tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327965362024-03-14T12:15:32.812+00:00Philosopher's TreeA heady mix of politics, culture and faithAl Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.comBlogger730125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-14823584891281767222021-08-30T12:04:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.093+00:00David’s Tent: Personal Impressions<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At short notice, I booked a day pass to visit <a href="https://www.davidstent.net/" target="_blank">David’s Tent</a> on Friday - my first time at the event. David’s Tent is (wait for it) a non-stop 72-hour Christian worship event, taking place on the <a href="https://www.wistonestate.com/" target="_blank">Wiston Estate</a> in Sussex over the August Bank Holiday weekend. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The majority of delegates camp on site. I attended as a day visitor. When not inside the worship tent, those attending can relax in the beautiful location at the foot of the South Downs, visit the resource tent, chat with friends, attend one of a light programme of workshops and talks, sit around the fire pit or sample the varied street food options from the onsite vendors. There is also a children’s programme and a youth programme running all weekend. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, as a newbie, what were my first impressions of David’s Tent?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Church is a Wonderful Thing</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Being among thousands of Christians from across the UK was a powerful reminder of the glorious multi-coloured nature of the church of God. There is really nothing on earth like the church in all its diversity. Worshipping together with brothers and sisters of different races and cultures, I was reminded that, in many of our communities, the local church is the most racially integrated society in town. We are perhaps not always aware of this aspect of who we are - and it should be a cause for celebration. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Emerging from Lockdown is a Process</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The last time I had been in a large crowd was at the Memorial Stadium in January 2020 (Bristol Rovers drew 2 -2 against Coventry City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, since you ask). I had not attended an in-person church meeting of more than six people since March of the same year, and as we all know, a lot has happened since then.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I needed to initially spend some time simply looking around and getting used to the novelty of the event. I’m not a great Christian conference attender, so there was a lot of adjustment I needed to do just to get used to the crowds, the sound and the sight of over a thousand people actively engaging in sung praise and worship. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Biblical Prophecy is Very Powerful </span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2800 years ago, while predicting the coming of the Messiah, the Hebrew prophet Isaiah <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+61%3A11&version=NIV" target="_blank">announced</a> that as Christ’s rule extended in the earth,</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and praise spring up before all nations.” </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am not sure whether Isaiah had any knowledge of the British Isles. If he did, it would have been of windswept desolate islands far to the north where the inhabitants worshipped the sun (rarely seen!) and where human sacrifice was a feature of their pagan</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> religion. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fast forward a few millennia and, here in England’s green and pleasant land, thousands of inhabitants of these isles had gathered for a non-stop 72-hour festival of worship to the God of Israel whom Isaiah served. There are many ways of understanding this phenomenon. One way is to see it as a fulfilment of ancient biblical prophecy concerning the Kingdom of Christ. Understood in this way, David’s Tent is a tangible illustration of the tremendous formative power of the prophetic word of God. Isaiah’s words not merely predicted Christian worship throughout the Gentile nations; the spoken word of God was itself the ultimate creative force that caused these realities to come into being. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Spirit of Devotion</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The idea of thousands of people paying money to attend a four-day event whose focus is non-stop praise and worship to God is both ludicrous when viewed from a secular perspective, and also glorious when seen through the eyes of Christian faith. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The spirit of devotion that must underpin such an enterprise was wonderful to sense. I was reminded of the extreme love of the woman in the gospels who poured out very expensive perfume onto the feet and head of Jesus as an act of pure devotion. Her worship was criticised by some at the time as being wasteful, the money spent on the perfume being capable of helping poor people with practical material needs. Yet Jesus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A6-13&version=NIV" target="_blank">affirmed her act of worship</a> as “a beautiful thing”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was struck by this same spirit of devotion to Christ represented at David's Tent. This was manifest not only in the big tent itself but in the volunteer team members who so warmly greeted my wife and I when we arrived and made us feel welcome as first-time attendees. My sense was that a free ticket to the event was not the ultimate motivation of these beautiful young people who choose to stand for hours in a field miles from the main activities doing nothing other than welcoming car drivers and showing them where to park. It felt as if they saw their practical service as a form of worship to God, every bit as valid as the sung worship taking place within the huge tent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I found this very heartening.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Well-run Event</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The event itself seemed well-thought-through. Various groups of musicians and singers took turns to lead the worship in the big tent, which I estimated could probably hold up to 3,000 people. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There was some limited seating at the back of the tent but the rest of the space was open. People stood, sat, kneeled or lay prostrate as they engaged with the worship. People entered and left the tent continuously during the worship sessions over the four days. I was surprised to learn that the worship went on all night with a quieter acoustic set. The worship musicians faced inwards on the square stage, effectively facing away from the congregation, emphasising that this was not a performance event but a shared act of worship. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There was plenty of physical space at the event. A good supply of street food vendors meant little obvious queuing. The portable toilets were pristine - not a sentence I have had the occasion to write before. Mind you, it was day one. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Need for Training in Biblical Theology for Contemporary Christian Worship Leaders and Songwriters </span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I found the content of the worship songs to be of varying quality. <a href="https://kingdomchoir.com/" target="_blank">Kingdom Choir</a> were magnificent. Apart from that, I was disappointed at times with lyrics that spoke very little about the attributes of God himself. With so much rich truth revealed in the Bible about the person and nature of God, it seems such a shame to omit this rich vocabulary in favour of more prosaic lyrics that speak of ourselves and our individual felt needs and responses.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">More seriously, many of the songs evidenced a low level of engagement with the meat of biblical truth. Lyrics were often abstracted from their biblical and theological contexts in ways that I found superficial and unhelpful. Specifically, songs describing “love”, “power”, “faithfulness” and “grace” frequently included little explicit reference to the person and work of Christ, the Incarnation or the nature of the new covenant. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In my five hours on site, I heard only one song that referenced the Trinity (at least all three-in-one got a mention) and one song that centred on the death of Christ. This particular song steered clear of the biblical teaching of the death of Christ as a substitute for sin, and its lyrics seemed to rest upon a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_influence_theory_of_atonement" target="_blank">moral influence theory of the atonement.</a> More Abelard than Anselm, for those who are into this sort of thing. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I heard the Bible read only once during the sessions I attended - a reading that consisted of one verse from Psalm 21. At various points, I felt that we were drawing near to God into a shared experience of his manifest presence, as if heaven were touching earth. I suspect that had someone read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%205&version=NIV" target="_blank">Revelation 5</a> at such a point, the congregation may indeed have been helped to “draw near” without any further exhortation. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of this matters of course, not least because of the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A16&version=NIV" target="_blank">didactic function of song in the church</a>. If we are taught what to believe and how to apply it partly through what we sing, and if worship songs can and do have a formative role in our beliefs, values and actions, then it is imperative that such songs are deeply embedded in biblical teaching, language and themes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Being encouraged to believe that “I will never be lonely” and that “my cloudy days are past” (as two of the song lyrics claimed) seems to me not to serve young believers very well. Such a belief does little to prepare them for lives that will be characterised by various degrees of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2014%3A22&version=NIV" target="_blank">suffering</a> as an integral part of their Christian discipleship. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.loufellingham.com/" target="_blank">Lou Fellingham</a> and <a href="https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/" target="_blank">Stuart Townend</a> are two examples of outstanding contemporary British songwriters whose worship songs are sung around the world. I appreciate that they may not be available for every Christian event but I was struck by the need for their gifts to be multiplied and passed on. At the very least, I would hope that the current emerging generation of worship leaders and songwriters might spend the next year studying and internalising <a href="https://banneroftruth.org/uk/store/sermons-and-expositions/ephesians-3/" target="_blank">Martyn Lloyd Jones' Eight Commentaries on the Book of Ephesians</a> as a first step in their commitment to creating songs that are more biblical in their language and theology and thus more helpful and more edifying for the church. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where are the Fathers?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Those I saw at the event were mostly young - I would estimate in their twenties - though this of course may simply be another version from an oldie of, “Don’t the police look young these days.” I would estimate that females outnumbered males inside the tent by about 60 % to 40 %.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the Friday night, of the seven worship leaders taking part, five were women. The Friday night session was hosted by an American woman and I heard an interview with a woman (while the equipment was being rearranged on stage in between sets). David’s Tent is certainly not a place where women’s voices are marginalised.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of which left me with an unanswered question: <i>where are the fathers?</i> I may of course have simply missed them (while out getting a Thai green curry, for instance), but the low numbers of visible senior male role models, combined with the lower numbers of men present overall at the event, left me somewhat concerned. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Christian feminist response, of course, may argue that men have had quite enough of the leading roles for too long and that, any short-term imbalance in the opposite direction is merely a necessary corrective. Perhaps. Or perhaps we need to do some more deep thinking about what it means and looks like for men and women in Christ to truly complement each other in the church’s work, worship and service in ways that enable all believers - male and female - to grow together into “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204%3A12%2D14&version=NIV" target="_blank">the full measure of the stature of Christ</a>.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Something More Important Than Covid</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was somewhat conflicted at the decision of the organisers of David's Tent to require certification of either full vaccination or a recent negative covid test in order to be admitted to the site. Temperatures were also taken on entrance to the tent itself. Though I perfectly understand the health and safety arguments in favour of this approach, I am generally very nervous about the drift toward covid certification for any purpose beyond international travel and a limited range of medical roles. Certainly, at a local church level, it does seem to me deeply problematic that we would ever exclude a fellow believer from in-person fellowship on the basis of their (private) medical record.</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That said, with many of those attending being under 18, and thus exempt from the certification requirement, and with full vaccination not offering 100% protection against catching or transmitting Covid-19, I was aware that we were not in a totally covid-secure environment (even if such a thing exists outside a lab.) With singing being associated with a high risk of transmission, and with a couple of thousand unmasked people being together in the tent (albeit with some open panels and a mild breeze flowing through), it was impossible not to recognise that the very act of worship together in this way carried risks. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Christians should never be casual or indifferent to death or suffering - in themselves or others. Having said that, I have been reminded during the pandemic of the description of the suffering and overcoming church <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2012&version=NIV" target="_blank">described</a> in the book of Revelation in conflict with the devil: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They triumphed over him</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> by the blood of the Lamb</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and by the word of their testimony;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">they did not love their lives so much</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as to shrink from death.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Avoiding death at all costs (at least among citizens in rich nations) has been the driving force behind the world's pandemic response. While Christians must not endorse or contribute toward a culture of death, we also affirm counter intuitively that there is something worse than death: namely, death without God. By not loving their lives so much as to shrink from death, the early Christian believers could endure a range of terrible events, including plague, warfare and state-sponsored persecution from a perspective of faith and faithfulness to Christ. