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The intent of Pilgrim Processing is to provide commentary on the Daily Lectionary from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The format for the comment is Old Testament Lesson first, Gospel, and Epistle with a portion of one of the Psalms for the day as a prayer at the end.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Deconstructing Creation

Deconstructionism is essentially taking a text or an idea and tearing it apart and proving that its meaning is limited in time and space. Because it denies that there is true "meaning" it is notoriously difficult to define.

Creation, it seems, is a purely altruistic act on the part of God. He created a beautiful tableau out of formlessness and void and then brought that tableau into being by imbuing it with life. A deconstructionist would say that once He put us here and gave us dominion, everything has been a will to power and dominion, but what did God mean by dominion? The fact that he circumscribed anything as bad would be taken as further proof that from the beginning this was all about power. I would argue that any being great enough to create all this has the right to circumscribe its use and the terms of life.

Deconstructionism of this sort, rebellion against the intent of the author of life, isn't a new phenomenon. It is as old as Genesis 3 when Satan posed the first postmodern question, "Did God really say..."

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