The 18th Century Minister

In a blog post I wrote back in 2010 about the First Great Awakening, I explored some of the ways in which the revival movement, for all its blessings, did destabilize the parish system and the ecclesial communities that had previously tethered colonial religion to the land and to the wider social infrastructure. (See The Problem of Mediation in the First Great Awakening). Donald Scot's fascinating study, From Office to Profession: The New England Ministry 1750-1850 seems to confirm many of my observations. In the following quote, Scott describes the nature of the 18th century clergyman in the older paradigm, prior to the individualizing influence of the revival:

“The most distinctive feature of eighteenth-century New England society and culture was its communalism, a social structure and ideology in which order, harmony, and obedience to all authority were the highest public and social values. This communalism, moreover, can be said to have centered as much in the figure of a settled minister as it did in any other figure or institution, for the clergyman was both the keeper and purveyor of the public culture, the body of fundamental precepts and values that defined the social community, and an enforcer of the personal values and decorum that sustained it.”

…the minister was a ‘watchman on the walls of Zion’ with explicit, ordained responsibilities for the preservation of social order. As an ‘ambassador of God’ and the ‘faithful shepherd’ of a particular flock, he presided over the faith and knowledge which at once sustained one’s personal relationship to God and defined one’s position and duties within the community. … The ministerial office in eighteenth-century New England, then, was inseparable from the fabric of the New England towns that contained it. 

More Heroes

In the Heroes of the Faith section of the Christian Voice website, I have published articles about heroes who are not featured in my book Saints and Scoundrels (with the exception of Perpetua who shares a chapter of my book with Saint Irenaeus) but are nevertheless just as important. Following are some links to the short biographies on the Christian Voice site.

Contending for the Faith: The Witness of Perpetua

The date is 202 and the Roman emperor, Septimius Severus, has just enacted a law prohibiting the spread of Christianity and Judaism throughout the Roman empire.

While persecution was nothing new to Christians in the early third century, this was the first time there was a universal decree forbidding conversion. If someone was discovered to have become a Christian, the choice offered by the emperor was simple: either curse Jesus and make an offering to the Roman gods, or be executed.

One woman who was offered that very choice was the young mother Perpetua. Keep reading...

 

Against the World: the Tenacity of St. Athanasius

It was the year 313, and the bishop of Alexandria stood at his window and looked out upon the city he was responsible for.
 
Beyond the line of houses, Bishop Alexander could see the city’s port bustling with the activity that had made Egypt such a rich trading centre during the height of the Roman Empire. Beyond that, stretching as far into the distance as the eye could see, the bishop looked upon the waters of the Mediterranean.
 
Just as Bishop Alexander was about to turn away from the window and prepare for some guests he was expecting for Sunday dinner, his gaze caught something he hadn’t seen before. Keep reading...

Fun Towards the Roar: The Courage of Boniface

In Wessex England, sometime in the late seventh century, a group of boys gathered on the grass after church. While the rest of the villagers enjoyed their church’s fellowship meal, the boys were being led by one young man in his favorite sport – throwing boulders at one another.
 
The young man would be known to history by the name he would later adopt: Boniface. As this young man grew, he quickly distinguished himself as the roughest, toughest boy in the village. Keep reading...

 

The Fellowship of His Sufferings: The Testimony of Amy Carmichael

Few would have expected David and Catherine Carmichael’s eldest daughter, Amy, to grow up to become one of the world’s most famous missionaries. Born in 1867 in the small village of Millisle, Northern Ireland, there was nothing particularly unusual about this girl, who was known for her wilfulness, tomboyish attitude and a propensity to get into mischievous pranks.
 
Little did the Carmichael parents realize that their daughter would be God’s tool for rescuing hundreds of children from a life worse than death in the darkness of the Indian jungles. Keep reading...

