Theology of Truth

Introduction:  Why Truth Matters

            In a world that drifts towards relativism at an ever-accelerating speed, it is vital for religious communities to understand what beliefs we claim and why we claim these beliefs.  Of the major religions throughout human history, Hinduism alone allows for complete relativism.  Still, the reality of every other religious community is that each community makes truth claims and, to some degree at least, all religious claims cannot exist harmoniously, without contradicting one another.  Particular truth claims allow a religious community to define itself, and therefore understanding and seeking truth is of primary importance to all religious communities and, in our case, particularly relevant to the Christian faith.

            When the Church claims Jesus as Creator and Lord, it is making a truth claim that is unique and at odds with most other religions throughout human history.  From the beginning of the Christian Church, the phrase “I believe” has been incorporated into initiation and liturgy.  In the same way that the early neophyte entered into the Christian community with phrases like, “I believe in God the Father Almighty”, so have believers throughout the centuries employed truth claims to distinguish what they believe.  The assertion of particular beliefs reflects the truths behind Christianity.  Therefore, when a Christian announces, “I believe”, what he or she is really saying is, “This is what I believe to be true”.  Consequently, for Christianity to exists as a particular belief system, particular truths must be acknowledged and pursued. 

What Do We Mean by “Truth”?

            Speaking from a pluralistic position, Catherine Keller argues, “To speak of truth is to speak of some kind of knowing” (Keller 28).  For Keller, truth is not the product of a particular process, but the process itself.  In a similar vein, his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI presents belief as, “an adventurous break or leap” (Ratzinger 52), reflecting the inquisitive and explorative nature of persons and faiths seeking truth.  Here we see that, at both ends of the spectrum, theologians agree that the “process” of truth is paramount to the acquisition of truth.  In both cases, truth is not simply an absolute claim without inquiry, or a “blind faith” that professes belief based upon arbitrary sources and authorities, but the product of extensive thought, inquiry, and questioning.  Furthermore, for theologians like Keller, the process is in fact the truth that we seek.

            One must also note that truth is not the exclusive property of a particular community.  An initial reading of James Cone’s, God of the Oppressed, may result in the improper assumption that truth is the exclusive property of the black community.  However, as Cone presents most clearly, truth, for him, is found within communities of the oppressed.  Consequently, truth is alien to communities of oppressors, but such a claim is not to say that a single group has monopolized truth.  A poor example of this assumed ownership is present in what Keller describes as “Christian Shibboleths”.  Christianity is plagued with a history of exclusivism and intolerance, defended by the improper interpretation of Scripture, and “make(s) a no exit where there was a way (Keller 35).  While truth claims validate religious communities, to argue that all other belief systems are void of truth is improper, divisive, arrogant, and destructive.

            Despite the significance of the pursuit, and the danger of absolute claims resulting in intolerance and arrogance, truth is nonetheless an object that we seek to understand and attain.  Wolfhart Pannenberg argues that people abandon themselves in exchange for the object of belief (Pannenberg 5).  This object of faith is the truth that the person of faith seeks.  According to Christian theology, this truth, which we strive after, is found in Jesus Christ, the personification of God’s truth to humanity.  Therefore, while the process is of the utmost importance, and the absolutes do have disastrous consequences, the Christian faith nonetheless claims Jesus Christ as truth, and on that truth rests the Church.

How Do We Attain Truth?

            After establishing what truth is, the task of attaining that truth must be discussed.  In order to receive or attain truth, one must pursue the proper sources.  Traditionally, “revelation” has served as a major source of Divine knowledge, or, the ultimate truth.  Throughout the centuries however, revelation has taken on many forms and shapes, from prophetic speeches; to divinely inspired words and texts; to visions and first hand encounters.   Furthermore, each theologian in our discussion would agree that in Jesus Christ the truth has been revealed.  For theologians like Keller, Christ exemplified the process that is truth, whereas Cone would argue that Christ represents truth in His identification with the oppressed.  In any case, truth as revelation is a truth that is revealed to humanity from a higher power.  Considering the Christian belief in God this is not a difficult stance to hold, however, there are still other sources that must be pursued.

            Experience serves as another source of truth for theologians.  Theologies are developed out of experience, and thus what people believe to be true about God is a product of the context from which people emerge.  Pannenberg sums this belief up when he writes, “God proves himself to be God in our experience of existence” (Pannenberg 35).  For example, the disciples knew Christ to be true out of their experiences with him.  At the same time, black communities identified with the God of the Exodus by their own lived experiences.  Therefore truth is not simply based upon revelation at a given point, but as an understanding and knowledge developed over the course of life.

