Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

Recently, some students signed a fake petition to no longer recognize Memorial Day because it glorified “American imperialism.”    One student said, “I’m not celebrating. I do not think Memorial Day should be a thing that we celebrate. … I think it’s a celebration of U.S. imperialism and colonialism. …  ” I didn’t really think this way until I got to college and I took women’s and gender studies classes and that put me on this path where I’m like, ‘Yeah, f**k the US.'”[1]

Unfortunately, this benighted young man’s views are not only an example of the kind of attitudes and expressions that fuel the divisiveness in contemporary America, but they are also reflective of an unhealthy psychological state that renders ineffective what potentially could be some legitimate reforms that lie buried and polluted under a pile of ideological refuse.  In the unlikely event that I could gain the young man’s attention and engage him in a reasoned conversation, I would first point out two errors in his ill-considered remarks.  The first error is historical.  The second is ideological.

The history of Memorial Day hardly supports the charge that it is “a celebration of U.S. imperialism and colonialism.”  Most historians find its origin in Decoration Day, which was a day in which fallen Union soldiers during the Civil War were remembered.  General John A Logan’s proclamation establishing the day states that its purpose was to remember the soldiers whose “lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their death a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms.”  Now, I think that it is doubtful that our young student is an advocate for the Confederate lost cause against the War of Northern Aggression and against the end of race-based slavery; so perhaps he should reconsider his position.

Even if we were to look at other American wars, the claim that they were all in service to American imperialism and colonialism is highly dubious.  Woodrow Wilson, not one of my favorite presidents, would be shocked to learn that American involvement in World War I was imperialistic and in favor of colonialism.  Whatever the drawbacks of his views, the fact is that he thought that it was to free people from tyranny, making the world safe for democracy and ultimately end all wars.  Although one can admit that the tensions between Japan and America before World War II had their origins in global politics, this fact can hardly serve as an adequate explanation of America’s entrance into the war and its conduct of the war, which emphasized the priority of defeating Nazi Germany in Europe.  I will agree that the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars are more debatable.  However, characterizing even these wars solely as imperialistic and colonial is simplistic and only makes sense through the distorted lens of ideological bias.

The ideological basis for the student’s false statement is evident from his explanation of the source of his views in his college women’s and gender studies classes.  I recognize that a serious shortcoming of much traditional historical study is its neglect of the role of women in history and, as have many others, I have benefited greatly from the contribution of women’s studies to the field of history.  I also confess an openness to the possibility that men and women bring differing perspectives that are worth serious consideration not only in historical studies, but in private life and public policy.  Nevertheless, the jump from women’s studies to the condemnation of Memorial Day as imperialistic is illegitimate and undoubtedly reveals the ideological nature, probably Marxist, of his studies.

More troubling, if possible, is his concluding statement ‘Yeah, “f**k the US,” which shows that such ideological commitments create a psychological relation to one’s nation that is both unhealthy and unhelpful.  I will first explain the reason ideology creates such problems and then move on to why patriotism is both healthier psychologically and a more fruitful motive and guide for reform.

First, I am not using the word “ideology” in the popular sense of just one’s ideas.  Rather, ideology is a rationalistic theorizing that advocates societal changes without roots in a people’s culture and history.  It is a love of and commitment to abstract ideas in contrast to patriotism’s love of and commitment to a people.  The student’s ideology allows him to separate himself from his own people and say, ‘Yeah, f**k the US.’  He is pure and free from that nation’s sins because he is not a part of it.  His life is in his ideas.  The US is an entity foreign and repulsive to him.

I grew up in a healthy and loving family and am thankful for my parents and the way they shaped who I am.  As I began living away from my family, I was struck by how difficult it was for those whose family experience was not so positive.  They admitted to having to work through their relationships with their fathers or mothers or to have totally rejected them.  In either case, they were clearly suffering and not happy and, speaking frankly, sometimes had problems relating to others.

