What is he saying now? What the heck does this have to do with the environment? Well I don't want to fill it out too much as I want to write a print article, but the basic point of a theology of fart and orgasms is to get away from the dualism that often infects conservative churches.
Farting links us to our digestive system and various often not discussed biological functions. As Montaigne noted, even kings and women sit on their backsides. To have a theology of farts is to remember we are biological beings, and yet it is exactly in the flesh that we are made in the image of God. None of this is in of itself is bad, in fact it is declared good. But further, our farts remind us of our need for food, and food connects humans with the humus, Adam with the Adamah. Such a theology makes us see the need to care for our planet because of our close connection with it - we draw our food (and hence our farts) from the soil, not from the supermarket. Note that the resurrected Jesus ate.
A theology of orgasms acknowledges that we were blessed to be fruitful and multiply. As evolved organisms we have an inner drive to reproduce ourselves., As God's image blessed to procreate we are called to continue our line so that there will always be image bearers. Sex is fun, and it is natural. A theology of orgasms reminds us that ethics is for humans not angels (see Rodney Clapp's Tortured Wonders). Sex is fun, messy, sometimes complicated, and very, very earthy. But reproduction also reminds us of limits, no other species reproduces without limits. It is fairly obvious that the command to be fruitful and multiply has been fulfilled, with a world population approaching 7 billion. You can't feed an exponentially growing population with at best a geometrically growing food base, with exhausted soils, desertification, global warming driven drying climates, exhausted fisheries, etc. We are creatures of desires and limits who need to exercise self control.
So, look out for a future Zadok Perspectives and a solid theology of farts and orgasms. The church needs it.
no other species reproduces without limits
ReplyDeleteIt's quite common for populations of other species to grow "without limit" - at least until they hit the carrying capacity of their environment... Humans are unique only in being able to see what is happening and (perhaps) do something about it.
The title of this post promised to be interesting. And reading this post proved to be interesting. Beyond that I am speechless...oh and I just farted!
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