fasting and flouting copyright.
On June 10th, The Englewood Review of Books interviewed Scot McKnight, author of The Blue Parakeet, about the topic of fasting in the wake of his new book, Fasting. The whole thing happened in real time on Twitter, between the accounts of the two concerned parties. I found it so incredibly thought-provoking, I decided to flout copyright and take my chances (Gentlemen, I will recant and repent upon notice from either of you). Below is a chronologically arranged reposting of the interview:
- While you wait for the Intrvw w/ @ScotMcKnight Our revws of his 2 most recent bks BLUE PARAKEET http://tr.im/o1er /FASTING http://tr.im/o1fa
- Welcome to the Englewood Review twinterview with Scot McKnight ( @ScotMcKnight ), professor, blogger, and author of many books…
- We are talking today with Scot about his newest book FASTING ( @ThomasNelson 2009 ) Welcome Scot!
- @scotmcknight I know from experience that fasting is difficult for most people. So, why should we even pick up your book?
- @ERBks I’m hoping this book will shed some light on the abuses of fasting and the misunderstandings that have slipped in.
- Fasting, I believe, is natural and inevitable. When it becomes a chore or difficult something’s gone wrong.
- @scotmcknight E.g., most Christians are familiar with fasting (and praying) for a specific end. Why is this view of fasting misguided?
- Fasting “in order to get” is an instrumental view of fasting. Fasting becomes something we “use” to get what we want.
- The emphasis in the Bible is not on “use this instrument and you will get what you want.” Instead, the emphasis in the Bible is different.>
- There are three elements of every event of fasting: A is the situation. B is fasting itself. C is the result.>
- Our tendency is to start with B and hope we get to C. In fact, some say you will get C if you fast (B).>
- The overwhelming emphasis in the Bible is not a B to C movement. This was my most exciting discovering in writing this book on Fasting>
- The emphasis is on A (the situation) that prompts or even drives the person to B (fasting).
- So, the way I put it is like this: when the ancient Israelite encountered a grievous, sacred moment — like death, like a famine>
- like the prospect of war, that person’s natural response was to fast (B). So, A leads to B — and that’s the Bible’s emphasis.>
- @scotmcknight Yes, this seems to me like a necessary corrective to how we view fasting.
- There’s a huge implication: we need to avoid motivating folks to fast so they can get something.>
- We need, instead, to focus on situations for which the normal and natural response is to fast. >
- The primal example is when someone you love dies. What do we do? We don’t eat. We go into “fasting” mode naturally. That’s the secret >
- to grasping what fasting in the Bible is all about.
- @scotmcknight Your view of fasting is built on the unity of a person – body, soul, mind. How do we begin to recognize/embrace such a unity?
- @ERBks Good question. Let me turn this around a bit: Westerners are by and large Platonists. They draw big thick lines between body and …>
- @ERBks Am I doing this right?
- @scotmcknight Yes, you’re doing great… it will be easier to read though if all posts begin with @ERBks
- @ERBks between body and soul. Or between body and spirit. The body is of less value. Soul and spirit are preeminent.
- Platonists have little reason to fast or to inflict the body. Why? The body doesn’t matter.
- What happened for Platonists was that they fasted in order to suppress — mightily at times — the body of its desires.
- But this cuts in half the person.
- The person in the Bible has dimensions not parts. We are body-ish and soul-ish and spirit-ish. Fasting is transformed>
- from spirit disciplining body when we see ourselves as a unity and organic.
- Fasting becomes whole body response to a grievous sacred moment.
- @ERBks In the 2d and 3d centuries, fasting got tied up with the Platonic developments.>
- @ERBks Then fasting became too much spirit punishing body — Jerome is one of the big offenders.
- @scotmcknight If fasting is a natural response to grief, how do we even begin, in a culture of amusement/diversion, to recognize our grief?
- @ERBks Wow, that’s an interesting question.
- @ERBks First, we do grieve over death and over losses and over tragedies. So, we’ve got a firm footing in these sorts of events in life.
- @ERBks Let’s then, second, learn to see other events as grief-inducing — like sin and family strife and bad relations …
- @ERBks Then I’m suggesting that we can learn to see fasting as a “response” instead of an “instrument.”
- @ERBks My concern is to recover the “responsive” nature of fasting and to get us back on track in that regard.
- @ERBks It seems whenever I talk about fasting I get hung up in the discussion of whether the Bible teaches an instrumental view.>
- @ERBks I’m not convinced the Bible does teach an instrumental theory of fasting. I’m convinced the Church has made that its emphasis.>
- @ERBks If we can recover the Bible’s emphasis on fasting as (1) response and (2) whole body spirituality, we will be in better shape.
- @ERBks One more: living in a culture of amusement and diversion ought not to make humans non-responsive to grievous moments.
