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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Wendell Berry, after describing his own personal struggles with the ambiguities of the scriptures (something I think smacks of honesty and a level of piety in which I, for one, am too often lacking), gives an interesting exegesis of "life more abundantly."
The Christian Century: "When Jesus speaks of having life more abundantly, this, I think, is the life he means: a life that is not reducible by division, category or degree, but is one thing, heavenly and earthly, spiritual and material, divided only insofar as it is embodied in distinct creatures. He is talking about a finite world that is infinitely holy, a world of time that is filled with life that is eternal. His offer of more abundant life, then, is not an invitation to declare ourselves as certified 'Christians,' but rather to become conscious, consenting and responsible participants in the one great life, a fulfillment hardly institutional at all."

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