In our Hauerwas seminar today we spent a good deal of time reflecting on the Hauerwasian mode of discourse: polemical, violent (even), subversive, angular. Of course, to be studying this writer in the home of good manners (ie Oxford) amongst a people skilled in the art of not saying the truth is an interesting juxtaposition! Hauerwas's speech is justified in that he brings to light through dissonance the deeply embedded pagan assumptions of much Christian discourse in the West. The truth ought to be offered so that one may respond to it, if it is indeed the truth; and, the truth often comes through unpicking the assumptions that clump around its opposite.
The thing that saves Hauerwas from being just a naughty boy is that he has done his homework. Behind every verbal missile is a depth of thinking and reading, and a coherent and complex framework. It is thrilling that Christian speech can be so dynamic, and also alarmed that it can be so rude! The truth ought to be so divisive.
Where it goes wrong is that imitators of the Hauerwasian style (or imitators of other similarly aggressive and polemical Christian thinkers) imitate it as a style. There is the provocation of the prophet and then there is plain bad manners. The two are not the same; and just because something is done with no taste and complete bad manners does not make it true, or right; and certainly, the person who is merely rude can not call themselves persecuted when they are attacked.
9 comments:
as a friend once told me; there is a difference between telling the truth and being an A-hole.
but it is a crucial distinction for Christian speech, lest we forget that we should "speak the truth with love."
I have never read any Hauerwas, but he sounds interesting.
This sounds similar to Kierkegaard when he says that the gospel should either cause offence or be accepted with faith.
I guess the difficultly is working out who is doing the offending, the message or the messenger.
Hi Michael,
My name is David Coleman, I met you once at a talk you gave at barneys. We are reading Hauerwas at the moment in a group. I wholeheartedly agree with your witty and ironic comments (about Oxford and Hauerwas). I think Hauerwas will be in theological vogue for quite a while still to come. He seems to a have a talent for chritianising postmodernity, which can only be a step in the right direction I think.
Anyway, would intersted to hear what you think about him if you come up with any further ideas.
David
Some proverbs about Christian imitation:
1. Why encourage iconoclasm after the idols have fallen?
2. Imitation is the sincerest form of deterioration.
3. To copy well is not to copy.
4. Gently bite the hand that feeds you.
5. Always follow at a distance.
6. Reformers don't repeat themselves
7. Imitate who I imitate, not me.
Any more to add?
I heard a story about Hauerwas from a friend over here in Perth. He was involved in organizing a lecture by him, and the organizers were concerned about his langauge in front of a churchy audience. However, they discovered that his father was going to be there, which put them at rest (on the basis that you clean up your language in front of your parents). At any rate, the language flowed freely, to the surprise of the organizers.
Then one of the organizers observed his father coming up to him after the talk to say, "Well done son, you dirty old M*$%#$ F%#^*$."
Possibly apocryphal...
Re: Hauerwas' manner of speaking - there is something to admire about someone whose unbridled passion for the gospel of Jesus seeks to expose the hermetically-sealed world of sham Christianity.
Maybe this is the spirit behind the Apostle Paul’s earthy words to the Philippians:
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish*, in order that I may gain Christ.” - Phil 3:8
* ‘rubbish’ = the polite ESV translation of the Greek s-word: ‘skubalon’
Ol’ Martin Luther too had a penchant for the odd scatological retort, reserving some of his best cuss-words for his chief enemies (the reformers’ axis of evil): the world, the Pope and the Devil. No other words would aptly capture his distain towards papal abuse, worldly corruption and the foul work of the devil. Unholy words for unholy enemies it seems.
Hauerwas has a whole culture of sham Christianity to combat and he also suffers from Turret's syndrome. Some Christians who believe in "telling it like it is" have a way of making grace sound as much like a punishment as a gift.
Tourette's.
Does he really?
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