Geoff's Miscellany

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Archives for December 2016

Book Review Pt 1: The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

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This is part one of a multi-part review of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis.

The Four Loves: Introduction

Lewis, Clive Staples. The Four Loves. London: Fontana, 1964.

In Lewis’ book on the kinds and nature of love he starts the book by distinguishing between Need-love (like a small child for its mother) and Gift-love (like a man working to leave a legacy for his family which he may never see). Lewis had hoped to write the whole book based on this distinction saying essentially that Need-love is bad and Gift-love is good and Christian. What he found, though, was that this is impossible (7).

Lewis points out that while it is true that the Christian’s spiritual health is gauged by his love for God, “Gift-love” for God is the exception. He uses the story of the publican and the Pharisee from Luke’s gospel to make the point. The observation holds, it’s when the Pharisee assumes that his gifts to God, even his grace inspired gifts (he thanks God for making him good) put God in his debt, that he finds himself unjustified before God. Offering God purely “disinterested love” is impossible because spiritual growth includes a growing “awareness that our whole being is one vast need; incomplete, preparatory, empty, yet cluttered, crying out for Him… (9).”

Lewis makes one more very valuable distinction in the chapter. He distinguishes between likeness to God (by nature) and nearness to God by approach. Likeness to God, by nature, is something which every created thing shares to one degree or another. Rocks have being, animals have life, angels have intellect, will, and immorality, mankind has will, rationality, and so-on. Nearness to God by approach is the intentional conforming of the human will to the divine will. Likeness to God is a fact of nature, Lewis observes and can be received with thanksgiving or not acknowledged at all. Nearness to God by approach is what grace enabled creatures must do (11). This is similar to what I’ve written elsewhere about positional vs progressive elements in the Christian life. One of the best observations Lewis makes in the book is that since human beings have the incarnation to look to, “our imitation of God…must be an imitation of God incarnate: our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the Divine life in itself, is apparently not only like, but is, the Divine life operating under human conditions. (11)”

 

The Christian Life: Positional and Progressive Elements

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Intro

In kinesiology class back in college, I had a professor tell me that since the triceps muscles functioned to extend the forearm, one only needed to do bicep curls to exercise the whole arm. Her reasoning was that lowering the weight extended the forearm, and therefore exercised the triceps. She had taken a basic fact and misapplied it because she neglected to account for simple facts like gravity being the force that lowers the weight as the lifter slowly relaxes his biceps.

Similarly, in the Christian life, we can easily misapply things. This is especially so in the case of the Bible’s language regarding Christian growth and God’s grace. For instance, some see the passages about justification by grace through faith is the ultimate or only expression of the Christian life. In so doing, they can actually believe/explain a version of faith that does not lead to good works or obedience in Christ. In fact, some might even disparage good works!

On the other hand, some look at the passages in Scripture about spiritual growth and the need for obedience and see these as the ultimate or only expressions of the Christian life. The danger here is teaching that one is saved by one’s efforts and not God’s grace and the progress is always obvious and linear. Such teaching may indeed lead to boasting in one’s works as the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-14.

As all imbalances in Christian teaching go, one can see both of these aspects of the Christian life in Scripture. They go by many names: the gospel/law distinction, justification/sanctification, and indicative/imperative distinctions. Well explained, all of these end up saying the same thing. I’m not a fan of the words used though. They create unnecessary confusion of vocabulary. Here are some examples: in Scripture the gospel includes commands, the law of Moses includes promises, indicatives result from imperatives, and sanctification is sometimes a state not a characteristic of a person.

I prefer to distinguish between the positional and progressive elements of the Christian life. I’m sure somebody came up with the language before me, but I haven’t seen it anywhere and it popped into my mind when I was teaching an introductory course on Christian theology. Below I’ll simply describe some of the positional and progressive elements of the Christian life.

Positional Elements

These are aspects of the Christian life concerning one’s identity in Christ. They are gifts of grace to be claimed as a certain possession by the faithful. Biblical examples include but are not limited to:

  1. Justification by faith (Romans 4:24-5:10)
  2. Adoption (Ephesians 1:3-23)
  3. Sanctification/being called saints (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:29-31)
  4. Being beloved by God (all over the Bible)

The importance of the positional aspects of the Christian life included the fact that they are true (it is important to know true things), they depend on God’s grace and not necessarily our progress, and they supply us with an individual and communal identity.

Progressive Elements

These are elements of the Christian life in which growth and progress can be made. The confusing thing is that sometimes the Bible uses the same words for progressive and positional categories (sanctification, grace, live like children of God, etc). Biblical examples include but are not limited to:

  1. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God. Being a son of God here is a designation based on character, not a declaration based on grace received through faith.
  2. Matthew 6:33 (seek first the kingdom of God and it’s righteousness). Righteousness is not a courtroom declaration like in Paul’s letters, but a virtue to be pursued.
  3. Hebrews 12:14 says to strive for the holiness/sanctification necessary to see the Lord.
  4. Abiding in God’s love (1 John 3, John 14-26)

The importance of these aspects of the Christian life is that they speak of the goals toward which faith strives. While one does not have to be a perfect peacemaker to be justified by faith, one should have a faith of the sort that will lead to peacemaking. These aspects of the Christian life also speak of how one experiences life with God and approaches true happiness and Christian virtue.