The same seems to be true regarding one’s relationship to his country.  The psychological problem for the young man is that his ‘Yeah, f**k the US’ is a form of self-hatred.  He is an American and all his ideological commitments will not change that. His ideology creates an unhealthy divide within himself, a false consciousness of who he really is, and a pathetic self-righteousness that causes him to scorn his fellow Americans who celebrate Memorial Day.  Self-hatred leads to hatred of others and divisiveness in society as real and potentially as harmful as other divisive ideologies such as racism and sexism. Hope for the positive reform of America cannot come from such a psychology.

Memorial Day for me is intensely personal because it is familial and patriotic.  I remember my great uncles Eddy and Raymond who died as a result of being gassed in World War I.  Now, understand this.  I never knew them, and I do not think my mother did either.  I remember my sister and me being taken by my mother to the Indiana War Memorial, being shown their names, and the pride I felt.  I remember the sorrow of my grandmother recounting the loss of her two brothers.  I remember with anger the story told of the burial of one of them.  A closed casket with the remains of one of my uncles, I do not remember which, had been shipped from Europe to Madison, Indiana.  A neighbor callously asked my great grandmother how she knew that it was her son.  With great dignity and compassion, she answered, “Well, it is somebody’s son.”  Maternal love led her to care for her son or even the son of another mother. Such experiences led me to react, probably too harshly, to a student’s comment that World War I was a good war since it only lasted four years.  I looked at him steely-eyed and with tightened jaw and replied, “Because of that war I lost two great uncles whom I never got to know.”

I lost my cousin Bubba in the Vietnam War.  We came to know each other when I visited my father’s family in North Carolina.  Bubba and I got along well because of our mutual love of baseball.  When I heard of his death, I was saddened but did not think much more of it.  Years later, at the end of watching the movie We Were Soldiers, I began to weep, weep for Bubba.  His death had entered deeply into my persona without my even being conscious of it.

The death of ones I knew or of those I did not know but were told to me in stories by family members became part of me.  Remembering them and loving my country were inseparable.  What my poor, ignorant ‘Yeah, f**k the US’ fellow American fails to understand is that love not hatred is the force for change.  The lover knows his beloved better than anyone, grieves over her faults, and desires above all to see those faults removed because he loves her.

Today, this Memorial Day, let us remember our fallen, thank God for their sacrifice, love our country, and seek to make her better because we love her.

[1] As reported by the Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/fake-petition-to-end-memorial-day-signed-by-dc-students

 

 

The famed Swiss theologian Karl Barth once spoke of theology as “the most beautiful of all the sciences”[1] because God, its subject, is beautiful.  Theological aesthetics, by which is meant reflection on the nature and experience of beauty using the categories of the Christian[2] revelation, is a subject that only in the past few years has begun to receive serious attention.  It is, however, one in which theological exposition sheds a unique light on individual doctrine and lends itself naturally to worship and the quest for holiness. Read the rest of this entry »

In the realm of epistemology, the Bible brings a richly multifaceted understanding of truth and knowledge. While most traditional philosophical definitions of truth and knowledge focus on concepts and abstractions, the biblical understanding is broader and thus more holistic. Read the rest of this entry »

“As I went down the village street on my way to bed after midnight, the high Alpine valley lay silent in its frozen stillness.  For days it had now lain thus, even the mouths of its cataracts stopped with ice; and for days, too, the dry, tight cold had drawn up the nerves of the humans in it to a sharp, thin pitch of exhilaration that at last began to call for the gentler comfort of relaxation.  The key has been a little too high, the inner tautness too prolonged.  The tension of that implacable north-east wind, the bise noire, had drawn its twisted wires too long through our very entrails.  We all sighed for some loosening of the bands—the comforting touch of something damp, soft, less penetratingly acute.”