            Finally, reason can serve as a vital and dependable source of truth.  Pannenberg argues that faith is the product of trust and that trust must find a counterpart.  Reasonably, Pannenberg presents that humanity cannot help but trust.  Following this reasoning, one must have a counterpart or object of trust, and here, Pannenberg reasonably turns to the Christian faith.  This formula is not to suggest that the use of reason results in the same belief, only that belief, and faith, and truth may be the products of intellectual exercise and reason.  Again, we may turn to Ratzinger, who describes faith as an adventurous leap.  If truth were simply a revelation or experience that needed no intellectual exercise, the leap would not be adventurous at all.  In fact, reason often counters the absolute truth claims and Christian Shibboleths which we have discussed.  Therefore, when utilized as a tool for encountering and interpreting truth, reason serves as a vital necessity with which to discern truth appropriately.   

How Do We Interact With Truth

            Having established what truth is and how truth is attained, we must then turn to and apply an appropriate interaction with truth.  To begin, truth is something that exists in a particular context.  As Ratzinger argues, Christianity is positioned at a particular point on the plane of history.  For an example of this location, we might look to the black community depicted by Cone, that is both positioned in and formed by the oppression of black Americans.  It is the proper acceptance and recognition of context that validates the truth claims of this community.  As white theology has proven throughout years of slavery and segregation, to ignore or encourage the unjust realities of the present is to undermine the truth claims of an entire community.

            Religious communities must also recognize the necessity of community in the pursuit of truth.  When exercised appropriately, truth is revealed in community.  Pannenberg notes that the Apostles Creed, or the truth claims of the Christian church, serves to unite all of Christianity.  Therefore, as truth claims unite a community, the pursuit of this truth must be accomplished in the same community.  Additionally, if experiences reveal truth, and humankind experiences life in community, then logically the pursuit of truth would most naturally be accomplished in the same fashion.

            Finally, any interaction with truth must be met with the realities of human existence.  Terms like “mystery” and “faith” imply something greater than the humanity that seeks to attain them.  Using the example of the Divine Name, Keller argues that even claiming specific truth jeopardizes the credibility of that truth (Keller 18).  Can the name God, the product of linguistic limitation, really appropriately describe a supreme deity?  As the Church moves forward in her search for truth, she must do so while recognizing the limitation of her own human position.  Here we turn to the guidance of a greater power, the example of Truth incarnate, and the work of God through our communities and experiences to reveal the truth to us.

Conclusion

            As Christian theologians across the board agree, truth is vital to the establishment and success of religious communities.  Truth not only defines the community, but also serves to unite and advance communities of faith.  While the road to discerning truth is not easy, the object of this journey is nonetheless paramount to the very idea of religion.  Without truth claims, particular communities are impossible to define.  What we believe is what makes us a community.

            Yet, in our pursuit of truth, we must exercise great wisdom.  How we define, attain, and interact with truth are opportunities to build strong religious communities, but also may threaten to destroy and divide.  Recognizing the limitations of human understanding of divine truth may serve us in this endeavor.  Seeing humanity in light of absolute truth is a humbling reminder that, though we seek truth, we may never fully attain it.        

Bibliography

Cone, James H.  God of the Oppressed.  Maryknoll, NY:  Orbis Books, 1997.

Keller, Catherine.  On the Mystery.  Minneapolis,MN:  Fortress Press, 2008.

Pannenberg, Wolfhart.  The Apostles’ Creed:  in Light of Today’s Questions. 

Eugene,OR:  Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000.

Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal.  Introduction to Christianity.  San Fransisco, CA:  Ignatius

Press, 2004.

Psalm 137

Introduction

            As a psalm of lament, set during the Babylonian exile, Psalm 137 reflects the psalmist painful recollection of the city of Jerusalem while being held captive far from the city.  Strong contrasts are presented between Jerusalem and Babylon, and the psalmist employs motifs of desired worship while at the same time acknowledging the impossibility of such a prospect.  Yet despite the initial lament and recollection (vv. 1-4), the psalmist moves from lament to pledge (vv. 5-6), with the hope of this pledge being sufficient support for the imprecation offered in the final pericope (vv.7-9).  At the psalm’s conclusion, there is the hope of restoration, that YHWH will turn the psalmist’s sorrow (v.1) into joy (vv. 8-9).  This joy will come at the expense of the exilic community’s captor and the curse requested will extend not only to the captors themselves but also to their children.  In terms of theme, Psalm 137 hinges on the idea of “remembrance”, and it is the psalmist’s pledge to remember Jerusalem, and by relation the God whom inhabited the city, that gives the psalmist leverage to petition that this very God remember the psalmist, the exilic community, and most explicitly those who have cast them into exile.

