Of great interest and relevance to your point here is Donald Bloesch's "struggle of prayer" (including a book by that name). He does a good job distinguishing biblical, prophetic prayer, which integrally involves the kind of tension you describe, from pagan views of prayer. At stake is the irreducible person-ality of God, as opposed to a more contemplative, impersonal view of Godhead. In my psyche, such a "wrestling perspective" itself "wrestles" with the parts of my soul which favor a more serene, neoplatonic view of prayer. Perhaps this very struggle, this meta-dialectic, can function as a higher synthesis?
😊ha! Love this. I remember once I said to God I feel like I want to throw rotten tomatoes at him, like at a bad performance. And, I said to him that I thought he said he WASN’T a mute idol! This is an encouraging post.
Of great interest and relevance to your point here is Donald Bloesch's "struggle of prayer" (including a book by that name). He does a good job distinguishing biblical, prophetic prayer, which integrally involves the kind of tension you describe, from pagan views of prayer. At stake is the irreducible person-ality of God, as opposed to a more contemplative, impersonal view of Godhead. In my psyche, such a "wrestling perspective" itself "wrestles" with the parts of my soul which favor a more serene, neoplatonic view of prayer. Perhaps this very struggle, this meta-dialectic, can function as a higher synthesis?
I guess it also relates to Jesus’ teaching on prayer, which is to encourage us to ‘never give up’
😊ha! Love this. I remember once I said to God I feel like I want to throw rotten tomatoes at him, like at a bad performance. And, I said to him that I thought he said he WASN’T a mute idol! This is an encouraging post.
I wish I had the analogy at hand when I was still teaching. Nevertheless, it will make its way into my sermons. Thank you!