Saturday, October 18, 2003
As Jim Jordan has often pointed out, visual and iconic civilizations tend to be static (and spatialized), since the visual does not call or compel or confront. Perhaps also iconic cultures tends to be tragic and create myths of degeneracy. Audio-based cultures are dynamic and progressive. Something here, maybe.
This ties in with a number of ideas that different thinkers have brought forward. I am reminded of Neil Postman's thoughts on the subject. The media that we use portray the world in different ways. Consequently, no medium is neutral. A word-based culture presents the world as an idea to be understood. An image-based culture presents the world as an image to be recognized. You can't argue with an image.
Nevin also recognized this. DiPuccio writes:—
Of course, there are many points that can arise from this. I am reminded of Abraham Heschel's description of a prophet:—"For it is the word of God divinely joined to the elements which makes the sacrament, according to the ancient Christian fathers." In their view, the procession of the word was a "continuous going forth of life from the Lord." When it was joined to the sacraments, it became their "living soul." In this respect, Nevin considered the word to have preeminence over the sacraments.
... He viewed language as the icon, the actual medium, through which we apprehend the Divine numen or life. ... "Language ... is thought itself corporealized and made external, and it must be penetrated of course with the same organic life in all its parts."
...But even more powerful than the word written is the word preached. It is a fuller incarnation of the life of Christ in the world. Words come from living beings and so embody the life from which they emanate. ... The spoken word, according to Nevin, is more efficacious than the written, because the ear is a more inward sense than the eye. Sound reveals the inner constitution of things...
"The preaching of the Word," in Nevin's view, "implies the actual presence of the life which it represents. ... It embosoms the mind of the soul from which it proceeds." There is a need, then, to embody the word in living preachers in order to be effective. Christianity, after all, was first "exhibited in living men" before it was inscripturated. However, this can take place only within the context of the church which is the living organ of the word.
I am sure that we have all had the experience of hearing 'prophetic' preaching—preaching that causes the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end and sends a shiver down your spine. In the prophet the message and the messenger coalesce. It is impossible to merely have a response of 'recognition' to the prophet's message. The prophet's message actively engages and confronts the hearer. I am concerned that, in our wish to reach more people in the world, we do not abandon the most powerful medium of communication the world knows—the Word preached by those who embody its life. Television and the image may have their place, but the power of the Word preached puts them all to shame. This fact should also challenge anyone who thinks that the Word can be abstracted from the church. There are many who seek to cater for the passivity of our culture by bringing their message solely in terms of images. An image, however, can never confront the viewer in the same way as the Word preached does the hearer. A society built around the image is almost invariably idolatrous and static; a society built around the Word is enlivened by the God who communicates Himself in the Word and is dynamic and progressive. Leithart goes on to make some valuable comments on the subject of Christ's active and passive obedience. In Arminius' theology the emphasis upon 'obedience unto death' was lost. The death is the climactic aspect of Christ's obedience, but it is not the only aspect. I have found some of Emil Brunner's thoughts on this subject to be of value (although there are some areas in which I would strongly differ). Brunner attacks the under-emphasis upon the Incarnation as reconciliation and draws attention to the older patristic literature. He claims that the Incarnation and the Cross ‘form an indissoluble unity.’ ‘The movement in which all consists is one and the same; all is directed towards spanning the gulf of separation.’ Consequently, the Person of Jesus Christ is the essence of the gospel and lies at the heart of the meaning of the atonement. For Brunner the whole of Christ’s life must be conceived from the point of view of obedience in suffering. This is what makes the death vicarious. It is not ‘an objective impersonal substitutionary transaction.’ The personal nature of the atonement must be stressed. ‘In this process the Mediator is acting vicariously both for man and for God.’ Brunner challenges people who question: ‘Did Jesus really come only in order to die?’ He argues that the death of Christ (his passive obedience) should never be separated from the moral testing in His life (His active obedience). The Passion of Christ begins with His self-emptying. Our focus should not rest on one element (the suffering of the Man Jesus) to the exclusion of the whole picture (the self-emptying of the Son of God). Christ’s obedience to the point of death must be understood in terms of His whole Person and work as the God-Man, not merely as His historical ‘active obedience’. Tying Leithart's two points together, it is interesting to see how iconography has generally given us a skewed perception of the work of Christ. The focus of iconography is upon the passive Babe in Mary's arms, or upon the 'powerless' Christ hanging on the cross. However, in the Word preached we hear the living voice of the risen Lord Himself (Romans 10:14; Ephesians 2:17). Idols are the tools by which man seeks to control the gods. Mariology can often develop from the idea of a mother's influence over her child. Iconography reinforces this—the Pieta and pictures of the Madonna and her child. Iconography can soon fall into idolatry (though they are not the same thing in my opinion). In turn idolatrous iconography can lead to a particular form of culture. This culture is passive and is past-orientated. In contrast, the Word is that by which Christ controls His church. Christ indwells us by His Word and He governs us by His Word. His Word drives us forward and animates every aspect of our lives. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly..."Authentic utterance derives from a moment of identification of a person and a word; its significance depends upon the urgency and magnitude of its theme. The prophet's theme is, first of all, the very life of a whole people, and his identification lasts more than a moment. He is one not only with what he says; he is involved with his people in what his words foreshadow. This is the secret of the prophet's style: his life and soul are at stake in what he says and in what is going to happen to what he says. It is an involvement that echoes on. What is more, both theme and identification are seen in three dimensions. Not only the prophet and the people, but God Himself is involved in what the words convey.
Prophetic utterance is rarely cryptic, suspended between God and man; it is urging, alarming, forcing onward, as if the words gushed forth from the heart of God, seeking entrance to the heart and mind of man, carrying a summons as well as an involvement. Grandeur, not dignity, is important. The language is luminous and explosive, firm and contingent, harsh and compassionate, a fusion of contradictions.
The prophet seldom tells a story, but casts events. He rarely sings, but castigates. He does more than translate reality into a poetic key: he is a preacher whose purpose is not self-expression or "the purgation of emotions," but communication. His images must not shine, they must burn.