George Whitefield: Awakening the Nations to Repentance

 

If you had been at the Bell Inn, in Gloucester England in the 1720’s, you would have witnessed an unusual site. A small boy was acting out a sermon for the entertainment of the guests. It was not uncommon for this boy, the youngest among widow Elizabeth Whitfield’s seven children, to engage in theatrical re-enactments of sermons and Bible stories for the guests at his mother’s inn. But this time, something was different. Reciting the sermon he had heard on Sunday as a type of game, young George Whitfield was quite unprepared for the response he received as some of the onlookers began to weep.
 
It was a portent of things to come. When George grew up and became a famous preacher, he found that his words had a strange affect on people, provoking emotions for which he was often unprepared. Keep reading...


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Explaining Postmodernism

Postmodernity refers to a time period (roughly the mid to late 20th century to the present day), whereas Postmodernism refers to a way of thinking characteristic during that time period.

Postmodernism is an umbrella term to describe a number of different orientations, sub-movements and ways of thinking characterized by a self-conscious reaction to Modernism. It is the ripening of trends set in motion by the romantics and existentialists, particularly as regards the rejection of objective truth.
 

Key Points of Postmodernism
 
Postmodernism normally includes the following key elements:

Keep reading...

All of Life for Christ

The Biblical worldview does not just apply to the 'spiritual realm' but to ALL departments of life. (See the wonderful quotation about this from Kuyper here.) Jesus Himself claimed to have authority over absolutely everything. (Matthew 28:18) All of life is claimed for Christ.

When making this point, namely that we have an obligation to interpret every facet of experience through the lens of the Bible, I have sometimes received a retort that goes something like this: “How can the Biblical worldview apply to all of life when there are many departments that the Bible just never addresses?” 

This question is best answered by sharing an analogy that I got from Ranald Macaulay. Mr. Macaulay was once speaking in a cathedral which didn’t have any electric lights but was lit up by shafts of light coming through the windows. The shafts of light came down in spotlights, directly lighting up certain areas but indirectly lighting up the entire building. He then suggested that Biblical authority functions like that.

 

The Bible does not address every area of life, just as the shafts of light did not spotlight every inch of the cathedral’s interior. In order to do that the Bible would have to be not only true, but exhaustive. Although the Bible is not exhaustive, what it does do is to spotlight certain areas of life, and in doing so the light of God’s truth diffuses to every other area of life. The areas of life that the Bible does directly address create principles that we can then apply (in wisdom and in conjunction with other principles) to every other area of existence, just as the light coming down in shafts through the windows of the cathedral shed light into other areas not directly covered by those shafts.

 

While there is no department of life that the Bible does not address, it only directly addresses certain areas. To be a Biblical thinker (or what I sometimes call a “worldview” thinker) means that one will seek to learn how the Bible applies either directly or indirectly to every area of life. This is in contrast both to the error of Biblicism, which erroneously believes that the Bible directly lights up every area of life (for a potent example of this, read my article on Jay Adams), or as well as the error of certain strands of liberalism, which asserts that because the Bible only addresses certain “religious” issues, we are left to make up our own mind on everything else.

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Discussion Question on Determinism

In the newly released Philosophy Adventures (a program designed to Christian students from 6th-12th grade think critically as they explore the history of ideas), we read that 

"In his defence of Helen, Gorgias argued that, if Paris used the power of persuasion to seduce Helen, she was helpless to resist him. Essentially, he argued that Helen was not responsible for her actions. (p. 62)

The notion that a person is not responsible for his or her actions because they are controlled by the whims of fickle gods may seem archaic in our enlightened era, but are we really that different? Stacy Farrell, the author of Philosophy Adventures, suggests that modern materialism may have some affinity with Gorgias' idea of fate. She writes,

This abdicating of personal responsibility was consistent with the materialist's belief that we are merely impulse-driven creatures with no free will, no divine imprint nor access to divine power to refrain from immorality." (p. 64)

On the surface, the ancient pagan idea that our fate is controlled by spiritual forces may seem to have little in common with modern materialism, which recognizes no spiritual dimension. Yet when it comes to the abdication of personal responsibility, I think Farrell is correct to note this important connection.

