Love, Suffering, and Theology with Stanley Hauerwas

Evan Rosa interviews Stanley Hauerwas on his theological and personal perspectives on love, suffering, forgiveness, grief, the theological method, and following Christ.

[@GabrielKerr]

Solid, grounded, experiential, and educated wisdom. This man is beautiful.

[@grunt12394]

Stanley Hauerwas has all the qualities I like in an intellectual. ill always admire him for that.

[@johnmckeown4931]

First heard of this man through Dr Laurie Johnson, people like them fill me full of hope, thank you all

[@mr.popoballballl745]

Thank you for the great love and understanding you guys have

[@michawill6599]

Beautiful interview

[@sambamstewart]

Thank you for sharing this interview!

[@jpruhu7662]

What a wonderful thumbnail!

[@danielgibson8799]

This is my second comment: my semantic field is quite different from Hauerwas' in the sense that christianity ≠ following Jesus to me. Because of this, i see the united states a dominant christian nation.

[@scottcamp9266]

This young man does not understand that Stanley is using the term, “laborer” in a technical sense😂

[@anselman3156]

"we know God primarily by what God is not"? Rather, we know God primarily by what He has revealed Himself to be in the Holy Scriptures and in Jesus Christ.

[@danielgibson8799]

i think a great deal of hubris goes into the idea that we, or at least a decent amount of us, are good. i don't see it. When i watch a movie like Funny Games, i see the characters Paul and Anna more or less as two sides of one coin. When i watch a movie like The Dark Knight, i see the Joker and Batman as two sides of one coin. Also, God allows evil to take place in the same way the gatherer-hunters allow children to decide for themselves. It is OUR job to master sin, not God's.

[@GestasLeftcross]

While I sympathize with this perspective, I think it begs the question of the meaning of the cross. As Paul of Tarsus wrote, "I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing." Galatians 2:21

[@bubsie44]

I don’t think Hauerwas would ever say that “we” (i.e. Christians) are good. I think he would say that we are as sinful as anyone else, but through God’s grace we have been given practices which allow us in the church to live non-violently.

[@r.w.6093]

While always insightful (primarily because of his humility and sense of humor)... Hauerwas, consistently fails by reducing the gospel into some pseudo emancipatory project.(which of course always aligns perfectly with contemporary progressive politics, what a coincidence)

[@GestasLeftcross]

How does what he says in this interview about abortion and euthanasia align with contemporary progressive politics?

[@lswolfville]

I completely disagree with this comment. If anything, Hauerwas constantly pushes us to pay attention to the depth of the Gospel and to its counter-cultural implications and its demands on us (although I do believe the Gospel is about the ultimate emancipation). Furthermore, his politics are anything but in line with "contemporary progressive politics."

[@j.p.4910]

@@lswolfville What was counter-cultural in his political discourse? He is pro LGBT, feminism, and thinks republicans are fascists. Very little of what he says differs substantly with the hegemonic political discourse. Yes, his banter is better but that has more to do with him being a southerner than anything else. Furthermore, if you think that the Gospel is "emancipatory." You clearly haven't read the NT, lthe Pauline epistles consistently teach the complete opposite. The Holy Spirit through St. Paul vigorously defended and appealed to the legal and political power of the Roman Empire, and though challenging the sexual and gender mores of the day, He clearly taught female subordination to their husbands (in both the private sphere and the Church). And lastly the Holy Spirit through St Paul, explicitly taught servants and slaves to submit to their masters. Yes, God equally puts limits on the other parties as well (ie masters, husbands, authorities) which were quite revolutionary for the culture. However none of this can be viewed as emancipatory from a modern political point of view. If any thing anything the biblical teaching could more accurately be described as "agape paternalism" than anything else. Bibical iliteracy (as well general illiteracy) is destroying the Church, because people have no idea what the bible teaches and are therefore easy prey for the dominant views of the world, like the above commenters. Truly a sad state of affairs.

[@mrloski2915]

@@j.p.4910 have you grown since this comment?

[@vecumex9466]

False!