Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Waiting for Gospel, by Douglas John Hall

Chapter 9 – Beyond Good and Evil

1.  Hall introduces us to renowned atheist Friedrich Nietzsche, whose infamous writing serves as a powerful backdrop against the mystery of good and evil.  Hall’s thesis here is quite “anti-Nietzschean,” which he presents in three parts: 

First, “Over against the contemporary drift towards ethical relativism, good and evil are permanently legitimate distinctions, the steady contemplation of which is necessary to the survival of civilization.”

Where is this ethical relativism most prevalent today?  (Let’s look far and wide as we address this question.)  Why does our survival depend on the steady contemplation of good and evil?  Why does Nietzsche’s “value-prioritizing” fail to deliver any kind of moral stability?

2.  Second, “Contrary to every type of moral absolutism, good and evil are inextricably interwoven in the fabric of our actual living.”  Hall expounds: “For serious Christians, moralistic solutions to profound ethical questions are especially frustrating because (usually in the name of true-believing Christianity!) they promulgate simplistic moral teachings that misrepresent and distort the more penetrating moral insights of biblical faith.”

Hall urges us to distinguish biblical faith from the dangerous biblicism of old morality.  Biblical faith understands that…“our lives in the actual living of them are inevitable strange admixtures of good and evil.” 

Hall asks, “Can anyone be called good, really?”  And I ask, “If not…why?”  (Paul and Jesus have great answers for this!)

3.  Third, “Human authenticity depends upon a grace that is indeed…beyond good and evil.”  Citing his much-earlier reading of a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, Hall concludes, “In the last analysis, it is not ours to untangle the mysterious intermingling of good and evil that constitutes a life; that the authenticity for which we long and toward which our goodness is indeed a striving, can be realized by us only as a gift – only as a grace that is indeed…beyond good and evil.”

And finally, this gem by Hall:  “What divine grace offers…is a new freedom: the freedom to end preoccupation with one’s own moral condition; the freedom to become ultimately concerned, rather, with the good of the other.”

What role does God’s grace play in your understanding of and coping with good and evil?  Consider sharing a real-life experience of this freedom…moving from self-concern to other-concern, with the help of God.

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