IN DEFENSE OF CROOKED PREACHERS
God is agape, whether in Greek or in English.
—Craig Keen
We do teach the truth by deception. We are deceivers, yet true.
—Reinhold Niebuhr
Crooked preachers know what easy marks forget: if God’s corpse means anything it’s that mercy hooks and yaws reels and laps and gapes breaking its own laws bending us all all out of shape so we ne’er again dare speak of God— at least not with a straight face.
DIVINE SIMPLICITY
The absolute simplicity of God may be shown in many ways.
—St. Thomas Aquinas
When St Thomas says God is simple, he means God is just, well, God: wholly at one with himself— pure act without potential, perfect beyond perfections, neither existing nor existence, immaterial and so impartial, necessary, needless, not outstanding but upholding, never suffering the fact that he suffers, uncreated ground and guide and goal of all that is, was, ever shall be. And I agree whole-heartedly, however hard it may be to comprehend. Still, St. Paul’s odd remarks about the cross force me to think divine simplicity in a coarser, queerer way: the God to whom Jesus teaches me to pray is, I’m afraid, special. Or, as they used to say, touched; slow, lame, unstable, good-for-nothing, no account, not the brightest, not quite right, not all there, ill-bred, half-witted, funny, mad, unnatural, a boob, a sucker, the fall guy, a philistine, empty-headed, an easy mark, a god-damned fool. All true, I believe, if just a bit too much to swallow.
VIRTUE ETHICS
Patience? That’s nothing but restlessness floored by the gall of Mary’s song. Courage? Fear, just fear posed as the Lord already dead on the cross. Prudence? Utter folly betting everything on the Spirit’s wit and wile. Chastity? Pure, unadulterated lust eaten up with God’s own desire. Faith? No more than doubt refusing to get high on its own supply. Hope? Honestly? It’s only despair keeping the devil a seat at the table. Love? Simple selfishness forgetting everything but whatever it is Jesus says he needs.