David Lambourn reviews Unknowing God: Toward a Post-Abusive Theology by Nicholas Peter Harvey & Linda WoodheadCascade Books, (Eugene, OR, 2022). Pbk. 150 pages. £18
‘I maintain that thought itself absolutely depends on a three-way relationship between at least two people and a series of events that are shared in the world.’ These words of Donald Davidson recurred to me again and again as I read this book. He went on to say: ‘Although I am aware that this seems a commonplace of one’s ordinary intuitive picture of how language is learned, it hasn’t been taken all that seriously by philosophers.’
Unknowing God is a series of thoughts passed between two writers over a period of perhaps three decades. Both writers are alert to their own cultural events as well as to the global. One, female, formed within rural Anglicanism, is a former professor of religious studies and sociology of religion and presently holds the F. D. Maurice Chair of Theology at King’s College, London. The other, a generation older, is a Roman Catholic, a former Benedictine monk, and a lecturer in ethics in various institutions.
The writers ‘hope it will be helpful to read about our engagements with the Christian past and other sources as we try to make sense of things’ [emphasis added]. They continue: ‘… our interest has always been more than merely professional. We maintained a friendship over the years by sending one another occasional reflections.’ The reflections ‘have been revised, revisited, and re-ordered.’ They offer sketches of the same landscape, shaped through mutual influence and crisscrossed in different directions. The authorship of each chapter is indicated, but not the date of the exchange. This results in the reader not being able to grasp a sense of the dialogue or conversation which must have contributed to the writing.
The title of this collection is owed to the writers’ familiarity with the medieval text The Cloud of Unknowing, which teaches that ‘…you can only experience God by forgetting and unknowing what you are most certain about.’ That thought was echoed by Abraham Lincoln in his belief that we have to ‘disenthrall’ ourselves. The subtitle comes to mind with phrases such as ‘thought control’ and ‘sexual abuse scandal,’ to which the writers attach themselves by noticing ‘how theology is implicated’ and facing their own complicity.
I was much taken by the uses of the word ‘faith’ in the course of the book. ‘Faith, in our understanding, has nothing to do with passive reception of a set of propositions and rules: it is trust in awareness.’ ‘Piety and devotion can be enemies of faith.’ ‘Faith is about growing up – or not – and that is a process of trial and error.’ ‘It has been argued that adherence to a rigid orthodoxy is a sign not of faith but of its opposite.’
I tend to notice the metaphors in what I read, and the writers are alert to the vocabularies used: ‘What is forgotten is that calling God “One” is as much a metaphor as talking about God’s “right hand.”’ Religion is considered as a crutch, a hovercraft, a cover story, a re-wilding, blinkers on a horse, electric power, engineering, outer space, a compass. Prayer is considered, among other descriptions, as borrowing an identity; revelation as re-veiling; theology as autobiography; theological colleges as ‘forcing houses,’ and many more.
Donald Davidson would have been delighted at the publication of this book. I offer no comment on the writers’ theology – that would be close to hubris – other than to say that I am much encouraged by it. An additional feature of the book that excites me is its gestation – friends exchanging their reflections over an extended period and opening themselves to their own criticisms.This leads me to think of the possibility of similar activity among small groups across interfaith boundaries. Perhaps the technology of blogging would allow such openness of thinking to be shared rather earlier than at 30-year intervals! In addition to its very welcome and timely content, this book offers a fresh model of ways of working.
David Lambourn is an Anglican & Quaker Attender available on: davidlambourn@mac.com