For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10)

One of my past meditations from Bonheoffer had to do with work. In his book, No Rusty Swords, he talks about work: “God has called each one of us to do his work in his time.” [1] In his later years, Bonhoeffer realized the importance of lay ministry and the ministry of the people of God in the world. In commenting on this passage, Charles Ringma comments:

We are not simply to be guardians of the good things that God has done in the past, nor are we only those who pray for what may happen in the future. We need to be intimately involved in the issues of our time. Different members of the Christian church will identify these issues differently. However we arrange our priorities for our world, we must include caring for God’s creation, encouraging good government, sharing the Gospel, and proclaiming justice and righteousness. [2]

This passage contains some profound and essential teachings. First, Christians cannot just worship on Sunday, study our Bibles, and pray about the problems of our world. We must work on making the world a better place as the Kingdom of God enters the world through believers’ lives. Second, we cannot wait for complete agreement among Christians before we act. Different believers will see the world differently. Finally, we must all share our faith and speak out for justice and righteousness, public and private. We must all care for God’s creation. We must all work for better government and lives for those around us.

We must all tend to the garden that God has given us, whether large or small, significant or insignificant.  The Bible begins with the human race in a garden we call “Eden.” Some Christians speak of Eden as if it was a place where there was no need to work. Genesis tells us something about this garden:

 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28).

Genesis 2 puts it this way, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15). It would seem that work was not a curse—it is our resentment that is the curse of sin. Work was a part of God’s intention for the human race.

When I was a lawyer, I hardly ever worked in our yard. I was also at the office or trying to make up for it with the family. As a seminary student, I had no time. Then we moved to Brownsville, Tennessee and our first church. Surrounded by farmers and gardeners on every side (and with plenty of guidance, advice, and good counsel at hand, for which I am thankful), I planted a garden in the backyard of the manse and later on in our home. When we moved to Memphis, my training in Brownsville allowed me to do most of the landscaping. Based on all this, I can tell my readers one unavoidable truth: Gardening, even in paradise, is hard work, especially on a hot, muggy summer day in the American Southwest.

We human beings were made for work. We were made for the work of making the world a better place. We were made to till the garden of God’s good creation. We were made to expend the energy, strength, and brains that God has given us in the precise way we can best do that. We were made and remade in Christ “for the good works God prepared for us beforehand to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day happens to be one of my favorite holidays. This is the weekend we celebrate the working people of America. Labor Day reminds us of all the endless generations of farmers who built a nation of plenty out of the wilderness. Labor Day reminds us of those who opened the West, built the transcontinental railways, created the most significant manufacturing nation in the world, and made our nation the “Arsenal of Democracy” at a time of great danger to freedom. Labor Day reminds us of those who, even today, work and sweat so that we might live in peace and plenty.

Those of us who have jobs we call “White Collar” need to approach Labor Day with humility. Interestingly, Jesus does not seem to have wanted to enter history either as a religious professional or as a “teacher of the law,” the two careers I have embraced. He speaks ill of them both from time to time. He was content to be born and trained as a carpenter. Jesus was a laborer, and his life, death, and resurrection sanctified all laborers and all honest labor. It is quite likely that God never intended any of us, of whatever abilities, to escape manual labor completely.

The New Monastics

For several weeks, I’ve been meditating on what Benedictine monasticism offers modern people. I’ve mentioned Leslie Newbiggin’s summary of the monastic life as a daily and weekly cycle of study, prayer, and manual work. [3] I hope to be able to write more about the importance of work. We live in a time when pendants proclaim that one day, artificial intelligence, robots, and a host of labor. Saving devices will render most people unemployed. I think that’s a terrible thing to contemplate. I like to say that the economy doesn’t exist to make a few people very rich and many idle. The economy exists to make wholesome work available to the maximum number of people.

Even if we could eliminate work as an unnecessary part of human life, it would not be a blessing. It would be a tragedy and a curse. One need not look any further than the very wealthy or privileged children to understand that work is essential for developing character, physical and emotional health, and a sense of well-being and self-worth.

The monastic division of the day into prayer, study, and work was not simply an accommodation to the necessity of providing for the community’s needs. Of course, it did provide for the needs of the community. Work provides for a person’s and their family’s needs by participating in the greater economy of the community as a whole. Work is a part of that web of relationships by which we, human beings, use our natural talents and abilities and participate in the society of which we are a part. Work is not a curse—it is a blessing.

In her excellent book, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today, Joan Chittester gives a sustained teaching about the rule, including the rule as it pertains to work. [4] She points out two misconceptions that every human being, including contemplatives, must live with. The first is exemplified by workaholics, who sacrifice everything: family, friendships, and even a relationship with God for work, money, status, and success. The second is exemplified by those who see work as a hindrance to enjoying the “higher things in life,” such as time to think, study, recreation, or whatever a person considers more important than work. In religious people, this can be regarded as “pseudo-contemplation.” Some people make work their God. When we do this, most of us don’t explain it to ourselves that way, but it’s true. We’ve decided that work is the most essential thing in our lives.

On the other hand, some people believe work hinders some greater good, even a spiritual good. These people are pseudo-contemplative or pseudo-religious. They seek pleasure and recreation to avoid work. In my life, I have known highly religious people who shortchanged their employers on the theory that it was more important to do “God’s work.” This is a great mistake. Our work, the work we do daily to make a living, is God’s work. As Chittester puts it,

Laziness and irresponsibility are forms of injustice and thievery. They take from the people of the earth. We were not put on the earth to be cared for. We were put on earth to care for it. [5]

Between the two extremes of workaholism and false spirituality, many of us devalue or overestimate work. Part of the Christian life is achieving a balance between over and undervaluing work.

In concluding her chapter, Chittester summarizes a Benedictine view of work as follows:

• Work is my gift to the world.
• Work is the way I am saved from total self-centeredness.
• Work gives me a place in God’s economy of salvation.
• Work in the Benedictine vision is to build community.
• Work leads to self-fulfillment as we use our gifts and abilities.
• Work has its own asceticism (discipline).
• Work finally is a way in which we live in poverty and solidarity with the poor. [6]

This last may seem a bit difficult to understand. If we think that part of what we earn is to be given away for the service of God and other people, then, in a sense, we achieve a kind of poverty, a kind of solidarity with the poor.

Conclusion

Perhaps it is true that the human race is reaching a point where many people will be able to live lives of constant leisure while others provide for them. Possibly, those others will be artificial intelligence or robots. Somehow, I doubt that’s going to be the case. Even if it were to be possible, however, it’s a bad idea. We were meant to worship God. We were meant to be in a relationship with God. We were meant for prayer, spiritual reading, and study. We were also meant to put what we know and feel into practice daily as we work and till the garden into which we have been placed.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, No Rusty Swords (New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1977). This book is a collection of Bonhoeffer’s writings on various subjects.

[2] Charles Ringma, Seize the Day with Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Colorado Springs, CO: Pinion Press, 2000), reading for August 25.

[3] Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1995), 13.

[4] Joan Chittester, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1990), Chapter 7.

[5] Id, at 87.

[6] Id, at 92-93.

A couple of weeks ago, I began a series on the Benedictine Rule, as it might be, lived out in ordinary life. Last week, I mentioned that the roots of the rule are a life structured around prayer, Bible study, and work. In a monastery, there’s almost always an opportunity for physical labor by many people. There are also a number of tasks that require intellectual labor. For example, in the Middle Ages, many monks worked in the fields while others copied manuscripts. The key was finding work appropriate for each member of the order. This week, I am focused on Christian action and the work we do day by day in the name of Christ.

One reason for this week’s focus is how Kathy and I spent the last few days. Beginning last Thursday and until yesterday evening, we were in Oaxaca, Mexico. Our first reason for being there was primarily a conference held by a local Presbyterian Church called “MexEd.” MexEd is an annual conference sponsored by churches that participate in what is known as the AMO program in Mexico. A second reason for being in Oaxaca was that this very same church is a leader in what is called “MoviPres,” which involves a movement of indigenous churches to strengthen Presbyterian churches in Mexico.

Feeding Children in Love through AMO

AMO. is an acronym for “Feed My Lambs” because in Romance languages, including Spanish, the verb “amo” means “I love.” The AMO Program is designed to cultivate a classically informed Biblical worldview, Christian mindset, Christian imagination, and Christian conscience in children ages 6-14. The founders of AMO desired to create a curriculum that would restore the heart-to-heart and mind-to-mind relationship between parents and children in the classroom and a unified experience of community love, education, and character formation focused on strengthening families and helping children, many of whom are in poorer countries develop the character and abilities to achieve success in life.

Moving Churches into Action through MoviPres

MoviPres began in the Presbyterian Church of Mexico and is a training vehicle by which local churches, presbyteries, and higher governing bodies in Mexico can be trained to share the gospel and grow. One of the things that first attracted me to MoviPres is that the strategy is very similar to that recommended by Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Christian Disciple-Making [1]and embodied in a book that Kathy and I wrote entitled Salt and Light: Every Day Discipleship. [2] When I first read the curriculum produced by MoviPres, I could see that they had designed an excellent strategy for the disciple-making situation in Mexico.

Our church in San Antonio began developing a relationship with The AMO Program many years ago. In recent years, our partners have introduced us to MoviPres. We were in Mexico partially because MoviPres has agreed to help strengthen churches along the border inside the United States in South Texas, and we needed to work out some details concerning how we might go about this.

Four Long Days

On the first day, we toured the lovely city where the conference would be held. Located in the mountains south and east of Mexico City, Oaxaca is part of one of the poorest areas in Mexico. Nevertheless, the city is beautiful, and the climate is lovely at this time of the year. (It was 100° in San Antonio while we were gone and about 77 degrees at the high in the mountains where we were. It rained every afternoon for just a few minutes before evening came when the temperatures were usually around 60 degrees.) We rapidly discovered that the architecture was beautiful, the food was terrific, and the people were friendly and happy to explain their culture and heritage.

The highlight of the first morning was touring the “Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán,” the most famous church in Oaxaca. There is also a lovely Cathedral located in the city’s central plaza. The Santo Domingo church has Roman Catholic heritage, stunning architecture, and dramatic inlaid pillars and statutes. For this part of the day, our hostess was a delightful young woman, Majo, who received a scholarship from Biblicus Mexico, which I will discuss later, and who studied in South Texas, where she also worked and engaged in mission.

The Conference and Meetings

In the late afternoon, we met with our hosts to plan a conference in South Texas sometime this fall or next spring and to work out some details that had become confusing. This meeting, as well as the conference, was held at Amor y Proclamación Presbyterian Church. What a comparison there is between the ancient and lovely architecture of the Catholic churches and the simplicity of Amor y Proclamación, which meets in rented facilities that used to be a nightclub. The people in the church have worked tirelessly to reconfigure the building as a church and educational facility.

 Around 5:00 in the evening, the conference began. Around 100 lay people from all over Mexico, but mainly from the south of Mexico City, attended the meeting. They were there to learn how to start or expand an AMO program in their church and understand their culture better.

There were four kinds of speakers during the conference, which lasted two full days, morning until night:

• Speakers concentrated on the cultural situation in Mexico and much of the world.
• Speakers that concentrated on the theory behind AMO.
• Speakers that gave practical discussions concerning how to begin and operate an AMO program.
• The church pastor who sponsored the mixed event is also the president of MoviPres.

The main speaker, Eric Tucker, is a professor of philosophy in Florida who was a missionary in Mexico for many years. Eric was born in Michigan and raised in Mexico. Throughout his life, he has lived and worked in various parts of Latin America, spending more time in Latin America than in the US. His doctorate is in Intercultural Studies with a minor in Adult Education. He teaches various courses, all related in some way to ethics, including Professional and Healthcare Ethics, Business Administration, World Religions, Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Managing Cultural Diversity, Service Learning, and other Honors College courses. His focus is teaching students to grow in love with learning and develop their unique abilities and calling. He discussed the barriers to transmitting Christianity and basic moral principles in contemporary society, particularly the academic and political culture prevalent in Mexico and Latin America. He stayed in our hotel, and we became friends. He was quite good.

The second speaker is the woman who runs the AMO program not just in Mexico but for most of Latin America and the Caribbean. Francelia Chavez de McReynolds helps with our church’s various ministries in Mexico and works full-time with AMO. She and her husband, Chris, live about half the year in South Texas and half the year in Mexico. Raquel Cahuich, a scholarship recipient from another program our church has sponsored called “Biblicus Mexico,” spoke on the challenges of curriculum design in Mexico. Finally, and most impressively, a group of women in charge of AMO programs all over Mexico spoke about various parts of the challenges in starting and maintaining such a program.

