Small-t Transcendence

In the beginning was the Word, 

and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God. 

(John 1:1)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Virtually any Christology (that is, our theology of Christ) can solve the self-referencing problem—the problem that a closed system requires an external reference to maintain stability. The chief requirement is that the image of Christ be external to the self, not a mirror image of self. The New Testament answer to this problem arose in a simple retelling of the Jesus story.

The Apostle Paul’s writing records several of these early church confessions, for example:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve.” 

(1 Cor 15:3-5)

Much like the citation above from the Apostle John, Jesus is immediately associated with God, the Father. More recent attempts to chain Jesus to his humanity suggest a clear departure from the early church norm.

The implication of this attempted cleavage between Jesus, the person, and Jesus, the Son of God, makes it helpful to discuss two types of transcendence. The first type I will call small-t transcendence—any image of Jesus that only solves the self-referencing problem. Any image of Jesus external to the self satisfies the need for an external reference.

Today there are many such images of Jesus that merely satisfy this requirement. Erwin McManus (2021) provides a recent example where he describes Jesus as a religious prodigy. This image of Jesus’ humanity renders him palatable to a skeptical generation, but it is like describing Jesus as a prophet or great teacher. It stops short of describing him as divine. Thus, this image of Jesus satisfies only the requirements for small-t transcendence.

The second type I will call large-T transcendence—any image of Jesus that equates him to God the Father, creator of the heaven and earth (Gen 1:1). Here Jesus, as third member of the Trinity, stands outside of time and space because God created both. This is the Jesus of the New Testament who walks on water, heals the sick, exorcizes demons, and rises from the dead.

In this reflection, I will focus on small-t transcendence.

The Slippery Slope

Imagine for a moment a mural with sixteen images of Jesus in four rows. In the top lefthand corner is a silhouette of Jesus penned in black. Working across the first row are the same image in brown, amber, and white colors. In the second row, the silhouette and ordering of colors is reversed. In the third row, the silhouette loses various features of the image and the colors are all shades of grey. In the fourth row, the silhouette morphs step-by-step into an outline of Satan in colors from pink to bright red.

The point of this graphical exercise is to display why the small-t transcendence image of Jesus is dangerous. While the individual is anchored to an external reference, the reference itself is free-floating, not anchored to the story of Jesus given in the New Testament. This is one interpretation of the idolatry problem that we face in postmodern culture.

Another visual contrast between the God who created heaven and earth, and humanly created idols is found in the Psalms:

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.

Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” (Ps 115:3-8)

When I read this passage I am immediately reminded of the bobble-head, plastic Jesuses that used to decorate car dashboards. This problem of idolatrous images motivated the writers of the Old Testament to forbid visual images of God (Exod 20:4).

The more insidious images of Jesus are those that we carry around in our heads. While I have focused on the self-reference problem and problem of the free-floating image of Jesus, idolatry can also take the form of false priorities. This happens when we neglect an image of God altogether and make something else our first priority—a person, a job, a philosophy, a political view, a gender, an ethnicity, or a race. 

We use our first priority to measure everything else so it functions differently than other priorities. If my job is my number one priority, I think of everything in terms of advancement and money. If my spouse is my first priority, then my spouse’s opinion is my measure of where I work, what I eat and wear, and who I talk to. Saying that God is one our priorities implies that we commit idolatry. If anything other than God is our first priority, we also commit sin, violating the first commandment (Exod 20:3).

References

McManus, Erwin Raphael. 2021. The Genius of Jesus: The Man Who Changed Everything. New York: Convergent.

Small-t Transcendence

Also see:

The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com

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