So I made it down here safely Saturday afternoon. Julie and Emily (fellow Hillsdale students) met me at the airport which was kind of them. It makes arriving in a new city a little easier when you have people you know there to greet you. I arrived at the house where I am staying this summer around 1:30pm and took some time to unpack and sleep for a bit. After meeting my host family, who are wonderful people indeed, I watched the Red Wings destroy the Penguins in Game One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
I worshiped this morning at Christ Reformed Church through whom I found my host family. It is a small congregation in a tough environment for traditional worship style. For many reasons, it is hard to plant and build a conservative reformed church in the D.C. area. Most interns attend Capitol Hill Baptist... which is probably where I would have gone it if weren't for my finding of a URC church in the area.
This afternoon I experimented with the bus system which will be part of my daily commute. Although the route was different today because of the weekend, I think I understand what I'm doing. I'll be up early leave and myself plenty of time tomorrow for my morning commute. The bus is actually cheaper than the subway especially if you transfer lines on the same trip. Thus, I will take advantage of any reduced fare I can get. If you are familiar with the D.C. area, I'll be bording at the Pentagon (yellow line) and take that to L'enfant Plaza which is the transfer point for the yellow, green, orange, and blue lines. After that it is two stops on the orange or blue line to Capitol Hill South. And then two blocks later is the Rayburn Office building where I will be working. I walked around Capitol Hill today and fell in love with it all over again. I am so glad to be here for the summer.
I met up with Dakota, another fellow Hillsdale student for dinner in Union Station. After receiving many free sampless from the restuarants in the food court, I ate delicious Japanese Chicken Teriyaki. Now I am back at the house dreading my early morning alarm. Hopefully things go smooth the first day on the job...
I will post more when I get a better idea what I will be doing this summer...
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
C.S. Lewis- the Sacred and the Secular (Part III)
According to C.S. Lewis, a healthy love for country is also one that is mindful of the country's view of itself. If idealists within become the policy makers, their attempt to remake the world can become dangerous. Ideology itself once it overtakes a nation leads many to embrace a "false transcendence" of what is earthly and what is heavenly. Note the similar analysis to Eric Voegelin's claim that moderns always seek to immanentize the eschaton.
Lewis begins by establishing a more realistic role for a country to fight for. In the Screwtape Letters, Screwtape urges Wormwood to tempt the young man into making "the world an end and faith a means." With this accomplished, "it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing." With this in mind, war makes little difference in the normal human condition Lewis writes in "Learning in Wartime," "The war crates no absolutely new situations; it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it." In the Four Loves, Lewis distinguishes between fighting for the cause of one's country versus the cause of justice or any other attribute as a whole. When wars become abstracted they become less justifiable for men to die for.
In "Why I am not a Pacifist" Lewis criticizes those who believe that "the greatest permanent miseries in human life must be curable if only we find the right cure." Hence the fanaticism of many systematizers for men such as Marx, Darwin, Hitler, and Stalin all claimed to have the right answers. Rather than claim all the answers, Lewis encourages us to "work quietly away at limited objectives, such as the abolition of the slave trade, or prison reform, or factory acts, or tuberculosis, not by those who think they can achieve universal justice, or health, or peace." Attacking the "immediate evils" is far better than claims for "universal peace" which can never occur one earth.
Lewis cautions against the willingness to die for any cause a nation enters into. Again in "Learning in Wartime," Lewis reminds his readers that those who "surrender... without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation" risk surrendering the things that only belong to God. In the Screwtape Letters, Screwtape urges Wormwood to encourage the young man into a position where"Meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity..." When man attempts to claim the things of God, Lewis writes in "Learning in Wartime" that man looks for a heaven on earth that will "turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man."
In the Four Loves, Lewis claims that when ones particular country's cause becomes the "cause of God," wars will eventually become "wars of annihilation." Continues Lewis, "A false transcendence is given to things which are very much of this world." A unhealthy nationalistic spirit attempts to "borrow" the things of the heavenly society and use them in the earthly society to justify "the most abominable actions." This unhealthy mixing of the sacred and the secular is a violation of the Augustinian City of God/City of Man dichotomy.
The consequences of this way of thinking leads to potentially interesting consequences regarding the mixing of religion and patriotism. Such thoughts I continue to wrestle with as I learn how to love correctly my own country.
Lewis begins by establishing a more realistic role for a country to fight for. In the Screwtape Letters, Screwtape urges Wormwood to tempt the young man into making "the world an end and faith a means." With this accomplished, "it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing." With this in mind, war makes little difference in the normal human condition Lewis writes in "Learning in Wartime," "The war crates no absolutely new situations; it simply aggravates the permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it." In the Four Loves, Lewis distinguishes between fighting for the cause of one's country versus the cause of justice or any other attribute as a whole. When wars become abstracted they become less justifiable for men to die for.
In "Why I am not a Pacifist" Lewis criticizes those who believe that "the greatest permanent miseries in human life must be curable if only we find the right cure." Hence the fanaticism of many systematizers for men such as Marx, Darwin, Hitler, and Stalin all claimed to have the right answers. Rather than claim all the answers, Lewis encourages us to "work quietly away at limited objectives, such as the abolition of the slave trade, or prison reform, or factory acts, or tuberculosis, not by those who think they can achieve universal justice, or health, or peace." Attacking the "immediate evils" is far better than claims for "universal peace" which can never occur one earth.
Lewis cautions against the willingness to die for any cause a nation enters into. Again in "Learning in Wartime," Lewis reminds his readers that those who "surrender... without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation" risk surrendering the things that only belong to God. In the Screwtape Letters, Screwtape urges Wormwood to encourage the young man into a position where"Meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity..." When man attempts to claim the things of God, Lewis writes in "Learning in Wartime" that man looks for a heaven on earth that will "turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man."
In the Four Loves, Lewis claims that when ones particular country's cause becomes the "cause of God," wars will eventually become "wars of annihilation." Continues Lewis, "A false transcendence is given to things which are very much of this world." A unhealthy nationalistic spirit attempts to "borrow" the things of the heavenly society and use them in the earthly society to justify "the most abominable actions." This unhealthy mixing of the sacred and the secular is a violation of the Augustinian City of God/City of Man dichotomy.
The consequences of this way of thinking leads to potentially interesting consequences regarding the mixing of religion and patriotism. Such thoughts I continue to wrestle with as I learn how to love correctly my own country.
Lewis on the Teaching of History (Part II)
In order to develop a healthy love for country C.S. Lewis attributes the proper education of a country's youth as necessary to instilling a correct view of the nation's past. Lewis specifically addresses the teaching of history, however, the education of children always encompasses knowledge as a whole. One should contrast Lewis's statements against both "liberal" or "conservative" educators who both seek to tell their own stories of how America came to be. As Dr. Gamble says "we are all born bad historians" and should thus attempt to learn carefully how to study and understand history. A proper understanding is vital for producing the right type of character within the human soul, that will allow him to discern good from evil, right from wrong, among human nature.
Developing proper historical consciousness is a topic that would take a book or two or three. A good friend of mine wrote his senior thesis on the work of John Lukacs who I would definitely recommend reading. Good historical method is the surest way to fight the evils of historicism and those who claim to have a "philosophy of history." Failure to understand history leads to serious miscalculations regrading some of the most fundamental questions of humanity.
In The Screwtape Letters Lewis warns against becoming either of two radical positions, "an extreme patriot" or "an ardent pacifist." Leading people into either of these extremes is a tactic of Satan that leads to destruction. Knowledge must go on even during times of war according to Lewis in his essay "Learning in Wartime." Says Lewis, "The pursuit of knowledge and beauty, in a sense, for their own sake, but in a sense which does not exclude their being for God's sake. An appetite for these exists in the human mind, and God makes no appetite in vain." Lewis continues:
... we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion.