I want to stop momentarily to describe this particular group of speakers further. As I’ve already said, all the speakers were good; some were highly educated and competent. This last group of speakers was, to me, the most impressive. Most of them spoke with few or no notes. Some of the talks were as long as 45 minutes. Each woman was open, frank, informative, highly intelligent, and fluent. I was sitting there most of the time wondering if most American churches could field such a robust speaking group of laypersons! It was, for me, the most inspiring part of the conference.

Our host for the conference is a very unusual and talented person. Trained as a medical doctor, a profession he continues to practice, Rev. Josias Luna took off time in midlife to come to the United States and study theology. Upon his return to Mexico, he planted the church Amor y Proclamación. Rev. Luna and his wife, Elizabeth, introduced their congregation to AMO in 2012. Josias and Elizabeth established the program in Oaxaca and enrolled to become certified AMO trainers in Mexico several years later. Today, they are leaders in the AMO program in Mexico.

The Lunas are a wonderful couple, and they hosted us for dinner the last evening after their exhausting leadership of the conference. The Lunas experienced growth as they emphasized Biblical, Christian education in their family. The couple recruited a team and shepherded its practical implementation in the church. After twelve years of successful discipleship in their family and church, they are on the Amo training faculty, instructing classes to form other Spanish-speaking AMO teachers.

Kathy and Mexico

Through the efforts of my wife, Kathy, we have been able to develop friendships and ministry partners throughout Mexico. She spends endless hours on the telephone and the computer coordinating various ministry opportunities of our church in Mexico. This trip was the beginning of new initiatives and the completion of older mission objectives.

Why I Wrote This

I began this blog discussing Saint Benedict and the structure of monastic life. Contemporary churches often focus on teaching. Pastors spend most of their time teaching. This leads inevitably to the church’s focus on transmitting biblical knowledge and theology. After many years of ministry, I’ve come to the view that the purpose of the church is to embody Christ in a local community. The pastor’s purpose is to draw people into discipleship in the church so that they may reflect Christ in their everyday lives. This inevitably involves a lot of work.

Mission occurs every day, wherever we are and in whatever we choose to do. The question is, “What kind of mission am I doing?” The rhythm of prayer, study, and work is essential as we transmit the love of Christ into the world that so desperately needs it. For many years, I have followed a kind of rule of life that divided my day into prayer, exercise, study, and work. In retirement, I’ve tried to keep roughly the same balance, though I now have more time for exercise than was possible while practicing law or engaged in ministry. The only difference is that I don’t get paid for most of my labor!

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] G. Christopher Scruggs, Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Relational Disciple-Making Revised and Expanded version (Richmond Virginia: Living Dialogue, 2024).

[2] G. Christopher and Kathy Scruggs, Salt & Light: Every Day Discipleship (Collierville, TN: Innovo Publishing, 2024).

Last week, I dealt with the description by Alisdair MacIntire of Western Civilization as invaded by the New Barbarians and waiting for a kind of “New St. Benedict.” Naturally, many Christian writers have taken up the call. I’m not immune from this temptation. MacIntyre has warned that he does not mean this to be taken in a narrow or fundamentalist way. This week, I will continue with this blog, primarily taken from my book, Path of Life, as we investigate how we got into this situation in the first place. [1]

Christians in Early 21^st Century America

Alisdair MacIntyre begins his book, After Virtue, with a story. [2] “Imagine,” he says, “that the natural sciences were to suffer the effects of a catastrophe.” He goes on to describe an environmental disaster that is unfairly blamed on the scientific community. After riots, acts of violence, deaths, and destruction, a “know nothing” party takes control and abolishes the teaching of science in schools and universities. The remaining scientists are imprisoned. After some time, there is a change in public mood, and a few leaders attempt to restore and revive the scientific community, though hardly anyone remembers exactly how science was practiced. All that remains are fragments of the outstanding achievements of the past.

Slowly but surely, the group attempts to restore science as a discipline, but it isn’t easy. No real scientists are remaining to lead the effort. There are no remaining university departments of physics, chemistry, biology, and the like. Only fragments of the body of past scientific literature remain. Although some of the theorems of science remain known to scholars, they are disconnected and incomplete. Therefore, they memorize parts of the remaining literature, debate the meanings of specific theories, and attempt to teach children elementary principles of science. Unfortunately, what they are doing does not in any way resemble science.

Then MacIntyre makes his point: Moral thinking in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries is in just such a condition. From the beginnings of moral inquiry until the Enlightenment, a form of life dominated Western Europe, and a significant body of literature illuminated and analyzed that way of life. Over the past 300 years, the foundations of Western civilization and culture have been eroded in a period of growing skepticism.

What is sometimes called “Judeo-Christian Culture” forms the historical foundation of Western life and thinking, but the reality of this culture is far more subtle and complex than its name implies. Jews and Christians were profoundly impacted by various cultures of the ancient world and, most importantly, by that culture we sometimes refer to as “Greco-Roman,” the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. For example, the writers of  Biblical wisdom literature were deeply impacted by the broader culture of the ancient Middle East, especially Egypt. They, in turn, were affected by other cultures with which they came into contact. By the beginning of the Modern World (circa 1492 A.D.), Medieval culture was already in contact with, and impacted by, Muslim culture. A portion of what we call Greco-Roman literature was mediated to the West by Islamic sources. The culture of the Far East has deeply impacted modern culture. All of this impacted the development of Western Culture in profound ways.

Attack on the Judeo-Christian World-View

Over the past 300 years, that way of life and body of literature has been attacked, questioned, ridiculed, distorted, forgotten, diminished, and shattered. All we possess today are fragments. We continue to use expressions from the past, but we no longer have a practical comprehension of much of this long history, so we have largely lost the actual practices to which the theories referred. The way of life formed by our history has slowly disintegrated. This is true in secular culture. Worse, it is true among Christians. We use the language of faith, but too often, we think, will, choose, and live based on the secular world around us.

Nowhere is the problem of a loss of cultural heritage more apparent than in the church. Church members and leaders often use the traditional language of Christian faith, life, and morality. Still, that language has lost its connection with the concrete reality of their day-to-day lives. Their lives and ours are often formed by the values and lifestyle of a culture increasingly alienated from its roots.

For example, most Christians understand that one of the Ten Commandments prohibits adultery and that marriage is in some sense sacred. Pastors preach sermons on the subject. Members attend Bible studies where the principles are espoused. Guest speakers and cultural commentators speak and write about family values. Christians often send their children to Christian schools where traditional ethics are taught, sometimes too forcefully. Yet, studies show that American Christians have affairs, divorce, and dishonor marriage in pretty much the same way as non-Christians.

Many young people are frankly nonchalant about the Biblical teaching concerning pre-marital sex. As a pastor, I can testify to what young people will say and admit to in a safe environment. Publicly, they mouth the principles of traditional morals—especially in front of their parents and religious leaders. Privately, they find their way around them—or ignore them altogether. They do this because the moral world they truly inhabit is formed by the cultural world in which they live and breathe every moment they are not in church or Bible study. While they know the language of Judeo-Christian culture, they no longer inhabit and live out the reality of it.

Sex is not the only area in which Judeo-Christian culture no longer meaningfully impacts social behavior. Pre-modern societies usually regulated, and perhaps even overregulated, economic life. There was an attempt to regulate economic life so that the rich and poor could live together without one party taking undue advantage of the other. For example, the limitation of interest rates through usury laws was based on religious and moral concerns. Late modern and post-modern societies, capitalist and socialist, have tended to exclude religious and ethical considerations from business and economic policies. The result is that many Christians and Jews employ in their business lives strategies that the Bible and their respective traditions expressly or implicitly condemn.

There is something deeply mistaken with how modern and post-modern people fail to internalize Scripture, the truths of the Christian faith, and the way of life they imply. Even when Christians memorize the foundational texts of the Christian tradition, they often have ceased to express and control the realities of everyday life. On the theological left, the words of Scripture do not have objective content; they express religious feelings. On the theological right, the words of Scripture express a proclaimed inerrant content, an infallible truth that is often mentally accepted but does not impact behavior. In neither case does it seem that these words end up “written on the tablet of the heart” (Proverbs 3:3).

From Enlightenment to Modernity

What went wrong? The story Alystair MacIntyre tells is a hidden retelling of the story of the modern world. There was a time when what might be called Judeo-Christian faith and ethical practices and theories stemming from the works of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas dominated Western life. The majority of people were Christian, at least in name. The Roman Catholic Church, the monastic orders, and the teachers of the nascent universities in Europe were dominated by the thinking of these great teachers. Yes, there were doubters. Yes, there were other traditions. However, the Christian faith and the ethics of Aristotle, as modified by Thomas Aquinas, reflected an intellectual and moral consensus.

This societal consensus deteriorated during the Renaissance (1500-1600) and Reformation (1517-1648). The Renaissance was a time of rediscovery of the classical Greek tradition. It also laid the foundations for the Reformation’s convulsions. The Reformation was a time of Biblical renewal in faith and morals, but it was also the beginning of the modern questioning of authority, secular and religious. Then, in the 1700’s, the “Enlightenment” began. The Enlightenment was a time when Western Europe discovered the power of human critical reason (Descartes), the method of science (Newton), skepticism towards authority (the French “Philophes”), and belief in human progress (the scientific and industrial revolution).

A central feature of the Enlightenment and the Modern Age has been rejecting tradition, religious institutions (especially the European Roman Catholic Church), and any kind of knowledge that cannot be “proved” by human critical reason. The result has been a loss of the social and religious foundations for moral and ethical reasoning. Although our society is a scientific and technical marvel, it is culturally, intellectually, ethically, morally, and spiritually impoverished—with all the human suffering and damaged lives that the word “poverty” implies.

From Modernity to Post-Modernity

“What does this have to do with me?” some may ask. The answer is simple: the world we live in was created, for better and for worse, by the upheaval of the Enlightenment. We see the wonders of technology and the results of the scientific method. All of us experience the benefits of modern medicine. We all understand the benefits of industrialization and the dramatically increasing living standards. The benefits and progress of the Modern Age have been enormous.

Just as we all experience the benefits of the Modern Age, we also experience its limitations. With the successes of the scientific method, people began to see that method as applicable to all knowledge—and forms of knowledge, such as religious and moral beliefs, that are not susceptible to scientific proof, were often ignored or scorned. With the successes of science and technology, people began to believe that all the problems of human society could be solved by science and its application to human problems.

With the advancement of human society’s material aspects, people began to believe that material progress, often visualized in scientific and industrial terms, was both inevitable and potentially unending. Science and human reasoning, when applied to the problems of human life and existence, would continue to improve human life and provide a final consummation of the human heart’s yearning for meaning, purpose, health, prosperity, goodness, truth, and beauty.

Perhaps most importantly, critical reason, the very center of the Enlightenment project, began to attack the foundations of society itself. It attacked all moral claims and all claims for truth. With the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his followers, the principles of the Enlightenment began to be attacked first in the Apartments of philosophy, then in departments of literature, and finally in popular culture as a whole.

The Post-Modern World

Then came the tumults of the Twentieth Century. Two Great Wars, one ending with the use of a weapon that made possible the destruction of civilization, cast doubt upon the inevitability of progress. The destruction of human civilization became as realistic an alternative as its continued progress. The myth of progress and the hope of a human paradise created by science and human reason began to die.

Although scientific innovation continued at an accelerated pace and the standard of living improved in Western Europe and America, people remained the same. Although industrial society continued to develop, socio-economic inequities and environmental degradation troubled many people. Amidst the wealth of the West, doubts and anxiety plagued many people. Much was gained due to the Enlightenment and the Modern Era, but much has been lost.

Until recently, the moral skepticism of intellectual and cultural elites, which emerged during the modern period, impacted only a few people. The moral tradition of the West formed the majority of people. With the increasing importance of the media, the moral values of the few have become the moral values of the many. We now live in a society without consistent and widely accepted personal morality and behavior norms. The results of this phenomenon can be found in every city, town, village, church, school, and neighborhood in America.

Most observers believe that the human race is entering a period that, for now, takes the name “postmodern.” In a way, the name reflects uncertainty concerning the positive aspects of our new cultural environment. All the term “postmodernism” connotes is that the postmodern world is after the modern world. In some ways, we can’t see what the postmodern world is or will be like in the future; we only know that the modern era is over. What is to come is unclear.

The pillars of the Enlightenment were (1) confidence in human critical and scientific reason, (2) a faith that human reason, and especially the scientific method, would usher in a kind of Golden Age in which many of the world’s most vexing problems were once and forever solved, (3) a belief in a universal morality discernible by reason alone, and (4) hostility towards tradition, traditional forms of life, and traditional religion.

