Today’s two readings pretty much capture
everything Nietzsche hated about Christianity.
Reversing what Nietzsche took
everything Nietzsche hated about Christianity.
Reversing what Nietzsche took
to be the natural and healthy course of the world,
in which eagles prey on lambs,
the Gospel proclaims the glory of a God
who brings down the mighty
and exalts those who are lowly.
in which eagles prey on lambs,
the Gospel proclaims the glory of a God
who brings down the mighty
and exalts those who are lowly.
Isaiah reveals that the mighty Assyrian empire
is but a tool in the hands of the Lord.
Assyria, the earthly city,
wants, as Augustine put it, to glory in itself,
to say, “By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.”
But God will have none of that,
asking, “Will the axe boast
against him who hews with it?”
Whatever seeming feats of power
Assyria has carried out
in fact show that empire’s
subservience to the Lord’s plans,
to God’s providence.
is but a tool in the hands of the Lord.
Assyria, the earthly city,
wants, as Augustine put it, to glory in itself,
to say, “By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.”
But God will have none of that,
asking, “Will the axe boast
against him who hews with it?”
Whatever seeming feats of power
Assyria has carried out
in fact show that empire’s
subservience to the Lord’s plans,
to God’s providence.
And in the Gospel we hear
not simply that the powerful
are not so powerful as they think themselves,
nor the wise as shrewd as they think themselves,
but that what has been hidden
from the wise and the learned
has been revealed to the childlike.
Those whom the wise and the powerful despise
know something that the wise and the powerful do not—
they know that all human wisdom and power
are in the hands of the Lord,
and they say to God, “My glory,
the one who lifts up my head."
not simply that the powerful
are not so powerful as they think themselves,
nor the wise as shrewd as they think themselves,
but that what has been hidden
from the wise and the learned
has been revealed to the childlike.
Those whom the wise and the powerful despise
know something that the wise and the powerful do not—
they know that all human wisdom and power
are in the hands of the Lord,
and they say to God, “My glory,
the one who lifts up my head."
I presume not many of us here
profess to be Nietzscheans,
nor think ourselves leaders of great empires,
but even in the small pond of theology
the temptation remains to say,
“By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.”
The temptation to glory in our selves remains,
to claim for our own the work
that God has wrought through us,
to say that it is my power that has brought
whatever successes I have achieved,
my wisdom that has made me oh-so-clever
in the ways of theology.
This is our libido dominandi,
our lust for domination.
profess to be Nietzscheans,
nor think ourselves leaders of great empires,
but even in the small pond of theology
the temptation remains to say,
“By my own power I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd.”
The temptation to glory in our selves remains,
to claim for our own the work
that God has wrought through us,
to say that it is my power that has brought
whatever successes I have achieved,
my wisdom that has made me oh-so-clever
in the ways of theology.
This is our libido dominandi,
our lust for domination.
Of course, we don’t say that out loud.
We probably don’t even think it to ourselves.
But we often show it in our actions
and our intellectual habits.
We glory in ourselves
when we treat theological discussion
as a blood sport in which
intellectual scalps are the prize.
We glory in ourselves
when we treat every theological question
as a locked door to be opened by brute force
rather than perhaps a mystery
before which we must bow.
One reason we have the Studium
is to try to break these habits.
By prayer and conversation and friendship
we seek to take our place
among the little ones who glory,
not in themselves, but in God,
to whom Christ reveals
the mysteries of the Father.
We seek to remind ourselves,
as St. Thomas teaches us (ST 1.43.5 ad 2),
that Christ the Word dwells in us,
“not in accordance with every and any kind
of intellectual perfection,
but according to the intellectual illumination
that breaks forth into the affection of love.”
is to try to break these habits.
By prayer and conversation and friendship
we seek to take our place
among the little ones who glory,
not in themselves, but in God,
to whom Christ reveals
the mysteries of the Father.
We seek to remind ourselves,
as St. Thomas teaches us (ST 1.43.5 ad 2),
that Christ the Word dwells in us,
“not in accordance with every and any kind
of intellectual perfection,
but according to the intellectual illumination
that breaks forth into the affection of love.”
Let us pray that,
through the intercession of St. Thomas,
God will bring to completion
the good work he has begun in us
and among us.
And may God, who is merciful,
have mercy on us all.
through the intercession of St. Thomas,
God will bring to completion
the good work he has begun in us
and among us.
And may God, who is merciful,
have mercy on us all.
