Bible, Theology & Philosophy

Reprinted with permission from Doug Kutilek’s As I See It, (May, 2010) with some editing. AISI is sent free to all who request it dkutilek@juno.com.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9.

So What?

We have seen why the imagination is important. We have also seen how imagination is not always the same thing. The moral imagination functions differently than the idyllic imagination, and both function differently than the demonic imagination.

We have also discussed the various tools that imagination has at its disposal. Memory, simple fantasy, and speculative fantasy are all aspects of recalling and rearranging images that have been stored by the mind. The primary and secondary imaginations are evaluative and expressive.

What difference does this discussion make for Christian life and ministry? I suggest that its implications are far-reaching indeed. Drawing out those implications would take a separate series of essays, but the lessons may be summarized rather briefly.

First, imagination is of paramount importance. It is the mechanism through which we understand the world. Without imagination, we would have only a collection of isolated sensations. We would not be able to correlate those sensations. We would not be able to understand the realities to which they point. Nor would we be able to grasp the order (including the moral order) of the universe.

Originally published as a single article: “Tongues—Are They for Today?,” DBSJ 14 (2009). Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8.

A Biblical Example

In the last couple of essays we have distinguished the primary from the secondary imagination. We have also considered one example of the imagination being exercised, William Wordsworth’s “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge.” Now I would like to examine a biblical example of the imagination in action.

The Bible is full of imaginative literature (by imaginative I do not mean “made up,” but rather “literature that makes its appeal to the imagination”). Much of Scripture is cast in the form of stories. Several biblical books are devoted exclusively to poetry, and others employ poetic forms extensively in their composition. Parts of the Bible are apocalyptic, and whatever else apocalypses may do, they appeal to the imagination (specifically, the speculative fantasy).

If we want to discuss the use of the imagination in Scripture, we find ourselves nearly stymied by an embarrassment of riches. Where shall we turn? For the present discussion, I propose to select a work that is widely known and can be easily recalled. We shall discuss the Twenty-Third Psalm.

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.

Secondary Imagination

The primary imagination enables us to look beyond the object of perception and to see other layers of significance in it. What each of us perceives in the object is personal and, therefore, different from the perceptions of everyone else. Sometimes our perceptions are sufficiently profound and out of the ordinary to convince us that we have gained some insight into the nature of the thing that we are observing and, consequently, into the nature of the world itself.

Once we have gained an insight, i.e., a significantly different way of seeing the world, we often experience the impulse to share it. Here we find ourselves confronted with a challenge because an imaginative insight cannot (properly speaking) be communicated. In this respect it is akin to an emotional state. When we experience joy, sorrow, or anger, we can communicate to other people that we are happy or sad or mad—but we cannot communicate the emotion itself. Since emotions cannot be communicated, they must be evoked. Something other than our statement of emotion is necessary if we wish other people actually to enter into the emotion and experience it for themselves.

So it is with the insights of the imagination. When we desire to share an insight, our goal is not simply to announce to the world that we have experienced a moment of truth. Our goal is to reproduce in others the same insight that we ourselves have experienced.