The Event: 2021
We come to the end of the Advent season and with now, we anticipate the coming of the Word made flesh. The celebration of Christmastide is not simply a memorial of a past life: that of Jesus of Nazareth. The celebration of Christmas is a reminder to us that the incarnation is an Event, a decisive bursting of God into history in such a way that the repetitious drone of the status quo is forever overthrown. In the words of ! Corinthians, the Event is God’s choice of things low and contemptible, mere nothings, to overthrow the existing order (1 Cor 1:28). The decisive inbreaking of the Event then sets history, and us, on a journey towards the four last things mentioned in the last month.
More constructively, the Event breaks the seemingly unbreakable loop of an endless desire, chasing after things that will one day come to an end. Having broken this loop, the Event puts us in touch with our supernatural destiny, the transcendent terminus of our desires - in fact the only logical endpoint of a desire that is unfathomable.
Christmas’ coinciding with our approaching the end of the calendar year, therefore, gives us a slightest glimmer of that terminus, an experience of that destiny, instantiated - hopefully - in the company of family and friends.
Given that, we can look back at 2021, not as a simple repetition of coronatide of 2020, when we thought things were coming to an end. Nor is it another year when we await in vain for that event.
Although the normalisation of seeking communion online continues, the gradual restoration of face to face contact can act as a signal for us of an encounter that brings with it a new beginning.
We thank you for your readership for yet another year, and also for our supporters on Patreon in helping us keep the lights on and letting us focus on bringing new content to you. This year has seen new publications projects launched, such as the Dawson Society’s 1968 book project and my article on a kenotic identity politics. It has also gifted us with new collaborative relationships, particularly with the good people at The Naked Gospel, with whom we recorded not one but two episodes looking at the Christian’s negotiation with a pornified culture. My thanks is due to Hope Johnson at Hope Unyielding for making this possible.
We will be taking a few week’s break and will return in the middle of January with another year content for you. In the meantime, we at Awkward Asian Theologian wish you a merry Christmas to you all, and may the new year bring with it new horizons and high drama. More importantly, may the presence of the Event of Christ await you as you turn the corner.
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