In his book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, Julian Baggini wrote, “What most atheists do believe is that although there is only one kind of stuff in the universe and it is physical, out of this stuff come minds, beauty, emotions, moral values—in short the full gamut of phenomena that gives richness to human life.” To many thinkers, this type of materialist reductionism can only mean that we have no ultimate freedom or responsibility since everything about us is the result of forces outside out control. Like Helen, all we can do is give in to our impulses, including our inclinations towards immorality. We may no longer think of ourselves as being controlled by the gods, but we are controlled by something just as powerful and just as much outside our control: matter itself.

Discussion Question: What are some ways that we see this type of materialism operative in the modern world?

"beauty is very strong"

And though the good is weak, beauty is very strong.
Nonbeing sprawls, everywhere it turns into ash whole expanses of being,
It masquerades in shapes and colors that imitate existence
And no one would know it, if they did not know that it was ugly.

And when people cease to believe that there is good and evil
Only beauty will call to them and save them
So that they will still know how to say: this is true and that is false.

Czeslaw Milosz

Thus finishes the poem “One More Day”, written by 20th-century Polish poet, Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004). Milosz, like Dostoevsky before him, realized the important role that beauty can play in helping us to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood. 

Keep reading...

Don't "try and find Jesus on your own"

Last year I was at the doctor’s office when John Denver song ‘Blow up your TV’ came on the radio. The chorus of the song goes like this:

“Blow up your TV, throw away your paper;
Move to the country; build you a home.
Plant a little garden; eat a lot of peaches;
Try and find Jesus on your own.”

The singer of the song was given this advice by a topless woman who was willing to join him in giving her advice a try. In the last chorus we learn what the result was:

“We blew up our TV; threw away our paper;
Went to the country. Built us a home.
Had a lot of children. Fed ’em on peaches.
They all found Jesus on their own.”

I am interested in this song (which you can watch on Youtube here) because it gets to the heart of how many Americans feel about their faith.

 

For countless Americans, Jesus is essentially someone to connect with on your own. While church may be important, it is essentially an accessory. If the communion of the saints has any importance, it is to facilitate each of us finding Jesus on our own. And if something else (say, moving to the country) can get the job done with equal efficacy, then the larger community of Christians becomes unnecessary and can even be an encumbrance.

The freedom represented by moving to the country and eating home-grown produce functions in Denver’s song as the appropriate metaphor for a religious quest that is essentially an individualistic journey of self-discovery.

Keep reading....

Pro-Choice Inconsistencies

During one part of the trial for mass murderer Kermit Gosnell, the defence attorney thought he had scored a decisive point when one witness acknowledged that he could not say with “medical certainty” that a certain baby had not been killed while still in the womb. However, in a penetrating USA Today column, Kirsten Powers noted that “whether Gosnell was killing the infants one second after they left the womb instead of partially inside or completely inside the womb — as in a routine late-term abortion — is merely a matter of geography. That one is murder and the other is a legal procedure is morally irreconcilable.” 

Also, whether the baby was partially inside or completely outside the womb makes absolutely no difference in the amount of pain the child would have experienced. This may be obvious, but it is worth pointing out because during Gosnell’s trial one of the points brought up by the prosecution was the excruciating pain the babies went through as their necks were severed. It is hard to see how the issue of pain is even relevant outside a pro-life framework, for the babies would have died just as painfully inside the womb if they had been subject to conventional, and legally acceptable, forms of abortion. Last week I wrote a couple articles for Christian Voice where I pointed out similar inconsistencies in the public discussion serounding the Gosnell trial. They can be read at the following links:

• Live-Birth Abortions and the Politics of Choice
• Abortion and the Problem of Personhood
• Kermit Gosnell and the Abortion Cover-up

Hopkins' Realist Vision

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.

