“Wherever we find the ultimate concerns of human beings, we find worldviews.” –Tom Wright
Ultimate concerns seen around me:
- Money. Everybody wants it.
- Leisure. People want free time.
- Pleasure. Sex, drugs, escapism, movies.
- Sense of purpose. Religions, volunteerism, political activism, philosophy, seeking knowledge.
- Family. Wanting progeny to “do better” materially.
- Desire for notoriety. Individual expression. Desire to be a movie/pop/sports star.
I don’t usually find myself quoting Doug Wilson much these days, but he wrote an article for Chronicles magazine lately that I thought was generally right on the money. Here are some excerpts of the article:
The second kind of empire is an economic empire, as ancient Rome was. America is becoming such an economic, pragmatic empire, only without the formalization of proconsuls and tributary states. In other words, American hegemony is being exerted with a great deal more finesse than was seen with the old-fashioned empires, but our cultural influence, economic domination, and military presence are not any less real for all that. We may call it “global leadership,” but this does not alter what is actually happening on the ground. You can still get a Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt from just about anywhere, and the U.S. Marines will help to keep it that way.
In many ways, economic empires can be far more benign than the empires built and run by ideologues. The commies wanted to haul us off to the Gulag and take all our stuff. The Americans just want the opportunity to sell us a Windows upgrade. Rightly understood, free trade can be a great blessing and benefit. Empires built by merchants are generally not the world-class human-rights disasters that ideological empires are. At the same time, they are empires, and this means the use of force to protect future sales. Establishing democracies may be the stated goal, but establishing markets is a close corollary. Nevertheless, by God’s common grace, empires of this kind can provide the Church with multiple opportunities. The Apostle Paul was not at all hesitant to use the perks of empire—from roads to citizenship—as he sought to establish churches upon the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire. Neither should we be shy about it.
(…)
In economic empires, the unifying principle is the economic vitality of the empire itself—the cash box. This is the implicit unitarian god of the system, the god that will be defended against blasphemy. The diversity and tolerance are only apparent in those things that are for sale; the right to sell anything is a right that will be defended to the death.
This also reveals why the theological currents within the Church have been running the way they have throughout the course of the last century. Despite all Her problems, the Church in America is still a thriving force in our public life. It is therefore important to do something that will prepare our nation’s millions of Christians for their assigned role in the empire. That “something” is to neutralize the Faith by making it just one more item in the yard sale. What is the unifying principle behind our current theological battles? What do openness theology, seeker-sensitive worship, and dumb evangelical T-shirts all have in common? All of them represent a shift from the worship of Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, to Jesus, competitor for market share. Modern evangelicals want the shoppers to buy Jesus instead of the old lampshade, and they do not care who runs the cash box.
The American commitment to the bottom line is real and abiding. It would, therefore, be a great error to suppose that America’s conflict with Iraq has been a conflict tantamount to a war between the Christian Faith and Islam. This is not a second Battle of Tours. Something far more complicated is going on. In recent years, the United States has armed and/or tacitly supported Muslims in their conflicts with Christians in Indonesia, the Sudan, Bosnia, Chechnya, etc. We have also supported Jews against Muslims (and Christians) in Israel. We have also supported Muslim against Muslim. The reason for all of this is ultimately the bottom line, Mammon, America’s great idol. This includes obtaining resources, such as oil, and establishing markets in which we may compete—otherwise known as “spreading democracy.” Because Money is our great idol, we want all the customers to stay contented, and one good way to do this is by honoring their household deities—the kind of gods that can be kept on a shelf.
The one rule is that all the customers must go along with this and not complain when the economic empire honors the tiny gods of the other customers. If we agree to have our God demoted, the merchants of empire will see to it that all the other traditional gods are demoted, too. The empire’s name for this kind of unctuous flattery is pluralism.
(…)
In order to honor God’s name in such civil settings, Christians need to recover a right approach to Christian worship. We will not get out of this mess by seeking to “recover” the Constitution. We should not idolize the Constitution but should regard it as an exemplary document, now deceased. As one writer has observed, our current rulers treat the Constitution as the Queen Mum of American politics. She gets trundled out on the balcony periodically to wave at the crowds, but she has no real power. Case in point: We went into Iraq to topple the regime of another country. This was an old-fashioned war, pure and simple. The Constitution says that Congress, not the President, declares such wars. The Constitution, for all intents and purposes, is a dead letter, although certain parts of it are still arbitrarily observed because they are part of our unwritten constitution. The best thing would be to quit pretending.
