Friday, October 7, 2011

ˈôrθəˌdäks

orthodox
adjective
1 (of a person or their views, esp. religious or political ones, or other beliefs or practices) conforming to what is generally or traditionally accepted as right or true; established and approved


I started reading this book by Peter Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God.  He begins the book with a discussion on how we are incapable of saying ANYTHING about God and yet at the same time how we are called to say SOMETHING about God, and that true faith pitches its tent and builds a fire in that beautiful tension.  He ends the chapter by radically tweaking the definition of ORTHODOX.

"I recently heard a well-known speaker say that if faith does not cost something then it is nothing. Only much later could I respond: if faith does not cost everything, it is nothing. Orthodoxy as right belief will cost us little; indeed it will allow us to sit back with our Pharisaic doctrines, guarding the 'truth' with the purity of our interpretations. But orthodoxy, as believing in the right way, as bringing love to the world around us and within us... that will cost everything. For to live by that sword, as we all know, is to die by it."

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