Unmanly Warriors [Wisdom from G.K.]

February 25, 2009 — joerigney

I felt that a strong case against Christianity lay in the charge that there is something timid, monkish, and unmanly about all that is “Christian,” especially in its attitude towards resistance and fighting…The Gospel paradox about the other cheek, the fact that priests never fought, a hundred things made plausible the accusation that Christianity was an attempt to make a man too like a sheep…I turned the next page in my agnostic manual, and my brain turned upside down. Now I found that I was to hate Christianity not for fighting too little, but for fighting too much. Christianity, it seemed, was the mother of wars. Christianity had deluged the world with blood. I had got thoroughly angry with the Christian, because he never was angry. And now I was told to be angry with him because his anger had been the most huge and horrible thing in human history…What was this Christianity which always forbade war and always produced wars? What could be the nature of the thing which one could abuse first because it would not fight, and second because it was always fighting?

–G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (pp. 78-79)

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A Note on Commenting [Surprised by Joe]

February 25, 2009 — joerigney

It has come to my attention (through my very trustworthy spies) that certain readers of this blog are, shall we say, somewhat reluctant to comment on any post for fear of sounding silly in front of the other readers. I happen to know that the persons in question are incredibly thoughtful and perceptive, and would put the commenters at other blogs to shame.

In a sense, I understand the fear of commenting (no one likes to misspell the word “teh” over and over). And a certain amount of reticence to speak is certainly praised in the Bible: “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent” (Proverbs 17:27-28).

That said, I hope that fear is not keeping any of the highly intelligent readers of this blog from commenting. If you have a thought or opinion about a certain matter, throw it out there. If you think I’m full of silly string in what I post, I’d very much like to hear about it (I hear they have medical procedures to deal with that sort of thing nowadays). If I’m unclear or fuzzy in something I write, I’d really like to hear about it. And, of course, always remember that there are no stupid questions, only stupid people (just kidding; see, you were planning to comment and I had to go and say something like that!).

In all seriousness, I am personally acquainted with most of the you who pass through these parts. I like you. Heck, I’m flattered that you keep coming back. So if you’re one of the ones who’s been lurking around, pick a post and dive in. You (and I!) will be glad you did.

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Shakespeare Follow-Up [Randomonium]

February 24, 2009 — joerigney

Good news for all of you Shakespeareans out there. Credenda Agenda has now updated its website and the article arguing for Edward de Vere as William Shakespeare is available (as is the rest of the magazine). Head on over and have a peek. I’d recommend subscribing, perhaps with a small contribution to their ministry.

While I’m shamelessly promoting the work of others, I’ll also mention that the article “How to Think About the War and Other Manifestations of Globaloney” is a fine example of political thinking and has ramifications far beyond the Iraq War. It addresses how we as Christians ought to think about politics, economics, and global issues. For the INSIGHT students listening in, reading Wilson on the subject might give some valuable perspective as we study Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire, as well as those involved in the American and French Revolutions.

Posted in Randomonium. Tags: , . 2 Comments »

“A Political Road Not Taken” [Diablogues]

February 24, 2009 — joerigney

For the past couple of months, I’ve been wanting to interact with an article in the most recent issue of The City, a publication of Houston Baptist University. I’ve been waiting for the relevant article to be put online and, since it’s now there, I can begin.

The article is by Ryan T. Anderson and is entitled “A Political Road Not Taken.” It was one in a series of articles on the 2008 election called “Where Do We Go From Here: A Forum.” Here is Anderson’s professional biography from the blog he edits, Public Discourse:

Ryan T. Anderson is editor of Public Discourse: Ethics, Law, and the Common Good. Previously he was the assistant editor of First Things and a Fellow of the Phillips Foundation. His articles have appeared in First Things, the Weekly Standard, National Review, the New Atlantis, the Claremont Review of Books, Touchstone, Books and Culture, Christianity Today, and the Human Life Review. Anderson is an alumnus of Princeton University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.