Still, to acknowledge the development of an American empire, even a polytheistic one, is not to say that everything that comes out of it has to be bad. God extends His common grace in all sorts of ways. Such an empire is not necessarily wicked in everything it does, but a consistent Christian cannot give any fundamental religious allegiance to it. And, as American Christians participate (necessarily) in the growing fight between the open markets desired by our government and the closed minds desired by Islam, we must not see this battle as one between light and darkness. This is not a religious war, except in the sense that it is a war between two idols, Mammon and Allah. Christians may be present in the fray—there are many believers in the American military—but all Christians everywhere must not give way to the pressure to conform to the prevailing idolatry.
Keeping members a challenge for LDS church Mormon myth: The belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn’t hold up.
I have this quote in my mind and I can never remember where it came from. It seems like it was in Credenda or something years ago but I can’t find it;
Sing, ancestral muses cry,
of wine dark sea and tumbling sky.
Because Scott tagged me:
1. How many book do you own?
400?
2. Last book read?
The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe. Parts of this series were brilliant, parts were baffling. Overall, I liked it.
3. Last book purchased
Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens. Dickens is a master and to write well you need to read the greats.
4. Name five books that mean a lot to you
Lord of the Rings – all of them as one. They were the lodestar of my youth.
The Book of Common Prayer – Reading the liturgy drew me to Anglicanism and is a rich tapestry of theology that connects me to the ancient church.
The Heart of Anger – by Lou Priolo. This book helped me see my own problem with anger and how to deal with anger Biblically.
Introduction to Old Testament Theology – by John Sailhamer. My eyes were opened and I saw the Bible in a new way after reading this book. Sailhamer is a genius in my opinion.
Confessions – by St. Augustine. I love the book more for the beauty of its prose than for any particular theological insight I gained from it. The way Augustine employs Scripture throughout his narrative is novel and moving.
Someone wrote:
The Reformed Churches are little more at present than a
federation of tribes. Each tribe considers itself “The People” and
all outsiders are at least slightly subhuman. It is also the case
that any interloper from the outside is a Judas Iscariot, a betrayer
of “The People.” Sometimes I am not sure that Islam is not just
about as relevant and has about as much future.
We are always fighting the last battle in combatting terrorism. What good is it to beef up security on the Metro and in NYC when the bombs went off in London hours before? It is all aimed at comforting people and showing the politicians and the state aparatus is reacting in some way and doing something, no matter how harried and incoherent that something is. In the same way we have increased checks at airports after 9/11. What we need are precogs like in the Minority Report, but of course seeing the future is not possible for our government. So what we get is flailing around at the last threat.
“Islam forbids you to give allegiance to those who kick you off your homeland, and to those who support those who kick you off your homeland,” he told worshippers. “We do have license to respond with all force necessary to answer our attackers.”
So says the new Imam in Falls Church, Virginia; right up the road from me. Things like this convince me that it is only a matter of time until another massive attack comes our way and on our soil. Our nation is so porous and befuddled that I see no way of stopping it.
MEMRI has a really comprehensive article on the background of Al-Zarqawi up here. He is one scary individual.
For a proper understanding of Augustine’s preaching, something needs to be said about the setting of the sermons. The congregation at Hippo was a mixed one. Most were illiterate, but some would be highly educated. Some would be rich, but more would suffer from poverty and a tendency to envy the wealthy. Some would know the Bible practically by heart; others would have only the vaguest comprehension of the doctrines of Christianity. The men and women stood on either side; the bishop, clergy, virgins, widows, neophytes, and penitents all occupied different places. On the fringes, especially on feast days, would throng the nominal believers, more interested in the social than the religious aspects of the service ; their constant commotion taxed Augustine’s weak voice to its limits. The simple people were highly superstitious, and Augustine had to warn them constantly against the dangers of idolatry. Astrology and wild parties at shrines of the martyrs exercised his eloquence to the full. judging by the exhortations and warnings in the sermons, the people were given to anger, coarseness, stealing, swearing, cheating, quarrelling, heavy drinking, and sexual immorality.They were vocal in responding to their preacher: facial expressions, tears, groans, cheers, beating the breast-all indicated to Augustine what kind of impact his words were making.
Van der Meer gives details about the usual order of service: A typical eucharist began with the reading of the Epistle by an acolyte; the lector would lead the congregation in the antiphonal chanting of a Psalm, and a deacon would read the Gospel portion for the day. The bishop, seated while the crowd stood, spoke for up to an hour before the catechumens were dismissed, the doors were closed, and the eucharist began. Everyone moved to the sanctuary area. There they stood and listened to prayers of thanks, petitions, intercessions, choir singing, the words of consecration and distribution, the benediction following the communion, and the long prayer that followed the partaking of the elements. Beginning early in the morning, a service could last well into the middle of the morning. The bright light of an African midday sun would contrast powerfully with the darkness of the church, windowless and lighted only by candles. A daily eucharist and vespers attracted earnest Christians; ordinarily, except during Faster week, Augustine would preach only on Saturdays and Sundays.
G. Wright Doyle in the Westminster Theological Journal 39:2
