The way of imagination

       Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (in a paper entitled) “After Ten Years” in the Third Reich and a few months before his arrest by the Gestapo, said that in the face of radical evil, reason is useless (along with principles, conscience, freedom and virtue).  What matters at such a time is obedient and responsible action in exclusive allegiance to God.  The responsible man seeks to make his whole life a response to the question and call of God. [1]      One may well wonder how it came to be that a culturally-rich country like Germany allowed itself to be seduced by a man such as Adolph Hitler.   In one sense, the answer is simple – Hitler was a man of action .   He demonstrated that a man willing to act in the world could outflank the intelligentsia of the crown of continental culture, enamored as they were with their ideas .   As those idealists who attempted to appease him in the ramp-up to WWII would discover, Hitler was not interested in anything but his plan of action, which he ruthl

       What does it mean to “obey the Word of God?”   It is not always easy to see how the contents of Scripture [1] can be obeyed in the present-day Global North.   Surely, a collection of texts issuing from the Ancient Near East/Greco-Roman world – a world with no clear divide between sacred/secular (i.e., where “religious” beliefs were taken seriously) – cannot be “applied” in a facile manner to our democratic, pluralistic and relativistic society where no one cares much what you believe, provided you “play nice” in public.   Be that as it may, history sometimes conspires to bridge the historical/cultural/ideological ditch [2] which habitually yawns between the world of the Bible and our own, seemingly domesticated, (post)modern world.      The twentieth century was one such moment.   Under the heal of totalitarian regimes in both Europe and Asia (of which the Caesars of ancient Rome would have been envious), more Christians were martyred than in the previous 19 centuries combin

  “I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord… and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or command them, so they do not profit this people at all, says the Lord. When this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, “What is the burden of the Lord?” you shall say to them, “ You are the burden . I will cast you off, says the Lord.” And as for the prophet, priest, or the people who say, “The burden of the Lord,” I will punish them and their households.” (Jer. 23.32-34)      No prophetic book talks more about prophets and prophecy than does the book of Jeremiah. [1]   In this book, all “the prophets” mentioned are presumed to be false.   Chapter 23 consists of a denunciation of all “the prophets”, not only of the (now defunct) Northern kingdom of Israel, but also those of Jerusalem/Judah.   The chapter culminates in a play on the word “ massa ” [2] , i.e., “burden”/“oracle”. [3]   The people of God have become a “burde