3105 Reverence Without Theology: Universal Humanism?

Prof. Paul Woodruff, Darrell K. Royal Professor in Ethics and American Society, University of Texas

Sponsor: HUUmanists Association

Prepared for UUA.org by: Jone Johnson Lewis, Reporter; Margy Levine Young, Editor

Professor Paul Woodruff of the University of Texas began by defining reverence as "a developed capacity for inarticulate awe for what we recognize as transcending ourselves and our culture." Reverence, he said, is universal: it is honored in every culture, though, he added, it is not necessarily universally admired within each culture. It is universal across religious barriers of "staggering differences of belief and practice."

Awe, Woodruff said, is to be struck speechless – thus, the idea of a "language of reverence" is a paradox.

Theology – which Woodruff called talk about the attributes or commands of God – can divide us. Talking about theology "is a temptation" that moves us away from reverence and "is ethically suspect."

Woodruff grounds his ideas about reverence in ancient Greek humanism. He described the ancient Greek atheism of Thucydides, who told a human story about human-created tragedy. Thucydides, without reference to gods, put great emphasis on reverence as a virtue, which led Woodruff to look carefully at what reverence was to the ancient Greeks. The simple view is that reverence is a kind of buying-off of a god. Yet a hymn to reverence turns out to be about ancient kings who abuse political power. Hubris and reverence balance each other: reverence prevents you from falling into hubris, and reminds you that you aren't a god, but are imperfect and mortal. Thus, the Greek idea of reverence is an important ethical concept that doesn't require belief in gods, and is not tied to anything about belief.

In Greek tales, a great success leads to arrogance, pride, or, in the extreme, hubris. Hubris leads to a kind of blindness, and making mistakes, which leads to disaster. The blindness often refers to the inability to listen to advice. Tyranny can be thought of as the failure to take advice, the failure to listen.

In Thucydides' work, Athens is both a democracy and an empire. The tragedy happens when Athens takes on Syracuse , crazed by its own success, and ends up in terrible failure. Other states in the empire are angry at Athenian tyranny within the empire – their hubris antagonized the others. Human failure takes the place, in Thucydides, of the root of the calamities.

Theology tends towards hubris, Woodruff stated. "The idea that you know what can't be known is hubristic." It's a mistake to "revere" a human product or human being – idolatry is to command respect for a human product. People practicing theology are trying to command allegiance to a story as if it is absolutely true, when it's really a made-up story, a cultural artifact. It is irreverent to be in awe of your own products.

Reverence protects leaders from the illusions that might make them tyrannical, and thus fosters community. Reverence protects preachers, he added, from believing that they speak with the voice of God, and prevents them from developing divisive dogma. Reverence fosters community and supports individual ethical decisions.

"Reverence, like most ethical virtues, is an adverb," Woodruff suggested. Consider: "Can I do this reverently?" "Can I reverently go to war – without confusing myself with the Almighty, or forgetting my shared humanity?" Such debates should be joined on the ground of reverence.

As for the language of reverence, which Woodruff described as a paradox since reverence is inarticulate, it is not about the normal way we use words. How we share reverence is at the heart of community. Music and poetry may be languages of reverence. Civility is a language of reverence, from how we greet one another to not interrupting one another.

Woodruff closed by expressing his hope that he had been able to communicate an appreciation of the value of reverence and a sense of the dangers of "excessive theology."

Prof. Paul Woodruff is the author of First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea (2004) and Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue (2002).

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