Loconte on the Religious Left
Thu 30 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Moderator Joe Loconte has an article in the Wall Street Journal for 1 July 2005 on the latest resurgence of politically liberal Christians.
In “From Gospel to Government,” Loconte discusses the current “Christian Alliance for Progress” and gives some context from recent history.
It proffers an agenda “founded firmly on the teachings of the Gospel.” Some students of the Gospel may be surprised at how neatly such an agenda fits the Democratic Party platform . . .
They can at least be comforted that they are not alone—the sermon from Tom Wright I linked to earlier included comments that in the UK, the people pushing for religion in public life are more on the left.
Loconte helps me articulate something I’ve been struggling with for a few weeks now:
N. T. Wright on Tolerance and the People of Faith
Thu 30 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Bishop N. T. Wright’s sermon at the end of the Anglican Consultative Council meeting deserves a wider hearing than just Anglicans.
Wright, an eminent New Testament historian and Bishop of Durham who has moderated Trinity Forum sessions in Europe, spoke on 28 June 2005. Particularly if you haven’t been aware of his thinking before, take the time to read this through very carefully.
“Shipwreck and Kingdom: Acts and the Anglican Communion” (one source text is here) includes an ironic discussion of the politics of left and right, but is particularly thought-provoking on the concept of “tolerance” and the truth-claims that underlie the Christian faith—and all other faiths, for that matter. Faith is not a matter of personal opinion, and those who say otherwise have their own not-so-hidden agendas.
But when you are in Caesar’s world, where truth comes out of the barrel of a gun, or in his day the sheath of a sword, tolerance can simply be a fancy name for cowardice. The claim that ‘Jesus is Lord’ was never, in the first century, what we would call a religious claim pure and simple. There was no such thing as religion pure and simple. It was a claim about an ultimate reality which included politics, culture, commerce, family life and everything else you could think of. . . .
And if you stop saying ‘Jesus is Lord’ out of deference to the private opinions of your friends and neighbours, Caesar smiles his grim smile and extends his empire by one more street. After all, the great eighteenth-century virtue of tolerance was developed not least by those who were keen on extending their geographical or industrial empires, and who didn’t want God breathing down their necks to stop them. Keep religion in the private sphere and we’ll run the public square. And to that idea Luke says a clear No; and so must we.
More on tolerance and its implications:
Mansfield on Brann, or, Why read the classics
Mon 27 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Harvard prof Harvey Mansfield has an article in The Weekly Standard on the work and latest book of Eva Brann of St. John’s College, Annapolis.
The piece is entitled “Greek Books, American Life,” (20 June 2005). It’s an interesting appreciation and critique, implying that her devotion to deep study in the Greek and other classics may be undermined by an American tendency to skim over the stuff that’s hard or irritating.
Of course, that’s not always a bad way to read people like Nietzsche, says Brann, in Open Secrets/Inward Prospects: Reflections on Word and Soul. Worth noting for a good assessment of Jefferson vs. Madison, and for the following quote.
Vox Populi, Vox Stupidity?
Fri 17 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Spiked Magazine features an article by University of Kent sociologist Frank Furedi on populism and elites in light of recent events in the U.S. and EU.
A well written and historically aware article covering the bases from the EU constitutional referendum to the 2004 U.S. elections (and some Australian commentary) and the parallel response of many elites.
Fascinating and more than a bit scary in light of the insights raised by the Foucault/Ayatollah essay and my recent reading in Postman’s Technopoly. Technopoly as fundamentalist secularism? Political and even NGO elites openly desire a move from democracy to technocracy, or rule by bureaucracy. It is a quintessentially illiberal notion.
Loconte on A New Vision for Human Rights
Thu 16 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
TF Moderator Joseph Loconte has an op-ed with Nile Gardiner in the Boston Globe of 16 June 2005.
In “A new vision for human rights”, Loconte and Gardiner call for a fundamental reform of the U.N. human rights apparatus—or for its replacement if no reform can be made to happen.
The Philosopher and the Ayatollah
Thu 16 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Amazing and surprisingly nuanced article in the Boston Globe (hat-tip—ALD) on Michel Foucault’s initial infatuation with the Islamist revolution in Iran of Ayatollah Khomeini.
The article, by Wesley Yang, is titled “The philosopher and the ayatollah: In 1978, Michel Foucault went to Iran as a novice journalist to report on the unfolding revolution. His dispatches — now fully available in translation — shed some light on the illusions of intellectuals in our own time.”
