ad radicem

To the friends and sometime fellow travelers of the eccentric gathering known as “Ad Radicem”:

Greetings from a sunny Saturday afternoon. I am writing a brief letter to notify you of a few upcoming happenings (and non-happenings) connected with the weekly meeting at El Mariachi. 

First, I want to make known the topic for this Tuesday’s conversation in hopes that I’ll pique the interest of a few potential conversationalists enough to tempt them into turning up and participating. This week we will be talking about how people of faith, particularly people of Christian faith, understand people of other traditions. Throughout the history of the church, those “others” who haven’t fit inside the Christian fold have been cast in various roles. Sometimes they have been seen as potential converts who have yet to turn from their wicked behavior; sometimes they have been seen as bedeviled enemies entrenched in error whose deceptions can only lead the faithful astray. Other times, they have been seen as innocently misguided souls whose misfortune has prevented them from hearing or believing in the fullness of Christ’s gospel. Of course, these type-castings are do not only take place within the Christian tradition; labels like “Infidel,” “Free-thinker,” or even “Muggle” call to mind the way in which the “Others” has been depicted by various groups. Why in God’s name are there so many people who disagree so strongly over just what God’s name is?!? 

After presenting a few of the options for understanding the “other” given to us by both history and contemporary culture, as well as fleshing out some of the presuppositions that produce those options, we will talk for a while about the relative merits (and demerits!) of these various perspectives. Drawing boundaries and distinctions is a necessary but impossibly thorny aspect of faith, and one that calls for deeper thought and conversation. 

Second, I want to give fair warning that there will be no meeting on April 29th. I’ll be away (and Carolyn is coming with me) at two graduation ceremonies. One for my sister-in-law in California, and another for myself in British Colombia. 

After this brief hiatus, Ad Radicem will resume on the 6th of May. We will start a new series of conversations working within a constellation of topics dealing with Christian faith and the human body. We’ll talk through various notions and spiritual practices surrounding bodies: souls and bodies, the suffering and healing of bodies, the death of bodies, and the resurrection of the body. In all of this, we’ll think about the implications of the Christian confession that the Son of God has a human body, one which he offers to share with you and I. There are a number of fascinating issues surrounding these topics, and a lot of confusion in the air as well. “We” have an odd relationship to our bodies, we often think in terms of “having” a body, and we do our best to wield control over our bodies through exercise, prescriptions, surgery, and tattoos. Yet our bodies do things that we don’t like. Besides the obvious and embarrassing farts and warts, our bodies slowly deteriorate, develop tumors, or catastrophically fail us. We seem to be both “in control” and “out of control” when it comes to our bodies. That tension is fruitful space for some good conversation about identity, faith, and embodied life. These conversations will aim to explore what a deeper and a healthier relationship to our bodies might look like, both individually and as a society.