Thinking about Thinking: What Kind of Conversation is Philosophy?

9. Sacrificium Laudis—Sacrificium Intellectus

149 n i n e Sacrificium Laudis—Sacrificium Intellectus Can philosophers offer their work to God as an expression of recognition , gratitude, reconciliation, and participation in the spirit of a sacrificial liturgy? Or, in Christian terms, are philosophers invited to the wedding of the slaughtered Lamb? SACRIFICIUM laudis In the biblical stories about the kings of Juda and Israël, we read that, under those kings who insisted on the central celebration of the Lord in Jerusalem, idolatrous sacrifices continued to be offered on the high places and that abominable practices, such as burning one’s firstborn son, were part to it.1 We also read, however, the following words of Psalm 51: Open my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may proclaim your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice; or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 150 Sacrificium Laudis—Sacrificium Intellectus My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit: a wounded and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. We also read that Jeremiah, in the name of the Lord, announces a time in which all bloody offerings will be replaced by a pure devotion of minds and hearts: “The time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel . . . ,” says the Lord. “I will put my laws in their minds And write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All of them, high and low, shall know me; I will be merciful toward their wickedness And I will remember their sins no more.”2 Christians believe that the promised new covenant has been inaugurated by Jesus, and they apply to him verses 7–9 of Psalm 40: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but you prepared a body for me; with burnt offerings and sin-offerings you were not pleased. Then I said: “Here I am—as it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.”3 According to the letter to the Hebrews, where these verses are quoted, Jesus had to learn through suffering the obedience that is implied in the agreement of a human will with the will of God: Sacrificium Laudis—Sacrificium Intellectus 151 During the days of his life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from the grave. Because of his humble submission his prayer was heard. Son though he was, he learned obedience in the school of suffering.4 That suffering was indeed a touchstone for the authenticity of Jesus ’ humility is clear from the anguished and twice-repeated prayer in which, on the eve of his condemnation, he urged God that “if it were possible, this hour might pass him by: ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘all things are possible to thee; take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’“5 Although Jesus confesses that “all things” are possible for the Creator , he does not know why he “must” (dei) be condemned to passion and death.6 His motivation for accepting this destiny does not emerge from any other explanation than that it is willed by God, whom he calls “Father.” Without receiving an answer to the eternal question of why one must suffer, Jesus submits his will to that Willing, which thus is realized in Jesus’ obedience to death. A human will that wills the glory of the original and all-encompassing Will transforms the situation of a corrupted world into the possibility of perfect reconciliation . To will God’s Will is here the loving answer to a tragic murder that does not allow for a rational explanation. The suffering of this perfect man is the result of misunderstanding and malevolence. It cannot be deduced from obvious principles, but it must be accepted and performed, because another’s Will ought to be done. Jesus becomes the Servant and Priest of Jahweh7 by accepting the most unreasonable but inevitable sacrifice of his life. His embrace of this fate summarizes his fulfillment of the entire Law: “Not what I will, but what You will.”8 In that...