Church practice has been more influenced by Plato than by Jesus. We invariably prefer the universal synthesis, the answer that settles all the dust and resolves every question even when it is not entirely true over the mercy and grace of God.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that religious practices often prioritize philosophical clarity over the teachings of Jesus, particularly about mercy and grace.
Richard Rohr's quote highlights the tension between philosophical systems, represented by Plato's universal ideas, and the more nuanced teachings of Jesus Christ about mercy and grace. Rohr posits that often, people gravitate towards simplified, definitive answers to life's complexities instead of embracing the more profound, sometimes ambiguous messages of compassion and divine mercy that are central to Christian doctrine.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the nature of faith, I might say, 'As Richard Rohr reminds us, church practice has often prioritized clear answers over the grace of God.'
My scientist friends have come up with things like 'principles of uncertainty' and dark holes. They're willing to live inside imagined hypotheses and theories. But many religious folks insist on answers that are always true. We love closure, resolution and clarity, while thinking that we are people of 'faith'! How strange that the very word 'faith' has come to mean its exact opposite.
The gift of darkness draws you to know God’s presence beyond what thought, imagination, or sensory feeling can comprehend.
I cannot illustrate huge differences between male and female spiritualities except in their starting points, style and fascinations along the way. This is significant, however, and has huge pastoral implications: men must be challenged in the world of doing; women must be challenged in the world of relating.
Much of the Christian religion has largely become “holding on” instead of letting go. But God, it seems to me, does the holding on (to us!), and we must learn the letting go (of everything else).
We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.
I've had the good fortune of teaching and preaching across much of the globe, while also struggling to make sense of my experience in my own tiny world.
The quantity and quality of consciousness, one may say, have always been growing throughout geological times. In this respect man, in whom nervous organisation and therefore psychological powers have attained an undisputed maximum, may be considered, scientifically, as a natural centre of evolution of the primates.
There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan.
Neither a Fortress nor a Maidenhead will hold out long after they begin to parley.
When you have a global mush, people lose their identity, they become pseudonyms, they have no investment and no consequence in what they do.
Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.
Children are still the way you were as a child, sad and happy in just the same way-and if you think of your childhood, you once again live among them, among the solitary children.
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