Outline

I.                Lament over the Babylonian Exile                                   vv.1-4

A.   Mournful recollection and abandonment of worship vv.1-2

B.    Taunt of Jerusalem’s captors                                     v. 3

C.    Rhetorical response                                                    v. 4

II.             Vow of fidelity to Jerusalem                                            vv. 5-6

A.   Pledge to remember with physical investment           v. 5

B.    Pledge to remember with vocal investment                v. 6

III.           Request of remembrance and Imprecation                        vv. 7-9

A.  Request that YHWH remember Edom                       v. 7

B.  Request that YHWH remember Babylon                   v. 8a

C.  Imprecation against Babylon                                      v. 9

Exegesis

[1-4] The first unit of Psalm 137, vv. 1-4, presents a communal lament and recollection.  By employing the first person plural, this pericope recognizes not only the position of the psalmist but the entire exilic community as well.  From the beginning of the psalm the reader is introduced to the important theme of remembrance.  Despite the exile, as represented in the setting “by the rivers of Babylon”, the exilic community has not forgotten their home.  Nonetheless, as a consequence of such recollection, the community is sorrowful as they sit weeping by the rivers.  Their captors taunt them with the request to hear a song of Zion, and the community responds with the rhetorical question, “How could we?”  This inability to sing is also an important theme within the first four verses.  As verse 1 indicates, the community is weeping, a difficult disposition from which to sing, and the harps upon which they would play have been hung upon the willows by the river.  Yet the tormentors still make their request, a spiteful reminder that the community is not only incapable of singing presently, but can forget about the days when songs of Zion were sung in Jerusalem.  By twice mentioning Zion and twice referencing Babylon (Babylon, foreign land), the psalmist draws the reader’s attention to these contrasting and opposing communities.  This disposition is nothing new to Israel, as Erich Zenger notes, “The life of the people of Israel appears overwhelmingly to be a daily struggle, an ongoing battle against enemies.”[1]  However what is found in Psalm 137 is far more than struggle, it is utter defeat.  It reflects a community who remembers but is unable to exercise the joys of the past because of their present exile.  As the psalm unfolds both the theme of remembrance and the theme of musical expression will be revisited, and the contrast between Jerusalem and Babylon will be further emphasized.

[5-6] A transition from the first person plural to the first person singular in verses 5-6 replaces the voice of the exilic community with the voice of the psalmist specifically.  Again, the theme of remembrance starts off the pericope, with a pledge made by the psalmist.  If the psalmist were to forget Jerusalem, he or she would incur physical retribution with the loss of the right hand and the inability to vocalize as depicted by the “tongue cling[ing] to the roof of [the psalmist’s] mouth”.  While these physical and vocal consequences of forgetfulness would cause immense pain to the psalmist, they would also prevent him or her from ever singing the songs of Zion, as the hand would be essential to exercising a musical instrument and the tongue would be vital to singing a song.  While the psalmist is currently prevented from singing the songs of Zion, as presented previously, Psalm 137 will ultimately move to the hope of retribution and restoration, and by staking participation in communal hymns the psalmist recognizes the severity of his or her pledge.  Furthermore, Jerusalem is mentioned twice in these verses, subtly supporting the psalmist’s pledge.  The psalmist cannot even compose a verse without mentioning the name of Jerusalem!  Despite the exile the psalmist vows to remember Jerusalem and place the city above the psalmist’s highest joy at the risk of great loss.  Such a strong and serious pledge gives leverage to the psalmist to evoke the remembrance of YHWH and imprecate YHWH to respond against Jerusalem’s captors.

[7-9] After making the pledge to remember, the psalmist evokes the remembrance of YHWH Himself.  The theme is continued, and the remembrance requested by the psalmist is of the action of the Edomites and the Babylonians.  Charges are brought against each, as the Edomites served as agitators while the Babylonians devastated the city.  However, imprecation is only requested against Babylon, capitalizing on the operative legal approach of lex talionis.  While the Edomites observed the destruction they did not actively destroy the city.  On the other hand, the devastation brought on by the Babylonians was so severe that the appropriate punishment, or pay back, extends to the point of dashing Babylonian children against rocks.  Though problematic for the modern reader, this retribution would bring happiness to the one who exercises it.  Furthermore, if YHWH is to be responsible for this retribution, as the imprecation would indicate, it would be YHWH’s army who would exercise this judgment.  If YHWH’s army refers to the people of Jerusalem, the exilic community that was so sorrowful at the beginning of Psalm 137 has the hope of once again experiencing joy (happiness) when YHWH enacts His judgment.  Keeping with the theme of musical expression, this happiness could manifest itself in the form of “mirth” (v. 3), as the exilic community might bring down their harps from the willows and once again sing the songs of Zion.  At the same time, as Dr. Joel LeMon notes, “The psalms of imprecation are the prayers of the powerless, whose only source of strength is the hope that God will act powerfully for their salvation.”[2]  Therefore the joy that may be hoped for in the final verse should not be viewed as a product of the community.  It does not suggest an organic uprising but a divine intervention.    