Conclusion

When we understand the difference between the two ways the Bible talks about the spiritual life, we can have hope in our justification, but still ‘strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)’ because faith that justifies is faith that seeks holiness (the holiness doesn’t justify).

 

Biblical Mindset

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One of the great casualties of modern academic theology and biblical studies is any sense that the Bible offers a philosophy for life. And I don’t just mean that it provides information for the creation of an accurate worldview or political practice. I mean that the Bible offers actual insight into the realities of human nature (mind, body, spirit/soul), history, and God. But I think that the Bible claims to offer such a philosophy. A brief example can be found here:

For those who walk according to the flesh are mindful the things of the flesh, but those who walk according to the Spirit are mindful the things of the Spirit. For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:5-6)[1]

Paul, in the passage above, is claiming that his own gospel message contains a Spirit inspired mindset. And while Paul describes the mindsets in absolute terms (you have one or the other), elsewhere, Paul makes clear that one must be renewed over time and through tremendous effort to overcome the mindset and practices of the flesh (see Romans 6, Ephesians 4, and Colossians 3). So to be a Christian is to be daily obtaining and putting into practice the mindset of the Spirit, with the help of that same Spirit.

Kyriacos Markides described this view of the Bible as a book designed to help people form a way of life very well:

Likewise, the role of the Bible must be seen as a therapeutic tool to heal our existential alienation from God. And those who can offer an expert’s opinion about its worth as a handbook for union with God are neither the fundamentalists nor the Bible historians, but the saints who have extensively put it to practice. Furthermore, Father Maximos added, the Bible by itself is not adequate as a guide to reach God. One must take into consideration the entire experience of the Ecclesia, the entire corpus of the spiritual tradition as articulated in the lives, aphorisms, homilies, spiritual methodologies, and written testimonies of the saints. And this tradition is being tested and retested by the experiences of the saints.[2]

My definition of mindset is the beliefs, attitudes, and processes individuals and organizations utilize to interact with circumstances. The definition of the Greek word I translated mindset above is ‘a way of thinking.’ So Paul’s concept is not dissimilar from my own. What does the Bible say about the Christian mindset? The lists below are incomplete, but sufficient to show that there is biblical content to the mindset of the Spirit.

  1. Beliefs
    1. God is benevolent and does not tempt us to sin.
    2. To love is to be like God.
    3. The world is ruled by evil and I have contributed to that evil and fundamentally chosen to rebel against God.
    4. God’s kingdom is at hand.
    5. Jesus has been raised from the dead.
    6. Jesus will reconcile those who trust him to God.
    7. Jesus’ teachings can be the foundation for an invincible life.
    8. God is present in his people, the church and the history of the church is filled with wisdom and both good and bad examples of faithfulness.
    9. God has given the Christian everything necessary for spiritual growth.
    10. Every temptation is supplied with a way out.
    11. There is eternal as well as temporal hope for the righteous.
    12. Human beings are responsible for their own virtues, vices, and eternal destiny in a profound way.
  2. Attitudes
    1. Gratitude should be cultivated daily.
    2. Knowledge is good and love is even better.
    3. Hatred of all evil is good as well as a desire to overcome evil with good.
    4. Wonder at God and his creation is encouraged.
    5. The Christian is given a spirit of love, power, and self-control.
    6. Christians should approach church disagreements with moderation.
    7. Joyful anticipation of good works to accomplish.
    8. Money is a metric among many, it isn’t everything.
  3. Processes
    1. Negative visualization (consider losing everything in advance of losing it)
    2. Fasting
    3. Daily prayer and meditation
    4. Silencing your soul/mind/heart
    5. Planning for the future while remaining outcome independent.
    6. See every temptation, challenge, trial, disaster, and tragedy as a test of virtue.
    7. Subjecting spiritual claims to public scrutiny
    8. Self-examination and comparison to divinely inspired ideals
    9. Daily attempting to become more virtuous
    10. Confession of sins
    11. Honoring God by doing your best at work and in daily interactions
    12. Maintenance of property and household economics

References

[1] Kurt Aland et al., Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th Edition. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012), Ro 8:5–6, “ οἱ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα ὄντες τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς φρονοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ κατὰ πνεῦμα τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος. τὸ γὰρ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς θάνατος, τὸ δὲ φρόνημα τοῦ πνεύματος ζωὴ καὶ εἰρήνη”

[2] Kyriacos C. Markides. The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality (The Crown Publishing Group). 48.

 

Parents as gods

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Being a parent is hard work. Being a dad has its own unique challenges. I have no doubt that it will be one of my greatest challenges.

Two of my favorite quotes, one about being a mother and the other of being a father, come from quite unlikely sources, two different satires: Fight Club and Vanity Fair.

