Recently Tony Jones publically challenged me to give up my “atheism” for Lent. You can hear the interview where this happens at Homebrewed Christianity and read Tony’s challenge directly from his website.
The whole thing has generated some amusing responses on both facebook and twitter and seems to have sparked quite a bit of broader interest with a record number of downloads for the interview.
In light of all this some questions that people have had include “is Peter really an atheist” and “has he given it up for lent”.
In order to approach an answer I should begin by saying that the term “atheism” is not as monolithic and straightforward as the popular debate would portray it. This is not a subject that I want to delve into in this post, but it is worth mentioning that the atheism of Nietzsche is very different from, say, that found in Dawkins. Instead I want to outline my own position very briefly, which might be more accurately described as incarnational a/theism.
By “Incarnational a/theism” I am referring, not to an intellectual disavowal of God, but to the felt experience of God’s absence; an experience that must be distinguished from the idea of a mere absence of experience. To understand the difference take a moment to think about the difference between the absence that exists before you meet someone you later come to love and the absence you experience once they are gone. In both cases the person is absent, but the first is a mere absence of experience while the second is an experience of absence (there is a third experience which relates to the experience of a person being absence when they are present).
More than being the felt experience of Gods absence the phrase “incarnational a/theism” also refers to the idea that this traumatic experience brings us into the very heart of what it means to affirm God’s presence (hence the use of the dash). This is then the type of “atheism” I affirm as central to the Christian event.
This leads us then to the second question. A question that can be stated more widely and precisely in this way: can a Christian give up incarnational a/theism for lent? Immediately one is faced with the problem that Lent itself is the time leading up to Easter: the very point in the Christian calendar when we witness this incarnational a/theism coming into being (through Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection). If the Crucifixion and Resurrection open up incarnational a/theism through the loss of all ground (Crucifixion) and the embrace of existence in the aftermath of this event (Resurrection) then the re-embrace of theism would be a retrograde step. One that would take us away from this profoundly liberating, life affirming and transformative event.
However, this type of incarnational a/theism does not in any way prevent one from experiencing a profound sense of wonder at the universe, nor does it stop one believing that there is some source to everything around us. Indeed, to speak personally for a moment, of late I have been confronted with a set of unprecedented circumstances and bizarre experiences that have left me profoundly open once more to the mystery of life and the sense that there are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy. So while I argue that the event of incarnational a/atheism is central to our experience of becoming more human I do not see this as robbing us of a profound sense of mystery that we will often want to respond to with prayer, praise and worship. In short this means that, while I cannot accept Tony’s challenge as it stands, I can promise that this Lenten time is among the most meaningful and mystical periods in my life. One which has short circuited my beliefs, brought me to silence, and invited me to try once more to simply be.
It occurs to me: in a mystical, calendrical type of way, lent is supposed to represent the forty days that Jesus fasted in the wilderness, during which time he was tempted by the devil etc. Right? It was in his rejections of false paths to apotheosis (sustenance, political power, invulnerability) that his self-definition, was in a sort of prototypical way, accomplished. Lent was always about iconoclasm.
Your description, above, of the absence of God, reminds of me of Augustine’s description of how we ‘remember forgetting.’ Read my post on the subject here: http://g0spel0fj0hn.com/2011/03/15/forgetting/
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Excellent post and I am pretty sure I was able to follow your line of thinking and experience. In some related ways, I am entering into the void this Lent by exploring the possible intersections of Buddhism and Christianity. I am blogging about my experiences at Buddhist for Lent.
I look forward to following more of your journey this Lent. And let me also say thank you for the thought, writing, and work that you do. It has added depth, developed new pockets of doubt, and helped me to become what I hope is a better disciple of Christ!
Pete,
I was hoping u would go thru w/ Tony’s challenge but I agree w/ ur decision as it stands. I’ve been thinking about these topics alot lately (divine abandonment, loss of ground & meaning, existential atheism, etc.)
Meanwhile I was checking out some videos on YouTube & stumbled across an interview of Trent Reznor (from NineInchNails) where he was talking about writing, producing, & recording their breakthrough album: The Downward Spiral. It was very interesting b/c Trent said it was a concept album about a man who has lost ALL grounding & meaning (religious, political, social, etc) I need 2 find that video again & I wanna give the album another listen b/c I think there is slot of overlap between Reznor’s art & this topic of Christian atheism. The religious imagery (particularly Christian) is so obviously present in the album w/ titles like “Heresy” etc. I know this is a bit off topic but I found it interesting. I remember ur statement during the Insurrection tour about it not being a real “dark nite of the soul” if u had the lights on. NIN’s album (TDS) kinda seems like a blatantly honest expression of a VERY DARK nite of the soul. Just wanted 2 throw in my 2 cents:)
D
I love this, Pete: “…I can promise that this Lenten time is among the most meaningful and mystical periods in my life. One which has short circuited my beliefs, brought me to silence, and invited me to try once more to simply be.”
It doesn’t happen to me very often, but when it does, its as if the earth moves. I can relate. Thanks for sharing.
When I had first heard about the challenge to give up atheism, I thought it was something along the lines of what you’ve long argued for. That we need to give up all of the ways that we *say* we believe in God, while in reality we live as atheists ignoring everything that Jesus has done & is doing. Phrased the way it was I find it far less compelling of a challenge, while phrased as before it becomes an incredible challenge that I expect to spend my live walking out.
Sit and be still
until in the time
of no rain you hear
beneath the dry wind’s
commotion in the trees
the sound of flowing
water among the rocks,
a stream unheard before,
and you are where breathing is prayer.
-from Sabbaths 2001, Wendell Berry
and maybe one of the beautiful things about Lent is that in experiencing the death and therefore absence of Jesus we are moved closer to him.
When God is present I am absent. When I am present God is absent.
on a lighter note, i saw this and sent it to a couple friends, the only other ones who will indulge in the difficulty of questioning everything about the belief and understanding of our relation to God. hope you enjoy, all
http://www.someecards.com/confirm-send/6049dbb7206426ef725690631e674701
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