Theological Journal – February 19 What’s Joy Got to Do With It? (1)

One can parse the ills of the church in the West in many different ways and from many different perspectives. In this series I want to come at it from the angle of joy. I take my bearings from Karl Barth who comes nigh unto making joy the chief attribute of God:

“It is (God’s) glory that awakens joy, and is itself joyful. It is not merely a glory which is solemn and good and true, and which, in its perfection and sublimity, might be gloomy or at least joyless… It is something in God, the God of all the perfections, which justifies us in having joy, desire and pleasure towards Him, which indeed obliges, summons and attracts us to do this.” (CD II.1, 655).

“Obliges, summons, and attracts” – duty, response, and delight. The joy that God is and exudes is, shapes, and spices the life we live as his creatures.

The question this raises for me is how such joy impacts life which, as Thomas Hobbes famously describes it, is “nasty, brutish, and short” in the state of nature and, increasingly so even in “civilized” societies? What difference does his glory make?

Over the next little bit, then, I want to pull some thoughts together around joy. I’ve never taken the time to do this before and I figure its about time.