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although I have no desire whatsoever to catch this dreadful disease, and although I will continue to take reasonable precautions to avoid it, when worshipping together with fellow believers on Friday, I was reminded that there are certainly worse things than catching it - and even worse things than dying from it. For the Christian who has received eternal life as a gift through faith in Jesus, we do not face death and dying in the same way as the secular person does. Death is an enemy - but in Christ it is a defeated one and believers look forward in certain hope to the resurrection of the dead, the renewal of the cosmos and the restoration of all things in Christ. <br /><br />The late <a href="https://vineyardusa.org/about/john-wimber/" target="_blank">John Wimber</a> was asked why, while carrying life-threatening illness in his own body, he continued to place himself under strain by travelling the world teaching, healing the sick and equipping believers to do the same. I recall him saying once in his characteristically pithy way that he would, "rather die doing <i>this </i>than stay at home waiting for <i>that</i>." As I stood among the crowds at David's Tent worshipping our great God, I confess the thought did cross my mind: if I had to go, I wouldn't mind going like this.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Question</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When attending any event for the first time, a question will often be. “Would I go there again?” In the case of David’s Tent, my answer is, “Given time, opportunity and circumstances, probably yes.” It does not attempt to be an event that is going to directly equip believers in gospel outreach, mission, kingdom work and service or in being salt and light in a secular society. But for what it is - an extended opportunity to lay aside other things and draw near to God in devotion and adoration - it is a welcome opportunity for personal and corporate renewal. Despite the shortcomings of the event, the opportunity for such a focused retreat and opportunity for renewed devotion to Christ is to be welcomed, especially after a year like the one we've all had. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-63244177038651031752021-05-29T08:09:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.184+00:00Public Wisdom as a Gospel Pathway<p><span style="font-family: arial;">How can Christians effectively tell the good news of Christ among a post-Christian culture as it emerges shell-shocked from a global pandemic?<br /><br />In the Book of Proverbs, we are introduced to the striking female personification of Wisdom, who may help us answer this important question. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom, we learn, is a very public-facing figure:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Does not wisdom call out?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Does not understanding raise her voice?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> At the highest point along the way,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> where the paths meet, she takes her stand;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> beside the gate leading into the city,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> at the entrance, she cries aloud</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9a_6LWikRk_4h7iGtghrVXtcHsnNex4Gu11WbGTKypLNIeapTCUqlHMNgsn-YDCeDq-hVqxOdVK9h_uNqiKGIhyPOR_FNGsS6Ri-57F6hQT_KOt4rh-Ciyhy3XhFSmIhk7FZ7AQ/s3393/Veronese_Allegory_of_Wisdom_and_Strength.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3393" data-original-width="1730" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9a_6LWikRk_4h7iGtghrVXtcHsnNex4Gu11WbGTKypLNIeapTCUqlHMNgsn-YDCeDq-hVqxOdVK9h_uNqiKGIhyPOR_FNGsS6Ri-57F6hQT_KOt4rh-Ciyhy3XhFSmIhk7FZ7AQ/w326-h640/Veronese_Allegory_of_Wisdom_and_Strength.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">From <span><span style="text-align: left;">Allegory of Wisdom and Strength by </span></span><span style="text-align: left;">Paolo Veronese, c. 1565</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom in the Bible is not merely an inward-focused attribute, for contemplative mystics who have withdrawn from public life. On the contrary, she is making her voice heard for all people, believers and otherwise:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“To you, O people, I call out;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I raise my voice to all mankind.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> You who are simple, gain prudence;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say"</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Every day, millions of people conduct a Google search starting with the phrase, "how to...." Whether the request is about mental health, self care, practical skills, or more philosophical issues, the search at its most fundamental level is a request for Wisdom.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> As our battered societies start to emerge from the ravages of Covid-19, our neighbours, colleagues, business owners and elected officials are asking one basic question that is taking many different forms: how do we move forward? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Biblical Wisdom is practical. In fact, it could be described as applied knowledge. Christian believers who have allowed their lives to be shaped by such Wisdom have much to contribute in a society that is asking practical questions. Without being arrogant or boastful, the truth is that our Christian faith has been teaching us Wisdom for living - for handling money, for relating to other people, for looking after a family, for promoting human flourishing, for working effectively. This is not to claim that Christians are sinless and perfect; but, as we have followed Christ for years, we have found that we have learned some important life lessons. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom even has things to say to politicians and those in government:<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"Counsel and sound judgment are mine;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I have insight, I have power.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> By me kings reign</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> and rulers issue decrees that are just;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> by me princes govern,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> and nobles—all who rule on earth"</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Sharing such practical Wisdom, when asked, can be very helpful for others, including people of no Christian faith. If done with humility and gentleness, we may be of some service to our neighbours and colleagues. There is a sphere of public Wisdom which is applicable to all peoples in all places at all times; it is not exclusively for Christian believers. <br /><br />If we are asked about how we learned these life lessons, it is not a huge step to say simply that whatever we have learned that has helped us navigate the challenges of life, we have found it in Christ. Wisdom actually invites us to make such a connection:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> before his deeds of old;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was formed long ages ago,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> at the very beginning, when the world came to be.....</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was there when he set the heavens in place,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep...<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Then I was constantly at his side.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I was filled with delight day after day,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> rejoicing always in his presence,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> rejoicing in his whole world</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> and delighting in mankind."</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The personification of Wisdom was present at the creation of the heavens and earth, participating alongside the Creator with joy. <br /><br />Our neighbours are largely resistant to abstract concepts. Sharing the Good News should not be primarily about announcing disconnected theological propositions. Often we fail to communicate from the outset because we announce ideas rather than introducing a Person. <br /><br />The early followers of Jesus, all from a Jewish background, and all very familiar with the verses we have been looking at from the Book of Proverbs, had a particular understanding about the Personification of Wisdom. The apostle Paul refers to<br /><br /></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>On another occasion, Paul writes to a group of Christians in the Greek city of Corinth, reminding them that,</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">[Y]ou are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom is found in the Person of Christ; in living by Wisdom, we are living in the Way of Christ. When we share Wisdom with others, we are sharing in part the Person of Christ. By implication we are inviting people to walk in His Way. Wisdom in this sense is Good News. <br /><br />The New Testament seems to have this in mind when it describes the ultimate reason for the church's existence:<br /><br /></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>A battered society does not need celebrity psycho-babble. It needs sound judgement, practical actions that promote the common good. Followers of the Way of Christ can demonstrate and make known this Way of Wisdom. Many want to find it. <br /> <br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-22201146773288159012020-06-19T06:50:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.245+00:00Coronavirus and the Churches: Time to Pivot Again<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />At the end of March, hundreds of British churches switched overnight to running online Sunday services in response to the national lockdown imposed by the Government. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on churches was sudden and dramatic.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />At the end of June, as the lockdown begins to gradually be lifted, has the time come for British churches to pivot again? Not this time back to congregational Sunday services - which remain banned under the terms of the emergency powers granted in the Coronavirus Act 2020 - but to much smaller expressions of church, meeting outdoors. With groups of six in England (or eight in Scotland) now being able to gather outdoors at a social distance, is it now time for churches to put their energies not into Zoom meetings but into multiple face-to-face gatherings in much smaller numbers?</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOLGz0eesKj-eehm9EPRc4VtERlGebMRfwszgV3GLWJzGREOj1T5sgsHr4tM2yn5ei7dD7eurXqMgRdLYng9TbamC-xy-lxuXnNtMUAU_dzomDjt2cdFJgzdu2_kyBuMZeo3y-A/s5603/woman-in-green-and-white-stripe-shirt-covering-her-face-with-3991311+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5603" data-original-width="3604" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOLGz0eesKj-eehm9EPRc4VtERlGebMRfwszgV3GLWJzGREOj1T5sgsHr4tM2yn5ei7dD7eurXqMgRdLYng9TbamC-xy-lxuXnNtMUAU_dzomDjt2cdFJgzdu2_kyBuMZeo3y-A/s320/woman-in-green-and-white-stripe-shirt-covering-her-face-with-3991311+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br />Photo by <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-green-and-white-stripe-shirt-covering-her-face-with-white-mask-3991311/" target="_blank">Nandhu Kumar</a> from Pexels</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />The case for a rapid pivot to smaller expressions of church could be made on several grounds:</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">The people of God desperately need face-to-face fellowship. From the point of view of pastoral care alone, most Christians and church leaders would agree that it is desirable that we see each other in real life in order to enjoy fellowship. Where this has not been possible, we are grateful for tools of technology that can at least provide some measure of human contact. The ideal, however, remains a gathered church in person - the body of Christ in the flesh (so to speak). Where two or three gather in his name, Christ is present in the midst.</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">The opportunity is safe and easy to implement. Just as creative minds were quickly able to apply practical solutions to running online Sunday services, we can now quickly move to weekly small gatherings of church members outdoors. These can take place in parks, gardens, on beaches and in the urban environment - anywhere outdoors where people will not be competing with traffic. We can limit the numbers and maintain social distance so that the gatherings are safe and comply with the law. A typical church of 100 members could expect to launch between 10 and 15 such groups next week. </li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">Traditional church services may not be possible till 2021. Research is showing that indoor groups of people are high-risk for covid transmission. Activities such as singing and physical contact increase this risk further. Pubs and nightclubs are high-risk environments; church services are not far behind in terms of their capacity to spread the virus between members. The outbreak in Korea was initially centred around a church. In Germany, churches have been able to partly reopen but congregational singing is banned (!) Against this backdrop, are church leaders genuinely committed to running Zoom services for another 12 months or more? And if a vaccine is never found, what then? Do we have a plan for socially-distanced indoor church services that provide the level of fellowship that Christians need or want?</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">Small groups at their best can be effective in disciple-making. In his compelling book <i>John Wesley's Class Meeting: A Model for Making Disciples, </i>Michael Henderson demonstrates the genius of the early Methodist movement in its ability to transform the lives of urban working class members who had been largely neglected by the established church. At the heart of this process was not only public preaching but a highly-developed ecosystem of close discipleship centred on the class meeting. It is fashionable in some middle-class churches to downplay the small group. The reality, however, is that there has never been a gospel-centred movement in modern British history that has made disciples of the urban poor as effectively as early Methodism. It is interesting that Wesley's class meetings, gathering weekly for fellowship, personal accountability and mutual instruction, were limited to six members each - the same number currently permitted to gather outdoors in England under current lockdown measures. </li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">Small groups would benefit from input from equipping leadership. Just as the Jerusalem apostles taught 'publicly and from house to house', the small expressions of church that could start outdoors tomorrow should be accessible and accountable to those with gifts to teach, equip and serve the members. If there were no longer a need for church leaders to be planning, running and evaluating online services, could their time and energy not be better spent visiting a small group most days to support and give input? Again, in a church of 100 members, a full-time leadership team of two could realistically visit the 10 to 15 small groups almost every week if they wanted. The modern Wesleyian circuit rider already exists and is probably sitting in an office planning the online Sunday service. A pivot to a radical small group model would be possible, if there were a will to do it. </li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">Small groups can sustain mission. I would not suggest that these groups of six to eight should try and replicate church services; nor should they be focused on the seeker. But, by nurturing the believers and providing fellowship and accountability, they can help to sustain Christians in their ongoing life as witnesses for Christ in their homes, families, streets and places of work. These opportunities are multiplying during the current pandemic. There is no reason of course why those with the gifts to do so could not also start small groups for seekers that meet outdoors at a social distance. </li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li style="text-align: justify;">The summer months provide a window of opportunity. Although June is looking a bit sketchy weather-wise in Britain, at least we are not yet facing the pandemic in January. By starting an outdoor small group ecosystem now - this week - churches can refine and learn best practice while it is still dry-ish. We can then also plan creatively for the autumn and beyond. Two principles that may help this process are time flexibility and creativity. As the weather turns, groups should plan to meet between rain showers or on dry-ish days, rather than being restricted to a rigid weekly time slot. This of course is easy to do with only six people. We can also learn from pubs which have responded to the ban on indoor smoking by implementing new ways of defining 'outdoors' through the legal and judicious use of gazebos and awnings. </li><br /></ul><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />I'm ready to pivot. How about you? </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-77765299235167877822020-04-26T09:01:00.000+00:002020-04-26T09:01:54.478+00:00Universal Basic Income and the Pandemic<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amid the economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 Pandemic, calls for Universal Basic Income are becoming louder. From its origins as a fringe idea, UBI is starting to become an economic measure of choice among some on the economic left in several western countries.