Each of these pillars of Enlightenment thinking crumbled under the pressure of the wars and violence of the 20^thcentury, the terrible suffering inflicted by the ideological regimes of Nazism and Communism, and the perception that Western Capitalism is itself a kind of ideology that has destructive impacts on the environment and local cultures. Philosophically, the critical posture of philosophers from Nietzsche to the present, and especially the advocates of what is sometimes called “deconstructionism,” further undermined a belief in universal reason and morality. Culturally, the growth of education and the rise of what is sometimes called “multiculturalism” further relativized almost any imaginable moral or religious system or belief. [3]

Back to the question, “What does this have to do with me?” Although few of us ponder the deep religious and philosophical issues raised by modern culture, we live in the boiling social and cultural cauldron of its results. Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents grew up in rural communities. Our parents and grandparents built great industries and the cities their growth required. Today, all over the world, many people live in giant metropolises. Most of us live in relatively large cities. Some of us live in great conglomerations of cities, including New York-Washington, Houston-Dallas-San Antonio, and the San Francisco-Los Angeles-San Diego corridors.

Most of us do not live near relatives, parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents in close-knit extended families. Let’s listen to or watch the media. We see it played-out lifestyles deeply at odds with not only traditional Judeo-Christian lifestyles but also profoundly at odds with the cultural traditions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or almost any other traditional cultural norm. Day after day, the popular media, driven by advertising, promotes a culture that is deeply materialistic, deeply romantic, deeply sensual, and (despite its claims to reasonableness) deeply unreasonable. Those who work in social service agencies, churches, and other religious areas see daily the impact of our shared culture on the lives of ordinary people.

For a long time during the Enlightenment and much of the Modern world, losing contact with a tradition of faith and morals did not devastatingly impact culture. Ordinary people continued to go to church or synagogue. They grew up with their character formed by the saga of Israel, Christ, and the Church. They read Plutarch’s “Lives of the Noble Romans and Greeks.” People knew the old songs and old stories. They lived in a world formed by a heritage that began when God appeared to Abraham and Socrates walked the streets of Athens. Though intellectual and cultural elites had long ago given up the faith that formed them, they were still formed by the heritage they rejected.

With the advent of modern media and the pervasive impact of movies, television, and the internet, all this has changed. Another story—a story deeply incoherent but filled with seductive images of wealth, power, violence, and pleasure—forms the character of not just a few but of the many. We now live in the aftermath of that cultural and moral disaster, a disaster precisely like the one MacIntyre describes. At best, we live among the fragments of a cultural past. Most of us live among its bombed-out ruins, like survivors of the great bombings of the Second World War in Britain, France, Germany, or Japan.

Our life among the ruins of Western Civilization breeds rootlessness in many different ways. It is the author’s conviction that the deepest need of our culture is to reconnect with the traditional wisdom of the ancient world. This does not mean that we must jettison or reject the accomplishments of the modern world. It does not mean retreating into a pre-modern culture. It means reaching deep beyond and before Modernity into the cultural traditions from which the modern world emerged to recover the best and most important part of what has been lost. In the West, this involves reaching deep into the Judeo-Christian tradition and the secular roots of our culture found in the culture of Greece and Rome. Under the cultural conditions of the West today, it also means reaching into other cultures’ wisdom and moral traditions in the quest for knowledge and moral truth.

A Return to Leslie Newbigin

This is where I return to Lesslie Newbigin and his book, Proper Confidence. [4] In Proper Confidence, Newbigin outlines the importance of Benedict for Western history. Born into that period we called the “Dark Ages,” Benedict created an order that modeled a form of Christian life appropriate to an agricultural and primarily rural economy, forming one of the bedrock institutions of the Middle Ages. In the process, as his monasteries spread all across Europe, the population of Europe was given a visual, embodied example of the kind of society that Christians could flourish in. In addition, the network of monasteries, Benedictine and otherwise, allowed Christian civilization to spread throughout Europe.

Benedict was not a revolutionary. He built upon the work of others who had preceded him, particularly Pachomius, John Cassian, and Augustine. Here is how Newbigin describes his achievement:

The Benedictine rule, with its balanced combination of prayer, manual work, and study was firmly based on the Bible. At the center of the life of each community was the continual reading of the Bible, both in study and in the worship of the community. The biblical story came to be the one story that shaped the understanding of who we are, where we come from, and where we are going. In the constant remembering of the great events of creation and salvation through the liturgical year, in the popular drama of the streets, and in the pictures that surrounded the congregation as they gathered for worship, it was the story that was their mental framework, the story that defined human life and its meaning and destiny. [5]

When Alistair McIntyre invites us to await the coming of a new Benedict, I don’t think he’s inviting us to wait for the return of St Benedict and the conversion of Western civilization to a pre-modern state. Unlike in Benedict’s Europe, most people today do not live in ruled areas or engage in agriculture as a way of life. More and more frequently, people live in cities today, and the world population is centered in great metropolitan areas of such size and complexity that would have been unimaginable even a century ago.

Nevertheless, we have much to learn from St. Benedict. I suggest that whatever emerges amidst the ruins of modern civilization will have a monastic look. Prayer and meditation will sit at the foundation of life. The value of manual labor will be reestablished, especially as artificial intelligence does many tasks previously done by intellectual laborers. Finally, the great religious traditions of the world, if they can learn to work together, we’ll have a place. For Christians, this means that the Bible’s story of God, who is both wisdom and love, will sit at the center of the life recommended by our new St. Benedict.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] G. Christopher Scruggs, Path of Life (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014).

[2] Alisdair MacIntyre, After Virtue 2^nd ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 1.

[3] For a Christian introduction to Post Modernism, see Gene Edward Veith, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture (Irvine, CA: Crossway Books, 1994).

[4] Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt & Certainty in Christian Disicpleship (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans 1995).

[5] Id, 13.

This week, I return to one of my earlier books for this blog every so often. Almost everything I have written was published initially as part of this blog, but the precise chapter I will be visiting was written before I had a blog. The reason it’s on my mind is because twice in the last week, people have mentioned Alastair McIntyre’s After Virtue to me, which has been a very important book in my intellectual growth. [1]In one case, a professor was talking to me about his students. He began to speak about most of his students’ characterological and emotional issues. His statement to me was something like, “Every new class seems to be more dysfunctional and to have more difficulty conceiving of any kind of a disciplined moral life. I think it has to do with our educational system and how it has abandoned the teaching virtues over the last century. This is not just true in the United States, but worldwide where Western civilization has been important.” The second person with whom I spoke was interested in a comment by Leslie Nubin that Saint Benedict reacted to the decline of the Roman Empire and the institutional corruption of the church to create a new way of life that could penetrate the largely rural Europe of his day. I was thinking about the rule of Saint Benedict and its meaning for us today.

A New St. Benedict?

Near the end of After Virtue, MacIntyre cryptically speaks of the end of Western Civilization as we know it and of a “new dark age” in which we now live. This New Dark Age is characterized by a loss of faith in truth and the reality of spiritual and moral values. Its results are seen in our societies’ pervasive spiritual and moral decay and the loss of confidence in our institutions. MacIntyre ends his book with no answer, only a general direction in which Western culture might go:

What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us. And if the tradition of virtues was able to survive the last dark ages, we are not entirely without grounds for hope. This time, however, the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for some time. And, it is our lack of consciousness of this that constitutes part of our predicament. We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another—doubtless very different—St. Benedict. [2]

In this short conclusion, McIntyre gives just a clue as to our predicament and the probable way Western society might escape the New Dark Age.

Benedict of Nursia (493-547) lived at the end of the Roman era when the world was moving from one cultural milieu to another. The classical world was over. The culture created by Greece and Rome had burned itself out. What we call the Fall of Rome ended a long period of decay as the classical world came to its political, intellectual, moral, and religious end. During Benedict’s lifetime, Western had already entered a dark time of cultural dissolution and decay.

There are many parallels between Europe at the time of Benedict and our culture. We also live at a juncture in history. The modern world is over. Something different is emerging, a culture we call post-modern, but it is too early to tell precisely what this new culture will be like.

Amid this turbulent period—St. Benedict created a rule and a form of life that gave order to Catholic monasticism. [3]The achievements of St. Benedict and the other Roman Catholic reformers who created the culture of the Middle Ages were not revolutionary. Benedict believed in the truth of orthodox Christian faith and the adequacy of the morality of the Bible and the Christian tradition. His task, unlike that of the new barbarians among us, was not to create a “new religion,” “new morality,” or “new society,” but to establish the religion, morality, and society of the pre-modern world upon more secure intellectual and practical foundations. Benedict was the inheritor and protector of a tradition.

Fundamental to St. Benedict’s program was that the church and society of his day could not be renewed without a visible picture of what a renewed society might look like. The medieval orders were a kind of embodied picture of what could be—of what the Roman Catholic Church could look like and what a wise society built on the foundations of Christian faith and practice might look like. The monks lived out their notion of what a renewed Christendom might look like.

The Medieval orders were primarily a way of life structured through an institution (the order and monastery) where individuals found meaning and a place in a society where spiritual values lay at the center of human life. Their days were punctuated by work, worship, and rest. One can critique the success of the orders in achieving their program, but at least they attempted it. For countless people within and without the orders, they were the source of a life with meaning and purpose devoted to God, truth, beauty, and virtue.

A Life Structured Around Scripture

Benedict, like the Protestant Reformers after him, shaped a way of life structured around the Bible and the story of the Bible. Protestants often critique the Catholic orders as “unbiblical.” This prejudice cannot survive a day of living in a community structured by reading Scripture and worshiping God. A renewed Western Civilization that does not spring from a renewed commitment to a life structured around the Biblical story and Christian faith is unlikely to impact our culture in a powerful and lasting way. At the center of any life lived by indwelling the Christian story is the figure of Christ, the Word and Wisdom of God revealed in human flesh for all to see.

Much post-modern criticism has been levied on the foundational texts of Western civilization. In its most infantile form, it critiques a society created by “Dead White Men.” This, of course, ignores the facts. The “Children of Abraham and Sarah” and the writers of the Old Testament were Semites. The “Eastern Fathers” were not European and included women and men. Augustine was North African. The body of literature they created is a culturally diverse text.

To reconstruct a stable and wise Western world in Europe and America, it will be necessary to recover the foundational texts of Western culture and add new texts of wisdom as time goes by. In the face of multiculturalism, it will even be necessary to reach deep into the wisdom literature of other cultures and incorporate their wisdom into our thinking. Most importantly, any new Benedict must recover the Bible and its language in such a way that it becomes written on the hearts of contemporary men and women.

A Life Structured Around Worship

The monastic life was and is structured around worship. The monastic day is structured around the “hours” and the regular worship, not just weekly but throughout the day. For Western civilization to recover a sense of the Holy and of human relationship with the Holy, it will have to recover a desire for worship and for a life that finds its structure and meaning in regular cycles of worship involving families, local religious bodies, and even larger communities of faith.

Secular culture has resulted in a society in which the Sabbath, a day set aside for worship and rest, is a thing of the past, practiced by a few dedicated souls. What used to be “Holy Days,” in which families gathered to worship and celebrate the foundations of their faith, have become, even for many Christians, days to eat and drink to excess and watch sports. Such a culture soon forgets the sanctity and the holiness of family life.

A Way Recognizing the Moral Nature of Life

Modern culture is rapidly proving the intuition of the ancients that a society without a moral and ethical center must inevitably disintegrate into political, economic, and cultural chaos. Much of our culture is built upon a false exaltation of “individual choice” and a failure to see the reality of personal wisdom and virtue. To say that wisdom, faithfulness, justice, equity, sobriety, and other values are fundamental values is to say they have existence and potency whether or not any particular individual accepts or recognizes them. It is to say that there is something like a natural law operative in the world—a reality we cannot ignore without consequences.

C. S. Lewis speaks helpfully of this law in his book Mere Christianity:

The Moral Law, or the Law of Human Nature, is not simply a fact about human behavior in the same way the Law of Gravitation is, or may be, simply a fact about how heavy objects behave. On the other hand, it is not a mere fancy, for we cannot get rid of the idea, and most of the things we say and think about men would be reduced to nonsense if we did. And it is not simply a statement about how we should like men to behave for our own convenience; for the behavior we call bad and unfair is not exactly the same as behavior we find inconvenient, and in fact may even be the opposite. Consequently, this Rule of Right and Wrong, or Law of Human Nature, or whatever you want to call it, must somehow or another be a real thing—a thing that is really there and not made up by ourselves. [4]

Lewis goes on to point out that there is more than one kind of reality. The reality of truth, beauty, and goodness press in on us whether we recognize it or not. [5] The moral universe presses upon us whether we recognize it or not. We cannot safely ignore it without pain to ourselves and the dissolution of our society.