In another essay titled, "Why I am not a Pacifist," Lewis criticizes what he later calls the "chronological snobbery" of progressives who assume "human history is a simple, unilinear movement from worse to better- what is called a belief in progress so that any given generation is always in all respects wiser than all previous generations." These people seem to believe that "the whole world was wrong until the day before yesterday and now has suddenly become right." Such a belief in history lacks a proper understanding of human nature and historical consciousness.
In the Four Loves, Lewis's discussion on love of country takes him once again to the topic of education. It is easy for one to only look at the heroic actions of the past while failing to remembering that "the actual history of every country is full of shabby and even shameful things." Nonetheless, Lewis encourages people to be strengthened by the images of the past without being "deceived or puffed up." Such images only become dangerous when "mistaken or substituted for serious and systematic historical study."
How then do we teach our children so as to avoid an unhealthy nationalistic pride? Lewis turns to stories with the emphasis on the tale and the picture which "fires the imagination." This way of doing history avoids a type of patriotism that indoctrinates the young in "false or biased history" that assumes their particular nation is superior in people, culture, and tradition. A belief that somehow ones people are "chosen" might lead to fatal and dire consequences.
Lewis's reflections on the proper love of country seem to further cement the changing feelings I have about my own country. Coinciding with my newfound desire to work in education someday, Lewis helps put into perspective the necessity of correctly teaching history as a way to monitor the health of a country. Perhaps a reason for the current sickness of our own nation can be traced to the irresponsible ways we have handled history in the education of our children.
Developing proper historical consciousness is a topic that would take a book or two or three. A good friend of mine wrote his senior thesis on the work of John Lukacs who I would definitely recommend reading. Good historical method is the surest way to fight the evils of historicism and those who claim to have a "philosophy of history." Failure to understand history leads to serious miscalculations regrading some of the most fundamental questions of humanity.
In The Screwtape Letters Lewis warns against becoming either of two radical positions, "an extreme patriot" or "an ardent pacifist." Leading people into either of these extremes is a tactic of Satan that leads to destruction. Knowledge must go on even during times of war according to Lewis in his essay "Learning in Wartime." Says Lewis, "The pursuit of knowledge and beauty, in a sense, for their own sake, but in a sense which does not exclude their being for God's sake. An appetite for these exists in the human mind, and God makes no appetite in vain." Lewis continues:
... we need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion.
In another essay titled, "Why I am not a Pacifist," Lewis criticizes what he later calls the "chronological snobbery" of progressives who assume "human history is a simple, unilinear movement from worse to better- what is called a belief in progress so that any given generation is always in all respects wiser than all previous generations." These people seem to believe that "the whole world was wrong until the day before yesterday and now has suddenly become right." Such a belief in history lacks a proper understanding of human nature and historical consciousness.
In the Four Loves, Lewis's discussion on love of country takes him once again to the topic of education. It is easy for one to only look at the heroic actions of the past while failing to remembering that "the actual history of every country is full of shabby and even shameful things." Nonetheless, Lewis encourages people to be strengthened by the images of the past without being "deceived or puffed up." Such images only become dangerous when "mistaken or substituted for serious and systematic historical study."
How then do we teach our children so as to avoid an unhealthy nationalistic pride? Lewis turns to stories with the emphasis on the tale and the picture which "fires the imagination." This way of doing history avoids a type of patriotism that indoctrinates the young in "false or biased history" that assumes their particular nation is superior in people, culture, and tradition. A belief that somehow ones people are "chosen" might lead to fatal and dire consequences.
Lewis's reflections on the proper love of country seem to further cement the changing feelings I have about my own country. Coinciding with my newfound desire to work in education someday, Lewis helps put into perspective the necessity of correctly teaching history as a way to monitor the health of a country. Perhaps a reason for the current sickness of our own nation can be traced to the irresponsible ways we have handled history in the education of our children.
Monday, May 25, 2009
C.S. Lewis on the Love of Country (Part I)
In the course of reading and re-reading C.S. Lewis over the past few weeks I've focused primarily on his writings regarding a healthy love of country. It seems as if Lewis also speaks of this in relation to three areas. First he always discusses a healthy love of country in contrast to an unhealthy nationalism. This makes sense in the context of Lewis's writings. Both world wars were the result of a nationalism so overpowering that it eventually became a destructive ideology. Second, Lewis discusses love of country in relation to the necessity of teaching good history. I find this an interesting connection on Lewis's part for it all of a sudden elevates the role of education in the ordinary lives of all people. Third and finally, Lewis always enters a discussion of the temporary versus the permanent, the dichotomy of the City of God and the City of Man. Confusing the two often leads dire consequences according to Lewis.
For this post, I will focus on the healthy love of country Lewis describes especially in relation to the sacrifice of the dead in war. Such thoughts are fitting as another Memorial Day has come and gone in America, and we as citizens remember the sacrifice of the many brave generations before us.
In The Four Loves Lewis emphasizes a patriotism that "asks to be left alone" for it values home, place, community, and a particular way of life. Such a man appreciates his own local customs and habits recognizing "all the things he would miss" if it were lost. Certainly, many of our soldiers have died for their home and families protecting those particular things about home that only they themselves could love and appreciate.
In his essay "Learning in Wartime," Lewis points out the worth in dying for ones country. However, such a tremendous duty is not worth living for as the only type of life worth living and dying for is spiritual in nature. It is from the sacrifice of war do we realize the reality of death and pain. Lewis observes that war is not unique to suffering for we will all most likely suffer as we ourselves die. Neither does war deprive men of a chance to have peace with God for its reality forces men to confront their eternity much sooner. What war does to death according to Lewis, is that it forces us to remember it. By making death real, we can be aware of our own mortality.
In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis through Screwtape reminds Wormwood how much better it would be if "all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie... promising life to the dying..." War threatens the "contented worldliness" that men often fall into for "In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever." Similar to "Learning in Wartime" Lewis notes the fragility of life that naturally accompanies war.
Lewis's brilliant but simple reminders encourage the citizen to love his country and remember those who died before us. The reality of death only helps us see more clearly the temporary state of the world we are in. A healthy love of country allows us to recognize our proper place in the world we live in and the place of those who have died before us.
For this post, I will focus on the healthy love of country Lewis describes especially in relation to the sacrifice of the dead in war. Such thoughts are fitting as another Memorial Day has come and gone in America, and we as citizens remember the sacrifice of the many brave generations before us.
In The Four Loves Lewis emphasizes a patriotism that "asks to be left alone" for it values home, place, community, and a particular way of life. Such a man appreciates his own local customs and habits recognizing "all the things he would miss" if it were lost. Certainly, many of our soldiers have died for their home and families protecting those particular things about home that only they themselves could love and appreciate.
In his essay "Learning in Wartime," Lewis points out the worth in dying for ones country. However, such a tremendous duty is not worth living for as the only type of life worth living and dying for is spiritual in nature. It is from the sacrifice of war do we realize the reality of death and pain. Lewis observes that war is not unique to suffering for we will all most likely suffer as we ourselves die. Neither does war deprive men of a chance to have peace with God for its reality forces men to confront their eternity much sooner. What war does to death according to Lewis, is that it forces us to remember it. By making death real, we can be aware of our own mortality.
In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis through Screwtape reminds Wormwood how much better it would be if "all humans died in costly nursing homes amid doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie... promising life to the dying..." War threatens the "contented worldliness" that men often fall into for "In wartime not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever." Similar to "Learning in Wartime" Lewis notes the fragility of life that naturally accompanies war.
Lewis's brilliant but simple reminders encourage the citizen to love his country and remember those who died before us. The reality of death only helps us see more clearly the temporary state of the world we are in. A healthy love of country allows us to recognize our proper place in the world we live in and the place of those who have died before us.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Christian Humanism
Humanism is the idea that men should become more of who they are intended to be. Education, specifically liberal education, is one method of achieving this. Indeed, the revival of culture and education in the Renaissance introduced further ideas of humanism from thinkers including Petrarch, Pico, and to some extent Machiavelli. Yet humanism unchecked can become nothing more than the worship of man even in his sinful state. Believing that men are created by God is an important recognition of who man is intended to be. If one accepts that man was created, as the Westminster Confession states, "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," than true humanism is Christian Humanism.
This past spring semester saw my acceptance of Christian humanism under the influence of Dr. Birzer's class titled American Order and Disorder. The tradition of Christian humanism is found within a wide variety of thinkers in the Western tradition. The early church fathers including the Apostle Paul, St. Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas Christianized the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Paul himself identifies Christian humanism in numerous places throughout his epistles with one of the most notable references occuring in Acts at Mars Hill where he claimed that in Christ we live and move and have our being. This tradition is carried through Augustine, Aquinas, Petrarch, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and many of the early American founding fathers. A revival of Christian humanism occured in the twentieth century to counter the rising secularism and ideology. These figures included T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Christopher Dawson, and Russell Kirk.
Indeed the Christian humanist understands the role of grace to sanctify the sin of the modern world and provide a way of escape from the false worship of man within humanism. Christian humanism reveals to man his place in the tradition and thus the world he lives in. Jesus Christ represents the true Logos who holds all things together. By Him all things are created and it is only when we rest in Him can we know who we are as individuals.
My own ideas as reflected in previous posts, and in the posts to come, are examples of the Christian humanism that has become part of my life. I hope to continue in the conversation of Christian humanism in a world that has long forsaken the true Logos, the Word that became flesh to dwell among us.
This past spring semester saw my acceptance of Christian humanism under the influence of Dr. Birzer's class titled American Order and Disorder. The tradition of Christian humanism is found within a wide variety of thinkers in the Western tradition. The early church fathers including the Apostle Paul, St. Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas Christianized the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Paul himself identifies Christian humanism in numerous places throughout his epistles with one of the most notable references occuring in Acts at Mars Hill where he claimed that in Christ we live and move and have our being. This tradition is carried through Augustine, Aquinas, Petrarch, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and many of the early American founding fathers. A revival of Christian humanism occured in the twentieth century to counter the rising secularism and ideology. These figures included T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Christopher Dawson, and Russell Kirk.
Indeed the Christian humanist understands the role of grace to sanctify the sin of the modern world and provide a way of escape from the false worship of man within humanism. Christian humanism reveals to man his place in the tradition and thus the world he lives in. Jesus Christ represents the true Logos who holds all things together. By Him all things are created and it is only when we rest in Him can we know who we are as individuals.
My own ideas as reflected in previous posts, and in the posts to come, are examples of the Christian humanism that has become part of my life. I hope to continue in the conversation of Christian humanism in a world that has long forsaken the true Logos, the Word that became flesh to dwell among us.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Not Knowing
One of the most important lessons I learned this past school year was the transparency or opaqueness of knowledge. Within the context of especially modernity, ideologues desire to have complete knowledge of the world through the systems they implement. Their desire to create an earthly paradise often stops at no boundaries and is a reason for the unfathomable bloodbath that marks the 20th century.
But such ideas do not necessarily contain such terrible consequences. The desire to know things is human but finite man must come to terms early in his life, how limited he really is. No matter how many times we think we can "control our own destiny," perhaps the Lord's ways are much different than our own ways. Maybe in this world, there are some things we are NOT supposed to know.
I'm thankful for C.S Lewis's closing chapter in The Abolition of Man. These final words are meant as a warning for the man who desires answers at all costs so as to become his own god. Yet within the warning for the Christian, there is comfort. We do not need to know everything because God's plan is always best. When we seek to become more like Him we are better tuned to His will. Our prayer should not be to know, but to rest in Him.
Lewis writes in the final words of The Abolition of Man:
... the kind of explanation which explains things away may give us something, though at a heavy cost. But you cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.... It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.
Sometimes attempting to see everything causes us to see nothing. Certainly ideologues in their attempt to enforce their view of the world on others, completely misunderstood the true nature of the world. Similarly, when we attempt to know everything we risk the chance of knowing nothing. It is good to find rest by trusting in God regardless of our circumstances.
But such ideas do not necessarily contain such terrible consequences. The desire to know things is human but finite man must come to terms early in his life, how limited he really is. No matter how many times we think we can "control our own destiny," perhaps the Lord's ways are much different than our own ways. Maybe in this world, there are some things we are NOT supposed to know.
I'm thankful for C.S Lewis's closing chapter in The Abolition of Man. These final words are meant as a warning for the man who desires answers at all costs so as to become his own god. Yet within the warning for the Christian, there is comfort. We do not need to know everything because God's plan is always best. When we seek to become more like Him we are better tuned to His will. Our prayer should not be to know, but to rest in Him.
Lewis writes in the final words of The Abolition of Man:
... the kind of explanation which explains things away may give us something, though at a heavy cost. But you cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.... It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.
Sometimes attempting to see everything causes us to see nothing. Certainly ideologues in their attempt to enforce their view of the world on others, completely misunderstood the true nature of the world. Similarly, when we attempt to know everything we risk the chance of knowing nothing. It is good to find rest by trusting in God regardless of our circumstances.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Since last summer...
It is remarkable to think about how much I've changed in one year. I view the world in such a different way it is almost like I am a completely different human. In a sense, I think I am "more human" in the way that education can only make one "more human."
I was thinking about the random events that sort of spurred the change in my thought. My close friend and current roommate at the time assumed responsibility for the Fairfield Society at Hillsdale effective in the Fall 2008 semester. The Fairfield Society meets on Thursdays at 5:45 and you are encouraged to bring your dinner into the private dining room where we meet and listen to a presentation by a student on whatever topic he or she desires. It is usually something on the mind of the student that he may desire feedback from. Often the struggle is finding students willing to present thus my friend began pestering me to share my thoughts.
About this time, I was interacting with another friend who was set to enter Hillsdale in the fall as a freshman. This particular friend was a staunch libertarian who saw the world a lot differently than I did. We spent many IM and phone conversations hammering out our positions. I remember one of these phone conversations in which I made an identical argument against abortion and gay marriage. Something triggered in my head that night and it is hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it was. I do know I began making the sort of connections in all that I had learned at Hillsdale the past two years. I began to understand why I thought the way I did in my understanding of the world. This led to a Fairfield Presentation which I will outline in my next post that definitely was landmark day in life...
I was not left alone to deal with these new ways of thinking. I am thankful for a certain senior, who recently graduated Hillsdale with departmental honors in history, for his time in continuing to help me piece together many different ideas. This past academic year I took the classes that allowed me to firsthand engage these ideas with the thinkers behind them. This is not to say I've learned all I needed to learn. It does say however, that the way I think now is completely different than the way I think last summer.
I think this is an integral part of learning that I've really began to enjoy. We are always modifying the ways we think as we continue to learn and grow as human beings. Our fundamental convictions do not necessarily have to change. In my libertarian friend's case, they have changed... for the better! But in my case, I still remain a reformed, Christian, conservative... who just happens to see things a lot differently than ever before.
I'm happy to be a part of this conversation... and thankful that God has placed me at a college where such changes to ones character are not only encouraged, they are strengthened.