I read these lines from Algernon Blackwood’s short story “The South Wind” while seated on our deck during a late April morning, one of the first warm and sunny days following several cold, rainy ones in which winter seemed unwilling to lose its grip.  My initial reaction was twofold.  The first was envy.  I wished that I could write that well.  The second was an admission of the truthfulness of the sentiment, even by one such as I who likes the cold, bracing feel of winter.  Even that pleasure I have in winter is, to use Blackwood’s words, “a sharp, thin pitch of exhilaration,” a “tautness.”  Yes, it was time for “some loosening of the bands,” “the comforting touch of something … less penetratingly acute.”  It was time for spring.  I sat back, felt the sun on my face and relaxed with a sigh.

Then, because of the interrelatedness of life, my mind turned to the stay-at-home order during this corona virus pandemic.  My feelings were contradictory.  On the one hand, it has been rather pleasant for me.  I’m an introvert; so, I enjoy being alone.  However, I am a fortunate introvert. My wife and I have been able to continue receiving our salaries.  We have a nice home, living in a nice area in which walks are pleasant and it is easy to maintain social distancing.  We remain healthy, have not suffered from the loss of loved ones, and have no small children to care for.  On the other hand, thousands have died, or lost their health, jobs, and loved ones.  Others, more socially oriented than I, are suffering emotionally from the isolation. Their nerves are taut, and they need a break, “some loosening of the bands.”

While fully cognizant of those terrible losses, since this life of ours is contradictory,there is a benefit to the sheltering, now of nearly two months duration.  The workload at school was heavy.  I was tired but did not realize it until we had to shift to online teaching.  True, there was work to do and technology to conquer or be conquered by, but the pace was different.    My wife, who was placed on administrative leave, was home.  I slept more and was less tense.  We took more time over our meals and in prayer.  We went for walks together.  The period was a kind of rest.

Let me repeat that this has not been the experience of the many who have been hit hard by the disease or directly involved in fighting against it.  Nevertheless, the lesson in slowing the pace of our lives is important for all.  Biblically speaking, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).  Therefore, as God worked, so we were created to work (Genesis 2:15).  With the right attitude work can be fulfilling and a pleasure.  Yet, just as we need to be reminded that as the image of God, we are called to work, so also we must remember that we are called to rest, as God did after his work of creation (Genesis 2:1-3).  One of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel was to cease from their labors one day a week to honor him.  The reason given for this is that God himself had rested on the seventh day (Exodus 20:8-11).

I mentioned that my wife and I take walks and spend more time at our meals.  Today’s families do not regularly eat meals together and often live almost separate lives, each with their own devices watching whatever is of interest to the individual family member.  We moderns tend to be rushed or to make ourselves busy even when we’re not at work. The current difficulty of eating at restaurants and going to the movies and sporting, while real, can become an opportunity to slow down and spend time getting to know other family members.  Rest can allow us to deepen our relationships with those nearest to us.

The mounting death toll from the corona virus also serves as a somber and admittedly unwelcome reminder of our own mortality.  Awareness of our mortality can cause worry and stress and lead some to believe that life is pointless.  However, Hebrews 4:9-10 promises, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”  The eternal rest promised to God’s people is not like the rest of a Sunday afternoon nap—delightful as that can be.  It is rather, the entrance into the fullness of life, a celebration in God’s presence with all his people, and the end of all striving and doubt and suffering.

Algernon Blackwood’s story describes the arrival of spring with the south wind bringing “that sweet and welcome message of relief” from winter’s harshness.  As I savored the warm sunlight and reflected hopefully on the end of this “winter” of quarantine and of all life’s sufferings one day, the last line of Blackwood’s story, a quotation from Job 37:17, eased my mind. “He comforteth the earth with the south wind.”

Sexual sin is so predominantly the sin in the minds of many that the words “lust” and “immorality” are understood to refer exclusively to it.  This error led Dorothy Sayers to title her essay on the seven deadly sins “The Other Six Deadly Sins.”[1] The consequences of this error are so extensive that they need to be exposed before we can even begin to discuss the sin of sexual lust.  We’ll look at the two most deleterious consequences. Read the rest of this entry »

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