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The logic and the appeal of UBI in a time of crisis are easy to see. If during these remarkable times the state is going to throw eye-watering sums of money at supporting working people's incomes - not to mention direct support for the businesses that employ them - why not target that state aid where it will be most effective? By putting a regular amount of hard cash directly into the hands of every citizen without a process of application or means-testing (so the argument goes) the state's resources will both keep people afloat financially and stimulate the economy towards a strong and sustainable recovery after the crisis ends. The goal of directly redistributing wealth is seen as an additional positive outcome by those on the economic left. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Original proponents of UBI such as Dutch writer Rutger Bregman insist that the actual amount given to every citizen should be generous enough to sustain the individual at a basic level of existence without the need for them to work - unless they wanted to improve their lifestyle beyond the basic. British think tank <a href="https://www.compassonline.org.uk/" target="_blank">Compass</a>, on the other hand, has recommended more modest levels of state funding for its own UBI proposal: weekly tax-free payments of £60 to every adult, £175 for pensioners and £40 for each child under 18, accompanied by the abolition of the state pension and child benefit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1408893215/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408893215&linkCode=as2&tag=allaboutnewen-21&linkId=a5a8e3c08dda73df09f7c938a1a48dfa" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=GB&ASIN=1408893215&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=allaboutnewen-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=allaboutnewen-21&l=am2&o=2&a=1408893215" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I share with the proponents of UBI the aim of a more equal society. I do not however see Universal Basic Income as an effective way of achieving that desired outcome. My concerns range from the theoretical to the practical. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">UBI confuses income with assets. Assets are items which can generate economic value - to a household or a business. Assets can be tangible, such as land, property, stock and equipment as well as less tangible such as shares, bonds, copyrights and trademarks. Proponents of UBI tend to frame the discussion in terms of income being used to pay for basic necessities such as food and utilities and as a way of simplifying the welfare state. Such an income may well be appreciated but does not in itself create fundamental structural change to an economy in which assets are not widely distributed. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a Distributist, I see the need for workers owning the means of production as being more important than them having a basic state income. A democracy built upon worker-ownership would see as many people as possible owning economically productive assets. This fundamental economic principle is key to establishing a more equal society. In that sense, I would argue for Universal Basic Assets rather than Universal Basic Income. Times of economic crisis such as the current pandemic should be used not to bail out corporations at risk of financial collapse but to nationalise them, stabilise them and then quickly re-distribute them to those who work in them. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">UBI breaks the connection between income and work. Some would argue that in the age of automation, that is precisely the point. Bregman for instance envisages a future society in which robots will carry out the vast majority of repetitive work tasks and humans will lead lives of creative leisure underpinned economically by UBI generated by the automated economy. Even if such a society were achievable on a practical level (it may be), I would have concerns for the breaking of the ancient association between labour and material gain. Such a connection has a deep psychological, cultural and even spiritual history. It is unclear how we would cope in the long term as a society with a sudden break in the association between what we do and what we gain. We may discover that UBI unintentionally becomes an example of the Alienation of Labour on steroids. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">UBI renders working people dependent on economic elites. Some argue that it is impossible to fund a Universal Basic Income. My own view is that it could be done through taxation. This means, in practice, that owners of the means of production along with those who choose to work above the UBI subsistence level, would fund those who choose a life of learning and leisure instead of the 9-to-5 working life. At one level, Bregman argues, this is a very liberating scenario. More profoundly, however, UBI dis-empowers people rather than empowers them by turning us all into donor recipients. Such donations would depend upon the political machinations of the state, lobbied by powerful corporate interests. Levels of UBI would therefore be constantly under review. Concerns about levels of public borrowing combined with efficiency savings would be used to justify keeping UBI at subsistence levels. Citizens would therefore become even more dependent on the largesse of the economic elites than we are at present - and even more so than our feudal peasant ancestors who at least owned the land from which they produced their livelihoods. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Times of economic crisis are often catalysts for significant change. Processes that were developing at a certain pace can be accelerated overnight. UBI may find that its time has come. My own view however is that we would do better to see a radical distribution of businesses and other assets as the preferred economic outcome of the current crisis. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-40571907660168294272018-11-29T09:06:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.309+00:00The Priority of Teaching in the Household Style Church<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ask many Christians, especially church leaders, about "house church" and sooner or later you will hear concerns raised that such churches are prone to being weak on bible teaching. Some criticisms will go even further and portray such simple expressions of church as potential hotbeds of heresy.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The reality is however that household-style churches, if they are understood and operating according to principles set out in the New Testament, actually have the potential to be centres of strong bible teaching and learning.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's what I mean.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In any midsize or large local church there will often be a number of gifted bible teachers and preachers. Some of these will be elders or leaders in the church - indeed, one of the apostolic requirements of an elder is that they must be "<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy+3:2&version=NIV" target="_blank">able to teach</a>". In practice, however, many of those with this ability will not exercise it very often - at least not outside of individual pastoral situations. A typical church will have a weekly Sunday morning service, with bible teaching and maybe an evening service as well. There may be a midweek bible study group - though in many churches these have been replaced by home groups lead by church members - and there may be occasional courses, conferences or one-off events at which the bible is taught. Some churches, following a pattern established in north American churches, may also have a Sunday School - meaning an adult biblical education programme supplementary to the main weekend service.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In such a church setting, the total public/group teaching work of the church may amount to no more than a few hours each week. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This reality raises a number of issues. One of them is a practical question: if a pastor or church leader is only preaching once a week (at the most), what are they meant to be doing the rest of the time? The answer varies from church to church, but in my own experience of being in full-time church leadership for twenty years, non-preaching time often consists of some or all of the following: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><ul><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">preparation and study; prayer; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">meeting individuals; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">attending planning meetings; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">strategic thinking; travelling; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">troubleshooting; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">interfacing with the wider community; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">practical acts of service; </span></li><br /><li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">emails and other administration. </span></li><br /></ul><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />The question is, are the church's teachers and pastors meant to be doing these tasks? Or are these activities the result of a church system that unwittingly minimises bible teaching and elevates organisational management? </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When the early apostles were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, they were accused of having <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+5:28&version=NIV" target="_blank">filled Jerusalem with their teaching</a>. How had they managed to leave themselves open to such a charge? </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Book of Acts tells us that the pattern of the Jerusalem church was to meet in the temple courts (the large setting) and in homes for more intimate fellowship, meals and breaking of bread. What is often missed, however, is that the early apostles taught in both settings - the large and the small. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 5:42)</span></blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's try a maths exercise. Luke (assuming he wrote Acts) records that the number of men in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus at this time was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4%3A4&version=NIV" target="_blank">around five thousand</a>. The text makes it fairly clear that this figure did not include women and children. Let's speculate that this number of men represents a total church population of at least 15,000 people. Let's then speculate that an average Jerusalem home could accommodate about thirty people at one time. If the total number of believers (including children) were equally divided between such homes when they met, we would discover about 500 "house churches" in Jerusalem in the middle of the first century. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">None of this is provable through historical means of course. It is a thought exercise resting on a number of suppositions. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The twelve Jerusalem apostles are portrayed in Acts as spending their days teaching about Jesus in the temple courts and from house to house. In a typical week, therefore, if each apostle visited a house church every day, they might have taught publicly about Jesus at least seven times a week - in addition to any preaching they may have done in the larger temple court setting. This amounts to a total of at least 84 teaching sessions a week in Jerusalem by eye-witnesses of Christ and his resurrection - over 4,000 interactive sermons a year. If we compare this figure with a possible number of home churches of 500, we could envisage a scenario in which each house fellowship received a teaching apostle approximately every three to four weeks. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This level of apostolic teaching (if it bears any relation to what actually took place) may help shed some light on the claim that the apostles had filled Jerusalem with their teaching. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wonder how many contemporary home groups or house churches are fortunate enough to receive that level of apostolic input in a typical year. I suspect very few. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The thought exercise outlined above does not prove anything historically. It merely illustrates the fact that, if those with the gifting and calling to teach the word of God were released to do so as the primary activity of their working week, there is no inherent reason why such teachers, apostles, pastors or prophets could not be actively and fruitfully deployed in small household style churches if they moved around between them on a regular basis. Such a model actually allows for <i>more</i> bible teaching from those able to teach rather than less. By contrast, the current system of larger Sunday services, with all their inefficiencies of size, resource and administration, leads inevitably to less bible teaching, as those primarily gifted and called to do it find themselves spending time on maintaining an organisation rather than equipping believers in their homes and places of work. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Church history actually gives us a working model of such a system of widespread decentralised itinerant bible teaching. Early Methodism, under the leadership of John Wesley, had a very well-worked-out system of such teaching with ministers assigned to several local "societies", "classes" (groups of about 6) and "bands" within a geographical area or territory. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many of these itinerant preachers and bible teachers were commissioned by Wesley not by the official Church of England to which they nominally adhered in the movement's early years. The effective use of such itinerant ministers went hand-in-hand with the growth of the Methodist movement - from around 15,000 people in the 1780s to 130,000 a decade later and around one million within 50 years of its founding. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One writer of Methodist history notes that:</span><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Moving to and fro, the itinerant was a bond of union between the societies in the circuit, and his </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">appointment in several circuits with the passing years knit them together in the connexion of which </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he was the representative. The system helped also to secure uniformity in teaching and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">administration......