The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Holy Fools tradition and Restorationist discussion

Evangelical Universalism
#1

The question was raised about the validity and value of the Holy Fools tradition in the post at [Only a few find it.), Universalism + Free Will = One Very Strange Bird. So rather than confuse the conversation over there I created this new post to consider the question.

Prerequisite reading is this wiki post en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ.

Highlights from the wiki article include…

  1. The Biblical basis is found in 1 Corinthians 4:10, which famously says, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised.”

  2. The term implies behavior “which is caused neither by mistake nor by feeble-mindedness, but is deliberate, irritating, even provocative.”

  3. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that holy fools voluntarily take up the guise of insanity in order to conceal their perfection from the world, and thus avoid praise.

  4. “holy fool” as a term for a person who “feigns insanity, pretends to be silly, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness.”

So the questions for consideration in this post are…

  1. What did Paul mean by the expression “fools for Christ’s sake”?

  2. Are the various historical expressions of Holy Foolery all in keeping with Paul’s meaning?

  3. How can useful foolishness be properly used to advance Restorationism and confront tradition?

  4. Is there a step beyond Paul’s foolishness, into silliness that is counter productive, even sinful because of being unloving, inconsiderate, or irreverent?

Universalism + Free Will = One Very Strange Bird
#2

Great, Jeff. I am happy you read the article and have decided to raise some interesting questions, on this interesting Christian tradition. :smiley:

But you won’t only find this in the Eastern Orthodox Church circles. It’s talked about in Roman Catholic Church circles also - just not emulated. Look at the article in the National Catholic Reporter entitled More about the ‘holy fool’

#3

Yes me too.

I hope I can be a holy fool myself in the most Biblical sense. :wink: I am also especially interested in the thoughts of others on question #3

If anyone has anecdotal stories of actual conversations that illustrate using foolishness to point people to the truth please post.

#4

Well, Jeff., the fool or clown is a key figure in the plays of Shakespeare. While he sometimes wrote comedies, most of his works were tragedies. So what was the purpose served by them in the plays of Shakespeare? What do the writers out there think?

They are also found in other spiritual traditions. There’s the Heyoka in the Lakota tribal spiritual culture. He or she did everything backwards or contrary. Or sometimes the Zen master in Zen stories (a tradition the Catholic writer Thomas Merton was familiar with). Or the Sufi stories of Nasreddin.

But I prefer the language of psychology (which I have a masters in). We put on a persona in everyday life, whether we realize it or not (i.e. where do you think the word “personality” comes from?). This in in part from the wiki article:

So let me pose this question. Why is the fool or clown such an important element in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the various world spiritual traditions, and the literary works of Shakespeare and other writers :question:

#5

I’m a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We have a great many glorified saints. The Holy Fools are not among my favorites. They simply do not resonate with me.

#6

That’s a great request Jeff and one which also interests me.
From what I can tell, a ‘holy fool’ is an ascetic and a non-conformist in the most extreme and broadest sense of the word. From what I’ve read they always pay a cost for their ministry. The last thing they would wish is to draw attention to themselves as ‘holy fools’ ie as something in which they can take pride. Rather, they bear much scorn and ridicule on a personal level and their ‘foolish’ behaviour always has this purpose of drawing people to the truth.
I think the last thing they would appreciate is the person who jokes around or irritates for the sheer sake of it or simply as a way to gain attention to him/herself.

I’m grateful to you Randy for pointing out this tradition and I can imagine there may be some rare occasion where we have been ‘blessed’ by such ministry in our lives without recognising what was going on but much more frequent might be the ‘unholy fool’ who quenches the Spirit and tends to lead us astray. Do you have any anecdotal stories?

My own take on the genuine would have to include the likes of eg ‘The society of Friends’ in their early days. After all, they were ridiculed as ‘quakers’ (crazies!) because they were so overcome by the Holy Spirit, but it is by their fruit that we can now acknowledge their holiness.

#7

I thought I would share a few Sufi stories from the Wiki Nasreddin article. He’s a Holy Fool of Islamic Sufism. Do these stories teach anything to you?

#8

I think Paul was speaking ironically about immature and false brethren being “wise in their own eyes” and regarding paul and other’s like him as fool’s- he therefore willingly becoming a fool for Christ, disdaining the reputation seeking of the wise/fools who were dividing the body in the pursuit of recognition and influence.

I think, in a way his mode of expression kind of fits the “holy fool” concept, like , “bear with a little more of my foolishness- I have been stoned and raised from the dead, carried to the third heaven, received a sovereign revelation of the whole counsel of God, supported myself by my own hands”,- who am I among these giant charismatic men who know so much and demand so much?

But What do I know? :laughing:

#9

I thought it might be interesting, to share a couple of stories from Simeon the Holy Fool: