Ilkley Baptist

John D Caputo is a philosophical theologian, American (obviously), and into Derrida. He's pretty new, still. A college principal I spoke to today hadn't heard of him! Thanks to PhilA of the Ship of Fools, I have a copy of 'On Religion,' a more popular work. I've started reading, and so far I love it.

He writes in a preachy manner (that's a compliment: he reminds me of Tillich) and is post-modernly self-conscious, talking about himself and his personal attitudes and intentions. He respects traditional religion, but wants it to be more self-critical, more aware of the importance of the stuff outside the institution.

Chapter One is called 'The Love of God.' He starts by talking about 'the religious person.' The religious person is the person who loves, who loves God. They may be within the church, or far outside any religion, but they love God. But what exactly do they love? Here he introduces a central question, from Augustine: What do I love when I love my God?

(He talks about the non-religious person as someone who loves nothing - except his investments: a pusillanimous curmudgeon. I don't think he thinks such people actually exist.)

He says that they love the impossible. The impossible is that we cannot imagine because we have not experienced it and cannot expect it. Yet it may happen. Not in the predictable futures that pension funds and holiday plans are for, but in the future that no one guesses, but which comes like a thief in the night. The impossible doesn't just happen sometimes, it hovers on the threshold of the present and makes everything look different. And it makes religious people unhinged.

He talks about the Secret. Which is that we don't know the secret. We don't know the answers to questions like 'what am I?' or 'what is the Way?'

By asking the unanswerable questions we make our living more intense. Without Answers we answer the God we love.

Hmm. It looks pretty thin like this. Perhaps I've missed too much out. Perhaps a lot depends on his eloquent, engaging style. We'll see what the next chapter brings.