To say that anything is real is to say that it exists independently of our subjective perception and impacts the quality of life of those who come into contact with it. It is in this exact way that wisdom and foolishness operate. Those who cease to see the difference between wisdom and foolishness, righteousness and wickedness, or virtuous and lewd behavior cannot make the decisions necessary to achieve a happy and whole life. Those who cease to feel that the wisest course of action will be revealed to them by the practice of the virtues are left without the ability to react to the moral nature of the universe, which, in fact, presses upon us all.

A Way of Life Involving Order

The Benedictine renewal involved orders that followed rules that resulted in a particular way of life. The way of life the members of the Benedictine order thought they were recovering was the Way of Jesus as they understood it. Any recovery of ordered life in the postmodern world will likely be accompanied by people banding together to embody a different way of life than common in our society.

Modern readers of the Rule can be put off by its detail concerning the structure of daily life and the relationships among monks. It is helpful to recognize that Benedict was reacting against the disorder not just of his society but of the monastic orders themselves as he created the Rule. The Rule’s success is proof of its power and importance as a kind of pattern with the power to order human life wisely.

The historic Way of Wisdom provides one avenue for ordinary people to explore in their daily lives to discipline themselves to find a better and more satisfying way of life than that urged upon us by the media and by the cultural arbiters of post-modern society. A rediscovery of the value of faith, tradition, and traditional ways of ordering life would result in persons from many parts of the Christian tradition re-thinking and re-ordering their lives in many ways. A Christian re-discovery of the wisdom tradition would almost certainly cause other traditions to rediscover their own wisdom resources. There may, therefore, be not so much a need for one new St. Benedict as for many. What is certain is that the excessively individualistic and excessively disordered structure of contemporary society does not provide a viable path forward.

A Way of Life Founded in Family

Recovery of a wise and healthy culture in the West cannot be accomplished without a renewal of the basic unit of society. It has been pointed out that families in the West, especially families in America, are notoriously weak. Without strengthening family life, it is difficult to imagine that community life can be strengthened in the West, especially in America.

Our capacity to live in community is formed in the first community we are a part of. If wisdom literature is correct concerning the crucial role of the family, then the most basic renewal that is needed is in the family’s life. The new St. Benedicts among us will have to find ways to express a wiser and more orderly way of life in the context of concrete human families.

A Way of Life Founded in Community

During one of America’s recent political conventions, one person was reported to have said, “Our national government is all we have in common.” With due respect for our national government and its leaders, this statement expresses a deep problem with our society. Nation-states are essential, but they are no substitute for families, local communities, and what sociologists call “mediating institutions,” such as churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, private associations, and other local institutions. National governments are no substitute for neighborhood associations, townships, cities, and other local community forms. It is essential that people feel connected to their local community. While no one belongs to all of the possible institutions of local community life, everyone can be happy for their participation and that of others in all of them. A renewed Christian way of life will be founded on the deliberate nurture of communities at all levels of society.

A Life Formed in a Rhythm of Labor and Rest

In much of contemporary society, work has supplanted God, family, and community as the center of life. Especially among the successful, work and its accompanying status and benefits have become idols. In America, success has become the ultimate goal of too many in business, government, the media, academia, and almost all institutions of life.

St. Benedict and his followers created a way of life in which worship, work, community, and rest all find a place. Work is important. In working, human beings fulfill the command to act as stewards of creation and perfect the world entrusted to their special care and nurture (Genesis 1:28). Work is a natural outgrowth of worship. Still, in overworking, we demonstrate a lack of balance that increasingly warps our full humanity.

What is needed is a recovery of the notion of a rhythm of labor and rest. Sabbath-keeping can be essential to this recovery, but it is not enough. A rest day is no substitute for a rhythm of worship, family life, community involvement, work, and relaxation. A renewal of Western culture cannot be accomplished without a renewal of a proper relationship between work and the rest of life.

A Way of Life Founded on Truth

Lesslie Newbigin’s book Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth contains a powerful critique of contemporary society and an analysis of its roots similar to the one presented in this chapter. [6] Newbigin speaks about how modern society distinguishes between the public world of scientific facts and the private world of religious and moral truths. Newbigin encourages Christians to have the confidence to proclaim the gospel not just as a truth among many truths but as The Truth—a truth embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He writes this:

But when the Church affirms the gospel as public truth it is challenging the whole of society to wake out of the nightmare of subjectivism and relativism, to escape from the captivity of the self turned in upon itself, and to accept the calling which is addressed to every human being to seek, acknowledge, and proclaim the truth. For we are that part of God’s creation which he has equipped with the power to know the truth and to speak to praise of the whole creation in response to the truthfulness of the Creator.” [7]

In the end, any notion of wisdom requires an idea of truth. To embody the spiritual and moral order of the universe in times of trouble, we must believe in the reality of such an order and, in humility, seek to understand it and adjust our lives to its demands. We will not take any path with confidence and personal commitment, even the Path of Life, unless we believe it will take us to the place we desire to go—to the wise, happy, and fulfilled life.

The post-modern critique of Enlightenment thinking often reduces all claims to truth as bids for power. This critique is sometimes levied against the church and Christian faith. The critique may be valid as to some past actions of the church and Christians, but it cannot be levied against the Christian faith in its essence. The Way and Truth Christians proclaim is the way of the One who came to serve and not be served and rejected worldly power as a temptation (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).

For Christians, a renewal of our culture requires a willingness to serve a culture that is often dismissive of our values and hostile to the lifestyles we practice. The days are long gone when we might achieve cultural change by some act of a non-existent “moral majority.” What is now needed is the hard work and diligent ministry of a wise minority. A renewal of wisdom cannot be legislated; it can only be encouraged. [8]

In the end, the notion of truth that we are called to embody, transmit, and defend is a truth that our society will find almost impossible to understand—it is a truth that can only be known in a community of self-giving love formed in the image of the One who was Truth lifted on a Roman Cross for all the world to see—in the form of a first century Rabbi. It is a truth found in a single person and an indissoluble unity with self-giving love. This personal truth desires to be in relation to every human being that we proclaim.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Alistair McIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984).

[2]  Id, 263. This portion of the blog comes from the final chapter of my previous work, Path of Life (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014).

[3] See, Benedict of Nursia, Rule of St. Benedict in English, Timothy Fry, ed. Collierville, MN, 1982). There are many translations, interpretations and commentaries on the Rule for those who are interested.

[4] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London, England: Collins Fontana Books, 1952), 28-29.

[5] Id.

[6] Lesslie Newbigin, Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth (Grand Rapids, MI & Geneva: William B. Eerdmans and WCC Publications, 1991).

[7] Id, at 13.

[8] Perhaps the fundamental mistake of the movements of the 1960’s, left and right, was the notion that true cultural transformation for the better can be accomplished through legislation and the power of the nation state. This was an especially mistaken approach for Christians. The One who resisted the temptation to rule the kingdoms of this world and who chose instead to die on a cross works primarily not in overt power but in self-giving service to the world.

This week, I wanted to return to discipleship and our calling to follow Jesus. The gospels are full of Jesus, calling people in the Gospel of Mark, which the Sunday school class is currently studying, Jesus begins his ministry along the Sea of Galilee, where he sees four fishermen at work:

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately, they left their nets and followed him. Going a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him(Mark 3:16-20).

In Mark 2, Jesus continues his calling of disciples, now in the home of Matthew, a sinner and tax collector. Here is how Mark records the incident:

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at a table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for many followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:13-17).

Deciding to Follow Jesus

We sometimes think it was easier for the first disciples to follow Jesus. We think that, if we physically saw Jesus, if he came and personally asked us to follow him, we would find it easier to follow than after hearing a pastor, evangelist, or friend share what God has done in their lives and ask us if we are ready to follow Jesus. [1] This is a mistake. People today have to make the same decision the first disciples made. We must decide to follow Jesus without knowing exactly who he is or where he will lead us.

The first disciples had it just as hard as we do. They had families. They had friendships. They had occupations. They already had a religion. They went to the Temple periodically and attended festivals. They probably went to the little synagogue in Capernaum. They had homes and responsibilities. They did not have the gospels or the records of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we can read and study. They actually had much less information than we have.

One day, a man came up to them and asked them to follow him and become fishers of human beings. At that moment, they had to decide whether to follow or not. The gospels tell us that the disciples heard the invitation, left what they were doing, and followed (Matthew 4:20; Mark 1: 18, 20; Luke 5:11). Somehow, amidst the hustle and bustle of earning a living, caring for spouses, parents, and children, and being engaged in family and civic affairs, the disciples saw something important in Jesus and decided it was worth the risk of following him into the unknown. They did not have it easier than we do. In fact, they had it harder. We can look back at the generations of lives changed, of people healed, of ministries and missions of compassion and care. They had to decide without any of this history. They were the first followers.

We, on the other hand, have examples of people like St. Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mother Teresa, and hosts of others. We have many reasons to know what God can do with one ordinary life. When Jesus called the disciples, the cross, resurrection, and spreading of the gospel, the church’s birth, the example of the martyrs, the evangelization of the world had not occurred. It was all to come. They had to look into an unknown traveling rabbi’s eyes and answer, “Will I follow him or not?”

We are called to answer the same question: “Am I going to follow Jesus?” As we ponder that question, we ask ourselves the same questions the disciples must have asked: “Am I willing to follow Jesus and to trust him in all my daily life?” “Am I willing to give up everything to be a follower of Jesus?” “Am I willing to spend time with this teacher and his rabble band of followers?” “Am I willing to risk the life I know so well for a life of uncertainty?”

Contemporary Discipleship

When Christians affirm that God is personal, and when we proclaim that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the word of God was present personally with the human race, we indicate that any relationship with God is personal in nature. This means that the personal calling of the Twelve is no different than our individual calling. Christ is present in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit and still calls people to follow him. It’s a personal calling by a person to a person to become part of the church of Jesus Christ, which in other places is called the family of God or the kingdom of God.

The certainty we have or do not have about our calling is personal. It’s not a mathematical certainty. It’s not a scientific certainty, a kind of law of the universe. It’s a personal call by a personal God to people. The reason I’ve called this the unbelievable calling is because it is unbelievable. I suspect the apostles felt the same way. Let’s just take Matthew as an example. I suppose he would’ve considered himself one of the last people that the Messiah Israel would call to be a disciple and eventually an apostle or one sent to proclaim the word of God to others. He was a sinner. He was a social outcast. He was a person despised by his local community.  Nevertheless, Jesus called him.

Peter might easily have felt the same way. Peter deserted Jesus and denied him. He took himself out of a personal relationship with Jesus when Jesus needed him the most. Yet, after the resurrection, Jesus tells the women to “Go tell the disciples and Peter,” who has made himself no longer a part of the disciples, to meet him in Galilee (Mark 16:7). This same, Peter will be the leader of the apostolic band.

Why It All Makes Sense

At its root, the calling and recalling of Peter only makes sense if God is in some sense personal and therefore capable of being love, as the Apostle John proclaims (I John 4:8). Ideas cannot love; persons can love ideas. Principles cannot love; persons can love principles. Powers cannot love persons; persons can love powers. Only a personal God would be the least interested in a relationship with the human race, in saving them when they are lost and in danger and in recalling them when they have strayed. Such a God could only be known and responded to in the precise way that those first disciples responded to the call to follow Jesus. It was a personal call to persons capable of responding to the call.

How ae we to know such a God? After describing how we know objects, the great missiologist, Lesslie Newbigin describes what we might call personal knowing as follows:

But there is a different kind of knowing which, in many languages, is designated by a different word. It is the kind of knowing that we seek in our relations with other people. In this kind of knowing we are not in full control. We may ask questions, but we must also answer questions put by the other. We can only come to know others in the major in which they are willing to share. The resulting knowledge is not simply our own achievement; it is also the gift of others. And even in the mutual relations of ordinary human beings, it is never complete. There are always further depths of knowledge that only long friendship and mutual trust can reach, if indeed they can be reached at all. [2]

Our culture is so concentrated on achieving a kind of scientific knowledge by which we can control human relations that we often miss the importance of personal knowledge, not just in human relations, one-on-one, but also in social relationships. Societies are made up of persons and are, therefore, only capable of being completely understood in their dimension.

