I am a complete fool for believing that crises of faith should be recompensed by moments of grace.
And yet… and yet… and yet…
June 11, 2008 in academe
I am a complete fool for believing that crises of faith should be recompensed by moments of grace.
And yet… and yet… and yet…

5 comments
Comments feed for this article
June 12, 2008 at 11:35 am
servetus
Nice punning. Actually, the majority of thinking Christians have believed just that for centuries…why shouldn’t you?
June 12, 2008 at 12:15 pm
neophyte
Well, in most of the stuff I’m reading, while grace is, yes, something that happens to you more or less independently of your own agency, you generally have to do something to put yourself in the way of grace. You have to make sure you’re in the right spot at the moment when grace comes bouncing down the road. Like, you know, stand weeping at the tomb of Christ, or something. If you can’t force yourself to believe, exactly, well, just cry a lot and you might be okay.
But apostasy? Generally not rewarded.
June 12, 2008 at 5:24 pm
servetus
But even Catholic authors thought divine was grace was undeserved (i.e., even for the people who are trying…)
June 12, 2008 at 11:47 pm
neophyte
Which isn’t exactly consoling, either. But there are tricks, there are tricks. If you’re a recusant, those tricks mainly involve glorying in the fact that your earthly life is shite, and also skill at scrounging up priests and sacramental bread in unlikely places.
But if you’re a grad student…?
June 13, 2008 at 2:17 pm
servetus
..you can trust that your advisers have experienced some of the travail you’re experiencing and may from time to time be inclined to be gracious. (My doctoral adviser was, and I strive to be as well within the relatively restrictive resources I have…)