Truly excellent John. So perceptive. Incidentally, the conference at which you presented this paper was, you say, for Salvation Army communicators and fundraisers. I would love to know the fundraisers' reaction to what you said. I think they would be inwardly seething. Much easier to raise money for good works than for Christlike holiness. I think the Army's fundraising strategy has for many years, while successful financially, forged an unhelpful profile when it comes to mission. We have ourselves to blame.
The taxi driver asked "what about me" because he was hoping/expecting someone to solve some of his pressing problems. Pay the bills, find a job, get better housing, etc. I think it's as simple as that. And because we couldn't help him then he didn't feel valued. On the basis that we can't solve everyone's problems then most people won't feel valued because we didn't solve their problems. Unless we make the kingdom of God about finding Jesus instead of about solving human problems. If salvation looks like solving a human need then we will have fallen into the trap written about by Booth in Darkest England. "a well dressed, well fed and clean man who has not yielded his life to the living God is still destined for hell"(my paraphrasing). Saved to save... Not saved to serve. Yes.... Booth also said that "how can a hungry person hear the gospel unless we feed them first" but he was talking about people who were so hungry they were going to die, not ones who had misspent their benefits and needed a handout before their next giro.
Thank you John for reminding us again of what God's kingdom looks like and why this is our priority. May God help me live this out where he's placed me, showing kindness in whatever way I can to make others feel valued and then invite them to meet Jesus.
This is a powerful extension of the Rome lecture, John — Honneth gives real conceptual weight to something the taxi driver already knew in his bones.
One thought, prompted by something else Honneth says: that being part of a group which shares values and goals doesn't automatically produce recognition — it's possible to belong to a community and still not feel seen within it. That seems important here, because it closes off the easiest reading of "you are not outside the story" — that the answer is simply inviting people in. The taxi driver wasn't outside the night shelter. He was a regular there, known by name. And he still asked the question.
Which makes me wonder whether the practice that makes "you belong" credible, rather than just another claim made about someone, is a kind of attention rather than a kind of inclusion — unhurried, non-instrumental attention to the person in front of you, not because they're useful to a project or a story, but simply because they're there. Recognition, on this reading, may be less something a community confers by membership and more something each person within it has to practise, again and again, or the words "you matter" remain kind noise even inside the fold.
Truly excellent John. So perceptive. Incidentally, the conference at which you presented this paper was, you say, for Salvation Army communicators and fundraisers. I would love to know the fundraisers' reaction to what you said. I think they would be inwardly seething. Much easier to raise money for good works than for Christlike holiness. I think the Army's fundraising strategy has for many years, while successful financially, forged an unhelpful profile when it comes to mission. We have ourselves to blame.
Thanks John. A pertinent reminder to do what we do best - love indiscriminately.
Beautifully said. One Body. Love as Jesus loves us.
The taxi driver asked "what about me" because he was hoping/expecting someone to solve some of his pressing problems. Pay the bills, find a job, get better housing, etc. I think it's as simple as that. And because we couldn't help him then he didn't feel valued. On the basis that we can't solve everyone's problems then most people won't feel valued because we didn't solve their problems. Unless we make the kingdom of God about finding Jesus instead of about solving human problems. If salvation looks like solving a human need then we will have fallen into the trap written about by Booth in Darkest England. "a well dressed, well fed and clean man who has not yielded his life to the living God is still destined for hell"(my paraphrasing). Saved to save... Not saved to serve. Yes.... Booth also said that "how can a hungry person hear the gospel unless we feed them first" but he was talking about people who were so hungry they were going to die, not ones who had misspent their benefits and needed a handout before their next giro.
Thank you John for reminding us again of what God's kingdom looks like and why this is our priority. May God help me live this out where he's placed me, showing kindness in whatever way I can to make others feel valued and then invite them to meet Jesus.
This is a powerful extension of the Rome lecture, John — Honneth gives real conceptual weight to something the taxi driver already knew in his bones.
One thought, prompted by something else Honneth says: that being part of a group which shares values and goals doesn't automatically produce recognition — it's possible to belong to a community and still not feel seen within it. That seems important here, because it closes off the easiest reading of "you are not outside the story" — that the answer is simply inviting people in. The taxi driver wasn't outside the night shelter. He was a regular there, known by name. And he still asked the question.
Which makes me wonder whether the practice that makes "you belong" credible, rather than just another claim made about someone, is a kind of attention rather than a kind of inclusion — unhurried, non-instrumental attention to the person in front of you, not because they're useful to a project or a story, but simply because they're there. Recognition, on this reading, may be less something a community confers by membership and more something each person within it has to practise, again and again, or the words "you matter" remain kind noise even inside the fold.