There is no question, but the churches in the West are having difficulty accommodating themselves to the loss of the Christian culture that dominated Europe and the United States from the Roman Empire to the Enlightenment. One reason this is true is our assumption that problems are solved by getting our theories right and then implementing those theories in a scientific and bureaucratic way. Therefore, for example, churches adopt evangelism programs to reduce their membership loss. They seldom work primarily because programs only work if the persons involved can make it work, which they cannot do if they do not have a personal relationship with God and the others to whom they are trying to introduce Christ. Just as bureaucrats in national capitals have difficulty understanding and accommodating themselves to the persons at the lowest level of the society in which they function and for whom they are working, so religious professionals and church leaders have difficulty in taking small personal steps to make cultural changes that may enable their churches to grow.

It seems counterintuitive to many pastors that they should invest themselves in a small group of people, say Twelve church members, when they have 1000 or even 10,000 persons attending their congregation. As many times as one reminds them that Jesus, whom they serve, chose his Twelve and invested his life in those twelve persons, it’s hard, terribly hard, to see how it could work in a corporate church environment. On the other hand, if I’m right, it’s really the only way to change not just the culture of our churches but the culture of the society in which our churches are located. If churches concentrate on the small, and if we succeed, perhaps other social groups and organizations will also focus on the small.

Conclusion

It may seem unbelievable that simply by developing a new personal way of looking at reality, human society, and human persons, we can improve our world and help it overcome some of its deepest dysfunctions. It may still seem unbelievable when we hear that voice calling, “Follow me.” I suspect the apostles sometimes felt it was unbelievable, but they followed and “turned the world upside down,” as one observer put it (Acts 17:6).

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] This portion of the blog is taken from G. Christopher Scruggs, Crisis of Discipleship: Renewing the Art of Relational Disciple-Making Revised and Expanded Edition (Richmond, VA: Living Dialog Ministries, 2024), 37-38.

[2] Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, & Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 10.

This week I am republishing with slight changes a 2020 blog on Augustine and what he can teach us today. This is an important blog because it shows a connection between ancient Greek and Christian notions of justice.

The years between Augustine’s birth and death (354-430 A.D.) encompass one of the most turbulent times in ancient history. The Roman Empire, instituted by Octavian (Caesar Augustus) and his adopted father Julius Caesar, had reached a point of crisis. Constantine declared the Christian religion to be the official religion of the empire in 313 A.D. By the end of the 4th Century, the Empire was troubled. Chronically over-extended, it was vulnerable to attack, which Aleric’s successful invasion clearly demonstrated (410 A.D.).

More importantly, by the end of Augustine’s life, the intellectual and moral foundations of Greco-Roman civilization were seriously eroded. The virtues of the Roman Republic, which Augustine recognized were fundamental to the earthly success of Rome, had long ago eroded. Its pagan rites and religion were no longer compelling. Roman political and social institutions were decayed. There was great economic inequality and successive emperors and those who put them in power had looted the public treasury. The philosophies of ancient Greece that underpinned the intellectual life of Rome were failing. A sense of cultural and political decay was everywhere. This is the context in which Augustine wrote City of God. [1]

In many ways, the time of Augustine was not so different from our own day.  The confident, world-wide extension of Western Civilization, which began about 300 years ago, is now disintegrating into the nihilism and self-doubt of post-modernism.[2] In retrospect, the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was an event that shook American self-confidence in a way similar to Aleric’s three-day occupation of Rome. Modern science, which promised and achieved so much, created the potential for human antihalation and a kind of technological oppression of human freedom that is inhuman. Modern economies, which have produced a standard of living unimaginable only a century ago, have also created a sense of alienation among many people and an ecological crisis of greater or lesser magnitude.

In our nation there is growing economic inequality, and greed and corruption have made many politicians wealthy. There is no way the entire world can consume resources at the level of the currently developed nations without an ecological catastrophe. It is obvious that the way in which the economic growth of the West has occurred cannot continue without some kind of change. Western democracies, the supreme political achievement of the Enlightenment, seem unable to adapt to a new post-industrial culture and give new generations a sense of justice and peace.

Into the his own day, Augustine began the process of integrating the intellectual deposit of Platonic philosophy with the spiritual dynamism of Christian faith, an interaction that ultimately gave rise to the civilization of the European Middle Ages, which ended in the emergence of the Modern world. It is worth studying and adapting the thought of the great Doctor of the Church if for no other reason than the similarities of his and our times and the need for a new synthesis of philosophy, theology, and government. We need a different, new and compelling integration of Christian faith and public life.

Harmony and the Earthly City

One interesting thing inherent in a Biblical look at politics is an understanding that the Bible has less to say about politics than one might imagine. In general, Christians are urged to act wisely, share the gospel, obey rulers and to seek the peace of the cities in which we find ourselves (Jeremiah 29:7; Romans 13:1). This notion of seeking the peace of the cities into which we have been called is important. When the Jews were sent into captivity in Babylon, God sent Jeremiah the following message:

Thus, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

There is an interesting dialectic in Augustine between peace (”Shalom” in Hebrew) and justice. [3] Human beings by nature seek peace. All human striving, including wars, begin and continue in the search for peace. This peace for which the human race seeks is a kind of harmony where all parts of society are integrated in a just way. Augustine quotes Cicero speaking through the voice of Scipio using a musical analogy as follows:

In the case of music for strings or wind, and in vocal music, there is a certain harmony to be kept between the different parts, and if this is altered or disorganized the cultivated ear finds it intolerable; and the united efforts of dissimilar voices are blended into harmony by the exercise of restraint. In the same way, a community of different classes, high, low, and middle, unites, like the varying sounds of music, to form a harmony of the different parts through the exercise of rational restraint; and what is called harmony in music answers to concord in a community, and is the closest bond of security in a country. And this is not possible without justice. [4]

Social harmony is found when all the various classes of society find their proper place in a kind of social concord that allows the society to prosper.  The ancient world did not assume that absolute equality was the goal of the state. Instead, the goal of the state was the achievement or social harmony among the various groups that comprise it. These groups have different capacities, talents, and abilities. Each needs to be treated fairly with the goal of increasing social harmony.

Augustine accepts the historic definition of justice as “giving each person his or her due.” Implicit in Augustine and Cicero is the idea that justice is not found in complete equality as to all things, because people are different. Societies are made up of people with vastly differing ideas, accomplishments, talents, and intelligence. Differences in outcome are not avoided or entirely eliminated in the just state, but harmonized. Justice is not, in Augustine’s view, any form of absolute equality, social, economic or otherwise, but in a sense that society is constructed so that each person receives his or her due, whatever that may be. [5]

Here we find both a critique of our own society and some notion of a way forward. The identity politics of the past few years, and the increasing level of social distrust and alienation from institutions has created a lack of social harmony that is reflected in the violence of our cities and the impossible hostility of our politics. If we approach the problem from the strategies and tactics of the past, then this situation must continue until one side eliminates the other by some means, legal, constitutional, or otherwise. The alternative is to rebuild the bonds of social harmony and cohesion. This cannot be done by attempting to eliminate differences, but by harmonizing those differences in a just way. In fact, at root it involves rebuilding the bonds of love within our society.

Justice and a Harmonious Government

As mentioned above, a true commonwealth or “weal of the community” cannot exist without justice, and justice is not necessarily to be found in any particular system of government. A monarch may be an unjust tyrant, an aristocrat an unfair oligarch, or an entire people an unreasonable, violent mob or “collective tyranny.” [6] As a basic matter, justice is simply giving to each person his or her due without prejudice. However, the exact characteristics of justice in any concrete moment in history depends upon the leadership of a government, whatever its form. This means that justice. and the peace of a society, cannot be divorced from matters of morality, as too often we attempt to do in the secular West today.

One interesting and important aspect of Augustine’s political thought is the relationship between love and justice in his thinking. Augustine distinguishes between the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, tolerance, temperance, and justice. The theological virtues provide the source and basis for the other virtues. Because earthly justice flows from God and the character of God, and because God is love, justice finally rests upon love. Even earthly justice is a result of love, for only those who love others and who seek the best of others can actually dispense justice.

The Earthly City cannot dispense absolute justice because it is centered on self-love and not on love of others and of God. The utterly self-giving love that is the “act and being of God” is the only source of lasting justice and social harmony. Only in the self-giving love of the Triune God, manifested in relationship to others, can political leadership give to each what is due to that person in fully other-centered fairness.

Unfortunately, because of human sin and finitude, this is impossible for human beings. Therefore, any concrete Earthly City is inevitably ultimately founded on human desire and love of self rather than the love of God and others. As a result of the Fall, human loves are inevitably and universally “disordered,” resulting in the human propensity to fail to love others as their selves. And, because human loves are disordered, love in the Earthly City is disordered. [7]  Therefore, merely human love cannot produce justice and social harmony. In such a situation, absolute justice is impossible.

The result for Augustine is that the Earthly City is without true and lasting justice. In the end, the Earthly City is like a gang of criminals dispensing whatever justice appeals to the whims of its political leaders. Societies experience a greater or lesser degree of true justice, but there can never be full and complete justice. At best, there is a kind of social compact as to how the spoils of their civilization is to be divided, but this division is lacking in true justice. [8]

Augustine’s analysis is an important one in our day. We see evidence that the historic virtues of our own Republic are both under attack and increasingly irrelevant to the lives of many people. We also see evidence in recent scandals that our Earthly City has some characteristics of a “gang of criminals”—crimes are committed by public officials and then covered up by the government, including law enforcement agencies. Large media outlets ignore or suppress the information the public needs to respond to such corruption.

A politics of wisdom and love has much to say to such a situation. There cannot be social peace in the face of a politics that cares only for power. Where wisdom and love, and resulting justice, are given scope to work in a society, there can be an increasing degree of justice and of peace. This is the hope for which Christians in politics must work.

Politics and Augustine

Augustine wrote City of God as both an apologetic for Christian faith and as a defense of Christian faith in light of the pagan attacks against Christianity resulting from the decline of Rome, which pagans attributed to the decline of its ancient martial and political virtues. While it is true that Augustine’s work has a major place in the emergence of “Christendom” in Middle Age Europe, it was not written for that purpose or with that purpose in mind. It was, as mentioned last week, written to promote and encourage tolerance of Christian faith within the late Roman Empire, which was under attack.

Christian faith is under attack in our own day as well, and there are secular figures, well-meaning and otherwise, that desire to expunge faith from public life. There is, therefore, a need to defend Christian faith in our own day, though perhaps not in the same way as Augustine did in City of God.

The Heavenly City has a place in the Earthly City: it is to serve the city and seek its welfare (or peace). The members of the Members of the Heavenly City are pilgrims, so to speak, in the Earthly Cities of which they are a part. Like their leader, they do not come to rule as the pagans do, but to serve in love the Earthly City. But that argument will have to await a later blog.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] St. Augustine, City of God tr. Gerald G. Walsh, S.J. et all, abridged ed. (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1958), hereinafter “Image Edition.” Unless otherwise specified, all quotes come from this edition. When noted, quotes may come from St. Augustine, City of God tr. Henry Bettenson (London, ENG: Penguin Books, 1984), hereinafter “Penguin Edition.”

[2] I like to reiterate that all “post-modernism” means is “after modernism.” In fact, the deconstructive form of post-modernism may only be last decadent phase of modernism, a modernism that has lost its confidence in human reason and capacity to find and understand truth, beauty, justice, and the like on the basis of reason alone and is now without a foundation for moving forward. If this is the case, then perhaps what we sometimes call “post-modernism” might be better termed “end game modernism.” On the other hand, there are efforts, such as that of the process thinkers and people like Michael Polanyi, that can be called a truly constructive post-modernism.

[3] “Shalom” is taken from the root word “shalam,” which means, “to be safe in mind, body, or estate.” It refers to a condition of completeness, fullness, or wholeness. Although it can describe the absence of war or conflict, a majority of biblical references refer to an inner completeness and tranquility. See, https://firm.org.il/learn/the-meaning-of-shalom/ (downloaded October 9, 2020.

[4] Penguin Edition, at 72. See also, Cicero, On the Commonwealth tr. George Holland Sabine & Stanley Barney Library of the Liberal Arts, ed. (Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1929), 183. Augustine studied and appreciated Cicero.

[5] One aspect Augustine has in common with Plato and others is a sense that justice might be a static thing, something that Augustine despairs of attaining in the Earthly City, but which by grace is achievable in the City of God, the heavenly city in which love rules. The kind of static thinking prevalent in Plato and in Augustine leads to the attempt to delineate a perfect city. In Augustine’s case, he recognizes that this eschatological city is not achievable within history.

[6] Id, at 73.