I was thinking about the random events that sort of spurred the change in my thought. My close friend and current roommate at the time assumed responsibility for the Fairfield Society at Hillsdale effective in the Fall 2008 semester. The Fairfield Society meets on Thursdays at 5:45 and you are encouraged to bring your dinner into the private dining room where we meet and listen to a presentation by a student on whatever topic he or she desires. It is usually something on the mind of the student that he may desire feedback from. Often the struggle is finding students willing to present thus my friend began pestering me to share my thoughts.
About this time, I was interacting with another friend who was set to enter Hillsdale in the fall as a freshman. This particular friend was a staunch libertarian who saw the world a lot differently than I did. We spent many IM and phone conversations hammering out our positions. I remember one of these phone conversations in which I made an identical argument against abortion and gay marriage. Something triggered in my head that night and it is hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it was. I do know I began making the sort of connections in all that I had learned at Hillsdale the past two years. I began to understand why I thought the way I did in my understanding of the world. This led to a Fairfield Presentation which I will outline in my next post that definitely was landmark day in life...
I was not left alone to deal with these new ways of thinking. I am thankful for a certain senior, who recently graduated Hillsdale with departmental honors in history, for his time in continuing to help me piece together many different ideas. This past academic year I took the classes that allowed me to firsthand engage these ideas with the thinkers behind them. This is not to say I've learned all I needed to learn. It does say however, that the way I think now is completely different than the way I think last summer.
I think this is an integral part of learning that I've really began to enjoy. We are always modifying the ways we think as we continue to learn and grow as human beings. Our fundamental convictions do not necessarily have to change. In my libertarian friend's case, they have changed... for the better! But in my case, I still remain a reformed, Christian, conservative... who just happens to see things a lot differently than ever before.
I'm happy to be a part of this conversation... and thankful that God has placed me at a college where such changes to ones character are not only encouraged, they are strengthened.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Becoming More Human
What is liberal education?
*An understanding of the unity of all knowledge. Think Newman's "circle" or even Paul's example of the "body." Liberal education seeks to educate with a broad range of subjects meant to give the student a wider perspective of the world.
*Desires to know the "ends" and "means" of things. By attempting to understand the "why" questions, liberal education strives to make sense of the purposes of things and the end that they are directed towards.
*"Free" in that it must be pursued without compulsion, and when pursued, it must be done for its own sake. Thus, liberal education avoids becoming servile to a lower end.
*Develops character and the well-ordered soul. It not only makes man more human, but for the Christian, helps one think and reason to a fuller capacity that resembles the great I AM.
*A condition of the soul that allows one to live a liberal life regardless of vocation or situation.
There's so much more... but these are some of the bigger ideas we discussed in my Artes Liberales course this past semester.
*An understanding of the unity of all knowledge. Think Newman's "circle" or even Paul's example of the "body." Liberal education seeks to educate with a broad range of subjects meant to give the student a wider perspective of the world.
*Desires to know the "ends" and "means" of things. By attempting to understand the "why" questions, liberal education strives to make sense of the purposes of things and the end that they are directed towards.
*"Free" in that it must be pursued without compulsion, and when pursued, it must be done for its own sake. Thus, liberal education avoids becoming servile to a lower end.
*Develops character and the well-ordered soul. It not only makes man more human, but for the Christian, helps one think and reason to a fuller capacity that resembles the great I AM.
*A condition of the soul that allows one to live a liberal life regardless of vocation or situation.
There's so much more... but these are some of the bigger ideas we discussed in my Artes Liberales course this past semester.
Monday, May 18, 2009
What does it mean to be human?
What exactly does being created in the image of God (imago dei) mean for us as humans today?
Of course, it means a lot of things. And a complete answer might take a book! But considering knowledge for a bit... how does knowing things make us better pictures of God's image?
As men and women we have the ability to think and reason-- to know and to want to know more. We desire to understand the world we live in, the ends and means and purposes of things, and the big "why" questions of reality. Children sometimes best demonstrate this by constantly asking "why" for seemingly every single action. This is a natural human desire that is a reflection of the God-like nature within us. God is reason and knowledge and philosophy and wisdom. He refers to Himself as true being or the great I AM, and his sovereignty reflects His presence in reality.
The pagan Greek philosopher Aristotle recognizes this truth. "The good life" according to Aristotle, is accomplished when man has the ability to pursue the "higher things." Man must have the time to live a life of contemplation in the truths of wisdom and philosophy. This kind of life is what makes us most divine which in turn, makes us most human.
Why then must we learn? Why is it good to read and write, to know history, and how to add and subtract? Because it makes us more human. We would acknowledge that both the literate and the illiterate individual are both human. But one is definitely more "human" than the other. One is using the God-like facilities inherent within him more effectively than the other. Thus by exercising the God-given tools that most resemble Him, we become better conformed to not only reality on earth, but true being in Him. We become more of who we were created to become. More God-like and thus more human.
Might there be a way of life that helps us become fine tune our instincts to true reality? If so, how? I think education is one of the best ways we can pursue this kind of life.
Not just any education, but a very specific type known as liberal education...
Of course, it means a lot of things. And a complete answer might take a book! But considering knowledge for a bit... how does knowing things make us better pictures of God's image?
As men and women we have the ability to think and reason-- to know and to want to know more. We desire to understand the world we live in, the ends and means and purposes of things, and the big "why" questions of reality. Children sometimes best demonstrate this by constantly asking "why" for seemingly every single action. This is a natural human desire that is a reflection of the God-like nature within us. God is reason and knowledge and philosophy and wisdom. He refers to Himself as true being or the great I AM, and his sovereignty reflects His presence in reality.
The pagan Greek philosopher Aristotle recognizes this truth. "The good life" according to Aristotle, is accomplished when man has the ability to pursue the "higher things." Man must have the time to live a life of contemplation in the truths of wisdom and philosophy. This kind of life is what makes us most divine which in turn, makes us most human.
Why then must we learn? Why is it good to read and write, to know history, and how to add and subtract? Because it makes us more human. We would acknowledge that both the literate and the illiterate individual are both human. But one is definitely more "human" than the other. One is using the God-like facilities inherent within him more effectively than the other. Thus by exercising the God-given tools that most resemble Him, we become better conformed to not only reality on earth, but true being in Him. We become more of who we were created to become. More God-like and thus more human.
Might there be a way of life that helps us become fine tune our instincts to true reality? If so, how? I think education is one of the best ways we can pursue this kind of life.
Not just any education, but a very specific type known as liberal education...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
"Employable" Jobs
Let's depict a conversation I've grown to hate.
Anonymous Person- "So what is your major?"
Me- "American Studies/History"
Anonymous Person- "Oh... what are you going to do with that?"
Me- *Looks for something to bang my head against*
Three of my really good friends graduated (or will soon graduate) with engineering degrees this year. All of them did very well academically in college and landed decent to excellent internships over the past few summers. Of the three, one of them is going to graduate school at the university of Michigan. Another one might go to graduate school in the future. The other one has no plans to continue schooling. Of the two who are not entering graduate school in the fall, neither one of them has a full-time job lined up. The most they have as of now, are temporary summer jobs in the engineering field.
There is certainly nothing wrong with taking a temporary job while one looks for something more permanent. What I do find interesting is that the two of my good friends, who went to the job fields that were supposedly the MOST employable, do not have jobs after graduation! Indeed, I would be so bold as to claim that these are not isolated incidents. The job market is unsteady enough right now. One must also remember that many people hold various jobs over their lifetime. How many people actually end up working in jobs they went to college for?
Perhaps this reality should make us question the so called "employable" jobs. Maybe vocational/practical education is not the only thing America needs as we look to the future. I wonder if the purpose of education might be a little bit more than simply job training people who may either not have a job after college, or will work in a field completely different than they expected. It seems as if the world is full of professionally and well-educated people. The problems within our culture seem to go a bit deeper than a lack of sufficiently educated people who have at least some form of a college "degree."