Í say móre: the just man justices;
Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—
Chríst—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

Gerard Manley Hopkin

The above poem is a masterful example of the way English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) was able to write poetry which sounds like the things he is describing. (This is especially true if the poem is read out loud and properly accented.). In the poem Hopkins explored how each thing behaves according the nature it was given by God. Dwelling “indoors” of each mortal thing is its essence that gives the thing an identity distinguished from other things.

Keep reading...

Is FGM a Religiously Motivated Islamic Practice?

It is politically correct to deny that the widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) has anything to do with the religion of Islam. We see how entrenched this view has become by considering what happened in June 2008 when David Littman tried to present a statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council under agenda item 8: Integrating the Human Rights of Women throughout the United Nations system. Littman's statement attempted to raise concern about FGM in Islamic coutnries throughout the world. His statement also suggested practical steps the Human Rights Council could take to combat these outrages. 

Instead of allowing Littman to raise these issues for dialogue, discussion in the chamber was continually stonewalled by representatives from Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries, who urged the council’s president to ban Mr Littman from speaking.

Littman’s offence was that he referred to FGM and similar crimes as Islamic practices. The Islamic delegate from Egypt and other OIC nations eventually bullied the council into dropping discussion of these and other crimes since it involved references to Islamic law.

A corrective to the politically correct idea that FGM has nothing to do with Islam is put forward by Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer in the Winter 2007 edition of the Middle East Quarterly. Their article, titled 'Is Female Genital Mutilation an Islamic Problem?' raised the following concerns, showing that FGM is a religiously motivated practice for Muslims.

Many Muslims and academics in the West take pains to insist that the practice [of FGM] is not rooted in religion but rather in culture...But at the village level, those who commit the practice believe it to be religiously mandated. Religion is not only theology but also practice. And the practice is widespread throughout the Middle East

Islamic scholars disagree on FGM: some say no obligatory rules exist while others refer to the mention of female circumcision in the Hadith. According to Sami A. Aldeeb Abu Sahlieh, a Palestinian-Swiss specialist in Islamic law:

The most often mentioned narration reports a debate between Muhammed and Um Habibah (or Um 'Atiyyah). This woman, known as an exciser of female slaves, was one of a group of women who had immigrated with Muhammed. Having seen her, Muhammad asked her if she kept practicing her profession. She answered affirmatively, adding: "unless it is forbidden, and you order me to stop doing it." Muhammed replied: "Yes, it is allowed. Come closer so I can teach you: if you cut, do not overdo it, because it brings more radiance to the face, and it is more pleasant for the husband."

Abu Sahlieh further cited Muhammad as saying, "Circumcision is a sunna (tradition) for the men and makruma (honorable deed) for the women."

While some clerics say circumcision is not obligatory for women, others say it is. "Islam condones the sunna circumcision … What is forbidden in Islam is the pharaonic circumcision," one religious leader explained. Others, such as the late rector of Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Gad al-Haq, said that since the Prophet did not ban female circumcision, it was permissible and, at the very least, could not be banned.

In short, some clerics condemn FGM as an archaic practice, some accept it, and still others believe it to be obligatory. It is the job of clerics to interpret religious literature; it is not the job of FGM researchers and activists. There is a certain tendency to confuse a liberal interpretation of Islam with the reality women face in many predominately Islamic regions. To counter FGM as a practice, it is necessary to accept that Islam is more than just a written text. It is not the book that cuts the clitoris, but its interpretations aid and abet the mutilation.

Sex Between Consenting Adults is Expensive

You’ve probably heard it a dozen times: “sex between consenting adults is nobody else’s business.” You may (and should) object to this statement on moral grounds. But recent evidence suggests that you should also object to this statement on economic grounds.

Mr Brandon, author of the book Just Sex: is it Ever Just Sex?, used quantitative cost-analysis to disprove the mantra that “sex between consenting adults is no one else’s business.”

By using the category of ‘moral hazard’, he showed that British society has created a system that incentivizes promiscuity. Much of his research applies equally to American society.