The Humble Discovery of Truth that Makes Us and Defines Us

There’s a peculiar satisfaction that comes with being right. Given the opportunity, we’ll make an idol of it and even run roughshod over those we claim to love in order to win an argument, thereby trading peace for the honor of clutching the blue ribbon of “rightness” close to our hearts. Often what’s at stake is nothing more than a piece of trivia or a detail of shared history: 
In what year did we shingle the roof?
How old was Uncle Dave when he passed away?
Is the truck due for an oil change?

The sandpaper words, “You were right,” turned inside-out become “I was wrong,” and this is music to the ears of the triumphant. Still, I would argue that when it comes to deep Truth about God and humanity and the deep rift, there should be a humility that accompanies our rightness, a meekness that conveys our understanding that we have been entrusted with a great treasure.

G.K. Chesterton lived and wrote in the early years of the 20th century, crossing verbal swords with materialist and modernist heavyweights the likes of George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and Sigmund Freud in lecture hall arguments for the existence of God and the truth of the incarnation. What characterized Chesterton’s approach and filled the seats with spectators was his light touch, his sense of humor, and his refusal to take himself too seriously.

His well-known classic Orthodoxy was written as a more positive follow-up to his lesser-known Heretics and as an opportunity for him to clarify the set of truths that he had come to believe. Of these beliefs, Chesterton is clear:

“I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.” (19)

In his efforts to assemble a creed, Chesterton spent years trying to be “original,” trying to “found a heresy of [his] own, and when [he] had put the last touches to it, [he] discovered that it was orthodoxy.” (23)

Truth for the Glory of God

And so those of us who cling to and defend objective truth must also realize that we have received something that is not our own. Bending my knee to the content of revelation, I am startled to realize that the point of orthodoxy, the reason for a studied cherishing of rightness in my understanding of God, is not for the purpose of winning arguments, or for the satisfaction of belonging to the right camp, or for the establishment of my resume. Orthodoxy that is not purely for the glory of God can quickly become dead orthodoxy, knowledge for its own sake, and a safe box for the storage and containment of God.

G.K. Chesterton argues for an orthodoxy that welcomes imagination. He viewed the world through eyes that saw “the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure.” When we open our Bibles and read the comforting psalms and the familiar gospel stories, we are also confronted by the God of Ezekiel’s spinning wheels and the embodiment of some of the more frightening creatures in John’s Revelation. The challenge is a paradox of wonder and welcome, or, as Chesterton put it, “we need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable.”

For the believer in Jesus Christ, orthodoxy is a condition of having discovered a truth that makes us and defines us. In humility, we come to understand that this Truth is not our own, but, rather, we belong to the Truth.

For the believer, the truth that makes us and defines us is not our own, but rather, we belong to the Truth.

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And Now Let’s Talk Books…

Prior examines ten concepts deeply embedded in the imagination, the parlance, and the foundations of evangelical Christianity. For example, we swim in the water of conversion, improvement, reformation, and awakening. We invite one another to “share our testimony” and console one another with the hope of “the rapture” in ways that would be incomprehensible to an outsider. Channeling her inner Inigo Montoya with a spirit of “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means,” the author traces the origins of those ten evangelical metaphors in a way that, for me, breathed life into some and revealed the deadness of others.

The book holds together beautifully because the ten images form a network through which one can interpret the world, and later chapters skillfully refer back to material from earlier chapters in a way that adds to the book’s coherence. The reading experience was also enhanced by Prior’s fanciful (and often humorous) chapter titles and subheadings.

This is a profitable read for multiple audiences. It’s for those on the verge of deconstruction or, at least, despair over the state of the “evangelicalism” they perceive. It’s for the curious or the cynical who wonder what all the noise is about. And it’s for me and my kind who want to dig in our heels and put our index fingers in our ears as we loudly sing from the Baptist hymnal and insist that everything is just fine.

God invites us to bring our whole selves into our relationship with him and with his church. By understanding our identity and our assumptions, we are better equipped, going forward, to build a culture that is both biblical and healthful.

And By the Way…

Karen Swallow Prior has also written about “finding the good life through great books” in On Reading Well which I reviewed HERE. It’s a resource that really expanded my understanding of the meaning of the word virtue.

Her biography of Hannah More was one of the first books I reviewed here on the blog. CLICK HERE for a blast from the past.

And if you are convinced that you should be reading more of the classics, but don’t know where to begin, Karen Swallow Prior has collaborated with B&H Publications on a gorgeous series of annotated classics that will get you started with confidence. I reviewed Heart of Darkness HERE.

Holding You in the Light,

“We should take instruction from the fact that the Bible expresses its recurring ideas and concepts with a delicious menu of varied words and phrases.” @KSPrior in #TheEvangelicalImagination via @BrazosPress

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Did You Know that I Also Publish a Monthly Newsletter?

Every month I send a newsletter with biblical encouragement straight to my subscribers’ email inboxes. Frequently, I share free resources, and the newsletter is where everything lands first. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path.

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase any of the books or products I’ve shared, simply click on the image, and you’ll be taken directly to the seller. If you decide to buy, I’ll receive a few pennies at no extra cost to you.

Many thanks to Brazos Press for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.