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Tag: Bevere

  • Identity and Inheritance: The View of Things from the Heavenly Horizon

    by Allan R. Bevere

     
    MountainSeveral years ago, I was in Cuba on a teaching mission. One afternoon, during some free time, our hosts took us to a mountain on the Isle of Youth. There was a path up the side of the mountain, and those of us who were able and willing, were invited to climb the mountain. It was a tough climb; some who were not in the best physical condition were unable to continue for long. But for the four of us who made it, when we stood on the top of that mountain and looked down at the landscape below, we were treated to a view of the world that one can get only from the horizon.
    Paul and Timothy write, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (3:1-4).[ene_ptp] The earthly things of the world look quite different when viewed from the vantage point of heaven. Our writers to the Colossians are not advocating a withdrawal from the world, but an involvement in the world from a divine vista. Focus does determine reality; perspective interprets what we see. The other-worldly does not nullify the things of the world; it reinterprets them through the eyes of God.
    We must not miss the verb tense in verse one: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ.” Notice that Paul does not say, “Since, then, you will be raised with Christ.” Resurrection is not something that will happen only when Christ returns; we participate in the resurrected life of Christ right now. In this world we are to live the heavenly life in the present. We are to bring to pass the words of The Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
    The heavenly life in the midst of earthly existence looks quite different; it looks redeemed. This is why Paul and Timothy tell us to take off the vices that characterize the ways of the world and to clothe ourselves with the virtues of the Christ-like life.
    Living as God’s chosen people means walking the road of discipleship in a manner that will attract others to the gospel, so that those who are “earthly” will desire to live in a “heavenly” way, setting their minds on the things of God and thereby seeing over the horizon to view the world in the way Christ does—from the summit of the cross.

  • It's About the Interpreter… And More

    by Allan R. Bevere

     

    Sunset banner

    Recently, I went to the Cleveland Museum of Art with my daughter, Alyssa to see a special exhibit. If you love art museums and find yourself in Cleveland, Ohio you need to put its art museum on your itinerary. It is one of the best art museums in the country and, except for special exhibits, it is always free.
    One of my favorite paintings can be found in Cleveland’s art museum—Frederic Church’s, “Twilight in the Wilderness” (pictured left). Church painted this masterpiece depicting twilight in the American West in 1860. What Church meant to portray in this painting was known only to Church, but that has not stopped the painting’s admirers from speculating as to what the artist wanted to communicate.
    Some see in the painting an optimistic view of America’s future with the so-called “westward expansion,” and even though it is twilight, it signifies that a better day is dawning. Others see exactly the opposite. In 1860, Civil War was only a year away; and even though no one was sure at that time war would be the result over the issue of slavery that no one in the country could any longer ignore, many were seeing ominous signs on the horizon. Perhaps, therefore, Church was emphasizing the twilight—that a darkness was about to envelop the United States with the bright colors of the sky highlighting the good days that were about to pass from the scene.[ene_ptp] Whatever Church was trying to portray and no matter what others may see in this magnificent painting, one thing is clear; those who perceive are just as significant as the one who paints what is perceived, just as those who interpret written texts are just as important as the one who wrote the text. It is impossible to divorce the interpreter from the interpreter’s own context in order to render an “objective” interpretation. That is not to say that the “original” context of what was painted or written is unimportant. Nor is the intention of the artist or the author insignificant, and though such intention may be quite difficult to discover, it is a worthy endeavor all the same. But just as we cannot extrapolate “ourselves” from any of our experiences in life in order to have the view from nowhere, so we cannot get out of our own interpretive skin when gazing at paintings in an art museum or in reading a novel or the newspaper or in studying the Scripture in order to give an interpretation that is… well… free from interpretation.
    This is not to suggest that all interpretations are created equal, that one reading of a text is just as valid as another. We don’t live life that way, treating the interpretation of STOP signs as up to each individual driver, and neither should we employ such a “relative” hermeneutic. But we must understand that when we engage in interpretation we engage ourselves, who we are in all of our experience.
    Focus does indeed determine reality, but it is a good thing to question whether we have focused on the right things when we engage in the hermeneutical endeavor. The interpreter cannot extrapolate herself from reality, but she must also understand that reality is larger than her own context.
    In hermeneutics it is about the interpreter, but it is also about more.
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