Because I plan to interact critically with Anderson’s article (meaning, I will take issue with a number of his prescriptions), I want to make clear at the outset that I have nothing personal against Mr. Anderson. Judging by his professional history, I assume that he is a fellow Christian (though I’m unsure of his denominational affiliation) and, if I remember correctly, I’m also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. I greatly admire his work over at Public Discourse, read First Things whenever I can get my hands on it, and I love HBU’s The City and would recommend subscribing to it (it’s free!). Disagreement with his position shouldn’t be interpreted as dislike for the man.

What’s more, the reason that I chose his article is because I think it is one of the more thoughtful and clear examples of a viewpoint regarding Christian engagement in the public square that I think is very common among Christians. It’s also a perspective that I have some sympathy for, even if at the end of the day I disagree. So I’m engaging Mr. Anderson as a fellow Christian on a topic that more followers of Jesus should be giving serious thought to.

So have a look at his article, and feel free to make yourself known in the comments.

Posted in Diablogues. Tags: , . 4 Comments »

Throw Everything At It and See What Sticks [Wisdom from G.K.]

February 24, 2009 — joerigney

I was much moved by the eloquent attack on Christianity as a thing of inhuman gloom; for I thought (and still think) sincere pessimism the unpardonable sin…if Christianity was, as these people said, a thing purely pessimistic and opposed to life, then I was quite prepared to blow up St. Paul’s Cathedral. But the extraordinary thing is this. They did prove to me in Chapter I (to my complete satisfaction) that Christianity was too pessimistic; and then, in Chapter II, they began to prove to me that it was a great deal too optimistic. One accusation against Christianity was that it prevented men, by morbid tears and terrors, from seeking joy and liberty in the bosom of Nature. But another accusation was that it comforted men with a fictitious providence, and put them in a pink-and-white nursery…One rationalist was hardly done calling Christianity a nightmare before another began to call it a fool’s paradise.

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Christianity: The Roundest Square You’ve Ever Seen [Wisdom from G.K.]

February 23, 2009 — joerigney

As I read and re-read all the non-Christian or anti-Christian accounts of the faith…a slow and awful impression grew gradually upon my mind–the impression that Christianity must be a most extraordinary thing…It was attacked on all sides and for all contradictory reasons. No sooner had one rationalist demonstrated that it was too far to the east than another demonstrated that it was much too far to the west. No sooner had my indignation died down at its angular and aggressive squareness than I was called up again to notice and condemn its enervating and sensual roundness.

–G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (pg. 77)

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Responding to Gender-Based Violence [Cue 'N Ays]

February 22, 2009 — joerigney

I asked my students to read and react to this the other day. I’d like to make the same offer here on the blog.

The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. It is a “faith-based organization” that requires its employees to submit a statement of faith with their application. It takes inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, and William Wilberforce, as well as Isaiah 1:17: “Seek justice, protect the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”

In this Q&A, the Vice President of Government Relations answers questions about IJM’s work to combat gender-based violence. Give the Q&A a read and put your reaction to it in the comments. What do you think of IJM’s approach to this issue? I’ll give my thoughts in a follow-up post later this week.

UPDATE: Sorry about the link. It should be fixed now. Comment away.

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Who’s Doing the Saving Around Here? [Exe-Jesus]

February 21, 2009 — joerigney

During D.A. Carson’s Bible overview messages this weekend at Bethlehem Baptist Church, he drew attention to Matthew 1:21, where Joseph is told the true story of Mary’s pregnancy and commanded to name his new “son.”

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Carson noted that Jesus is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua (okay, Jesus is actually the English translation, via German I believe, of the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Yeshua, but you get the point). Anyway, the name “Joshua” means “the LORD saves.”

Now Carson hinted at this, but didn’t flesh it out in detail (for goodness’ sake, he was covering the whole Bible in two weekends!). Notice the logic of the second and third parts of Matthew 1:21 (INSIGHT students, think arcing). The word “for” indicates that 21c is grounding 21b. But how is it grounding it?

Call his name Jesus (i.e. Yahweh saves) because he (i.e. Jesus!) will save his people from their sins.

Note the relationship between the italicized and bolded words. Who exactly is doing the saving around here?

Jesus’ name coupled with the rationale for that name is just one of the many subtle and profound ways that the Bible teaches us that Jesus is himself Yahweh in the flesh.