This should lead us to examine ourselves and think about the way we do education. Maybe college is more about getting job. From my experience, I would sure hope so. Hillsdale has changed me a lot, but the most important changes have nothing to do with what job I will have someday... although they will definitely influence how I will view that job.
More on these thoughts in coming posts... It was definitely time to move on from the bleakness of modernity... ;)
Anonymous Person- "So what is your major?"
Me- "American Studies/History"
Anonymous Person- "Oh... what are you going to do with that?"
Me- *Looks for something to bang my head against*
Three of my really good friends graduated (or will soon graduate) with engineering degrees this year. All of them did very well academically in college and landed decent to excellent internships over the past few summers. Of the three, one of them is going to graduate school at the university of Michigan. Another one might go to graduate school in the future. The other one has no plans to continue schooling. Of the two who are not entering graduate school in the fall, neither one of them has a full-time job lined up. The most they have as of now, are temporary summer jobs in the engineering field.
There is certainly nothing wrong with taking a temporary job while one looks for something more permanent. What I do find interesting is that the two of my good friends, who went to the job fields that were supposedly the MOST employable, do not have jobs after graduation! Indeed, I would be so bold as to claim that these are not isolated incidents. The job market is unsteady enough right now. One must also remember that many people hold various jobs over their lifetime. How many people actually end up working in jobs they went to college for?
Perhaps this reality should make us question the so called "employable" jobs. Maybe vocational/practical education is not the only thing America needs as we look to the future. I wonder if the purpose of education might be a little bit more than simply job training people who may either not have a job after college, or will work in a field completely different than they expected. It seems as if the world is full of professionally and well-educated people. The problems within our culture seem to go a bit deeper than a lack of sufficiently educated people who have at least some form of a college "degree."
This should lead us to examine ourselves and think about the way we do education. Maybe college is more about getting job. From my experience, I would sure hope so. Hillsdale has changed me a lot, but the most important changes have nothing to do with what job I will have someday... although they will definitely influence how I will view that job.
More on these thoughts in coming posts... It was definitely time to move on from the bleakness of modernity... ;)
Saturday, May 16, 2009
RA= Really Awesome (experience)
In a conversation with Cassie the other night, a fantastic RA in her own right, she asked what I felt was the most rewarding experience from being an RA this past year. To be honest, I was initially caught off guard with her question which sort of surprised me as I had been thinking over the past week how much I loved being an RA and looked forward to coming back as the student house director next year. I realized that it was not so much the question that caught me off guard, but the "where do I even begin?" response.
You really have to want to be an RA. The money is nice, but definitely not worth it if you are doing a good job and enjoying the benefits it offers. There is no way you could put a quantitative amount of compensation on a job in which the best rewards are unable to be measured by any artificial, empirical standard.
With that said, I learned this year how to listen on a fundamental level. Not listening for what I want to hear, but to actually hear what is being said and communicated. This is a simple part of conversation but is badly missing from our culture today. I learned how to care for the guys regardless of their attitude, grades, fraternity association, etc. I did not do this perfectly and this is something I want to improve on next year. But the best way I can serve them is by first caring for them. Finally, I most enjoyed watching freshmen grow over the course of a year. Many of them changed so much and became much more the human beings they are meant to be. What a privilege and honor to experience that journey with so many special guys.
You really have to want to be an RA. The money is nice, but definitely not worth it if you are doing a good job and enjoying the benefits it offers. There is no way you could put a quantitative amount of compensation on a job in which the best rewards are unable to be measured by any artificial, empirical standard.
With that said, I learned this year how to listen on a fundamental level. Not listening for what I want to hear, but to actually hear what is being said and communicated. This is a simple part of conversation but is badly missing from our culture today. I learned how to care for the guys regardless of their attitude, grades, fraternity association, etc. I did not do this perfectly and this is something I want to improve on next year. But the best way I can serve them is by first caring for them. Finally, I most enjoyed watching freshmen grow over the course of a year. Many of them changed so much and became much more the human beings they are meant to be. What a privilege and honor to experience that journey with so many special guys.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Don't Immanentize the Eschaton!
Immanentize the Eschaton (try saying that ten times fast). This ridiculous sounding phrase has changed my life considerably since the first time I heard it used in Dr. Gamble's Intellectual History of the United States. I knew right then and there that I was way over my head. But there was meaning behind the expression, and the past few years (and a few more semesters with Dr. Gamble) helped me see why immanentizing the eschaton is a very bad thing....
This intense looking fellow, Eric Voegelin, is the one who coined this fanciful sounding way of saying "bringing the kingdom of God to earth." "Eschaton" is a theological term referring to the kingdom of God and to "immanentize" something is to make it happen immediately. What is wrong with bringing the kingdom of God to earth? Isn't that what Christ came to do, and what we are commanded to do by the Great Commission, and what we ask in the Lord's prayer? Understanding the fault in immanentizing the eschaton requires a better understanding of Voegelin.
For centuries Christians have understood St. Augustine's famous work, The City of God, to be the best understanding of the relationship between our life in heaven and our life on earth. John Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress also plays on this theme reminding the Christian that we are pilgrims, living in a world that is not our eternal home. Our final resting place is in heaven, where there is true perfection and true happiness. These things can never be attained on earth for we are inherently sinful human beings. St. Augustine describes the City of God as heaven and the City of Man as the world we live in. This dichotomy is helpful in understanding the tensions between living here on earth in the temporary and seeking what is in permanent in heaven.
Eric Voegelin was a strict Augustinian in his understanding of the two cities. A harsh critic of modernity and liberalism, Voegelin suggests that the drive by many within modern times to create perfection on earth was a violation of Augustine's dichotomy. Indeed all ideology is an attempt by man to bring to earth what cannot be brought to earth. Many other thinkers agree. C.S. Lewis warns about making the "earthly" into something "transcendent." Similarly Russell Kirk criticizes those who try to create"earthly paradises" always resulting in "terrestrial hells." The 20th century, as stated in the previous post, has been the century of terrestrial hell. According to Voegelin, ideologues were men who confused what belonged in the City of God as something to be obtained in the City of Man.
Voegelin accuses modernists of stealing the symbols and myths of Christiainity. By breaking down the sacred and the secular, Christian teachings like the City of God and the City of Man mean nothing to those who have no respect for orthodox Christianity. Thus, those who immanentize the eschaton, do so with secularized assumptions. Whatever original meaning bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth once possessed, has been robed by those who think nothing of the things of God. Those who seek to immanentize the eschaton look different depending on the situation. They might be harmless utopians or tyrannical dictators. Regardless, all of them as T.S. Eliot writes, "Dream of systems so perfect, man will no longer need to be good."
For the Christian we understood that there are things that are permanent and timeless that occur on earth, but they never manifest in an ideology. Christians know the kingdom of God is something realized in a spiritual sense, not politically or materially. And only the King Himself is able to bring about that which He wills, not what man desires to make. A proper understanding of orthodox Christian theology is the surest safeguard to attempting to immanentize the eschaton.
This intense looking fellow, Eric Voegelin, is the one who coined this fanciful sounding way of saying "bringing the kingdom of God to earth." "Eschaton" is a theological term referring to the kingdom of God and to "immanentize" something is to make it happen immediately. What is wrong with bringing the kingdom of God to earth? Isn't that what Christ came to do, and what we are commanded to do by the Great Commission, and what we ask in the Lord's prayer? Understanding the fault in immanentizing the eschaton requires a better understanding of Voegelin.
For centuries Christians have understood St. Augustine's famous work, The City of God, to be the best understanding of the relationship between our life in heaven and our life on earth. John Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress also plays on this theme reminding the Christian that we are pilgrims, living in a world that is not our eternal home. Our final resting place is in heaven, where there is true perfection and true happiness. These things can never be attained on earth for we are inherently sinful human beings. St. Augustine describes the City of God as heaven and the City of Man as the world we live in. This dichotomy is helpful in understanding the tensions between living here on earth in the temporary and seeking what is in permanent in heaven.
