In the Presence of Eternity

A site devoted to my random thoughts on God, life, theology, philosophy, Biblical studies, etc.

My Photo
Name: Blake
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

There are some really big events coming up in my life (Marriage, North Carolina, finishing my bachelors online at Bethel, then Southeastern Seminary just to name a few.) www.librarything.com/catalog.php

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Where is Jesus or a Problem of the Naïve Metaphysics of Wayne Grudem?

Wayne Grudem, thought of by many as one of the best evangelical theologians, makes the assertion in his Systematic Theology that the ascension means that Jesus is “somewhere” or in a “place.” Grudem then goes on to chastise evangelicals who say that this is simply metaphorical language in speaking about Jesus’ Ascension.
I have multiple problems with Grudem in this case, but I think his biggest problem in this passage is his metaphysic. Grudem wants the reader to believe that God is outside of time, incorporeal, etc. yet he wants this being to be in a “place”. I think Grudem is having trouble with language in this regard. He seems to forget that human language is designed to only deal with sense data, which makes it difficult to define realities outside of our sense experience. A good example of this language problem is when we speak of God “seeing” into the future. If we think about this we know that God does not have eyes to see. This is a metaphorical way of speaking about God. I would submit that what the disciples saw at Jesus Ascension was on a plane that they had to empty out their linguistic cupboard to describe. I think the language of an “upward ascension” is the language of theophony which does indeed represent a real event, but one that does not happen everyday. Grudem is trying to get scripture to explain something in univocal fashion, that probably can only be explained analogically. More on this distinction later.
I think Grudem commits the same fallacy, or error in thinking that Frederick Copleston pointed out in his A History of Philosophy when he was discussing Plato’s theory of the forms and the misguided critique of the “forms” spatial position. He says, “In the case of that which transcends space and time, we cannot even legitimately raise the question, where it is. It is nowhere, as far as local presence is concerned (though it is not nowhere in the sense of being unreal). The separation would thus seem to imply, in the case of the Platonic essence, a reality beyond the subjective reality of the abstract concept- a subsistent reality, but not a local separation. It is, therefore, just as true to say that the essence is immanent, as that it is transcendent: the great point is that it is real and independent of particulars, unchanged and abiding. It is foolish to remark that if the Platonic Essense is real, it must be somewhere. Absolute Being, for instance, does not exist outside us in the sense in which a flower exists outside us—for it might just as well be said to exist inside us, in as much as spatial categories simply do not apply to it. On the other hand, it cannot be said to be inside us in the sense that it is purely subjective, is confined to us, comes into being with us, and perishes through our agency or with us. It is both transcendent and immanent, inaccessible to the senses, apprehensible only by the intellect.”
Did the disciples sense something with their senses? I believe that they did, but I do not think that it implies that Jesus is floating around somewhere in the space-time universe. Grudem did not deal with the nature of the resurrection body, which could very well exist in an incorporeal way (it passes through walls), and be eternal, as well in some sense being physical. Grudem has hit the wall of human language like a Mack truck, and has not realized the multiple problems his position has for his doctrine of God. It is clear from the gospels that the resurrection body was Jesus’ body transformed. What is the extent of this transformation? I do not think we know very well. The only thing we know is that it is eternal and physical in someway. Grudem has made it restrained to our time-space universe, which I think is a mistake.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home