</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His doctrine and discipline and those of his predecessor and successor had been </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">derived from Wesley and the Conference. To these he and they were all amenable. Different times </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and conditions may necessitate modifications; but for securing the unity. homogeneity, and happy </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">co-operation of a new, scattered, varied, and rapidly-growing community, perhaps nothing better </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">than the itinerancy within the circuits and from circuit to circuit could have been devised. Wesley's </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">preachers had the mobility of Wyclif's itinerating poor priests and laymen, or recalled the Friars of </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Middle Ages without their hampering vows.”</span></blockquote><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Decentralised models of church (call them "house church" if you want) both require and facilitate the emergence of bible teachers who focus on that activity as a priority, without the encumbrances of a settled organisational model of church congregations</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and Sunday services. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-12742108312951184512017-04-21T20:42:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.371+00:00Beyond Information Sharing: Preaching that Reveals Secrets<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The prophet Jeremiah faced a challenge unlikely to be encountered by most modern preachers in the western world: his family were plotting to kill him.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>...the men of Anathoth...are seeking your life and saying 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands'.</i> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A21&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 11:21</a>)</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMoWXbv8k58v0OIchIulvN6xbs981L9MXCYmdrW-1-N6mZ1qBy5HHPr1Vo0-Tkh5POmqhanpXwzxhVP2xl0c0FL7or4veCytNAu0Ofztpx_2jBxRs5lgA_AISKi9m8Lj43nBSScw/s1600/Palestinian_Iraqi_IDP_family_near_Jordanian_border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMoWXbv8k58v0OIchIulvN6xbs981L9MXCYmdrW-1-N6mZ1qBy5HHPr1Vo0-Tkh5POmqhanpXwzxhVP2xl0c0FL7or4veCytNAu0Ofztpx_2jBxRs5lgA_AISKi9m8Lj43nBSScw/s320/Palestinian_Iraqi_IDP_family_near_Jordanian_border.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to Jeremiah's own account of the incident, he was unaware of the conspiracy before it became an immediate threat. His insight into the plot came about, he claims, as a result of God revealing it to him:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.</i> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 11:18</a>) </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The exact reasons for his family's extreme hostility are not fully given in the passage (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A18-12%3A6&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 11:18-12:6</a>) but it centred around their strong dislike of the prophet's message.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Great bible scholars whose opinions I respect and whose qualifications greatly exceed my own suggest that Jeremiah may have come to an understanding of the murder plot through a message being passed on to him by someone who was aware of it. The late John A Thompson, for instance, cites the influential archaeologist and biblical scholar Dr John Bright when he writes:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A sympathetic relative who brought the news may well have been Yahweh's informant</i>. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(JA Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, p. 350, NICOT series)</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While it is quite possible that this was the case, there is an alternative view at least worth considering: that the news of the plot on Jeremiah's life came to the prophet through immediate divine revelation, without any human intermediary.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following factors seem to suggest that this was in fact the case:</span></div><br /><br /><br /><ul><br /><li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the repeated insistence in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">11:18</a> of the agency of Yahweh in disclosing the deeds (“revealed”, “he showed me”)</span></li><br /><li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the inclusion of the possible word-for-word content of the revelation (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+12%3A6&version=NIV" target="_blank">12:6</a>)</span></li><br /><li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the absence in the passage of any reference to a third party </span></li><br /><li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the use of the word “reveal”; its only other use in the book indicates an immediate disclosure, without human means (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+38%3A21&version=NIV" target="_blank">38:21</a>) </span></li><br /></ul><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The frequency in the book of auditory and/or visual messages as a means of divine communication with the prophet, messages which included the prediction of invasion, defeat and exile at the hands of the "enemy from the north", also suggest that the revealing of a secret conspiracy was not outside the scope of the spiritual possibilities experienced by Jeremiah as he sought to follow and discharge his call to be a "prophet to the nations" (1:5).</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taking a wider biblical view, we can see the revealing of secrets as an aspect of many of the great teachers, prophets, reformers and apostles of both the Old and New Covenants. These include Daniel's ability to describe both the content and the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's unspoken dream (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+2&version=NIV" target="_blank">Daniel 2</a>), the insight Jesus had of the Samaritan woman's five previous husbands and her current domestic arrangements (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+4&version=NIV" target="_blank">John 4</a>), Peter's discernment of the motives and action of Ananias and Sapphira in their financial dishonesty (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+5:1-3&version=NIV" target="_blank">Acts 5</a>).</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Spurgeon_pregando_em_Nwe_Park_Street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Spurgeon_pregando_em_Nwe_Park_Street.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A striking example from church history is from the preaching of Charles Spurgeon. The person on the receiving end of the revealed secrets explains:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Mr. Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir. I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took ninepence the Sunday before, and that there was fourpence profit out of it. I did take ninepence that day, and fourpence was just the profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell. Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday. At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul. </i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon [Curts & Jennings, 1899], II:226-27)</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Commenting himself, Spurgeon says:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description, that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, ‘Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.’ And not only so, but I have known many instances in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit. </i>(ibid)</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The link between revealing secrets and the power of the word of God is stated explicitly by the writer to the Hebrews:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. </i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4%3A12-13&version=NIV" target="_blank">Hebrews 4:12-13</a>)</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jeremiah, like some evangelists and pastors today in parts of the Muslim-majority world, experienced such extreme hostility to his message that his life was at risk. It was through an act of divine disclosure that he come to know of this danger and was able to take preventative measures (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+12%3A6&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jer 12:6</a>).</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/We_are_anonymous_and_mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/We_are_anonymous_and_mask.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the age of encryption and Wikileaks, secrets are everywhere and feature powerfully in the activities of governments, corporations and nations. Individuals also carry secrets, for good or evil. As Christian believers read, hear and (especially) speak the word of God, may we do so not as mere conveyors of general information but as those who speak with that revelatory edge to our communication, confident that "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." As Daniel expressed</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> this discovery:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>He reveals deep and hidden things;</i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> he knows what lies in darkness,</i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> and light dwells with him.</i></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+2%3A22&version=NIV" target="_blank">Daniel 2:22</a>)</span></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the church learns to speak with such insight, may the hearers respond not with adulation of the human messenger but as Nebuchadnezzar did when he fell prostrate, with reverence for the God who reveals:</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings."</i></span></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-56187647118836515732017-01-28T21:53:00.000+00:002017-01-28T21:53:09.556+00:00Trump's Syrian Ban: the Politics of Fear Originated in the Republican Mainstream<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress" target="_blank">Two facts</a> (they're important, right?) on Trump's ban on Syrians entering the US.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Syrian refugees have been the most heavily vetted group of individuals to ever enter America, with vetting procedures by four separate US Federal agencies, plus the UN refugee agency. The process takes 18 months to two years.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. The drive to ban Syrians originated in 2015 among a group of right-wing Republican state governors who announced that they would ban Syrians from living in their states. Donald Trump clearly wants to win political support with these individuals - several of whom were early contenders against Trump for the Republican Party Presidential nomination.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taking this action (banning Syrians) should be seen therefore as a political step taken by Trump aimed at strengthening his political support among a Republican Party which all but disowned him during the election. The ban bears no relation to any objective risk or any security issue.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shame on these governors for originally stoking this populist fear, which the President has capitalised on, at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-64496404428895738182017-01-19T08:10:00.000+00:002017-01-19T08:10:01.511+00:00The Inauguration of President Trump: State Capture in the Age of Anxiety<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNIBi9N78sDw_5OWkpAhl7MWI-Ur0WoCQyd_9HMwKEO-FO-wvT2-VcbmuKzJPHoArjXlmkP0mKLMGwapzjEzAvNs8VoAK5c-yl7xKjDqoWOTdVUBJQxJW6G79ABI739JBWF0E/s1600/Hoerl_pic_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfNIBi9N78sDw_5OWkpAhl7MWI-Ur0WoCQyd_9HMwKEO-FO-wvT2-VcbmuKzJPHoArjXlmkP0mKLMGwapzjEzAvNs8VoAK5c-yl7xKjDqoWOTdVUBJQxJW6G79ABI739JBWF0E/s400/Hoerl_pic_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As Donald Trump takes the oath of office and is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, I am reminded of the words attributed to District Attorney Jim Garrison by Kevin Costner in the film JFK: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"If you let yourself be too scared then you let the bad guys take over the country, don't you? And then everybody gets scared."</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trump's candidacy, campaign and eventual election have been critiqued endlessly over the months - on the grounds of his character and temperament, his lack of political experience, his outrageous statements, Trump's nativism and anti-immigration stance, and his populist rhetoric devoid of meaningful policy substance. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile, comparatively little attention has been paid by Trump's detractors to what may well prove to be the overwhelmingly significant issue of the 2016 election: the capture of the United States government by corporate forces bent on their own economic agenda. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, the powerful role of big business is nothing new in American elections. The influence of corporate-funded lobbies and the power of the military-industrial complex have been well-recognised elements in American political life since at least World War 2. The election of Donald Trump, however, has taken this trend to a new level of intensity, such that State Capture is not too extreme a term to describe the consolidation of the rule of corporate interests in the American political system. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This underlying fact - the consolidation of an elected plutocracy in one of the world's historic democracies - will prove key to interpreting and understanding the policies of the Trump Administration in the coming months and years. Promises made during the election about immigration, trade deals and draining the swamp of Washington insiders were merely the rhetorical devices used by Trump to secure his election, aided by a virulent campaign against his main opponent - a campaign which may well have been supported by the Russian intelligence services. The actual substance of Donald Trump's rule will be pro-big-business activity that benefits him personally as well as other billionaires who have supported him. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The new President's cabinet reflects this distortion towards super-rich corporate elites. With personal net worth greater than the GDP of over fifty smaller countries, the new executive team are estimated to own about <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/02/billion-and-counting-look-wealth-trump-cabinet-picks-far/tux8KGd7iNH0tGvzNtgb3H/story.html" target="_blank">$11 billion</a> in personal assets. Writing in the Boston Globe, Matt Rocheleau notes that:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">President-elect Donald Trump boasted about his wealth during his campaign. Now he’s surrounding himself with people who have similarly unimaginable riches.</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Collectively, the wealth of his Cabinet choices so far is roughly four times greater than President Obama’s Cabinet and nearly 30 times greater than the one George W. Bush led at the end of his presidency.</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1952, Charles E Wilson, former CEO of car giant General Motors and later Secretary of Defense under President Eisenhower, revealed the following belief:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For years I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist.</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Replace General Motors with the name of their own corporations, and Wilson's statement would be a fair summary of the political paradigm of the new incumbent and his administration. Their agenda will be dominated by creating conditions for large businesses to prosper. This will be the thread that runs through domestic and foreign policy. Economic decisions, environmental regulations, healthcare, education policy and relations with China, Europe and Russia will be created, maintained or reformed according to the extent that they facilitate corporate deal-making. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Against such a backdrop, we should expect little room for those areas of governmental activity that cannot be easily commodified - human rights, environmental protection, police reform or race relations. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is indeed a scary time. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-14303643787056210192016-09-08T06:45:00.001+00:002016-09-08T06:45:14.581+00:00Star Dust: Being True to our Clay-like Calling<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Human beings are made of dust.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is both scientific fact and theological proposition. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our physical bodies are 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen and about 4% "other" - as illustrated by the pie charts below, courtesy of Wikipedia. </div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7lgFddfdyNp8_rfiXwuNBVFgZl36Pu-qMYzRMSrYbvXsTdncGBg3NmYmJ-yIDEQoGOxnd4YAPhKVFyMQ1987KUnernd5WCpawkIiv2u2Lsb3GsqfkSvO5C6mwRv85QuNj-eav/s1600/Two_pie_graphs_about_the_composition_of_the_human_body.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7lgFddfdyNp8_rfiXwuNBVFgZl36Pu-qMYzRMSrYbvXsTdncGBg3NmYmJ-yIDEQoGOxnd4YAPhKVFyMQ1987KUnernd5WCpawkIiv2u2Lsb3GsqfkSvO5C6mwRv85QuNj-eav/s400/Two_pie_graphs_about_the_composition_of_the_human_body.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sand or soil, meanwhile, are composed of many of these similar substances, albeit rearranged in radically different proportions and states. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bible affirms our dust-likeness in numerous ways:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adam is made by God from the dust of the earth - his name being derived from the Hebrew word for ground, earth or clay. </span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following his fall, Adam is told that death awaits him in the future - "for dust you are and to dust you will return."</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">King David celebrates God's mercy towards mankind - "For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust."</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The apostle Paul, meanwhile, portrays the relationship of the believer towards God as that of clay in the hands of a potter - dependent on the creation and shaping of the skilled craft-worker.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The glory of the new covenant is expressed by Paul as "treasure in jars of clay" - contrasting the magnificence of God's salvation with the mundane nature of its recipients.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Professor Brian Cox explains the science of our dust-like qualities in this classic clip from the BBC's 2011 series <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zdhtg" target="_blank">Wonders of the Universe</a>. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DEw6X2BhIy8" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our dust-like existence has some important consequences: </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. We have a profound connection with the physical soil</b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our original calling as human beings was to "work and take care of the garden"; every seed-bearing plant and every fruit tree are our staple diet. As <a href="http://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar/" target="_blank">Satish Kumar</a> puts it, we are to be about agriculture not agri-business. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
Such an eco-theology may seem hopelessly naive in the digital age of globalisation and genetic science. However, the original calling of men and women to work the garden has not been removed; we remain stewards of the soil from which we were made and to which we will return.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>2. We have confidence before God because of his grace</b></div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our frailty, our humanity and our vulnerability do not disqualify us from God's plans and purposes. On the contrary, God remembers that we are dust. He knows our frame. Therefore, we can learn to live with our limitations - and indeed to see them as the context and setting for God's glory to be displayed and revealed. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are not crushed by the magnitude of God's glory and power, compared with our own physical, spiritual and psychological weaknesses. Rather, we are honoured and included in his great plan and purpose. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3, We are to be submissive to God's shaping of us</b></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shall the clay tell the potter what to do? There is an inner peace that can be experienced by submitting to the hand of God in our lives. Whether he chooses to make us for "noble or ignoble purposes", we can find dignity in our relationship with him. <br /><br />Furthermore, we can celebrate that whatever the differences in our day-to-day circumstances and existence, our clay-likeness is shared by all human beings. There are no real super stars - just a glorious God who is at work in all of his creation, shaping and working towards the fulfilment of his eternal purpose - bringing all things in heaven and earth together under Christ. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-88073575430596114902016-06-27T11:06:00.000+00:002016-06-27T11:06:26.733+00:00Brexit and the Rise of Poor Loser Syndrome<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV8z4SsEnCulHCjkW60tHJvpH9z5HATHS6GO13epy8_eXSjotv-x6OZCyZ3-EF8DS0rtopcva_18jeBz1rFdrSn9QJH3WudD9q1GGZYQEX4c8GmUxtp6giV8iosSGKe82f4TOa/s1600/brexit-protest-20160625001267824660-original-800x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV8z4SsEnCulHCjkW60tHJvpH9z5HATHS6GO13epy8_eXSjotv-x6OZCyZ3-EF8DS0rtopcva_18jeBz1rFdrSn9QJH3WudD9q1GGZYQEX4c8GmUxtp6giV8iosSGKe82f4TOa/s400/brexit-protest-20160625001267824660-original-800x600.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's interesting to think about the reasons for the rise in "Poor Loser Syndrome which has been so clearly manifest since Friday morning's announcement that a majority of British voters had chosen to leave the European Union. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't help thinking about the different ways in popular culture that winning and losing is currently framed. In some sports, especially those with a large TV audience, the concept of losing (especially a cup final or league title) has become massively inflated - both in emotional and financial terms.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we were to view videos of the final minutes of FA cup finals from the 1950s to the present day, I suspect that, along with the improved production qualities, we would also see an increase in the severity of emotion expressed by losing teams.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Zx6LWEPg0d2smFg-wYjP0HVQqHwQo8tTF9GaYF_i048wWg6e3x13ciNheuRe9u1duHIJzXJWWq9nAcRmPV_lceT4H0OafEgh3ZHfjJasgW6xqNmU2jslQNi1PN-qJTbJvRvj/s1600/hi-res-0878d6c01461fac3d6d2b277436d8ec9_crop_north.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Zx6LWEPg0d2smFg-wYjP0HVQqHwQo8tTF9GaYF_i048wWg6e3x13ciNheuRe9u1duHIJzXJWWq9nAcRmPV_lceT4H0OafEgh3ZHfjJasgW6xqNmU2jslQNi1PN-qJTbJvRvj/s400/hi-res-0878d6c01461fac3d6d2b277436d8ec9_crop_north.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The media have played a part in encouraging this mindset of over-reaction (since it has a popular entertainment value). as has the presence of big money into some sports, which has the capacity to induce strange and unseemly behaviour in otherwise stable and moderate people.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This drift towards the "awful-isation of losing" can also be seen in popular television game shows such as Million Pound Drop, where the failure to win large sums of money is framed - for entertainment purposes - as an unmitigated disaster.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEf-5msN1zGQsoJuyIeEzwGNGqDpnEmNgINvXDIyvcQR8iY4x4x91Zcz6w1dkKWXO_Q9KgG4HjiwyWM5crPKUKNU-ytb9Hw3asPWLoGc9rFNYIHaWdbgqZqpMTPMR0jCEUVO9_/s1600/Million-Drop-Drop-Season-9_g3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEf-5msN1zGQsoJuyIeEzwGNGqDpnEmNgINvXDIyvcQR8iY4x4x91Zcz6w1dkKWXO_Q9KgG4HjiwyWM5crPKUKNU-ytb9Hw3asPWLoGc9rFNYIHaWdbgqZqpMTPMR0jCEUVO9_/s320/Million-Drop-Drop-Season-9_g3.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7_6f6YiAMAAikdjTCuAN0bn0OItOPrMOunQmz_XNvuDSwo0p2r64Iaou1ph9IdBrKK2Fetl6Odmue-N8soi0kSc7OsjE2ZfahpOFzr6qUbuJ2sjP9HiYuiVccPr-927IYHtN/s1600/shabs+million+pound+drop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7_6f6YiAMAAikdjTCuAN0bn0OItOPrMOunQmz_XNvuDSwo0p2r64Iaou1ph9IdBrKK2Fetl6Odmue-N8soi0kSc7OsjE2ZfahpOFzr6qUbuJ2sjP9HiYuiVccPr-927IYHtN/s320/shabs+million+pound+drop.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Behind these trends is a growing idolatrous attitude towards money and power. The rise of grievance politics, in which the perceived failure of the individual to achieve personal political self-actualisation is presented as the lowest form of human oppression, adds to the toxic mix.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems rather prosaic, but perhaps a simple but significant contribution that many people could make to what Thomas Aquinas described as The Common Good is to simply express publicly the dignified habit of losing well.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-17001013421611227802016-05-07T20:01:00.000+00:002016-05-08T08:16:22.684+00:00Politics and Sport: a Bristol Tale<div style="text-align: justify;">
T<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">oday has been a day of politics and sport in my home city of Bristol.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I started the day by listening to a <a href="https://woodlandschurch.net/messages/reaching-your-city-2" target="_blank">talk </a>by Tim Dobson from Woodlands Church on Reaching your City. Tim argued that for the church to reach its city, it had to be actively involved across all the spheres of city life, a dynamic presence in the heart of </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">politics, sport, the arts, education</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, rather than acting as a separate entity alongside them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later that day, having failed to get tickets for the sell-out match, I was listening on the radio to the last <a href="http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bristol Rovers</a> game of the season. If other results went their way, and if Rovers won the match (against already relegated Dagenham and Redbridge), then the Bristol side would win automatic promotion to League One of the Football League. Glorious as that would be, even more magnificent was the prospect of securing promotion for the second season in a row - a feat never before achieved by Bristol Rovers. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile, in the minutes before kick-off, as Rovers made their final preparations for their vital end-of-season encounter, the results of Bristol's mayoral election were trickling through. Second-choice votes were being counted, but it looked to informed observers as if Labour Party candidate <a href="http://www.marvinrees.co.uk/" target="_blank">Marvin Rees</a> had won the contest, replacing incumbent Independent Mayor <a href="http://www.bristolfirst.org.uk/" target="_blank">George Ferguson</a> who had been elected in 2012. As Lee Brown tapped in the 92nd-minute goal which secured Rovers' promotion, the results of the Mayoral election had been confirmed. The Gas were going up; Marvin Rees was Bristol's new elected mayor. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Marvin's unsuccessful attempt at becoming elected Mayor in 2012, he was interviewed by <a href="http://www.andyflan.com/" target="_blank">Andy Flannagan</a> of <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrLeft" target="_blank">Christians on the Left</a> about the intersection between his Christian faith and his political vocation. Rees cites the biblical idea of the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+25%3A8-55&version=NIVUK" target="_blank">Year of Jubilee</a> - the releasing of debts and the proclaiming of liberty - as the overarching narrative that defines his understanding of his own politics. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IC9chWi8LqI" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Meanwhile, wandering down the Gloucester Road after the match, which was heaving with the blue and white shirts of thousands of Rovers fans, I saw some of the uglier side of our city's life. A Muslim women, fully veiled in a Niqab and with a young daughter and a baby in a pushchair, was waiting at a bus stop as hundreds of the fans streamed past, many spilling onto the busy road, cheering and shouting. Several white men, middle-aged, bald headed, flashed Nazi salutes as they marched past the family. The sight of such hostility and prejudice was shocking, but gave me an insight into what may be a semi-regular feature of life for some of our Muslim neighbours in a society where racism and Islamophobia seem to be on the rise. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the pre-match build up, I saw this clip about Bristol Rovers chaplain Dave Jeal. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22079178" target="_blank">His story</a> of transformation from football hooligan to football chaplain is an inspiring tale of restoration. He now serves as the chaplain at the stadium from which he was once banned. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pray4TheGas?src=hash">#Pray4TheGas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/alidurdenBBC">@alidurdenBBC</a> meets <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveJeal">@DaveJeal</a> the man who's praying more than most for <a href="https://twitter.com/Official_BRFC">@Official_BRFC</a>'s promotion<a href="https://t.co/CWTZMkGopI">https://t.co/CWTZMkGopI</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">— BBC Points West (@bbcpointswest) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbcpointswest/status/728653031844122624">May 6, 2016</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think Tim Dobson was correct. The church has much still to do to be be present, prayerful and authentic in our witness to God's kingdom, a reality which still has the answers to the real issues in our city. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-41040512812307547992016-03-03T08:22:00.000+00:002017-04-21T22:42:19.768+00:00The Problem of Suffering, Christian Faith, and the Hebrew Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGGs7w4Vcr0WuKxhxDLG35CSC_d62HMBFIjK-w1dlOmWGWdVaswbvQYn5DQHvVkB25SNBtH9xIOC8Gcmyt5hiMWzfLY9FC0NnsMvR15H4aUq9yp75-biE2a8ICAkq7xerl15N/s1600/shellshocked-us-marine-hue-vietnam-don-mccullin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGGs7w4Vcr0WuKxhxDLG35CSC_d62HMBFIjK-w1dlOmWGWdVaswbvQYn5DQHvVkB25SNBtH9xIOC8Gcmyt5hiMWzfLY9FC0NnsMvR15H4aUq9yp75-biE2a8ICAkq7xerl15N/s400/shellshocked-us-marine-hue-vietnam-don-mccullin.png" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="cb188-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cb188-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: justify;">
<span data-offset-key="cb188-0-0"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cb188-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cb188-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When confronted with the twin realities of evil (destructive human action) and suffering (destructive natural phenomena), the Christian believer often feels under pressure to "explain" them in the light of God's goodness, love and sovereignty. We are in fact at the receiving end of nearly 2,000 years of reflection, philosophy and apologetics within the Western Christian tradition that seek to address these issues and respond to the (atheist) question: how can a loving god allow this to happen?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those of us who are Christian believers may have our various responses to the questions raised. We may have refined and developed them over the years to a point where we at least feel reasonably satisfied with our own explanations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is worth reflecting, however, that the Hebrew mind, revealed in the Scriptures, often approaches the question in a different way. Instead of seeking explanation, we find the writers asking questions without apparently seeking to provide answers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taken together, this question-asking approach develops into a type of literature that has come to be described as "complaint". It's not "having a moan", but rather asking "why" in an engaged and personally involved way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Hebrew scriptures are full of this type of literature.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking thousands of years ago, the God-fearing Job demanded similar answers to those asked by Stephen Fry and other prominent atheists. His questioning of the character of God is breath-taking and audacious. Think about this series of "complaints" for a while, recorded in the Bible for all time for our edification:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"How then can I dispute with him?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>How can I find words to argue with him?"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Even if I summoned him and he responded,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I do not believe he would give me a hearing.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>He would crush me with a storm</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>and multiply my wounds for no reason.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>He would not let me catch my breath</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>but would overwhelm me with misery."</i></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="bmq72-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bmq72-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>When a scourge brings sudden death,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>he mocks the despair of the innocent.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>he blindfolds its judges.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>If it is not he, then who is it?</i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="bk710-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bk710-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Why does the Almighty not set times for judgement?</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?</i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="7nbn5-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7nbn5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Lacking clothes, they go about naked;</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>They crush olives among the terraces;</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The groans of the dying rise from the city,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>But God charges no one with wrongdoing."</i></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-offset-key="7vcpn-0-0" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7vcpn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #141823; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The emotional intensity and challenging, almost accusatory tone of this line of questioning may lead some to see it as the speech of an unbeliever. Nothing could be further from the truth. Evidently, the Hebrew mind allowed for the possibility of challenging questions to be put from a position of faith, as Job did, not only from a position of unbelief. </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #141823; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a follow-up post, we'll consider what the Hebrew mind does next with these questions, and how it prioritises </span><i style="color: #141823; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">wisdom</i><span style="color: #141823; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (knowing what to do in different circumstances) over watertight philosophical answers in the face of evil and suffering. </span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-24166555964085578272015-12-20T20:40:00.000+00:002015-12-20T20:40:05.512+00:00Alvin Plantinga on "Augustinian Christian Philosophy"<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those interested in exploring the relationship between Christian faith and philosophy, a good starting point may be Alvin Plantinga's lecture on Augustinian Christian Philosophy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Justin Taylor provides a helpful summary of the presentation <a href="http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2015/12/18/alvin-plantingas-introduction-to-augustinian-christian-philosophy/" target="_blank">here</a>. For those with 54 minutes to spare, the whole lecture is available below. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ViFkHVmokOM" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-60011241929557318752015-12-12T09:50:00.000+00:002015-12-12T10:04:12.226+00:00Donald Trump and Identity Politics in Eighteenth Century England<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfnqcnLOpNMzz58PL3wMDzhv65-Bvf-Nk4RoX240xyOetq2qO5QuOyoK0dZn66GS1Os4k-jgcrE3rPh2odDbZhcI2xoXzlgROzdGp7bp7_EUtnY90hMZhrRYuOpXLG3Zpsl6A/s1600/donald-trump-hair-photos-mystery-transplant-combover_2014-09-14_21-59-27-573x430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfnqcnLOpNMzz58PL3wMDzhv65-Bvf-Nk4RoX240xyOetq2qO5QuOyoK0dZn66GS1Os4k-jgcrE3rPh2odDbZhcI2xoXzlgROzdGp7bp7_EUtnY90hMZhrRYuOpXLG3Zpsl6A/s640/donald-trump-hair-photos-mystery-transplant-combover_2014-09-14_21-59-27-573x430.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is Donald Trump a Whig?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin-bottom: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin-bottom: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin-bottom: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the 17th and 18th Centuries, there was a strong and popular association made in England between Roman Catholicism and the idea of Absolute Monarchy. Spain and France were regarded as the prime illustrators of this connection.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin-bottom: 0.357143em; margin-top: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin-bottom: 0.357143em; margin-top: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whig Protestants (especially Anglicans) sought on the basis of this association to significantly limit the political freedoms of English Catholics. Many of these restrictions remained in place until the Roman Catholic Reform Act of 1829. One restriction - the prohibition of the monarch being a Roman Catholic or marrying a Catholic - was only repealed as late as 2013.</span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em; margin-top: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0.357143em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em;">The tendency to treat entire religious groups as sharing in a particular political ideology is a long-standing one. Donald Trump's generalisations about Muslims is a continuation of this political </span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Whiggish</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857em;"> tendency.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-1793549257936141422015-09-25T15:22:00.000+00:002015-12-12T09:55:01.408+00:00The Hajj Tragedy, Victim Blaming and the Gospel of the Kingdom<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of the many tragedies our world has suffered in 2015, the death of over 700 pilgrims at the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia must be one of the most pitiful. The idea of hundreds of devout worshippers, having saved their hard-earned money to pay for this once-in-a-lifetime event, being crushed to death at a time which should have been at the pinnacle of their religious faith journey, is a true tragedy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Along with the death of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean this summer, and the desperate experience of those affected by the Ebola outbreak in recent years in west Africa, the Hajj calamity is a human tragedy on a grand scale.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With tragedies come recriminations. Reports suggest that some Hajj pilgrims are blaming the Saudi police and authorities for the stampede in Mina. Saudi spokesmen, meanwhile, are reported as blaming African pilgrims for not following instructions. Iran is blaming the Saudi Royal Family. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When faced with a tragedy in his own lifetime, the mainstream view confronting Jesus of Nazareth appeared to be that the victims themselves were to blame for what happened. Jesus responded to this popular assumption by analysing the self-righteous motives of his contemporaries who were not directly affected by the tragedy, and turned their complacency upon themselves by warning them of their own impending doom. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="text Luke-13-4" id="en-NIV-25523" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">"<span style="line-height: 24px;">Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25523C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-25523C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?</span></span></span><span class="text Luke-13-5" id="en-NIV-25524" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>I tell you, no! But unless you repent,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-25524D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-25524D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:4)</span></span></span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although fewer in number, the victims of the Siloam rower collapse were also the objects of criticism by the self-righteous of Jesus' day. The world-view of the critics is not difficult to detect: a high view of God's sovereignty, meaning that all that happens does so ultimately by the permissive or directive will of God, and a covenant theology which saw unfaithfulness to God resulting in judgement, combined to interpret the death of these 18 as the result of their morally dubious state.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Victim blaming today seeps through much of the analysis of contemporary human tragedies. It is implicit in the European Union's decision in 2014 to not support Italy's Mare Nostrum operation, rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean. The claim was that such a humanitarian initiative would act as a "<a href="https://www.politicshome.com/foreign-and-defence/articles/story/philip-hammond-admits-pull-factor-search-and-rescue-claim" target="_blank">pull factor</a>" in emboldening migrants to board unseaworthy vessels and attempt the perilous crossing from the north African coat to Italy or Malta. Victim blaming was present in the Sun newspaper's coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy - an editorial decision for which it has <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4535743/23-years-after-Hillsborough-the-real-truth.html" target="_blank">publicly apologised</a>. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The focus of Jesus' few words on this Siloam tragedy is not on explaining "the problem of evil" in abstract, philosophical terms. Nor does he align himself with those who cast aspersions upon the victims. Instead, he turns the tables and points to those of us who would pass judgement:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Unless you repent, you too will all perish."</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is highly unlikely that the words of Jesus were intended to predict further tower collapses or similar calamities. Rather, his focus is on something much worse.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To "perish", in its New Testament usage , often means to come under the judgement of God - in this age and the one to come. The apostle Paul, for instance, is quite willing to distinguish between "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">those who are perishing" and "</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">us who are being saved." (1 Corinthians 1:19) and elsewhere describes those who "</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;">perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." (2 Thessalonians 2:10)</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Evidently, the Son of God saw it as imperative that people "repent" of sinful patterns of thought, attitude and action. This theme of repentance is present, implicitly or explicitly, throughout the gospels and other New Testament writings.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tragedies of the Hajj, of tsunamis and of plagues are not to become opportunities for hard-hearted self-righteousness, but occasions to express sorrow and sympathy with the victims, their families and their communities. They also provide a stark opportunity to examine ourselves by asking some uncomfortable questions: have I repented? Am I to perish?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For those who embark on such a process of self-examination, the words of the gospel truly come as good news:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="text John-3-16" id="en-NIV-26137" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;">"For God so loved<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26137V" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137V" title="See cross-reference V">V</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> the world that he gave<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26137W" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137W" title="See cross-reference W">W</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> his one and only Son,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26137X" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137X" title="See cross-reference X">X</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> that whoever believes<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26137Y" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26137Y" title="See cross-reference Y">Y</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> in him shall not perish but have eternal life.</span><span class="text John-3-17" id="en-NIV-26138" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: start;"> " (John 3:16-17)</span></span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-78646755592529873032015-08-13T06:59:00.000+00:002015-08-13T08:49:23.293+00:00Foreign Policy Realism and the Prophetic Summons: Jeremiah, Syria, Ukraine and the West<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fools rush in to apply Biblical principles to the complexities of contemporary foreign policy - an exercise which often results in the espousing of bizarre and impractical opinions, and a lack of critical analysis, making the word of God look ridiculous.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is with some trepidation, therefore, that I offer the following analysis of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+27" target="_blank">Jeremiah 27</a> and apply it retrospectively to the current situation in Ukraine and Syria. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the passage cited, the kingdom of Judah finds itself invaded by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who has defeated the army and entered the city of Jerusalem. Having deposed the king (Jehoichin) and replaced him with a puppet ruler (Zedekiah), the Babylonian tyrant then forcibly removes from Judah the economic and social elite of Judean society, taking them into exile, and leaving behind "only the poorest people of the land." (2 Kings 24:14). Nebuchadnezzar, who was personally present in Judah during this military campaign, also removes the royal treasures from Jerusalem, as well as the precious metal artifacts from the Temple. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHFQYFwdjC-DhJoOpIgokUS8JL4pBKQdmiqKYwyLBmJhdMh3Ux24nhbTx_g78-7X6foIcX9q8ZXEl79MNDtdsbRjmF0zOkar0Su1DfF4IQ1lGS8xKvOeaMgmqPRT9_YUkM89V/s1600/111219-science-cuneiform-1140a.grid-7x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdHFQYFwdjC-DhJoOpIgokUS8JL4pBKQdmiqKYwyLBmJhdMh3Ux24nhbTx_g78-7X6foIcX9q8ZXEl79MNDtdsbRjmF0zOkar0Su1DfF4IQ1lGS8xKvOeaMgmqPRT9_YUkM89V/s320/111219-science-cuneiform-1140a.grid-7x2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The best-preserved image of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 24.0639991760254px; text-align: start;">King Nebuchadnezzar II, standing next to one of the ziggurats built during his reign. </span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Against this backdrop, the prophet Jeremiah (born c. 642 BC) addresses the new vassal king of Judah as well as the envoys of the surrounding nations - Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon. These foreign secretaries have gathered in Jerusalem to discuss a possible coalition against Babylon, the new dominant power in the region.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jeremiah's message to this would-be coalition summit is unambiguous: he urges them to abandon their plans and to submit to the king of Babylon as vassals. The following is typical of the prophet's approach:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="chapter-2" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="text Jer-27-4" id="en-NIV-19601" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">This is what the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Tell this to your masters:</span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="text Jer-27-5" id="en-NIV-19602" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">With my great power and outstretched arm</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19602F" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19602F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> I made</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19602G" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19602G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> the earth and its people and the animals</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19602H" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19602H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> that are on it, and I give</span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19602I" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19602I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> it to anyone I please.</span><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b> </b></span></span><span class="text Jer-27-6" id="en-NIV-19603" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19603J" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19603J" title="See cross-reference J">J</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>Nebuchadnezzar<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19603K" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19603K" title="See cross-reference K">K</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.</span><span class="text Jer-27-7" id="en-NIV-19604" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>All nations will serve<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19604M" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19604M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> him and his son and his grandson until the time<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19604N" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19604N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19604O" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19604O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> him.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="text Jer-27-7" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="text Jer-27-7" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text Jer-27-7" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;">The consequences of pursuing the planned rebellion are severe, according to the prophet:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="text Jer-27-7" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="chapter-2" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Jer-27-8" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></i>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><span class="text Jer-27-8" id="en-NIV-19605" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">“If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19605P" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19605P" title="See cross-reference P">P</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> that nation with the sword,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19605Q" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19605Q" title="See cross-reference Q">Q</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> famine<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19605R" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19605R" title="See cross-reference R">R</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> and plague,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19605S" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19605S" title="See cross-reference S">S</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> declares the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>, until I destroy it by his hand.</span> <span class="text Jer-27-9" id="en-NIV-19606" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">So do not listen to your prophets,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19606T" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19606T" title="See cross-reference T">T</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> your diviners,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19606U" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19606U" title="See cross-reference U">U</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> your interpreters of dreams,<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19606V" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19606V" title="See cross-reference V">V</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> your mediums<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19606W" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19606W" title="See cross-reference W">W</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> or your sorcerers<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19606X" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19606X" title="See cross-reference X">X</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> who tell you, ‘You will not serve<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19606Y" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19606Y" title="See cross-reference Y">Y</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> the king of Babylon.’</span><span class="text Jer-27-10" id="en-NIV-19607" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>They prophesy lies<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19607Z" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19607Z" title="See cross-reference Z">Z</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> to you that will only serve to remove<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19607AA" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19607AA" title="See cross-reference AA">AA</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish.</span><span class="text Jer-27-11" id="en-NIV-19608" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"> </span>But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19608AB" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19608AB" title="See cross-reference AB">AB</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-19608AC" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-19608AC" title="See cross-reference AC">AC</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> there, declares the <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>.”</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the one hand, Jeremiah is preaching a message of God's sovereignty in the rise and fall of governments and nations. At the same time, he is urging what could be seen as a <a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/political-science/international-politics/section2.rhtml" target="_blank">"realist"</a> approach to international relations - a recognition that the practical consequences of rebellion will be far worse than the consequences of submission and vassal status. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is far too easy to engage in armchair politics and analyse contemporary and complex situations from a safe distance. Nonetheless, to the extent that the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria are directly impinging upon Britain - military intervention against IS, trade sanctions against Russia, and the vast numbers of displaced peoples resulting from the upheavals - it is important to have a view on our nation's policy in these conflicts, not least of all in order to be equipped to respond to future scenarios. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCcESfx4vyzwkjGxTfTSvjhkmWUitIzDYavlV9n1UGBCDLtbf34lUV1BcifSR1aUFzPx_2EQ7zsoGm_wyKubBfDjZFC-b3S7VSFhZxL5hjz2OzU3dcjKpg6CzfpmtbpFF-dBV/s1600/Islamic-State-IS-253620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCcESfx4vyzwkjGxTfTSvjhkmWUitIzDYavlV9n1UGBCDLtbf34lUV1BcifSR1aUFzPx_2EQ7zsoGm_wyKubBfDjZFC-b3S7VSFhZxL5hjz2OzU3dcjKpg6CzfpmtbpFF-dBV/s320/Islamic-State-IS-253620.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initial support from some western countries for anti-Assad groups in Syria and for pro-western factions in Ukraine before and during the Euromaiden demonstrations are matters of record. In both cases, ideological motives combined with claims that such western support would reduce the numbers of civilian causalities affected by the two upheavals. An important question to ask therefore is whether, on balance, the civilian populations of both countries are better off or worse off as a result of these rebellions, and whether on humanitarian grounds alone, western support for them has been justified, quite apart from ideological considerations. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Syria, the statistics of the five-year war are staggering: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a quarter of a million people have been killed </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7.6 million Syrians have been displaced </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 million of these have fled the country - a number equal to about 20% of the pre-war population </span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The conflict has also seen widespread human rights abuses on all sides, massacres of civilians and combatants, and the rise of Islamic State who have made brutality a defining hallmark of their rule. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although overall casualties in Ukraine have been far lower, the displacement of over one million civilians within Ukraine, and the involvement of Russian "irregular" forces in the east of the country and the Crimea make the Ukraine crisis the most serious military situation in Europe since the Balkan Wars. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBFS3g6UeSuMnlGuAOBPI-1KXDzHreAA8VEG1RPDRYLIpHoB4IcQqF4vRJEqsKCcZiKA-k20lF1iR8Xv4pUnBwNLAiCm2Kr2M33ZUzJA6bnSjIw14lDoCvjjmYtU-JOc_a1I_Z/s1600/ukraine2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBFS3g6UeSuMnlGuAOBPI-1KXDzHreAA8VEG1RPDRYLIpHoB4IcQqF4vRJEqsKCcZiKA-k20lF1iR8Xv4pUnBwNLAiCm2Kr2M33ZUzJA6bnSjIw14lDoCvjjmYtU-JOc_a1I_Z/s320/ukraine2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jeremiah's position was that submission to the tyrant provided better outcomes for the subjugated nation as a whole than armed rebellion. This claim had several related strands:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "realistic" view that it was Babylon's time to be a world power - a reality wrapped in the mystery of God's sovereignty.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "realistic" view that the minor nations of the near-middle east were going to come under Babylonian domination by the will of God</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The claim that subjugation by Babylon was not the same as annihilation. It was in Babylon's interest to extract wealth from its subject kingdoms, not to massacre them or render them economically bankrupt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time-limited nature of Babylonian domination. This prediction was fulfilled by the defeat of Babylon by the ascending Persian Empire under its ruler Cyrus the Great in 539 BC.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking at the carnage in Syria, and the fragmentation of Ukraine along nationalistic lines, it is difficult to argue against the view that. on practical grounds alone, the outcomes for the citizens of these two different countries would have been better if armed rebellion against a tyrant (in the case of Syria) or the forcible removal of an elected President (in the case of Ukraine) had not taken place when they did. Furthermore, it is hard to argue that the west's support for these developments has turned out to be in the best interest of the populations most affected by them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aristotle taught the virtue of slow revolutions in political life. Not all fundamental political change has to be sudden. The al-Assad regime could not have lasted for ever. The strengthening of civic society within Syria and Ukraine may have been a less dramatic but potentially more sustainable and judicious approach to supporting the democratisation of these nations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hard-nosed, biblically-informed realism should not be ignored when formulating policy in these complex arenas. The well-being of the people, combined with a measured assessment of the risks and outcomes, must be central to western responses. Ideology alone will deliver more pain, not less. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-33799315516998972992014-09-20T07:18:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.456+00:00House Building - Archaeological Insights and Spiritual Principles <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I got totally inspired last night when eating with friends from church as we were discussing Psalm 127 - "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build labour in vain." </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b id="docs-internal-guid-c02811c4-91e9-d730-159e-e2db28b801bd" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of our members is a very gifted linguist and was sharing an insight into the cultural context of the psalm, namely that house building in that age (c 10th century BC) was primarily conceived of as horizontal rather than vertical. The addition of rooms adjacent to an existing structure, around a courtyard, would have been the main understanding of the idea at the time, rather than of building higher into the sky. (In fact, a quick look through a concordance reveals a rather negative view in the Old Testament when it comes to tall man-made structures - think Tower of Babel, etc)</span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/A_reconstructed_israelite_house%2C_Monarchy_period3.jpg/800px-A_reconstructed_israelite_house%2C_Monarchy_period3.jpg" /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This insight got us thinking about how the idea of "the Lord building the house" does not have to mean that one thing completely depends on another for its stability. The building process is more "organic" than "engineered", if that makes sense. This approach contrasts with a view of the Christian life that is unduly shaped by linear processes determined by stated goals and targets. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea that we have a vision/target/goal, and that we are to work backwards from that point to construct our Christian lives is one that is widely held and practiced. If, however, we define our goals more broadly - I would argue more biblically - then we can allow for developments which are apparently more random, which do not appear to fit into an engineered model of a narrowly-defined goal-focused life. Biblical goals, for instance, include such elements as, “we make it our aim to please him”, “the goal of this instruction is love” and the command to “walk in the Spirit” and to be “transformed through the renewing of our minds.” </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Building, in this sense, is more about God-centered character development, ethical behaviour in the personal and social spheres and spiritual maturation, rather than the accomplishment of tasks which lead from one to another in a structured sense. This organic vision of “house building” is more communitarian than individualistic, is as concerned with ethics and process as it is with outcomes, and is also able to incorporate elements which would not normally be part of a design if we were to think purely functionally. Elements such as Joseph being sold as a slave, Jonah running away from God, and David’s adultery were all elements that, in the gracious and judicious divine house-building process, could be incorporated and used to further the purpose of God in the lives of these individuals. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build labour in vain. </span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-52032782369747625922013-12-17T19:47:00.000+00:002013-12-17T19:47:25.701+00:00How Does the Economy Really Work? <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A short summary. Read the full article <a href="http://blog.acton.org/archives/62388-economy-actually-work.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PHe0bXAIuk0?rel=0" width="420"></iframe> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-17759415879838743522013-10-31T22:16:00.001+00:002013-10-31T22:18:09.347+00:00Managers: Why do we have them?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://c4ss.org/content/22244">Center for a Stateless Society » Taylorism, Progressivism, and Rule by Experts</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've yet to read an article by Kevin Carson that I haven't found stimulating and insightful.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This one on the historical origins of the idea of management - in business and politics - is no exception.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The first corporation managers came from an industrial engineering background and saw their job as doing for the entire organization what they’d previously done for production on the shop floor."</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fascinating. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=66a24726-a7eb-4083-81c6-8eac890b14eb" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-22599723672709862632013-10-11T22:00:00.000+00:002013-10-11T22:00:20.928+00:00Halloween: How did it Start? <iframe allowfullscreen="" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/75045602" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-66390529403650109942013-10-03T07:34:00.001+00:002013-10-03T07:39:42.339+00:00The Levellers as Left Libertarians<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/57578461@N00/3364437579" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="High Speed Rail" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="266" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/3364437579_394531742a_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">High Speed Rail (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/57578461@N00/3364437579" target="_blank">loudtiger</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://c4ss.org/content/20076?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+c4ss+%28Center+for+a+Stateless+Society%29">Center for a Stateless Society » The Levellers as Left Libertarians</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apart from being an interesting historical essay about the common political goals of two groups active during the English Civil War - the Levellers and the Diggers - the above article also has a number of practical applications for the contemporary economic and political context.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although the author Julio Rodman writes primarily for an American audience, the practical policy areas addressed are relevant to many developed western economies in which state regulation is widespread, and disproportionately beneficial to large corporations rather than small business owners. Three areas are mentioned that, if reformed, could contribute to a significant re-balancing of the economic playing field in pursuit of the author's stated aim of a Jeffersonian model of a republic of property-owning citizens: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>1. National transport infrastructure</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The subsidising of the costs of national rail, road and communications infrastructure, it is argued, disproportionately benefits large national and global corporations at the expense of small landowners, farmers and business owners. Kevin Carson has made a <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/distorting-effects-of-transportation.html" target="_blank">similar arguement</a> with more in-depth economic analysis of the cost benefits to various parties of the state subsidy of national railways in C19 America.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Comparisons with the UK government's goal of building a High Speed Rail Line between London and certain northern cities is inevitable. If Carson and Rodman are correct, the HS2 proposal - with a price tag of around £50 billion - will effectively transfer wealth from tax payers (many of whom are non-asset holders) to large corporations such as the engineering and rail companies who will build and run the network. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>2. Professional Licensing</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The ever-growing tendency to seek state-backed licensing of various sectors of business professionals (the author cites the extreme examples of florists and fortune tellers!) is a further barrier to individuals entering profitable trades and businesses, according to the article.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Earning a living as I do in one of the last license-free areas of professional activity, I note with some alarm the voices being raised in favour of state-sponsored registering of private educators and tutors. Although voluntary professional bodies are to be welcomed as a means of ensuring high ethical and professional standards, and although appropriate criminal background checks are an essential part of safeguarding children, I agree with the above article that the state's involvement in further licensing represents a barrier to small business owners. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>3. Restrictions on street vending</b> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An economic mainstay in many countries, the restrictions on selling goods on the public highway is a further barrier to individuals getting started in business. Although such prohibitions are often cited as being in the interests of consumers, protecting them from unethical traders, Rodman in my view correctly analyses the actual reasons for such trading restrictions: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"This is largely at the urging of immobile business owners who sell the same or substitutable goods and thus have an interest in eliminating competition, and at the pressure of various powerful economic actors seeking to maintain a bourgeois aesthetic in the urban environment surrounding their place of operation which is incompatible with the street vending ambiance." </span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Street vending provides, potentially, a great economic opportunity for those without assets to get a foot on the ladder of owning their own businesses and becoming economically self-sufficient. The restriction of the practice is to the disadvantage of such groups within society.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rodman's article highlights areas that do not often receive attention in macro-economic discussions, but which, if implemented, have the potential to empower groups of individuals to become asset-owners through self-employment. The economic and social benefits of such a model are considerable, in my opinion. </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://trymtales.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-trym-tales-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=e38ee836-cba5-402a-803a-74edef7b2c8d" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-25266661867598241682013-09-13T08:40:00.001+00:002013-09-13T08:43:27.874+00:00The Enduring World of Dr. Schultz: James Baldwin, Django Unchained, and the Crisis of Whiteness : The Other Journal<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://theotherjournal.com/2013/09/12/the-enduring-world-of-dr-schultz-james-baldwin-django-unchained-and-the-crisis-of-whiteness/">The Enduring World of Dr. Schultz: James Baldwin, Django Unchained, and the Crisis of Whiteness : The Other Journal</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I wish I could write like this!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-30222726703302547142013-09-02T01:03:00.002+00:002013-09-02T01:03:38.544+00:00Syria and Europe: Lessons from the Nineteenth Century<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67517221@N05/6157149068" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Arab Spring [LP]" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="265" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6190/6157149068_8a8257c460_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">Arab Spring [LP] (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/67517221@N05/6157149068" target="_blank">Painted Tapes</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Popular demonstrations are taking place across the region's capital cities.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rioters are demanding political reform, greater freedoms and the removal of the old dictators.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An economic crisis has been a catalyst for a wave of popular uprisings across the continent by the growing educated middle classes. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Liberal reform is everywhere, opposed by entrenched political elites.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Should foreign troops be deployed in support of the protesters?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Arab Spring">Arab Spring</a>?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No - Europe in the early decdes of the nineteenth century.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and the subsequent <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Congress of Vienna">Congress of Vienna</a>, liberal and republican movements took to the streets in cities as diverse as Manchester (1819), Lisbon (1820), Paris and Brussels (both 1830), and Rome (1831). The protests were often violent, resulting in many deaths. In some countries, elements of the armed forces joined with the rebels. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Protests were often put down, not only by national governments and their armies, but also through intervention by allied powers - Austrian forces into northern Italy, British troops to Portugal and French soldiers into neighbouring Spain. Elites defended one another against the growing tide of liberal and republican sentiment. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Comparisons with the Arab Spring and its related uprisings are especially relevant in examining the experience of Greece during this age of revolution. A revolution broke out in 1821, aimed at freeing Greece from the rule of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Ottoman Empire">Ottoman Empire</a> and establishing a liberal constitution for the country. This aim was only partly realised when the Ottomans received military support from the Egyptian viceroy Muhammed Ali, whose troops seized a large part of the Greek mainland by 1826. Only the southern part of the country remained free enough to sustain its independence from Ottoman rule. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fast forward two centuries, and the comparisons with events in the Middle East and North Africa are striking.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=0604cc9e-ac34-4ee8-a92f-dd855741d494" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-72373827125570062232013-07-20T09:41:00.000+00:002023-11-26T21:54:26.519+00:00<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1702.Saint_Augustine" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Saint Augustine (Lives Biographies)" border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309209649m/1702.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1702.Saint_Augustine">Saint Augustine</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/228.Garry_Wills">Garry Wills</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/672333960">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />Finished this interesting biography on holiday recently and enjoyed it very much.<br /><br />It was my first dip into the life of Augustine, though had read some of his Confessions earlier. <br /><br />Roman Catholic prize-winning writer Garry Wills takes a sympathetic, historical and non-hagiographic approach to his subject, one of the most influential figures in the western Christian tradition.<br /><br />Was interested to learn many details of Augustine's life that were new to me: getting a young woman pregnant at the age of fifteen, co-habiting with her till he was in his thirties, joining a Trinity-denying sect at 19, etc. <br /><br />Appreciated the writer's ability to paint both the historical and theological context to Augustine's life. Had not focused till now, for instance, on the fact that Augustine was contemporary with Jerome, Ambrose and Pelagius, nor on the fact that he virtually never left Hippo and the surrounding region after his installation as bishop in 395 AD. Also learned more about the Donatists (with whom I have had a vague interest for years) than in anything I had previously read. Augustine's debates and disputes with them are a running theme through the book.<br /><br />Augustine's power as a writer, scholar and preacher are well-illustrated throughout, and the 145-page book is full of quotable sections both from the subject himself as well as his friends and enemies: <br /><br />"Augustine thinks in questions" (Karl Jaspers)<br /><br />"Augustine felt two duties incumbent on him - to expound the whole circle of knowledge in Christian terms, and to refute other schools within Christianity or outside it." (Wills) <br /><br />Wills' summaries of Augustine's writings are useful as a launch pad into (hopefully) reading them fully in due course. His concise style makes Augustine's profound reflections accessible to the non-specialist , but without being so brief that they appear superficial. Augustine's reflections on the nature of time (there is no such thing as the present) and his formation of the Doctrine of the Trinity in terms of the human soul are both high points in his original writing and in the author's intelligent summary.<br /><br />Wills takes a rather more sympathetic view of Augustine's approach to the use of coercion in religion than I am comfortable with, though he does so against the backdrop of a contemporary scene that was far harsher than the portrayal of Augustine we are presented with: he opposed the death penalty, torture, and frequently called for clemency in the administration of justice. <br /><br />A fine introduction to a giant in church history, well-written, and definitely recommended. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/582324-al">View all my reviews</a><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32796536.post-86405337421037978432013-04-24T06:28:00.001+00:002013-04-24T06:28:18.402+00:00Carbon Reduction Realities<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:China_100.78713E_35.63718N.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Greater China. Note the oval Tarim Basin, the ..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="225" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/China_100.78713E_35.63718N.jpg/300px-China_100.78713E_35.63718N.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"> (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:China_100.78713E_35.63718N.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The carbon cuts we have made so far... have been achieved by means of a
simple device: allowing other countries, principally China, to run
polluting industries on our behalf."</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
George Monbiot</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=b0df228c-abb8-4474-9c7d-b77a1d61b108" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html"
>free updates by email or RSS.</a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0