The article is inspired by the publication of Kevin Anderson and Janet Afary’s Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Yang offers an interesting balance of appreciation for Foucault’s courageous insights and his ideologically driven blindness, and definitely helps us appreciate the way worldviews or ideologies shape actions. Two quotes from the article follow:
A collection on spirituality vs. religion vs. atheism
Mon 13 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
I’ve noticed a small wave of articles on faith, religion, and spirituality—which are not synonymous. Several appear to be driven by a recent AP survey on religion.
Items:
Dave Shiflett has an article from 7 June 2005 on National Review Online, “God-Lite Doesn’t Cut It: Americans like a stouter brand.” He discusses findings from his new book, Exodus: Why Americans are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity.- Ironically, the same day US News & World Report, 7 June 2005, posts an article on a trend that could be seen as confirming or countering Shiflett’s thesis: “Religion in America: Pumping life into mainline Protestantism” (Hat Tip: Relapsed Catholic -> Church Marketing Sucks -> CT Weblog) discusses how moderate-to-liberal congregations in otherwise-declining denominations are thriving by getting serious about their faith and their tradition.
- And just the day before, Giles Fraser posted a pleasantly insightful editorial in London’s Guardian on a new UK “reality” show focused on the spiritual smorgasbord: “God’s been mugged: Spirituality, the latest subject of reality TV, is religion minus the difficult bits for feckless consumers”
- On the other hand, we have UPI reporter Uwe Siemon-Netto and a March 2005 wire story, “Science, ‘frauds’ trigger a decline in atheism” discussing former atheist Anthony Flew’s defection to theism.
- In line with this last, in light of the TV show mentioned in Dr. Fraser’s commentary, it’s almost refreshing to see Salman Rushdie’s wisful desire to “Just give me that old-time atheism!” (The Toronto Star, May 23 2005).
After Postmodernism in the Arts
Mon 13 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Daniel Henninger’s February 18, 2005 “Wonderland” column from OpinionJournal.com was recently brought to my attention. It definitely is worth a read.
“21st Century Art Makes Its Escape From the Toilet: We don’t need Modernism and Post-Modernism anymore.” Artists and art patrons of the world: please lend this man your ears for a few minutes.
What we need is an art, a culture, an aesthetic appropriate to the age in which we live--the 21st century, the Age of the Digital and the Age of September 11. Modern art isn’t it.
Modernism was a reaction to the industrial age or the machine age. It produced Cubism, Stravinsky’s music and James Joyce’s Ulysses (also voted the 20th century’s most important novel by a panel of the Modern Library). Its most important cultural values included discordance, challenge, collision, violation, confusion. This is wholly out of sync with what people want or need in the current age.
He has a suggestion for a positive way forward, and a recognition of and appreciation for the iPod.
Edgar on the Blues
Wed 08 Jun 2005 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow William Edgar has an article in the January/February 2005 issue of Modern Reformation on blues music.
The article is titled “Aint It Hard: Suffering & Hope in the Blues.” A quote:
It would be easy to conclude that this type of music is without hope or redemption. But this is far from the case. The realism of the blues does not stand opposed to hopefulness, but to sentimentality. So often the music of white people responds to troubled times with escapism. The blues is stark and realistic, but not hopeless. The blues tells us how to live on earth in order to prepare for heaven. Living down here makes no sense unless there is a heaven to give it meaning.
Refreshing Candor
Mon 06 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Perhaps we are getting to the point where we can actually get back to arguing again. A couple of recent articles indicate a larger trend I think I’m seeing: people are increasingly willing again to go against political and secularist correctness in public. It indicates that the tide may be turning against those who would exclude opposing opinions from the public square by fiat.
First is Terry Teachout’s insightful piece on art and persuasion from In Character, reprinted in the Wall Street Journal, “When Drama Becomes Propaganda: Why is so much political art so awful?” (6 June 2005).
It isn’t just that they feel no responsibility to make arguments that might prove persuasive to those who disagree with them, or at least haven’t yet made up their minds. They no longer acknowledge any responsibility to their audiences. They appear to believe instead that so long as an artist thinks all the right things, he need not go to the trouble to be amusing, subtle or even interesting. All he need do is make his characters say the right things, and he’s entitled to the approval of his enlightened brethren. No one else matters.
