Interesting excerpt from Chaplin Mike’s IMonk post today:
One of the books I am currently reading is David Fitch’s The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission: Towards an Evangelical Political Theology
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One of the concepts from Fitch’s book that rang true to me was that of jouissance. Jouissance is a French word with sexual connotations that has the broader meaning of a rather over-the-top sense of pleasure or enjoyment, especially the joy of being proved right over against an adversary. I have often heard and used the word “triumphalism” in a sense similar to this. …
Though we assert that our faith is defined by positive truths and values that lie at its core (for Christians, this is the person of Christ himself), our practice is often more shaped by what (or whom) we are against. …
We often let what we are not and what we are against define us. And when we feel ourselves proved “right” over against the “enemy,” we feel jouissance, a triumphalistic sense of vindication. We stand with our foot on the enemy’s neck. We raise our flag and sing a song of victory. We mock the inadequacy of the enemy’s forces. We experience a burst of self-satisfaction that “proves” to us that we are right.
Harold Camping was wrong. We were right. …
Before we feel jouissance, that sense of emotional release and satisfaction at the discrediting of someone like Harold Camping, we should perhaps take a look in the mirror. It may be easy to spot false teaching like Camping’s, especially when he and his followers spend millions of dollars to plaster billboards around the countryside. But what about all the “plowboys with Bibles” leading churches and “ministries” small and large in places across America and the world? At the foundation, what’s the difference?