The filter of history

In the May issue of the The Atlantic Monthly, Jay Parini writes about the recent popularity of historical fiction in his article, ”Making History: How Historical Fiction Went Highbrow.”  In that article he has a wonderful quote about the importance of history and our draw towards it.  

He writes, “In our high-velocity, high-volume world, the present can seem just too bright, too close.  We need the filter of memory to pull reality into focus.”

 That seems to me, to be exactly right.  History – corporate memory – brings into focus our chaotic, “high-velocity” reality in which we live.

History: his-story, our-story

History is sometimes said to be “His story”; the story of God acting in and through time.  But is also said to be the accounts of man throughout time.  With these two ideas in mind, I believe that the study of history is one of the best uses of our mind (perhaps you can sense a bit of a bias coming from a history teacher!).  As we study history, we learn what it is to be human – who we are as a race.  

John Calvin, in his Institutes, says of man:  ”We must now speak of the creation of man: not only because among all God’s works here is the noblest and most remarkable example of his justice; wisdom, and goodness; but because, as we said at the beginning, we cannot have a clear and complete knowledge of God unless it is accompanied by a corresponding knowledge of ourselves” (1.xv.1).  Humanity, the apex of God’s creation, demonstrates God’s justice, wisdom, and goodness.  The more we study the history of man, the more we come in contact with examples of these God-characteristics (of course, in history we encounter fallen man so these characteristics are severely marred and blurred by sin)  And as Calvin explains, the more we know ourselves the more we are able to know God.

The Poverty Forum – truly post-partisan

There has been a lot of  “post-partisan” talk these days in politics that turns out to be partisan as usual – or perhaps even more partisan!  Parties still vote down the aisle and this supposedly post-partisan economic package is as partisan as you can get!

In the midst of all that, there are a group of Christians from the left and right who are acting truly post-partisan as they seek to offer solutions to the poverty problems.  Jim Wallis from Sojourners and Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for President Bush, and others have joined together to form the Poverty Forum.  Check it out – they seem to be doing some great stuff!

As usual, individuals and the private sector seem to be more innovative than the “post-partisans” in D.C.

Bible teachers: Beware!

In reading Frederick Dale Bruner’s commentary on Matthew I came across this quote of his while commenting on Matthew 5:18:

“When teachers loosen Scripture, they encourage their students to loosen it, too.  … Therefore Jesus says, Be warned: what you do to Scripture will be done to you in judgment: minimalization or maximalization.  Religion, Bible, and seminary teachers must be especially careful when they refer to Scripture.  Students pick up our attitude to it – to our greater or lesse judgment.” (p.202)

Liberal arts education for an economic crisis

Ray Pennings wrote a column in the Calgary Herald on the value of a broad liberal arts education (philosophy, theology, the arts, etc.) at a time when all we seem to care about are economic and market specialists.  In fact, Pennings may argue, it’s those “specialists” without a liberal arts education that got us into this mess!  It’s worth a short read.

Good-bye, Mr. President.

Tomorrow we welcome a new commander-in-chief in Barrack Obama, but today I would like to say good-bye and thank you to our current president, Mr. George W. Bush.

There are others who can give more detailed accounts of the strengths and weakenesss of your administration, but today I want to say what I’m thankful, on this, your last full day as President.

Thanks for the work of “compassionate conservatism” that you ran on back in 2000.  Many of us have forgotten that idea because of other significant events that steered your presidency in different directions.  But yo’ve sought to remind us (Americans) that being conservative and compassionate can and must go hand-in-hand.  Your work to curb the AIDs epidemic in Africa showed a deep love and concern for the weak. 

Although people may not fully agree with your approaches to education, your No Child Left Behind Act was a a serious attempt to reform America’s schools and to insist that all children regardless of location, race, and economic standing have access to high quality education.

Your Faith -Based initiative was another strong step toward equipping local communities of faith to serve and meet the needs of the hurting.  As a nation, we ought to be a place where communities of faith are encouraged to serve rather than defaulting to the government as the care-agent.

Clearly your presidency has been marked by other events and will be remembered by them: 9/11, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, Katrina, and a crumbling econonmy.  Abraham Lincoln’s famous words fit very aptly for you as well: “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me”. 

