"A csoda helyszíne itt van köztünk": A hétköznapi, e rendkívüli és a szent a protestáns spiritualitásban
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Date
2020
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Abstract
“The Scene of Miracle is here, among us”: The Ordinary, the Extraordinary, and the Sacred in Protestant Spirituality In our profoundly alienated and disenchanted Western culture there is a growing need for a spirituality firmly grounded in ordinary reality. The Reformation, as is well-known, has bridged the divide between the sacred and the profane by conferring unprecedented dignity on earthly life and secular vocations. At the same time, however, Protestants tend to think of the world as under judgement, and thus having religious significance mainly as a stage of transforming ethical action in the believer’s obedient response to the call of the transcendent Other. In this paper the above attitude is identified as “ethical sacramentalism” in contrast with “aesthetic sacramentalism.” In aesthetic sacramentalism the good things of this world are symbols or expressions of God’s eternal nature, whereas in ethical sacramentalism they are viewed as instruments which God uses to bring about his kingdom. Whenever one of these tendencies becomes dominant at the cost of the other, spirituality becomes one-sided. In an ethically oriented, prophetic spirituality there is a propensity to undervalue the goodness of creation and thus to objectify and instrumentalize the world. The paper calls attention to those aspects of Christian spirituality which have the potential to right the balance by enabling us to experience the sacramental in the ordinary. I point out how art, and literary language in particular, can help us overcome alienation by liberating us to participate in God’s beauty and holiness manifested through the created world.