Recent Highlights

Connections and Spiritual Myopia

The term 'revelation', in the wide context, for most Christians is usually directed towards God revealing His nature and purposes. The scriptures through the ages, from a protestant tradition, have been the primary source. As critical as the scriptures are from the standpoint of revelation, the nature of God is also declared substantively in creation and the natural world (general revelation). Terry Gatfield argues that we need to expand our means of connection with our Creator.

God also expresses Himself through His people in the arts, music, dance, drama, colour, shape, form and even in silences. These aspects are seldom given the spiritual focus deemed important to aid us in becoming increasingly connected to God. A possible connection deficit can largely be traced to our myopic western leanings towards renaissance thought and reformation domination as echoed in contemporary culture. It is implied that western modernity has been hallmarked by the quest of science and objectivity in the search for meaning at the expense of spirituality as reflected in 'general revelation'. The work of Carl Jung provides additional light on our understanding of how we receive information and make connections.

There are implications for education. Gatfield argues that our teaching methods are heavily dependent on cognitive processes and “the senses which have high appeal to empirical rationality and logic.” He suggests that we need to expand the methods in our teaching institutions and in our churches.

The conclusion suggested is that we may need to reconsider how we connect with God in more meaningful dimensions and to consider developing a broader horizon of understanding by allowing multiple revelations to aid us informing a richer understanding of God's nature and purposes.

To follow Gatfield’s arguments in detail read his article in the Journal, Volume 50, Number 1, May 2007, pp19-26.