Eric Voegelin was a strict Augustinian in his understanding of the two cities. A harsh critic of modernity and liberalism, Voegelin suggests that the drive by many within modern times to create perfection on earth was a violation of Augustine's dichotomy. Indeed all ideology is an attempt by man to bring to earth what cannot be brought to earth. Many other thinkers agree. C.S. Lewis warns about making the "earthly" into something "transcendent." Similarly Russell Kirk criticizes those who try to create"earthly paradises" always resulting in "terrestrial hells." The 20th century, as stated in the previous post, has been the century of terrestrial hell. According to Voegelin, ideologues were men who confused what belonged in the City of God as something to be obtained in the City of Man.
Voegelin accuses modernists of stealing the symbols and myths of Christiainity. By breaking down the sacred and the secular, Christian teachings like the City of God and the City of Man mean nothing to those who have no respect for orthodox Christianity. Thus, those who immanentize the eschaton, do so with secularized assumptions. Whatever original meaning bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth once possessed, has been robed by those who think nothing of the things of God. Those who seek to immanentize the eschaton look different depending on the situation. They might be harmless utopians or tyrannical dictators. Regardless, all of them as T.S. Eliot writes, "Dream of systems so perfect, man will no longer need to be good."
For the Christian we understood that there are things that are permanent and timeless that occur on earth, but they never manifest in an ideology. Christians know the kingdom of God is something realized in a spiritual sense, not politically or materially. And only the King Himself is able to bring about that which He wills, not what man desires to make. A proper understanding of orthodox Christian theology is the surest safeguard to attempting to immanentize the eschaton.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Some Thoughts on Modernity
Fyodor Dostoevsky writes in his "Notes From the Underground"
After all, we don't even know where 'real life' is lived nowadays, or what it is, what name it goes by. Leave us to ourselves, without our books, and at once we get into a muddle and lose our way- we don't know whose side to be on or where to give our allegiance, what to love and what to hate, what to respect, and what to despise. We even find it difficult to be human beings, men with real flesh and blood of our own; we are ashamed of it, we think it a disgrace, and are always striving to be some unprecedented kind of generalized human being. We are born dead, and moreover we have long ceased to be the sons of living fathers; and we become more and more contented with our condition. We are acquiring the taste for it. Soon we shall invent a method of being born from an idea....
[Emphasis added]
Dostoevsky brilliantly recognizes what modernity or life in the modern times has done to man. By mechanizing him as nothing more than an animal or a machine, man has lost not only his humanity, but his entire connection to imagination and myth, tradition, and fundamental institutions including family and community.
Indeed modernity is a term almost impossible to define in what I hope to be a fairly small blog post ;). Historians cite different events that triggered the beginning of modernity. To generalize, I'm understanding modernity as the advent of secular humanism and ideology that coincided with the triumph of empirical science, rational Christianity, and utilitarian and pragmatic philosophy. Roughly speaking, this started with the Enlightenment and culminated in the late 19th century. Modern thinkers include Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, Spencer, Dewey, and of course the ultimate modern Karl Marx. These men and others convinced of their own righteousness, attempted to create the world as they would like it. Believing their assumptions about the most fundamental questions of humanity including what is God, what is man, and what is man's place in the order of things to be the most correct, ideologues and other moderns attempted to implement their system to fix the "problems" they identified in the world.
These systems, eventually given names like "Marxism," "Fascism," "Nazism," and "Communism," would have only one end to their schemes. Death--- in the form of 205 million lives lost in the 20th century. The so called "century of progress" is not marked by man's technology, but by the gas chamber, the gulag, and the death camp.
All this because man has misidentified both himself and his God choosing instead to act as "rational" creatures, born of ideas and ideologies. And so modernity, divorcing itself from all that is good, chose to compartmentalize the world into boxes so as to examine all the pieces and create the system that will finally get it right. This confusion of the universal with the particular, shatters the imagination which can no longer see the complexity within each and every man in history-- which is the story of man.
Whether or not we are in an age of post-modernity almost seems irrelevant. The blood of millions upon millions of people, many of them brothers and sisters in Christ, lies almost ignored in a world of chaos, death, and suffering. What does any of this matter to those of us in America, materially blessed and spiritually apathetic to our own ideologies of "liberalism" and "conservatism." The effects of modernism in America have seeped into nearly every aspect of American life- our familes, churches, schools, communities, etc all live and breath the language thoughts and ideas of modernity.
Is there a way to escape this?
Christopher Dawson offers one possible option:
“The only remedy is to be found in that spiritual force by which the humility of God conquers the pride of the evil one. Hence the spiritual reformer cannot expect to have the majority on his side. He must be prepared to stand alone like Ezekiael and Jeremy. He must take as his example St. Augustine besieged by the Vandals at Hippo, or St. Gregory preaching at Rome with the Lombards at the gates. For the true helpers of the world are the poor in spirit, the men who bear the sign of the cross on their foreheads, who refused to be overcome by the triumph of injustice and put their sole trust in the salvation of God.”
In an age of darkness, those like Dawson provide some hope admist a battle that seems all but lost.
After all, we don't even know where 'real life' is lived nowadays, or what it is, what name it goes by. Leave us to ourselves, without our books, and at once we get into a muddle and lose our way- we don't know whose side to be on or where to give our allegiance, what to love and what to hate, what to respect, and what to despise. We even find it difficult to be human beings, men with real flesh and blood of our own; we are ashamed of it, we think it a disgrace, and are always striving to be some unprecedented kind of generalized human being. We are born dead, and moreover we have long ceased to be the sons of living fathers; and we become more and more contented with our condition. We are acquiring the taste for it. Soon we shall invent a method of being born from an idea....
[Emphasis added]
Dostoevsky brilliantly recognizes what modernity or life in the modern times has done to man. By mechanizing him as nothing more than an animal or a machine, man has lost not only his humanity, but his entire connection to imagination and myth, tradition, and fundamental institutions including family and community.
Indeed modernity is a term almost impossible to define in what I hope to be a fairly small blog post ;). Historians cite different events that triggered the beginning of modernity. To generalize, I'm understanding modernity as the advent of secular humanism and ideology that coincided with the triumph of empirical science, rational Christianity, and utilitarian and pragmatic philosophy. Roughly speaking, this started with the Enlightenment and culminated in the late 19th century. Modern thinkers include Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche, Spencer, Dewey, and of course the ultimate modern Karl Marx. These men and others convinced of their own righteousness, attempted to create the world as they would like it. Believing their assumptions about the most fundamental questions of humanity including what is God, what is man, and what is man's place in the order of things to be the most correct, ideologues and other moderns attempted to implement their system to fix the "problems" they identified in the world.
These systems, eventually given names like "Marxism," "Fascism," "Nazism," and "Communism," would have only one end to their schemes. Death--- in the form of 205 million lives lost in the 20th century. The so called "century of progress" is not marked by man's technology, but by the gas chamber, the gulag, and the death camp.
All this because man has misidentified both himself and his God choosing instead to act as "rational" creatures, born of ideas and ideologies. And so modernity, divorcing itself from all that is good, chose to compartmentalize the world into boxes so as to examine all the pieces and create the system that will finally get it right. This confusion of the universal with the particular, shatters the imagination which can no longer see the complexity within each and every man in history-- which is the story of man.