Pastoral Implications

            From a pastoral perspective Psalm 137 appears somewhat difficult to employ in either corporate or individual worship.  Within Baptist churches there is little emphasis on lectionary readings, and even churches that do employ the lectionary often exercise great liberty with which sections they choose to use.  Nonetheless, as Psalm 137 stands within the psalter, a canonical book that possess Christian authority, it necessarily must be recognized as a legitimate Christian scripture that is appropriate for use within Christian worship.

Two components of the text seem most problematic.  First, the idea of a retributive God who punishes the “enemy” results in an “us verses them” theology that can have dire consequences.  Secondly, the violent imagery of verse 9, and the subsequent celebration that it initiates, is difficult to justify with the New Testament imperative to love and forgive.  However, if the central theme of remembrance can be prioritized over these aspects, Psalm 137 can assist in both pastoral counseling and corporate celebration.

            The purpose of the retributive justice requested by the psalmist is to affirm God’s recognition of the unjust oppression of the exilic community.  Operating out of a context in which lex talionis justice is recognized, by punishing the Babylonians God is seen as making right the injustice that the community has experienced.  Perhaps the psalmist assumes that the only way to affirm God’s remembrance of the exilic community is to inflict upon the Babylonians a pain that is equal to that which the psalmist experiences.  On the one hand, the graphic imagery of “dashing little ones” gives painful recognition to the depths of the psalmist’s own suffering.  On the other hand, history has shown that the psalmist’s assumption, that a violent act must be reciprocated with another in order for justice to be established, is invalid.  By recognizing the dominant theme of remembrance, and recognizing the retributive violence within the psalm as part of this dynamic, modern Christians can recognize the expression of the psalmist while at the same time identifying alternative means of seeking God’s justice.  According to William P. Brown, “Psalm 137 is not so much a call for infanticide as a call for God’s judgment to restore a defeated and demoralized people, a judgment that necessarily involves the collapse of hegemonic rule.”[3]  Though violence is the vessel through which God’s judgment comes, Brown’s comments affirm the intention of the psalm to elevate the theme of remembrance.  

Conclusion

            Psalm 137 presents a request for remembrance in the midst of oppression.  After noting the dire circumstance in which the exilic community finds itself, and highlighting the inability to sing the songs of Zion, the psalmist makes a pledge to never forget Jerusalem.  By staking physical suffering as a consequence of forgetting Zion, the psalmist makes an individual oath that gives the psalmist the leverage to make a request to God.  Like the psalmist, perhaps God will remember what has happened and those who are responsible.  Furthermore, there is the an imprecation for retribution, and the psalm concludes with the hope that possibly YHWH will remember and make things right.  While this retribution is expressed through violent imagery, and thereby must be approached with care, if the theme of “remembrance” is prioritized then modern communities can look to other manifestations of God’s retribution and reconciliation.  If God remembers, and there is the hope that God will make things right, then within the modern context this correction must be sought through other means.    

  

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Will P.  Psalms.  Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 2010.

LeMon, Joel M.  “Saying Amen to Violent Psalms:  Patterns of Prayer, Belief, and Action in the

Psalter.” Pages 93-109 in Soundings in the Theology of the Psalms:  Perspectives and

Methods in Contemporary Scholarship.  Edited by Rolf A. Jacobson.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2011.

Zinger, Erich.  A God of Vengeance?  Understanding the Psalms of Divine Wrath.  Translated by

Linda M. Maloney.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox, 1996.

---

[1] Erich Zinger, A God of Vengeance?  Understanding the Psalms of Divine Wrath (trans. Linda M. Maloney; Louisville:  Westminster John Knox, 1996), 11.

[2] Joel M. LeMon, “Saying Amen to Violent Psalms:  Patterns of Prayer, Belief, and Action in the Psalter,” in Soundings in the Theology of the Psalms:  Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship (edit. Rolf A. Jacobson; Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2011), 108.

[3] Will P. Brown, Psalms (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 2010), 156.