Don’t you just love the Bible?

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Sarah Edwards: Christian Hedonist [Edwardsisms]

February 20, 2009 — joerigney

There was [in Sarah Edwards during her ecstatic experiences] a sweet rejoicing of soul at the thoughts of God being infinitely and unchangeably happy, and an exulting gladness of heart that God is self-sufficient, and infinitely above all dependence, and reigns over all, and does his will with absolute and uncontrollable power and sovereignty.

–Jonathan Edwards, Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion (Part 1, Section 5, Paragraph 6)

I think she’s a Calvinist too. :)

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That’s What Walls Are For [Stories with a Point]

February 19, 2009 — joerigney

Once there was a city that was built on the edge of a cliff. Why the founders built it there, I don’t know, but there it was. The city was situated in a dangerous part of the country, filled with marauders, thugs, and outlaws (the kind with bandanas).

The founders of the city had built a large wall around it, protecting the inhabitants from ruffians and thieves, as well as preventing any livestock or children from wandering too close to the cliff’s edge. The one way in and out of the city was through the large reinforced gate on the west side.

Generations went by, and the trusty wall did its tedious duty, protecting the people of the city from all manner of harm.

At some point, however, the people of the city began to feel that the wall was one massive inconvenience. It was way too restricting. It hindered the free flow of goods in and out of the city. People on the east side of the city had to walk all the way across town just to get to the gate. All that extra effort was exhausting and inefficient.

So some of the more enterprising citizens decided to tear some holes in the wall. Nothing too large, just enough to make travel easier. The naysayers in the town warned of disastrous consequences if parts of the wall were torn down. But the deconstructors were persistent and most of the townspeople didn’t give a rip.

Despite the holes in the wall, nothing disastrous happened. Soon more people were making holes in the wall and the existing holes were widened. A few bandits got in and out, but no one seemed to mind. “That’s the price of progress,” they said.

As the wall continued to deteriorate, the consequences were not hard to predict. One of the Jones kids fell of the cliff, as did half of Farmer Peterson’s flock. A new band of thieves moved in and started absconding with property that didn’t belong to them. At one point, some marauders actually burned a quarter of the city to the ground.

Though many of the inhabitants were surprised by the rise in crime, they quickly came up with a solution. They passed laws against thievery, fire, and falling off of cliffs. They were sure that their new legislation would solve the current problems.

However, a number of the younger folks in town came up with a different solution. They started building their own walls around their houses (and in some cases, whole neighborhoods). When asked why they didn’t simply rely on the new legislation, their reply was simple:

“That’s what walls are for.”

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I’ll Have What She’s Having [Edwardsisms]

February 19, 2009 — joerigney

The person has more than once continued for five or six hours together, without interruption, in a clear and lively view or sense of the infinite beauty and amiableness of Christ’s person, and the heavenly sweetness of his transcendent lobe. So that (to use the person’s own expressions) the soul remained in a kind of heavenly Elysium, and did as it were swim in the rays of Christ’s love, like a little mote swimming in the beams of the sun that come in at a window. The heart was swallowed up in a kind of glow of Christ’s love coming down as a constant stream of sweet light, at the same time the sould all flowing out in love to him; so that there seemed to be a constant flowing and reflowing from heart to heart.

–Jonathan Edwards, Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion (Part 1, Section 5, Paragraph 1), describing his wife Sarah’s experience, which occurred multiple times throughout her life. I’m not sure I even know what the “his transcendent lobe” is! But the last sentence sure sounds like a remanation to me.

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Like A Fish Proving The Existence of Water [Wisdom from G.K.]

February 19, 2009 — joerigney

It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced. It is comparatively easy when he is only partially convinced. He is partially convinced because he has found this or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced when he finds that everything proves it. And the more converging reasons he finds pointing to this conviction, the more bewildered he is if asked suddenly to sum them up. Thus, if one asked an ordinarily intelligent man, on the spur of the moment, “Why do you prefer civilization to savagery?” he would look wildly round at object after object, and would only be able to answer vaguely, “Why, there is that bookcase…and the coals in the coal-scuttle…and pianos…and policemen.” The whole case for civilization is that the case for it is complex. It has done so many things. But that very multiplicity of proof which ought to make reply overwhelming makes reply impossible.