- @scotmcknight Yes, let’s hope and pray that we can recover this perspective on fasting! Next question…
- @scotmcknight What is the most pertinent caution that you can offer churches about the practice of fasting?
- @ERBks First, no one should fast beyond 12 hours without talking to his or her doctor. Fasting more than 12 hours is not good for the body.
- @ERBks Second, two MDs said this to me: Never teach teenagers, especially teenage girls, to fast. Anorexia nervosa was the issue for both MD
- @ERBks Third, I’d urge us to recover the responsive nature of fasting and subdue the instrumental view.
- @ERBks One more: Let’s try to recover “seasonal” fasting (Lent, etc) as a “response” to something. During Lent, of course, to sin.
- @scotmcknight Yes, I appreciated the sensibility of the medical wisdom that you brought into the conversation about fasting.
- @ERBks Thanks. My wife is a psychologist and I’ve lost a student to anorexia nervosa.
- @scotmcknight Maybe you just answered this with your point about Lent, but … >
- @scotmcknight Many forms of fasting you describe are corporate but how can a church with no sense of fasting begin to develp such practices?
- @ERBks That’s another good one. Thanks.>
- @ERBks Let me suggest that we get the leaders to fast intentionally and to discuss it — so get the leaders into the experienced mode.
- @ERBks Then gather round the leaders those in the church who are experienced fasters for more discussion.>
- @ERBks Out of that experiential and theological basis — and have them read my book! — do some teaching on fasting.
- @ERBks Then the folks can fasting together in an informed manner.
- @scotmcknight (BTW, I have my church in mind here, and I bet others are in a similar place!)
- @ERBks I’d avoid like the plague making folks feel guilty about fasting. This isn’t a high priority command in the New Testament.
- @scotmcknight This bk is in the Ancient Practices series. Is there 1 figure/era of church history that is particularly significant for you?
- @scotmcknight WRT fasting, that is… sorry hit up against my 140 character limit…
- @ERBks From my emphasis, you can see I’ve focused on recovering the Biblical stuff. But…>
- @ERBks John Wesley was very good on fasting, even if he had one event that caused great consternation.>
- @ERBks And, as I say in the book, Adalbert de Vogue — however you spell it — is very good too. I like John Piper’s book, too.
- @scotmcknight Thanks! Did researching and writing this book change your own practices of fasting? And if so, how?
- @ERBks Yes, though I had seen how important the “responsive” element was, this book sealed that for me.>
- @ERBks I began to fast on mornings I was writing as a response to my need for God’s grace and wisdom as I wrote.>
- @ERBks And the notion of heroic fasts — where the emphasis is on how long — lost all attraction for me.
- @scotmcknight If I may, which one of the forms of fasting (body contact,hope,etc) that you describe in this bk is most challenging for you?
- @ERBks I don’t do the “body contact” mode of fasting because, for me, it is far too instrumental in approach.
- @ERBks And I should say that I don’t have a routine fasting rhythm: what I call Body Discipline in the book.>
- @ERBks Which means I don’t have one day a week where I fast, or even one day a month. I tend to rely on responding to something…>
- @ERBks as that which triggers fasting for me.
- @scotmcknight Thx so much for talking with us today! 1 last question that I can’t resist as one interested in bks and missional reading:
- @scotmcknight If you could recommend one other essential book on fasting, what would that be?
- @ERBks One other essential book? I think the book by de Vogue, though too much into a monk’s lifestyel, is the best.
- @ERBks But the best — most complete — is by Kent Berghuis. Rigorous and theologcally sound.
- Tweetie told me I’m tweeting too much!
- @scotmcknight LOL! Any last thoughts?
- @ERBks Nope, this was fun. I hope it helps some who follow Twitter.
- Thanks again @ScotMcKnight and thanks to all who have been following our conversation! Be sure to check out Scot’s book! http://tr.im/o3dj
- And if you haven’t seen it, my review of Scot’s book is here: http://englewoodreview.org/…
- @ERBks Thanks brother.
- Our next twinterview will be with @DavidDark on his book THE SACREDNESS OF QSTNG EVERYTHING Next Tuesday 6/16 Time: 1PM CT (2PM ET/11AM PT)
Thanks, Joshua…
I, for one, don’t make any copyright claims on this… I am eventually going to post pretty much the same thing on the ERB site…
One favor… Can you either remove or edit my last tweet as the date of the twinterview with David Dark has changed to Tuesday June 16, 1PM CT (2PM ET/11AM PT). Don’t want to confuse people…
Chris Smith
Editor
The Englewood Review of Books
Chris Smith. June 15th. 2009. 10:50 am.
thanks! and done.
jnonfiction. June 15th. 2009. 10:57 am.