Thank you for this, Aaron. A spate of reading lately, including Rod's book Living in Wonder, has had me thinking along similar lines, though I've also wondered how much high 'openness' personalities are a key part in this. Kingsnorth's recent First Things article on Christian Civilization gave me a similar vibe to Rod's book, and even rereading Alaisdair MacIntyre's 'After Virtue' (himself a Thomist Marxist) has seemed to track in this vein of craziness and sight, too.
Hmmm...interesting thoughts, though not sure how aligned the article is with Scripture. The one verse quoted is misplaced - Judah was "wounded" by God for their sins of disobedience - the constant source of any Christians' trouble with God.
There is a long "romantic" tradition of sturm and drang being a source of true feeling and understanding, but not so much from Scripture imo...
God often requires that His prophets be exiled into the wilderness for a time before returning to proclaim the message. This often comes through being rejected by his people/family or through God providentially moving one away from what is comfortable into that which is foreign. Neither is voluntarily chosen but it is necessary. This was true of Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, John the Baptist, and certainly of Jesus.
Brilliant: "It's not always easy to decide which seemingly crazy or strange people should be believed. But it’s important to recognize that the deepest insights, and most contrarian yet true thinking, often comes from deeply wounded people. They are often the only one who have been sufficiently awakened to the reality that the shadows on the wall are just that. People, institutions, and society at large ignore this at their own peril." Thank you.
Thank you for this, Aaron. A spate of reading lately, including Rod's book Living in Wonder, has had me thinking along similar lines, though I've also wondered how much high 'openness' personalities are a key part in this. Kingsnorth's recent First Things article on Christian Civilization gave me a similar vibe to Rod's book, and even rereading Alaisdair MacIntyre's 'After Virtue' (himself a Thomist Marxist) has seemed to track in this vein of craziness and sight, too.
Hmmm...interesting thoughts, though not sure how aligned the article is with Scripture. The one verse quoted is misplaced - Judah was "wounded" by God for their sins of disobedience - the constant source of any Christians' trouble with God.
There is a long "romantic" tradition of sturm and drang being a source of true feeling and understanding, but not so much from Scripture imo...
God often requires that His prophets be exiled into the wilderness for a time before returning to proclaim the message. This often comes through being rejected by his people/family or through God providentially moving one away from what is comfortable into that which is foreign. Neither is voluntarily chosen but it is necessary. This was true of Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, John the Baptist, and certainly of Jesus.
I mention you in a recent post in which I read a poem about wrestling with God -- a battle in which one is always wounded. https://open.substack.com/pub/latayne/p/wrestling-with-god?r=cg6k8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Brilliant: "It's not always easy to decide which seemingly crazy or strange people should be believed. But it’s important to recognize that the deepest insights, and most contrarian yet true thinking, often comes from deeply wounded people. They are often the only one who have been sufficiently awakened to the reality that the shadows on the wall are just that. People, institutions, and society at large ignore this at their own peril." Thank you.