Whether or not we are in an age of post-modernity almost seems irrelevant. The blood of millions upon millions of people, many of them brothers and sisters in Christ, lies almost ignored in a world of chaos, death, and suffering. What does any of this matter to those of us in America, materially blessed and spiritually apathetic to our own ideologies of "liberalism" and "conservatism." The effects of modernism in America have seeped into nearly every aspect of American life- our familes, churches, schools, communities, etc all live and breath the language thoughts and ideas of modernity.
Is there a way to escape this?
Christopher Dawson offers one possible option:
“The only remedy is to be found in that spiritual force by which the humility of God conquers the pride of the evil one. Hence the spiritual reformer cannot expect to have the majority on his side. He must be prepared to stand alone like Ezekiael and Jeremy. He must take as his example St. Augustine besieged by the Vandals at Hippo, or St. Gregory preaching at Rome with the Lombards at the gates. For the true helpers of the world are the poor in spirit, the men who bear the sign of the cross on their foreheads, who refused to be overcome by the triumph of injustice and put their sole trust in the salvation of God.”
In an age of darkness, those like Dawson provide some hope admist a battle that seems all but lost.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
C.S. Lewis on Friendship
I figured I might blog about some of the big ideas I've been wrestling with the past few years in college. It is impossible to record completely the many things I have learned. And the motivation might not be there while I am in D.C. or even back at school again. Who knows if anyone will read this anyways? But perhaps this is something worth doing for its own sake. Tonight, I'll start with what God has taught me regarding friendship.
Learning to take friendship seriously has been one of the most important journeys I have traveled during my time at college. Friendship was always something secondary to me, in that I viewed as necessary because of the benefits it might offer me. It seemed as if everyone had friends, which is why I also needed to have friends. No one wants to be friendless. There's a normalcy to friendship that humans seem to crave. Going to college introduced me to many wonderful friends. Every year I get what I believe is a clearer picture of what true friendship is. I thought I'd share some of my observations with the help of C.S. Lewis, whose chapter on Friendship in the Four Loves, remains one of the most influential writings in my life today.
Lewis distinguishes four primary loves, affection, friendship, eros, and charity. Of all these, he considers friendship the least necessary. After all, no one would exist without eros, nor would be properly cared for without affection. It is for this reason that friendship fails to receive any attention in the modern world, although Aristotle considered it a virtue, and Cicero wrote a book on it.
But as Lewis points out, few people value friendship because few experience it! There are many reasons for this, and Lewis meticulously explains why he believes few understand the true nature of friendship. He blames the suspicion that arouses when the collective sees the growth of individual friendships, an envious "democratic" sentiment that grows jealous when one may not be the friend of someone else, and the accusation that homosexuality may underlie deep friendships among the same gender. Lewis also clarifies the difference between companionship and friendship. For many people, those whom they would consider "friends" are simply "companions." Friendship is more than just sharing something in common. According to Lewis, it is a "shared vision" able to produce "an immense solitude." Friendship must be ABOUT something, friends must seek the same truth for it to be more than affection or companionship.
Lewis also suggests that friendship always desires to grow among others unlike eros, which needs to stay between two people, friendship always longs for new friends. The qualification to join, is the pursuit of a common interest, a transcendent truth that allows friends to look ahead at what they seek. Friends together seek something "more inward, less widely shared, and less easily defined." Continuing, Lewis beautifully writes, "we picture lovers face to face but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead."
Yet what are the rewards of true friendship according to Lewis? Lewis describes true friendship as "that luminous, tranquil, rational world of relationships freely chosen.... This alone of all the loves seemed to raise you to the level of gods or angels." It is this type of love that is "even as great a love as eros." It is not self-conscious for "eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities." This type of love is meant for its own sake. Writes Lewis
I have no duty to be anyone's Friend and no man in the world has a duty to be mine. No claims, no shadow of necessity. Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.
Lewis also warns against the dangers of friendship, specifically pride and the type of exclusivity that exist so that we may bask "in the moonshine of our collective self-approval." Rather the true purpose of friendship is found within God's sovereign plan so that we might know Him better.
Friendship is not a reward for or discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good friendship, increased by Him through the friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as for revealing.
I have been so blessed by not only these insights from Lewis, but the pictures of friendship God has shown me over the past three years. I can only hope that as I strive to be a better friend to those whom God has called me to love and serve, that the love I have for my friends, will be a shadow like that which exists between the angels.
Learning to take friendship seriously has been one of the most important journeys I have traveled during my time at college. Friendship was always something secondary to me, in that I viewed as necessary because of the benefits it might offer me. It seemed as if everyone had friends, which is why I also needed to have friends. No one wants to be friendless. There's a normalcy to friendship that humans seem to crave. Going to college introduced me to many wonderful friends. Every year I get what I believe is a clearer picture of what true friendship is. I thought I'd share some of my observations with the help of C.S. Lewis, whose chapter on Friendship in the Four Loves, remains one of the most influential writings in my life today.
Lewis distinguishes four primary loves, affection, friendship, eros, and charity. Of all these, he considers friendship the least necessary. After all, no one would exist without eros, nor would be properly cared for without affection. It is for this reason that friendship fails to receive any attention in the modern world, although Aristotle considered it a virtue, and Cicero wrote a book on it.
But as Lewis points out, few people value friendship because few experience it! There are many reasons for this, and Lewis meticulously explains why he believes few understand the true nature of friendship. He blames the suspicion that arouses when the collective sees the growth of individual friendships, an envious "democratic" sentiment that grows jealous when one may not be the friend of someone else, and the accusation that homosexuality may underlie deep friendships among the same gender. Lewis also clarifies the difference between companionship and friendship. For many people, those whom they would consider "friends" are simply "companions." Friendship is more than just sharing something in common. According to Lewis, it is a "shared vision" able to produce "an immense solitude." Friendship must be ABOUT something, friends must seek the same truth for it to be more than affection or companionship.
Lewis also suggests that friendship always desires to grow among others unlike eros, which needs to stay between two people, friendship always longs for new friends. The qualification to join, is the pursuit of a common interest, a transcendent truth that allows friends to look ahead at what they seek. Friends together seek something "more inward, less widely shared, and less easily defined." Continuing, Lewis beautifully writes, "we picture lovers face to face but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead."
Yet what are the rewards of true friendship according to Lewis? Lewis describes true friendship as "that luminous, tranquil, rational world of relationships freely chosen.... This alone of all the loves seemed to raise you to the level of gods or angels." It is this type of love that is "even as great a love as eros." It is not self-conscious for "eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities." This type of love is meant for its own sake. Writes Lewis
I have no duty to be anyone's Friend and no man in the world has a duty to be mine. No claims, no shadow of necessity. Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.
Lewis also warns against the dangers of friendship, specifically pride and the type of exclusivity that exist so that we may bask "in the moonshine of our collective self-approval." Rather the true purpose of friendship is found within God's sovereign plan so that we might know Him better.
Friendship is not a reward for or discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good friendship, increased by Him through the friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as for revealing.
I have been so blessed by not only these insights from Lewis, but the pictures of friendship God has shown me over the past three years. I can only hope that as I strive to be a better friend to those whom God has called me to love and serve, that the love I have for my friends, will be a shadow like that which exists between the angels.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Thoughts on Junior Year
I believe learned more about life this past year than ever before. I still am unable to get over how fast the year went, but I am thankful it is finished. I will miss many friends, however, especially the seniors who were such an incredible part of my college community and are now moving on to other things. I am excited for this summer, the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. and spend some time with friends down there. I've compiled a list of sorts of some of the highlights of this past year along with a few quotations at the end which I think best summarize the important things I have learned.
*I took the best, most influential, and most difficult classes of my life this past year. Last fall I took Dr. Birzer's Sectionalism and Civil War remains my favorite history class at Hillsdale. I also took Dr. Westblade's Seminar on the Life of Jonathan Edwards which was not only a great spiritual blessing, but it provided me with a senior thesis topic on the Edwards's covenant theology. Both classes I took with Dr. Gamble this past year reintroduced me to St. Augustine's City of God and helped me understand the danger of the earthly borrowing from the transcendent in relation to America's religious identity.
