Aseity and promeity

I came across these two words in some reading online, referencing Bonhoeffer's work among others. "Aseity" rang a bell but had never heard of "promeity." Here's what I've found:

Aseity is God's existing totally independent of anything else.

"Ens a se" - A medieval term for a kind of being , which contrasts with being out of itself ( ens ex se ) and with being that depends upon another thing as the ground of its existence ( ens ab alio ). In medieval philosophy, ens a se is a thing that is completely self-sufficient and depends on nothing else for its existence, and this description is ascribed solely to God. The idea is derived from the biblical teaching that God is the Creator. God is ens a se by existing independent of anything else, but all created things, including human beings, are ens ex se because they depend on God for their existence. The term aseity (Latin aseitas ) was formed from ens a se for the abstract property of being completely independent.

(from Blackwell Reference Online)

As best I can tell, promeity is Christ's nature of existing for us (not independent of us, as in God's aseity), perhaps from the Latin "pro me" (for me), that he as fully God and fully human he is not free from human beings but free for human beings.

Christ is Christ, not just for himself, but in relation to me. His being Christ is his being for me, pro me. This being pro-me is not to be understood as an effect emanating from him, nor as an accident; but it is to be understood as the essence, the being of the person himself. The core of the person himself is pro-me (Bonhoeffer, "Christ the Center", p 47).

This was quoted in a blog, the writer (a Canadian Anglican Priest named Patrick McManus) continues:

"Christ cannot be thought of other than in his being as pro-me. It is only by acknowledging Christ’s promeity that Christology can properly proceed to discuss him as 'contemporaneous' and contemporaneously present only existing as Word, Sacrament, and Church."

This is really interesting, to me anyway. I am looking forward to reading Bonhoeffer's "Christ the Center" (after reading "Sanctorum Communio").

David Shannon-Lier Photography

Brooke's nephew David, and his wife Alison and son Emmett, visited with us on their way to Arizona State University where David will pursue a Masters in Fine Arts. David graduated from the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston this spring, with a major in photography.

Check out his web site - David Shannon-Lier Photography

coffee and cancer

can it really be true?

More cups of coffee may mean less chance of cancer...

video

The path to peace

The fruit of silence is prayer,
The fruit of prayer is faith,
The fruit of faith is love,
The fruit of love is service,
The fruit of service is peace.
(Mother Teresa)

Sacred Otherness

in light of our reflections on those evil Pharisees in John 9, whom we are so very much like, perpetuating our own blindness, at least in part through our judging and categorizing people, with full confidence of who's in and who's out, who's good and who's evil; through our unwillingness to see God do a new thing, our fear to affirm God at work outside of our defined and limited vision... I pass this quote along posted today from Emergent Village:

Sacred otherness

Sometimes it's the very otherness of a stranger, someone who doesn't belong to our ethnic or ideological or religious group, an otherness that can repel us initially, but which can jerk us out of our habitual selfishness, and give us intonations of that sacred otherness, which is God.

Karen Armstrong

a pastor

I am encouraged (once again) by Eugene Peterson's reflections on pastoral ministry. Commenting on the high rate of people leaving ministry, and of churches desiring more effective or successful "leaders" he writes:

I wonder if at the root of the defection is a cultural assumption that all leaders are people who “get things done,” and “make things happen.” That is certainly true of the primary leadership models that seep into our awareness from the culture – politicians, businessmen, advertisers, publicists, celebrities, and athletes. But while being a pastor certainly has some of these components, the pervasive element in our two-thousand year pastoral tradition is not someone who “gets things done” but rather the person placed in the community to pay attention and call attention to “what is going on right now” between men and women, with one another and with God – this kingdom of God that is primarily local, relentlessly personal, and prayerful “without ceasing.”

(The Pastor, Eugene Peterson, p. 5)

the way of the cross on behalf of the powerless

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minority Affairs was assassinated.

An advocate for minorities Bhatti was outspoken, bold and fearless in protecting their rights. Among his life accomplishments Bhatti received the International Religious Freedom Award for rendering services to the Christian community, becoming the first Pakistani to receive this prestigious award.

Bhatti had defied death threats since the assassination of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer on Jan 4. Taseer was killed for supporting Asia Noreen, the first Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan on blasphemy charges. Bhatti was Pakistan’s only cabinet-level Christian and was in charge of a committee to amend the law against blasphemy.

In this compelling video recorded several months ago Bhatti conceded that he was “the highest target right now” but vowed to continue his work and trusting his life to God.