[7] The notion that human loves are disordered, resulting in human beings loving with an ultimate love things that are secondary (pleasure, possessions, and success) and fail to love things that are primary (God and others) properly as primary is a central idea of Augustine’s thought. See for example, Augustine, “On Christian Doctrine”  Book 1, Chapters 22-29 in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers First Series Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Henricksen 1994), 527-530.

[8] Penguin Edition, at 139.

The oldest cousin on my mother’s side of the family died last year. This weekend, those of us who could met in a little country cemetery adjoining a family farm just outside Fithian, Illinois. It was a poignant moment. My cousin was born just after the Second World War to an American soldier who married a British citizen. A cousin from Great Britain attended the funeral! That evening, the family had dinner together. Near the end of our dinner, I picked up my cell phone to look at the news, thinking I would learn about the evening’s events in Israel and Gaza. Instead, I learned that former president Trump had been shot. Like many people, I could not say I was shocked, given the vitriol directed towards him over the past decade.

This week, I intended to return to discipleship as the blog’s theme. Saturday evening, I knew immediately that I could not do that. I’m sure that I can’t add anything to the thousands of words written on the Internet, nor can I add anything to what former President Trump and President Biden have said in their respective statements. But maybe I can add something about our very diseased political culture.

The United States of America has a problem with political violence. Four United States Presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. In addition, attempts have been made on the lives of Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and now Donald Trump. Presidential candidates have also been targets of assassination attempts. Attempts have been made on the lives of Theodore Roosevelt as a candidate, Robert Kennedy (successful), George C. Wallace (seriously wounded), and now former President Trump.

What does this say about our political culture? What does it say about our national fascination with violence? What does it say about the deluded capacity of Americans to believe that the ends justify the means?

The Myth of Redemptive Violence

In these blogs, I’ve had the opportunity to introduce readers to the notion of the “myth of redemptive violence.” The Myth of Redemptive Violence entails a belief that violence can be redemptive. The term was coined by a liberal Protestant theologian at Union Theological Seminary in New York, Walter Wink. Wink believed that (and provided impressive evidence for his theory) American society was and is deeply impacted by a subconscious belief that violence can be redemptive; that is to say, violence to overcome evil is warranted and even positive. Underneath the plot line of nearly every action movie we might see is this notion that violence can be redemptive. (One need not look any further than the latest James Bond movie to the theory at work.) Wink believed the myth of redemptive violence needed to be demystified to show how deeply misleading it is. For Christians, the myth is contrary to the gospel.

Here is how Wink describes our situation:

No other religious system has even remotely rivalled the myth of redemptive violence in its ability to catechise its young so totally. From the earliest age, children are awash in depictions of violence as the ultimate solution to human conflicts. Nor does saturation in the myth end with the close of adolescence. There is no rite of passage from adolescent to adult status in the national cult of violence, but rather a years-long assimilation to adult television and movie fare. Not all shows for children or adults are based on violence, of course. Reality is far more complex than the simplicities of this myth, and maturer minds will demand more subtle, nuanced, complex presentations. But the basic structure of the combat myth underlies the pap to which a great many adults turn in order to escape the harsher realities of their everyday lives: spy thrillers, westerns, cop shows, and combat programes. It is as if we must watch so much ”redemptive” violence to reassure ourselves, against the deluge of facts to the contrary in our actual day-to-day lives, that reality really is that simple. [1]

Recently, my wife and I watched a television show that exemplifies the problems with the contemporary entertainment industry. The show’s storyline concerns young people who can travel backward in time. Two different groups are attempting to influence the direction of human history. Roughly speaking, one group is portrayed as “bad guys” and the other as “good guys.” The good guys kill just as many people and act irrationally as the bad guys, except they are trying to “protect human freedom.” The bad guys are trying to control the future for their political and economic interests. The bad guys are mere caricatures of the people the media industry dislikes. The show is saturated by human self-assertion and ethical chaos. The characters struggle with the idea that there might be a higher power who controls the future, but of course, there isn’t one active in their plotline, so they must struggle to create a meaningful future all on their own. They have to make choices.

Deep in the moral incoherency of the show is what Walter Wink calls “the myth of redemptive violence” – the notion that violence can be redemptive if only the “good guys” defeat the “bad guys.” (It’s not redemptive for bad guys to kill good guys.) The result is a constant replay of a shallow, relativistic philosophy the writers were probably taught in High School and College. In addition, because the show takes the watcher back into history, occasionally, the watcher is treated to a shallow, cartoon version of world history, sometimes distorted.

A society dominated by entertainment reduces complex problems to sound bites and catchy lyrics. Gone are the human race’s fundamental moral and spiritual dilemmas, which are replaced by a simplistic one-hour drama. A media-saturated society allows people to view sex and violence without consequences. News depictions of our politics have become similarly shallow. If politicians often oversimplify complex problems, the media has largely lost interest in educating the public on the facts, which are usually complex and challenging to understand, finding it easier to give opinion pieces and distorted coverage of current events. Complicated problems cannot receive proper attention. They are too complex, and solutions require deep thought and careful weighing of alternatives. It is easier just to decide which side of the cultural divide you are on and download the talking points of your favorite candidate.

Politicians have reacted to the situation by taking advantage of it. By the middle 1970s, politicians noticed that it was much easier to get someone to vote against a hateful opponent than to get people to believe in the policy views of your particular party. Here, we have the genesis of what we have to call “negative politics” and “negative campaigning.” Negative campaigning takes advantage of our natural human fearfulness and anxiety to paint our political opponents as absolute devils who must be stopped at any price. Particular candidates are often described as devils incarnate (frequently using the word Nazi). Naturally, if I am fighting against Hitler, the kind of total warfare in which the United States engaged in the Second World War might be justified on a political level. Truth doesn’t matter if I’m slandering an evil opponent. Love doesn’t matter if I’m slandering an evil opponent. Morality doesn’t matter if I’m slandering an evil opponent. What matters is saving the world from this demon incarnate. After all, I’m saving the world. Therefore, the myth of redemptive violence justifies the intellectual violence in which I am engaged.

I’ve spent a lot of my adult life reading history. Henry Ford thought history was bunk. I believe Henry Ford’s theory is bunk. Those who study history come to see things from an entirely different perspective than those who simply listen to the evening news or their local politicians. As one writer mentioned, taking a long look at history helps avoid repeating it.

Just to give one example, any review of the history of Ukraine reveals that it has long been a battleground, often under partial or complete Russian control. The problems the West is having restraining the Russian invasion of Ukraine is nothing new. On the other hand, both Napoleon and Hitler crossed Ukraine to reach Russia. In particular, the Russians have terrible memories of the German invasion that precipitated the Second World War. After the Second World War, the Russians annexed Ukraine, and it became part of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union dissolved, Ukraine became a free nation with a substantial Russian minority population.

The Russians have, therefore, always viewed Ukraine as critical to their national security. When the United States began to do things like place troops in Ukraine and allowing the CIA to conduct operations and develop an extensive network in the country, the Russians warned the West that was a red line. [2] When we began to contemplate allowing Ukraine to join NATO, Putin warned the West that this was a redline. He would not allow Ukraine to become allied with what Russia views as a hostile power. We continued our activities in the Ukraine.

The easy view that the current war in the Ukraine is all Vladimir Putin’s fault is only partially true. The other truth is that the United States and its allies were complicit in what happened there and provoked the war. I have friends who believe that we should stop giving all aid to Ukraine because of the financial and otherwise “dirty history” of our involvement. I don’t subscribe to this view. I do believe we should seek a peaceful solution to the problem, saving the Western economies billions of dollars spent on military hardware. I also think we should learn from the results our arrogance and corruption have created in the Ukraine. We should stop the behavior resulting in costly and unfruitful conflict. In other words, this is not an easy problem to solve.

Closer to home, there’s no question but that our financial system is stressed because of the continuing use of deficit spending at levels that are not sustainable. [3] We are permanently impoverishing not just the next generation of Americans but several generations of Americans. On the left and the right, completely unrealistic proposals are sometimes made. I suspect that, to solve the problem, some kind of a middle solution will have to be found. Taxes will have to rise, and spending must fall in some areas. The question is how to do this wisely and carefully so that the interests of all Americans, particularly the most vulnerable Americans, are protected.

Conclusion

When President Biden and former President Trump urged their supporters to turn down the vitriol, they said the right thing. Of course, the question remains: Will they enforce this among their supporters? In a time of communication over social media, perhaps the more difficult question is, “Will all of us turn down the temperature of the political dialogue in our country?” All I can say is that I continue to get a lot of inaccurate and hateful spam directed against both candidates.

I keep in touch with friends from as far back as high school. In high school, I was a debater. In college, I studied philosophy, political science, and economics. In law school, I studied law. In seminary, I studied oral communication. My long-suffering wife has often reminded me when we are having heated discussions, that physical violence is not the only kind of violence. A knowledgeable person who is also highly trained can use their intellect and vocabulary to dominate another person. It took a long time, but I eventually got the point. There’s a kind of intellectual violence into which people like me can easily fall. The Myth of Redemptive Violence applies to all sorts of violence, of which military violence is only one type. Most of us are not in a position to employ that kind of violence. We are, however, capable of other types of violence. We can deceive. We can slander. We can undermine. We can twist the truth and words. All of this is forbidden to Christians and ought to be abhorred by those who love freedom.

Before I sign off, I will let everyone know that I am in the final stages of completing a book much different than any book I’ve ever written. It’s a philosophy book that outlines a kind of postmodern, constructive political philosophy, Sophio-Agapism. I believe the book will be finished sometime in the next several weeks since I have a draft back from the proofreader. The title is Illumined by Wisdom and Love: Essays on a Sophio-Agapic Constructive Postmodern Political Philosophy. I expect to sell about four copies of the book (if my children agree to buy copies), but it was motivated by a deep concern for our political culture at several levels. At one level, my problem is precisely the kind of politics that produced last weekend’s events—blessings to all.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Walter Wink, “The Myth of Remptive Violence” at https://www2.goshen.edu/~joannab/women/wink99.pdf (downloaded July 16, 2024).

[2] See, for example, Mark Episkopos, “CIA in Ukraine: Why is this not seen as Provocation? Responsible Statecraft (February 27, 2024), Spy War: Who the CIA Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Russia (February 28, 2024); Greg Millar & Usabelle Khursudyan, “Ukrainian Spies with Deep Ties to CIA Wage Shadow War against Russia” Washington Post (October 23, 2023). The amount of literature on this, both popular and technical, is huge.

[3] See for example, Brian Riedl, “Manhattan Institute, A Comprehensive Federal Budget Plan to Avert a Debt Crisis” Manhattan Institute (June 27, 2024); William G. Gale, “Five Myths about Federal Debt” Brookings Institute (May 2, 2019); James McBride, Noah Berman, &  Anshu Siripurapu “The U.S. National Debt Dilemma” Council on Foreign Relations (December 4, 2023). I have deliberately referenced articles from all sides of the issue.

Amidst the recent discussions about the president’s capacity to conduct the office of the presidency, his fitness to be a candidate for office, and the often-exaggerated posts about the role of a vice president, I felt it was essential to return to the legal side of my brain. In this blog, I aim to outline the 25th Amendment and the circumstances under which a President may be removed from office.

I hope that this blog will be helpful to readers as they consider the country’s current situation. As always, I’m trying to be neutral and simply explain how the amendment’s provisions would operate.

Background

By the mid-1960s, several 20th-century several episodes caused Congress to believe an amendment to the Constitution needed to clarify what would happen if a president became incapacitated. After World War I, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke during his second term in office and was incapacitated for a good bit of the last portion of his tenure. President Roosevelt, who died in office, had brain cancer and was severely limited during his final years in office. This was particularly apparent in Tehran, where many decisions impacted the world for years. Stalin took advantage of the President’s condition during their negotiations.

After World War II, President Eisenhower suffered a severe heart attack during the latter part of his first term and experienced ill health for part of his second term. During Eisenhower’s presidency, he and President Nixon created an arrangement by which presidential powers would be transferred to the vice president in the case of the president’s infirmity.

In 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated under circumstances in which he might have survived but not been capable of conducting the business of the presidency. In particular, President Kennedy’s assassination was instrumental in persuading Congress that a mechanism was needed to allow a president to resign or be removed and succeeded in office by the vice President. In 1867, Senator Birch Bayh introduced into legislation what has become the 25^th Amendment.

25^th Amendment

With this brief history in mind, let us look at the amendment:

Section 1. The first section makes it plain that if a president is removed from office or dies or resigns, the vice president becomes president. The term “removal” means that if a president is impeached, the vice president immediately becomes president. This provision was used at least once when President Nixon resigned and Vice President Ford became President.

