One of the more interesting books I glanced through in 2011 (and now need to read in 2012) is Regent College’s Hans Boersma’s Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry. It hasn’t been reviewed overly positively on Amazon, but a number of people (e.g. James K A Smith) have included it in their lists of “top” theological reads of 2011.
In August 2011 Christianbook.com posted a written interview with Boersma in which he talked about Heavenly Participation. It’s fascinating and evocative on many places, and indeed is likely to motivate a number of us (it did me) to get the book of the shelf and read it. Beyond that, the interview offers a number of fascinating perspectives to take with us into the New Year as it unfolds.
Here are some excerpts from the opening section of the interview:
“…Prior to modernity, there was no chasm, no huge gap, between heaven and earth in people’s basic mindset. Heavenly realities impinged on life here on earth, while things here below participated in the truth, goodness, and beauty of heaven itself. The gap between creator and creature, between heaven and earth, between nature and grace—or however we want to put this exactly—has made it easy for us to live as if God did not exist…
… The notion that this-worldly realities are autonomous from God and fully at our disposal is perhaps the most defining characteristic of modernity. By contrast, if you look at this-worldly realities as sacraments that participate in heavenly realities, then you’re going to approach everything around you with a great deal more reverence—because then you realize that behind the creaturely objects that you see, there’s something more, something deeper. In other words, you recognize a divine mystery that lies veiled behind creaturely appearances. The contrast, then, between the pre-modern and the modern mindset is a contrast between reverence and control, between mystery and explanation, between sacrament and idol. The modern rejection of creation’s sacramental participation in the eternal Word of God removes all sense of mystery from the created order. This utilitarian attitude has obvious consequences for the economy, for the environment, for human sexuality—indeed, for every area of human life…”
You’ll find the complete interview here.
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