context, SK realizes, he must get beyond his usual equivocation (or outright, all-too-humble denial). His answer then becomes remarkably clear: "Yes, I am a Christian."

I applaud your answer, Soren. I am, too!

Office of Faith-based and Community Partnerships

When Joshua Dubois visited St. Paul last May, the website for the White House's office on faith-based intiatives was still under construction. It's now up and running. And significantly, its name speaks not only of faith, but of community partnerships.

This led me back to Paul Tillich's Dynamics of Faith (1957), which I first read with Prof. Vern Faillettaz at St. Olaf College. If faith is understood as "the state of being ultimately concerned," Tillich says, "love and action are implied in faith and cannot be separated from it."

An implicit stamp of approval from the thought of Tillich, one of the foremost theologians of the twentieth century, won't insulate Dubois' efforts from right-wing attacks. But it certainly can't hurt.