In a 2006 New Yorker story on writer Gertrude Stein, Janet Malcom wrote: â??The instability of human knowledge is one of our few certainties. Almost everything we know we know incompletely at best. And almost nothing we are told remains the same when retold.â? She illustrated that in specific events from Steinâ??s life, events misinterpreted largely because of the incorrect recounting of details.
As a new year begins, weâ??d best remember the enduring â??instability of human knowledgeâ? and its implications for our own spiritualities, confessing that where God, grace and gospel are concerned, â??we know incompletely at best.â? St. Paul said as much 2,000 years ago, writing to the troubled church at Corinth: â??Is there knowledge? It will vanish away; for our knowledge and our prophecy are partial. â?¦â? Still, unable to relinquish a modicum of hope, he added: â??but the partial vanishes when wholeness comesâ? (1 Cor. 13: 9). Surely another new year raises comparable challenge and promise.
Read Full Article »