No one knows how the history books will remember you  Will it be as the one who kept America safe for 8 years in this new age of terrorism or one  who used extraordinary means unnecessarilly ?  Will it be as the one who toppled a dictator and introduced democracy to Iraq or one who imposed American military forces and imperialism?  No one knows; time will tell.

But thank you for serving as best you knew how, with as much courage as you showed, and with as much heart and conviction as any other.

Sweet Communion – Mining my Dutch heritage

In describing Dutch Reformed Christians, people come with all sorts of things (some positive and some negative).  Things like: thoughtful, doctrinal, , Heidelberg Catechism, Christian Reformed, Calvinistic, Kuyperian, neo-Calvinist are some of the “positive” characteristics.  Cold, the frozen chosen, arrogant, Dutch ghetto, etc. are some of the negative characteristics.  These things – both positive and negative – may be true but they are not the whole picture.I am reading Arie de Reuver’s book: Sweet Communion: Trajectories of Sprituality from the Middle Ages through the Further Reformation.  It is an academic study of five Dutch Christians/theologians/pastors of the Further Reformation: Willem Teelinck, Theodorus a’ Brakel, Guiljelmus Saldenus, Wilhelmus a’ Brakel, and Herman Witsuis.  They are “Dutch Puritans” if you will.  Far from being cold, stuffy doctrinalists these Dutch Reformed Christians are warm pietists that border on being mystical (before dealing with these five Dutch Christians, de Reuver outlines the mysticism and piety of Medieval Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas a’ Kempis).Rather than succumbing  to the stereotypes of Dutch Christianity, I am trying to mine the treasures of our past so that we have a holistic and robust faith that is rooted in Reformed theology (doctrinal), a “reformation” of the heart (pietistic), and seeks to be transformative in the world (transformation). 

bowen island

Here a few pictures from our hike on Bowen Island yesterday. Bowen island was about a 20 minute ferry ride from the mainland. We hiked to the summit (about 2,500 ft) from sea level. The views were absolutely stunning!

the coast

We hiked to the top of the summit in this picture.
the summit

This is the view from the summit.view from the summit

This is from the ferry on the way back.
sunset on the ferry

First day at Regent

Regent College
I now see that it is going to be quite challenging to condense two classes worth of material into one blog entry. So I’ll have to be selective. But what a day! I started out with Spirituality in the Thought and Life of the Church Fathers – a great class. We are actually going to focus even more narrowly on the Desert tradition. Beginning in the 200s Christians (particularly in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine) began to move to the desert to live in solitude. THey would spend years in silence and solitude. We will be looking at what these Christians can teach those of us who live in the fast-paced 21st century. As the professor states, it is exactly where their lifestyle rubs us the most that we need to be most attentive.

The other class (in the afternoon) was the Puritan class with Dr. J.I. Packer. He is quite witty and humorous! However, he knows how to get to business as well! He had to be stopped at the end of class by his TA because he was already 10 minutes over the end of the class (but really, who is going to stop Packer when he is waxing eloquent on the spiritual prowess of the Puritans!). You can tell that he not only has an intellectual interest in the Puritans but finds great spiritual encouragement from them. At one point in the lecture, when he was talking about the outbreak of the plague in London (1665) he broke down in tears telling how the Puritan pastors went into the city to care for the poor when all the other Anglican priests were fleeing the city to spare themselves from the plague. A testimony to the concern that the Puritans had for the lowly, the sick, and the poor.

I feel utterly exhausted and feel like I should sleep but Dr. Bruce Waltke is giving a free public lecture tonight on Psalm 131. So I feel like I should make the most of my opportunities.

Tomorrow I’ll try to give a more thought-provoking blog based on one of the two classes rather than a play-by-play of sorts. Blessings to you all.

a new beginning

Well, I suppose it is time for me to join the world of 2001 – I got a blog.  Now the difficult part comes in – finding time to sit down and blog something “meaningful.” 

And so today, a word fom the great St. Augustine:  “We made bad use of immortality, and se we died; Christ made good use of mortality, and so we live.” (On Christian Teaching, I,29)