–G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (p. 75)

NOTE: I love this quotation and can greatly relate to its sentiment. So many trajectories are set by first principles, by foundational assumptions, that to try to discuss the details without addressing the core is often an exercise in futility. If two people get in a disagreement, one who prefers civilization and one who prefers savagery, it does no good for the civilized man to point to the bookcase over and over. The ubiquity and obviousness of his belief makes it far more difficult for him to articulate and convince others.

Chesterton’s observation also proves illuminating for many contemporary political and theological debates. It also helps us to see the impossibility, from a human perspective, of evangelism. In one sense, the Christian finds himself to be a fish in the strange position of convincing his fellow that they are, in fact, in water. If the other fellow is convinced otherwise, what could you possibly say to him?

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Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Who-fore Art Thou, Shakespeare? [Randomonium]

February 18, 2009 — joerigney

I was an English Minor in college. I took a class on Shakespeare. I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) many of Shakespeare’s plays (though I can’t say as much for the sonnets). Hamlet, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice: loved ‘em. (And for the record, I do know that my play on the famous line from Romeo and Juliet in the title is nonsensical.)

I seem to remember my professor at one point mentioning that some scholars didn’t think that Shakespeare actually wrote the plays that were attributed to him. He never pursued it, and as a lowly undergrad, I didn’t know how to pursue it. So imagine my surprise when the most recent edition of Credenda Agenda (the website hasn’t been updated in a while; I think they’re going through an overhaul at the moment) included an article from Doug Wilson arguing that William Shakespeare of Stratford was not the author of “Shakespeare’s” works and that the true author was a Puritan (of sorts) named Edward de Vere.

Here’s a sketch of the argument against Shakespeare of Stratford and for Edward de Vere.

Against Stratfordian Shakespeare

We have no evidence that Will of Stratford was well-educated, and the author of the plays clearly is.

He had no training in the law and Shakespeare’s plays are filled with legal expertise.

He never travelled abroad, least of all to Italy, a place that appears in detail in the plays.

He was a commoner and the plays demonstrate an aristocratic outlook.

He left no books or manuscripts in his will.

For Edward de Vere of Oxford

He knew the city of Venice intimately.

He studied law at Gray’s Inn, explaining the regular presence of “legal-ese” in the plays.

He was captured by pirates in the English channel, much like Hamlet.

He believed a false accusation against his wife, much like Othello.

His uncle, Arthur Golding, who may have tutored de Vere as a boy, introduced the form of the sonnet to England.

His copy of the Geneva Bible is heavily marked up in many of the same passages that appear in the plays.

That’s just a thumbnail sketch. There’s more in the article, including responses to possible objections, and an explanation of how de Vere may also have been somewhat of a Puritan. To get the rest of the details, you’ll have to order the magazine.

For now, I’ll simply throw it open: Any English lit buffs who can verify or deny the argument? Comment away.

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Christianity Fits [Wisdom from G.K.]

February 18, 2009 — joerigney

When once one believes in a creed, one is proud of its complexity, as scientists are proud of the complexity of science. It shows how rich it is in discoveries. If it is right at all, it is a compliment to say that it’s elaborately right. A stick might fit a hole or a stone a hollow by accident. But a key and a lock are both complex. And if a key fits a lock, you know it is the right key.

–G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (p. 75)

NOTE: Though this isn’t the reason that I first became a Christian at age twelve, it is one of the reasons that I remain a Christian. The explanatory power of Christianity, down to the details, is one of the most glorious signs of its truthfulness. One of my aims in all my teaching (and now blogging) is to constantly remind myself and others that what we see in reality is accounted for by the Christian faith. Christianity fits.

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Responding to the Odd [Wisdom from G.K.

February 17, 2009 — joerigney

It is my only purpose in this chapter to point this out; to show that whenever we feel there is something odd in Christian theology, we shall generally find that there is something odd in the truth.

–G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (p. 74)

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