7
some sort of "blessing" (as Taylor would construe it), but a burden we must endure
(Eccles. 3:10).
34
Although Qohelet also affirms that God "has made everything beautiful in its
time," the mystery and wandering may not always be joy-filled. But as Christians, we
can have confidence in God to bring all things to completion for the greatest good. It is
this confidence, in the midst of the enigma of life, which motivates us to keep pushing
forward.
C. The Closed Book with an Open Story
If re-worked, Taylor's notion of the closed book may stimulate some
constructive theological thinking. When we look at the development of Christianity in
the book of Acts, for example, we find an end to the book. The written narrative upon
which the Christian movement was based, discontinues with Paul under Roman guard.
It is an end to the book, but an "open-ended" end. The Acts narrative stops, but the story
of Christianity continues and we indwell that story. From this "closed book" forward,
the Acts narrative must be lived out, not only put into succinct doctrinal propositions.
Of course, Taylor is not saying this at all. We are simply listening and interacting
"apologetically" to Taylor's challenges, concerns, notions, and reactions to
Enlightenment excesses and "re-baptizing" them for our context. In this regard,
Taylor's concerns stimulate us and remind us that in some senses, the book is closed and
now is the time to live out its truths as an open story in the context of Christian
community. Often, when Christian theology is only propositionally emphasized,
doctrines become dry, stale truths, with stated "objective" content. We are not denying
the value of the notion of "objectivity" in the context of soft or modest foundationalism,
but we are emphasizing that we are the responsible stewards to continue to live out the
Christian narrative as our personal story.
D. Image of God
We would most certainly not affirm nor warmly embrace the death of God as
Taylor would plead. However, he does help us understand how the death of God would
necessitate the death of the self. In Christian theology we would affirm the imago dei in
its broadest sense (imago essentialis), as the defining characteristic of humanity both in
terms of homo creatus and homo peccator.
35
As such, the essence of humanity is
34
See Gerhard Von Rad, Wisdom In Israel (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972), p. 234.
35
See G.C. Berkhouwer, Man: The Image of God, trans. Dirk W. Jellema, Studies in Dogmatics (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Eerdmans, 1962), pp. 37-66, 119. We are only drawing a general observation here. Due to space and
the limitations of our study, we are simply expressing the need for continued work on the theology of the imago