Section 2. The second section provides that, whenever there is a vacancy in the vice president’s office, the president nominates a vice president who takes office when confirmed by a majority vote of both houses of Congress. Once again, this provision was used in President Ford’s nomination as Vice president upon Vice President Agnew’s resignation and also when Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller as vice president.

Section 3. The third section provides that a president may transmit to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written statement to the contrary, the powers of the presidency will be discharged by the vice president as the Acting President. This provision has been used by Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Biden when temporarily incapacitated due to medical procedures. It has become the standard means to provide continuity of leadership when the president must be under anesthesia.

When President Reagan notified Congress, he used the following language:

 After consultation with my Counsel and the Attorney General, I am mindful of the provisions of Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and of the uncertainties of its application to such brief and temporary periods of incapacity. I do not believe that the drafters of this Amendment intended its application to situations such as the instant one.

Nevertheless, consistent with my longstanding arrangement with Vice President George Bush, and not intending to set a precedent binding anyone privileged to hold this Office in the future, I have determined and it is my intention and direction that Vice President George Bush shall discharge those powers and duties in my stead commencing with the administration of anesthesia to me in this instance.

I shall advise you and the Vice President when I determine that I am able to resume the discharge of the Constitutional powers and duties of this Office. [1]

After the surgery, President Reagan sent the following notice that he was resuming his duties as President:

Following up on my letter to you of this date, please be advised I am able to resume the discharge of the Constitutional powers and duties of the Office of the President of the United States. I have informed the Vice President of my determination and my resumption of those powers and duties. [2]

This kind of letter has been used five times in recent years. Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Richard Cheney, and George H. W. Bush have briefly exercised presidential powers under this provision. Interestingly, it is apparent from Reagan’s letter that the the use of the 25th Amendment for temporary incapacity was not assumed when he wrote his letter.

President Biden’s formula for invoking the 25^th Amendment has been as follows:

Today I will undergo a routine medical procedure requiring sedation. In view of the present circumstances, I have determined to temporarily transfer the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States to the Vice President during the brief period of the procedure and recovery.

In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, this letter shall constitute my written declaration that I am presently unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of the President of the United States.

Pursuant to section 3, the Vice President shall discharge those powers and duties as Acting President until I transmit to you a written declaration that I am able to resume the discharge of those powers and duties. [3]

His formula for resuming office is:

In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, I hereby transmit to you my written declaration that I am able to discharge the powers and duties of the Office of the President of the United States and that I am resuming those powers and duties. [4]

At this time, it is clear that a president may temporarily give up his powers to undergo routine medical procedures using the 25th Amendment. It is also clear that a president could transfer power for a more extended period if he felt unable to conduct the duties of the presidency. In other words, President Biden might not need to resign from office this close to an election. He might simply turn over his powers to Kamala Harris as acting president and only resume his duties as president if and when he feels able.

Section 4. It is Section 4 that has been most discussed in recent days. Therefore, I’m going to discuss its provisions at length. This section begins by setting out the situations in which a President may be removed due to incapacity:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. [5]

Section 4 authorizes the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet or Congress to decide if the president cannot perform their duties. Note that neither the vice president nor the principal officers of the executive departments can act alone. It requires that the vice president and a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments agree. This decision becomes active upon transmission to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Kamala Harris, for example, cannot act alone but only with the agreement of a significant number of the president’s principal officers.

Despite the preceding, the initial decision is not necessarily final. A president may object to the decision made by his vice president and principal officers. If a president disagrees with the decision made by his vice president and a majority of his principal executive officers, he may transmit to Congress his declaration that he is, in fact, not unable to perform his duties. Under these circumstances, after four days the president resumes his duties unless the vice president and a majority of the principal executive officers continue to believe that the president cannot perform his duties and inform both houses of Congress of their decision.

If the vice president and a majority of the principal executive officers continue to believe that the president cannot perform his duties, Congress is authorized to decide by 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress. Under the circumstances, the vice president continues to exercise the president’s responsibilities.

There are several portions of this particular provision that raise issues and confusion. Rather than the vague language of “vice president and a majority of the principal officers of the president,” I think a better method would be to have the decision made by the Vice President,  Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General. It is possible that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency should be added to this list, though I do not think it necessary.

This is a much smaller group of people and would likely be able to make the decision in a collegial manner. I question whether, even now, other cabinet members would be willing to overcome the judgment of these four principal cabinet officials. It also seems that, in a nuclear age, the timeframe specified in Section 4 for decision is too long. Finally, the Secretary of State should be tasked with convening the group. Protecting a vice president from being seen as leading a coup against a sitting president is important.

Conclusion

Although the 25^th Amendment is an acceptable and workable solution to the problem of presidential succession and incapacity, there remains the question as to what constitutes “inability.” During the Constitutional Convention, John Dickinson raised this exact question concerning the meaning of ‘disability’” and who would be the judge of presidential disability.

The 25^th Amendment does not answer the question of what constitutes a disability. Still, it does answer the question of who determines if one exists. Initially, it is the vice president and the principal officers of the executive branch and, if that decision is not accepted, the Congress by a two-thirds vote. One assumes that getting a two-thirds majority would be difficult unless there was a bipartisan agreement concerning the issue. Furthermore, I think it best to leave the decision to the participants rather than attempting to define disability in the Constitution.

I suppose one final word is in order. No law can substitute for restraint and judgment. President Washington exercised great self-restraint when he refused to run for a third term in office, although he would certainly have been reelected. Those privileged to hold the office of president need to exercise self-restraint in running for office and determining when it is in the country’s best interest for them to no longer hold the office. I don’t like age requirements because there are 70-year-olds who can run marathons and who would be capable of exercising the office of the presidency. On the other hand, there are 40-year-olds who could not. No law can completely substitute for wisdom and self-restraint.

I do hope that this little essay is helpful for readers who would like to understand more about the 25^th Amendment and how it operates to ensure the continuity of presidential authority during a nuclear age.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved.

[1] President Ronald Reagan, “Letter to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House on the Discharge of the President’s Powers and Duties During His Surgery (July 13, 1985). This letter indicates that President Reagan had doubts about the applicability of the Amendment to surgeries, but he invoked its provisions in any case. Subsequent Presidents have simply sent the letter and resumed the office by letter.

[2] Ronald Reagan, Letter to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House on the President’s Resumption of His Powers and Duties Following Surgery (July 13, 1985)

[3] Joseph Biden, Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the Temporary Transfer of the Powers and Duties of President of the United States (November 19, 2021).

[4] Joseph Biden, Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Resuming the Powers and Duties of President of the United States (November 19, 2021).

[5] United States Constitution, Amendment 25, Section 4.

Unsurprisingly, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the tone of political debate in Washington and how, on important matters, each party’s desire to win the next election often eclipses concern for the national interest. We have seen this phenomenon in debates over the War on Terror, the debate over the Gaza War, Abortion, Tax Policy, the role of the Federal Courts, the Federal Deficit, Social Security Reform, and other issues that profoundly affect the quality of life we and our children enjoy into the next generation and beyond. Both political parties tend to frame the problems in such a way as to win votes from their electoral base but make realistic compromise almost impossible. Much of the time, the facts are distorted in service to a political agenda.

Unfortunately, we Christians can become a part of this regrettable phenomenon. Conservative Christians are often looked at as mere tools of the Republican Party, and Liberal Christians are frequently seen as mere tools of the Democratic Party. To some degree, the charge has been true. Both groups are inclined to reject the policies of the other violently and sometimes resort to actions that border on disloyalty. Amidst all this, the question remains, “How should Christians act as we bring our faith to bear on our decisions as citizens and public servants?”

A Text to Guide Our Meditation

Here is a text from First Peter:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should silence the ignorance of foolish people.  Live as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the ruler God as placed over you (I Peter 2:13-17)

Introduction: Two Visions

A critical aspect of reading the Bible, and history for that matter, is that it gives us a perspective on our lives. There is no more accurate saying than the one that goes, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” Because most people do forget history, the fact is we do repeat it. And, because it is also true that “The more things change, the more they remain the same,” the same kinds of problems occur in generation after generation. So, although Peter’s times and culture were very different from our own, the message of today’s text is as important today as it was in 64 A.D.

The Bible gives two very different and complementary teachings concerning the relationship between people of faith and their governments. I will call these two teachings the “prophetic stance” and the “accommodative stance.” The difference between these two stances is best revealed in the difference between Jesus driving the money-changers from the temple (Luke 20:1-8; Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; John 2:13-22) and his saying, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s” (Luke 20:19-26; Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:13-17).

In the Old Testament, we see both of these stances at work. The prophets of Israel often spoke against the evils of the kings of Israel and Judah and predicted the nation’s downfall as a result of unfaithfulness to God. We see this prophetic voice in the ministries of Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and some of the Minor Prophets.

The lineal descendants of these prophets are seen on the right and the left as we experience harsh critiques from Christian groups on hot-button issues like war, abortion, the definition of marriage, and the like. Many of our younger members do not remember Francis Schaeffer, who wrote books like Pollution and the Human Race, How Shall We Then Live? and Whatever Happened to the Human Race? [1] Schaeffer is widely credited with providing the intellectual “heft” for what has become the “religious right. On the left, prominent Christians have written critiques of American culture and government. I think of William Stringfellow’s book, A Public and Private Faith. [2] And, on the right and the left, ordinary people have participated in abortion and anti-war protests. This is the prophetic stance at work in our time.

On the other hand, in the Old Testament, we also see figures such as Daniel, who serves evil and demented kings for most of his life, trying to make the best of a bad situation. We also see this approach in the Book of Esther as Queen Esther seeks to rescue her people, not by a critique of Persian civilization, but by working within the system for the betterment of the Jewish people.

I call this the “accommodationist approach,” not because it “accommodates” bad ideas or evil actions but because it works within the system as it exists to achieve the common good. Daniel, for instance, worked under Nebuchadnezzar to achieve good government for all the citizens of Babylon. In our own time, we think of the hundreds of active Christians in government and politics.

A problem with this approach today is that we are media-crazy. Protestors on college campuses, in public places, or outside the White House can be seen on television, making good media copy and increasing advertising sales. Hundreds of local, state, and national officials and employees of our governments who go to work each day and quietly labor for the public good just don’t make sensational copy. Quietly working to make things better doesn’t make headlines.

In this blog, I want to focus on the accommodationist approach. [3] During a lot of human history, Christians have had to function in the face of some kind of hostility to their faith and its consequences for public life. This was especially true of the very first Christians. When First Peter was written, there was tension between the church and the Roman establishment. The emperor Nero was hostile to the new Christian faith. He was engaging in periodic persecution, a persecution that would end with Peter’s death. [4]

I Peter was not the only book that noticed the capacity of religious faith to cause some people to take revolutionary positions against those in public authority. Paul relates the same message as Peter in Romans:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. There is no authority except from God, who has instituted those existing authorities. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection to avoid God’s wrath and for the sake of conscience. Because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God who attend to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed (Romans 13:1-7).

There is no question but that America is in a post-Christian phase. Christians must learn to relate to our governmental structures in new ways. Robert George, a professor at Princeton University and a world-renowned scholar in the natural law tradition, speaks of a growing tendency of elites to consider themselves the “Brights” and those who continue to defend tradition and religious faith as the “Dims.” [5] This morning’s sermon is about how we can best learn to relate to those in power in this new Post-modern, post-Christian environment.

Mr. Jesus Goes to Washington: Submitting to Reality

Peter begins his teaching by urging his readers to “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instated among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right” (I Peter 2:13). In modern parlance we might put it, “Submit to national, state and local authorities.”

Submission is not something we Americans are fond of doing, and submission is something that the rebellious ethos of the modern and post-modern world intensely dislikes. The word “submit” means “willing to stand under.” It means to submit oneself to someone else or to subordinate one’s desires and will to someone else or some institutional order. In Latin, the term might be parsed as “submission,” in other words, to regard my personal mission as less important than the public good. [6] In this case, it means to be willing to submit to the institutions of the state as they happen to exist at the time.

We submit not only because social order is in the common interest but because we have a deep faith that God will work in and through all authorities – even those we dislike. As Calvin says in his Commentary on First Peter, we submit to authorities not because we believe them to be infallibly good or acting in our or the national best interest, but because we believe that God is in control of history – “obedience is due to all who rule because they have been raised to that honour not by chance but by God’s providence.” [7] In a democracy, this applies to leaders elected by both political parties.

Doing Good Silences Opposition

Peter goes on to say that as we submit to authorities and do good deeds, we silence those who foolishly oppose God and the Christian faith. “For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence ignorant and foolish men” (I Peter 3:15).

