Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

Cross 96 —God’s silence is a language about which the contemporary Christianmainstream has much to learn—and share with Western postmodern culture.The parable of the angry shoemaker and final reflectionsThis parable summarises much of my understanding about the spiritual needs of Westernpostmodern culture, and how Karl Rahner’s ideas provide a valuable resource forcontemporary people searching for a meaningful spirituality.The parable of the angry shoemakerThere was once a shoemaker who operated in a small village, servicing the needsof the villagers with regard to their footwear. The relationship between theshoemaker and his customers was functional and comfortable without beingparticularly warm or dynamic. Business always continued at a steady pacebecause his was the only footwear outlet in town, and everybody wore shoes.One fateful day, however, things began to change. Some remarkable visitorsarrived at the village, remarkable because they were not wearing shoes. Thevillagers had never seen anyone go barefoot before. The shoemaker wasimmediately suspicious of the barefoot itinerants. His suspicion turned to ragewhen he realised that the visitors were not only going barefoot themselves, butactively encouraging the villagers to do the same by extolling the sensate virtuesof shoeless freedom.Many of the villagers were fascinated by the radical suggestion of the barefootvisitors, but they were also afraid, because the shoemaker filled their heads withdire warnings about what might happen to people who wore no shoes! ‘Your toeswill fall off!’; ‘Your skin will burn!’; ‘Your feet will completely lose their shape!’The visitors, however, laughed at the shoemaker’s ranting and pointed out to thevillagers the simple fact that none of these predictions of doom had come true intheir case.Many of the people began to experiment with taking off their shoes, just for shortperiods at first, then for longer periods, until eventually many people would onlyput on their shoes once or twice a year—just for special occasions. Someabandoned the practice of shoe-wearing all together, revelling in the newsensations of grass and sand and water against their bare flesh and deciding thatnever again would they allow their feet to be constricted by heavy leather casings.96 Adapted from ‘The Father spoke one word from all eternity and he spoke it in silence, and it is in silencethat we hear it’, C. Bourgeault Centering prayer and awakening (Plymouth, UK: Cowley Publications,2004), see 5, and accompanying endnote.219