*This spring I took Dr. Birzer's American Order and Disorder which focused on the problems of modernity, the error of humanism divorced from Christianity, and the power of the imagination as a means to understanding myth and the revealed Logos in history. From Russell Kirk to Eric Voegelin, I understand the reasons why modernity can never fulfill what it promises. Also, the lectures on T.S. Eliot forever changed my life and the way I view the world. I also took the "capstone" Hillsdale class, Artes Liberales. The class is taught by two professors, Dr. Whalen a professor of English and our associate provost, and Dr. Kalthoff our outgoing Dean of Faculty and current Chair of the History Department. For three hours on Wednesday afternoons, we talked about the importance of a liberal education, why and how one could pursue it, and the insufficiencies of modern day education, of vocational training, specialization, and practical knowledge. Liberal education is a lifestyle, a way to live with a well-ordered soul. This class tied in many of the big ideas that I had long been wrestling with, and synthesized great thinkers of the western tradition from Plato, to Aristotle, to Cicero, to Augustine, to Aquinas, to Melanchton, through many of the founders of the American Republic.
*I grew closer to many of my professors. I enjoyed many lunches and dinners with Dr. Gamble, Dr. Westblade, and Dr. Birzer. What a blessing to be at a school where the professors care about the spiritual and intellectual lives of their students!
*It was a blessing to see the growth of Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the community that Rev. Henes and his family worked to build among the students.
*I had an awesome year as an RA and was blessed with some of the most wonderful guys on campus. I also developed very close friendships, and strengthened many existing ones. I look forward to returning as the student house director of my dorm in the fall.
*Revived interest in the American Studies major at Hillsdale. I was elected president of the American Studies Honorary, Delta Pi Nu, and look forward to the coming year to recruiting new members and promoting stimulating intellectual discussion around campus.
*Building a campfire in the middle of winter, and reading G.K. Chesterton's "The Ballad of the White Horse" by the light of the fire.
*The many great nights of reading the Bible, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, and other great authors out loud in the dorm.
*Delicious taco nights at the Ramp with four amazing girls, Hannah, Elyse, Bethany, and Jami, three of whom graduated this past weekend.
*Many many many fun times. Dances, concerts, Michigan Football game, Detroit Tigers game, chilling at the Donnybrook (off-campus house with a number of good friends), fall break in Chicago, Spring Break in NYC, etc. It was the most stressful academic year, but there was also time for plenty of fun!
Here are some great quotations that changed my life and only begin to summarize this past year:
At the back of every discussion of the good society lies this question, What is the object of human life? The enlightened conservative does not believe that the end or aim of life is
competition; or success; or enjoyment; or longevity; or power; or possessions. He believes, instead, that the object of life is Love. He knows that the just and ordered society is that in which Love governs us, so far as Love ever can reign in this world of sorrows; and he knows that the anarchical or the tyrannical society is that in which Love lies corrupt. He has learnt that Love is the source of all being, and that Hell itself is ordained by Love. He understands that Death, when we have finished the part that was assigned to us, is the reward of Love. And he apprehends the truth that the greatest happiness ever granted to a man is the privilege of being happy in the hour of his death.
---Russell Kirk
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
--- T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding" from the Four Quartets
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
--- T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday
Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk; then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.
Knowledge is most truly free when it is philosophical knowledge...
--- John Henry Newman, Idea of a University, Discourse V.
Leisure, then as a condition of the soul-... is the disposition of receptive understanding, of contemplative beholding, and immersion- in the real.
--- Josef Pieper, Leisure the Basis of Culture
*I took the best, most influential, and most difficult classes of my life this past year. Last fall I took Dr. Birzer's Sectionalism and Civil War remains my favorite history class at Hillsdale. I also took Dr. Westblade's Seminar on the Life of Jonathan Edwards which was not only a great spiritual blessing, but it provided me with a senior thesis topic on the Edwards's covenant theology. Both classes I took with Dr. Gamble this past year reintroduced me to St. Augustine's City of God and helped me understand the danger of the earthly borrowing from the transcendent in relation to America's religious identity.
*This spring I took Dr. Birzer's American Order and Disorder which focused on the problems of modernity, the error of humanism divorced from Christianity, and the power of the imagination as a means to understanding myth and the revealed Logos in history. From Russell Kirk to Eric Voegelin, I understand the reasons why modernity can never fulfill what it promises. Also, the lectures on T.S. Eliot forever changed my life and the way I view the world. I also took the "capstone" Hillsdale class, Artes Liberales. The class is taught by two professors, Dr. Whalen a professor of English and our associate provost, and Dr. Kalthoff our outgoing Dean of Faculty and current Chair of the History Department. For three hours on Wednesday afternoons, we talked about the importance of a liberal education, why and how one could pursue it, and the insufficiencies of modern day education, of vocational training, specialization, and practical knowledge. Liberal education is a lifestyle, a way to live with a well-ordered soul. This class tied in many of the big ideas that I had long been wrestling with, and synthesized great thinkers of the western tradition from Plato, to Aristotle, to Cicero, to Augustine, to Aquinas, to Melanchton, through many of the founders of the American Republic.
*I grew closer to many of my professors. I enjoyed many lunches and dinners with Dr. Gamble, Dr. Westblade, and Dr. Birzer. What a blessing to be at a school where the professors care about the spiritual and intellectual lives of their students!
*It was a blessing to see the growth of Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the community that Rev. Henes and his family worked to build among the students.
*I had an awesome year as an RA and was blessed with some of the most wonderful guys on campus. I also developed very close friendships, and strengthened many existing ones. I look forward to returning as the student house director of my dorm in the fall.
*Revived interest in the American Studies major at Hillsdale. I was elected president of the American Studies Honorary, Delta Pi Nu, and look forward to the coming year to recruiting new members and promoting stimulating intellectual discussion around campus.
*Building a campfire in the middle of winter, and reading G.K. Chesterton's "The Ballad of the White Horse" by the light of the fire.
*The many great nights of reading the Bible, T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, and other great authors out loud in the dorm.
*Delicious taco nights at the Ramp with four amazing girls, Hannah, Elyse, Bethany, and Jami, three of whom graduated this past weekend.
*Many many many fun times. Dances, concerts, Michigan Football game, Detroit Tigers game, chilling at the Donnybrook (off-campus house with a number of good friends), fall break in Chicago, Spring Break in NYC, etc. It was the most stressful academic year, but there was also time for plenty of fun!
Here are some great quotations that changed my life and only begin to summarize this past year:
At the back of every discussion of the good society lies this question, What is the object of human life? The enlightened conservative does not believe that the end or aim of life is
competition; or success; or enjoyment; or longevity; or power; or possessions. He believes, instead, that the object of life is Love. He knows that the just and ordered society is that in which Love governs us, so far as Love ever can reign in this world of sorrows; and he knows that the anarchical or the tyrannical society is that in which Love lies corrupt. He has learnt that Love is the source of all being, and that Hell itself is ordained by Love. He understands that Death, when we have finished the part that was assigned to us, is the reward of Love. And he apprehends the truth that the greatest happiness ever granted to a man is the privilege of being happy in the hour of his death.
---Russell Kirk
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
--- T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding" from the Four Quartets
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
--- T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday
Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk; then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.
Knowledge is most truly free when it is philosophical knowledge...
--- John Henry Newman, Idea of a University, Discourse V.
Leisure, then as a condition of the soul-... is the disposition of receptive understanding, of contemplative beholding, and immersion- in the real.
--- Josef Pieper, Leisure the Basis of Culture
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