“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children…” – Vanity Fair 

He says, “What you have to understand, is your father was your model for God.”…The mechanic says, “If you’re male and you’re Christian and living in America, your father is your model for God. And if you never know your father, if your father bails out or dies or is never at home, what do you believe about God?” “What you end up doing,” the mechanic says, “is you spend your life searching for a father and God.” “What you have to consider,” he says, “is the possibility that God doesn’t like you. Could be, God hates us. This is not the worst thing that can happen.” How Tyler saw it was that getting God’s attention for being bad was better than getting no attention at all. Maybe because God’s hate better than His indifference. If you could be either God’s worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose? – Fight Club 

For the Christian, the parents are the models for God. Many people spend their whole lives unlearning the image of God they constructed in their youth based on their parents.

I think Christians have to face the facts presented in the two fictional quotes above and recognize two things:

  1. Children, whether you want them to or not, see adults as godlike beings. So it’s important to model all the virtues appertaining to this de facto perception.
  2. Now, just because children perceive us this way does not mean that we should not be very clear to them that we are reasonable, fallible, sinful, and still in need of learning.

Obviously these two inferences can be applied at the same time and at other times one must be emphasized. Leonard Sax has argued that one of the biggest problems in modern parenting is treating children like adults too early. But children should see their parents as goals to which one might attain.

To be a dad: Be big

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I’ve been reading a great deal about fatherhood, parenting, and so-on. It’s funny how long long step by step instructions, massive data sets, and extended philosophical discourses on fatherhood, despite their value, don’t stick in your head the way brief descriptions like this can:

A grown man, even a small or otherwise unremarkable man, can still be a god-like giant to a little boy.

You don’t have to be a dick. You don’t have to make the kid feel small.

All you have to do is be big.

Instead of leaning over, make him look up or pick him up. Instead of talking down to him, make him talk up to you.

Be big, expansive, benevolent. Be authoritative. You can be playful without being a little boy.

While not all of Jack Donovan’s is universally the case (stopping to speak to a child, can at times be valuable), in general children need magnificence to which to aspire. Parents both offer this. Father can offer it in a particular way. When I was a child, I always found my father, grand fathers, uncles, and their adult friends to be fascinating in their competence to fix, climb, destroy, or create things. Seeing an man bleed and not cry was astounding to me. Watching somebody lift a car with a jack or melt steel with a torch was endlessly engrossing. I remember being charged by a bull as a boy and just when I thought I would die, I looked back and saw my grandfather leap through the air, with a shovel (maybe this is my imagination filling in gaps), bashing the beast and frightening it enough to end it’s path toward my destruction.

I hope that my children will have many similar experiences.

Philosophy’s Meaning and Utility

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What is Philosophy?

When you hear the word philosophy your eyes may glaze over while you immediately start thinking about pizza or video games. One of the chief criticisms of liberal arts degrees (especially philosophy) today is that they are pointless and cannot help you to make money (source). But this causes many people to think that they are exempt from philosophical questions such as:

  1. What is real?
  2. What/who is a good person?
  3. How can I become such a person?
  4. What can I know?
  5. How can I know it?

Keynes once made this valuable observation about those who don’t care about ideas:

The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist.”(General Theory of Employment and Interest, 383)

What perhaps causes people to shy away from philosophy is that many philosophers after Plato were boring. Also, many philosophy professors are unpleasant and impractical people. But I suggest thinking about philosophy by breaking the word down. Philosophy is fundamentally about loving wisdom. The early Christians often called Christianity “the true philosophy,” and saw Christianity as a complete approach to life because it was a philosophy. Taken this way, philosophy is a wisdom-loving approach to all of life.

How is it useful then?

If we conceive of philosophy this way, then we can say that it trains us to:

  1. reason from principles and such reasoning applies to almost everything.
  2. abstract principles from phenomena.
  3. apply reason to our feelings and circumstances so that we can have self-control. In other words, philosophy is mindset training.
  4. recognize the difference between intuition, vague impressions, and reasonable beliefs.
  5. compare our ideas and narratives with reality.
  6. approach life practically. I just read a Tweet (a post on a social media site known as “The Twitter”) which asked “What are you going to do today to A) improve yourself B) make someone else’s life better? And if you don’t have plans for both, why not?” Philosophy is the art and science of asking, answering, and perfecting the answers to these questions.
  7. examine ourselves to see if we are on the trajectory of becoming the best version of ourselves. For Christians this is a rather lofty goal, so any tool to help us is important and the Bible is clear that we should “get wisdom.” Wisdom in the Old Testament is probably very similar in meaning (though different in direction and content) to Philosophy in Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics.

The Danger of Philosophy

  1. Reading too much philosophy is a serious time waster so read good stuff. I suggest starting with Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the wisdom of Solomon, the book of Sirach, Fourth Maccabees, the dialogues of Plato, the letters of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Aristotle.
  2. Putting philosophy into practice, if the philosophy is bad, can prove your ideas wrong very quickly or worse, ruin your life!
  3. Learning to reason well without learning to manage your emotional reactions to the world is frequently frustrating, see Ecclesiastes 1:17-18.