No aspect of modern culture so disturbs me as the tendency of the secular elites to make a straw man of some religious celebrity, like Jimmy Bakker or Jerry Falwell, and then discount the views of serious Christian thinkers. There is a lot of hostility to Christianity among certain folks, and a number of those folks are in the media, on college campuses, and active as public servants. Although there is a place to oppose this with strong words, there is also a place for us to respond by being good citizens, quietly active in government and politics, and doing as much good as we can toward others. When we do this, we silence those who oppose the Christian faith.

Respecting Others Silences a Lot of Opposition

 A second way we can silence critics of faith and impact the tenor of public debate in America is by respecting others. Peter goes on to say, “Show proper respect for everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (I Peter 2:17). We have seen growing disrespect for our national and other leaders during the last two Presidencies. I think this culture of disrespect towards authority began in the 1960s with the opposition to Vietnam and the scandal of Watergate. As important as it is to be vigilant in protecting our nation against unscrupulous leaders, we must also respect the leaders God has given to us. When Presidents and Cabinet members are shouted down by college students while giving speeches, when Christians throw things at public officials and publicly disrespect their office, we are participating in the decline of civility in our culture.

On the other hand, as we respect authorities and show courtesy towards leaders, we begin the process of restoring a sense of decency in our public life. A sense of civility and decency towards those who lead us will go a long way toward encouraging a better atmosphere in our national debates over good government.

Conclusion

We Americans have a deeply felt sense that things can be better and that we have a divine mission to fix everything wrong in the world. There is nothing wrong with this optimistic view of life and government. However, it needs to be tempered by a realization that leaders are fallen creatures just as we are; they are finite creatures who make mistakes just as we do. There is no perfect government or perfect leader. We need to remember the insight of the Prophets that only when Messiah comes will there be ideal leadership. In Isaiah 11, we are given a glimpse of this leadership:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. … Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them (Isaiah 11:1-6).

It does not take too much intelligence to understand that this is not a vision of the world as it is in history but as it will be in the New Heaven and New Earth at the end of history. This is a lovely vision; Christians should always let it guide us as we act in history.

The search for a truthful, just, and life-enhancing community finds its ultimate symbol in the notion of a “Beloved Community.” There is no question but which Josiah Royce, who coined the term, saw in the church, and perhaps in John’s vision of the Heavenly City,” the root and ground of a transcendental vision of a “Beloved Community” as an eschatological realization of the hopes and dreams of all lesser communities. The Christian community looks back through the Scriptures to the beginning of the world. As a community of hope, it looks forward to the end of history and the renewal of all things. Thus, members of the Beloved Community look infinitely backward and forward in time, in both tradition and hope, to a future that encompasses all of humanity and human history. This is why Royce sometimes calls the “Beloved Community” the “Universal Community”—all people are invited to pledge their loyalty to and find meaning and purpose in the Beloved Community. [8]

Throughout history, Christians have worked for progress with wisdom and love.  We seek the vision of the Kingdom of God while remembering that it cannot be fully and finally achieved in this world’s history. We await the return of the Savior. In the meantime, we are called to act in Love to make the best of a fallen world.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] These books are collected in Volume 5 of the Francis Schaeffer, The Collected Works of Francis Shaeffer. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1982. Each of these books was originally published separately.

[2] William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962).

[3] What I have called the accommodationist approach could with equal accuracy be called the transformative approach, since it seeks to accommodate social realities while at the same time bringing about transformation for the better in society and government.

[4] Archibald Hunter “Introduction to First Peter” in The Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. 12 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1957.

[5] Robert P. George, “The Phone Book Test,” an interview in Christianity Today. (June 2006):44-47.

[6] Geoffrey Bromily, ed, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. (abridged volume (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 1159

[7] John Calvin, Commentary on the First Epistle of Peter. Tr. Rev. John Owen (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 81.

[8] See, Josiah Royce, The Problem of Christianity (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2001), 125

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,  the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,…. (Romans 1:1-6)

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith — to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 16:25-27).

The Obedience of Faith

Our Sunday school class has been busy studying Paul’s letter to the Romans. In many Sunday school classes, such a study takes place over a long period due to the length and complexity of this wonderful letter. Our class decided to take another approach: Instead of covering the book sentence by sentence over a long period, we decided to cover it over fourteen weeks. One benefit of that approach has been the need for the teaching team to identify central messages and meanings to communicate to the class. It was my duty to teach the first lesson. In so doing, I concluded that the book is primarily about a phrase used at the beginning and the end of the book. That phrase is “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:6; 16:27).

Paul was the first missionary to the Gentiles and proclaimed a doctrine of salvation by faith alone. This, in turn, produced the early church’s first major conflict, which revolved around the question of whether Gentiles needed to adhere to Jewish law, including circumcision, before embracing Christianity. The church’s decision, reached during the first great conference in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts, was that Gentiles did not need to convert to Judaism before becoming Christians (Acts 15:1-29). This decision had to do with circumcision and implies that what is being spoken about is the ceremonial law. However, the issue of the law’s relationship with faith continued to perplex and trouble the first-century Church—and it can trouble us today.

In a culture that celebrates freedom and often celebrates liberty from any kind of traditional morality or forms of behavior, it can be challenging to hear a phrase like “the obedience of faith.” Nevertheless, we need to hear and understand that phrase, or we are almost certain to act unwisely in the Christian life. A good deal of the foolishness of contemporary Christians can be traced back to a failure to understand what we are forgiven for and freed for when we come to Christ.

Paul’s “Torah Free Gospel”

In Romans, Paul is concerned with ensuring that the Roman church is not confused about where Paul stands on the issue of faith and the connection between faith, works, and the law. At the beginning of the book, he sets for his program: Paul has been called as an apostle to proclaim the gospel of Christ and bring about the obedience that comes from faith. Faith allows believers to be transformed and, therefore, can live according to the moral law. Faith does not eliminate the law; it is the vehicle by which the law can be fulfilled in the life of believers.

In Galatians, Paul spoke dramatically about Christians’ freedom from the law. As a result, he was seriously criticized by Jewish Christians, who did not believe in the revelation of Christ abrogated the Jewish law and would inevitably lead to rampant immorality.  In Romans, Paul assures the Roman church that nothing could be further from the truth. Thus, Paul writes:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin Romans 6:1-7).

Paul is clear: Our freedom from the law resulting from faith in Christ is not freedom to sin or do what we like. It is freedom from sin and the “Law of Sin and Death.” It is as if Christians, when they become believers in Christ, experience a kind of death. Their former sinful self is now dead, and in replacement, a new spiritual self has been created by God. That new spiritual self can fulfill the law, which the Old Testament law could not provide. The new creation in Christ is set free from the Law of Sin and Death and can live in the newness of God’s divine life.

Four Meanings of Law in Romans

As I’ve taught, I’ve been able to help the class understand four different uses of the law Paul uses in Romans. Historically, Reformed theology held that there were three types of law revealed in the Old Testament: moral, ceremonial, and civil (or judicial):

• The Ten Commandments exemplify moral law. They are permanently applicable today, and they still bind Christians.
• The ceremonial and civil law contains ceremonial (liturgical) and political laws applicable only to the Jewish people. It was temporary and is not binding on the church today.

It is also vital to understand another phrase used in Romans: “the law of sin and death.” The apostle Paul refers to the law of sin and death when he says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”   (Romans 8:1-2).

In Romans, Paul contrasts the “Law of the Spirit” and the “Law of Sin and Death.” When Paul uses the phrase “the law of sin and death,” he recalls Adam and Eve’s story in the garden. Remember the consequences of Adam and Eve violating the commandment of God not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil death (Genesis 3:2). Scholars can argue about what is included in this judgment of God, but it at least consists of spiritual death. That is to say, those who disobey God create for themselves a separation from God, a kind of spiritual death. This spiritual death can be undone by faith in Christ. The Law of the Spirit frees believers from the law of Sin and Death and results from believers receiving the Good News, the message of new life through faith in the resurrected Christ, followed by receiving the Spirit of God in their lives.

In Romans 8, Paul clearly states his view:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because, through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because the flesh weakened it, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).

Faith allows believers to be transformed and, therefore, have the capacity to live according to the moral law. The law alerts Christians to our sinful predispositions and points out the danger of falling into sin. In our natural condition, Christians are no more able to carry out the law than the Jewish people of the Old Testament. In our natural condition, Christians are no more able to carry out the law than Jewish people of the Old Testament. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that Christians can fulfill the law, and this is not an act of will but primarily an act of faith, the spirit working through the lives of believers. The law of the Spirit gives spiritual life to believers and sets us free, not from the moral law, but from the law of sin and death. Furthermore, once free from the law of sin and death, we no longer live according to our natural desires but according to the Spirit and, therefore, can fulfill the law’s righteous requirements.

Love Fulfills the Law

This short blog is not intended to be a complete theological discussion of what it means to fulfill the law. Still, it’s important to remember that Paul says that the law itself is summarized by the Great Commandment, especially by loving others. In Romans 13, Paul states:

Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not harm a neighbor. Therefore, love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10, emphasis added).

It is love that fulfills the law. When believers receive Christ, they receive God into their hearts. When they receive God into their hearts, they receive the love of God because God is love, and they are empowered to love God and others (I John 4:7-21). Therefore, in loving God and others, Christians fulfill the law. But if we fail to do so, if we fall away from the love of God and others, we do not fulfill the law.) Notice, however, that this law of the spirit is not another law of the type one finds in the Old Testament. It is the spirit of God active in the life of believers. Love fulfills the law; it is not some kind of new law containing a lot of rules and regulations.

I hope this short look at portions of the book of Romans will help readers understand that the Christian life is not lawless. It is not as if the moral law we find, for example, in the Ten Commandments, has ceased to be applicable. The law is eternally relevant. By faith, Christians receive something even better than the law: the Spirit.

The spirit of God allows us to fulfill the law as we become more like Christ, who himself was the fulfillment of the law. He says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). I like the New Living Translation even better: “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”

By faith in Christ and loving God and others, we, like Jesus, can fulfill the law. The law becomes more or less irrelevant because we act by the power of the Holy Spirit in love, which transcends the law. It doesn’t repeal the law, but it’s bigger than the law. It is even more fundamental than the law. First, John tells us that God is love and light (I John 1:5; 4:8). It doesn’t say “God is law” because the law is not fundamental. Wisdom and Love are.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

One of the most pressing questions humans ask is, “How can I know what I’m supposed to do next?” The question is often phrased for Christians: as “How can I know God’s will?” Both secular and religious authors have written many books to help people answer this question. Interestingly, there’s little evidence that these books have fundamentally changed human beings. After generations of self-help books, people still wonder what to do next.

There are times in life when we simply cannot escape the question of what to do next. We ask questions like,  “What school should I attend?” “What person shall I marry?” “What career shall I embrace?” “What church should I join?” “What religion should I believe in?” “Should I change jobs?”

These are all important questions, so important that the entire course of our lives can be changed by how we answer them. A lot of the time, we can delay making a decision. We can just keep on going in the direction we’re headed. Of course, that is a decision. Not to decide is to decide. We’ve decided what to do. We have to live with the consequences. If I’m offered a job and I don’t take it, thinking that I have more security where I am, that opportunity will probably pass me by for life. There are also times when we have no choice but to decide. There are times when we have to make a decision. We can’t avoid the decision.

In the modern world, the issue of how to decide has become increasingly pressing as the scope of human choices has become more significant. In prior ages, most people had minimal decisions concerning their career (it would be their parents), who they would marry (it would be the person their parents chose), or where they would live (it would be where their family has always lived), what political party to belong to (there were none for most people) or who to vote for (there were no elections), and the like. This is true in very few places in the modern world. As one author put it, “…the individual in modern pluralistic society not only has the opportunity to choose; he is compelled to choose. Since less and less can be taken for granted, the individual cannot fall back on firmly established patterns of behavior and thought. … Such a person must opt for one possibility rather than another. [1]

The inevitability of choice in modern society causes deep anxiety, poor decision-making,  and a sense of dislocation in many people. Stanley Hauerwas says it well,

We are told we live in a morally bankrupt age. People think what at one time was unthinkable; indeed they do what was once inconceivable. We experienced the world as so morally chaotic that we feel our only alternative is for each person to choose if not to create the standard by which they are to live.” [2]

In such a society, it is no wonder that many people feel their lives are falling apart when they face making decisions. It is no wonder that so many people feel deep regret and shame for their past decisions. It’s a wonder that things aren’t worse. In such a situation, it’s worth asking how we can make good decisions about the things that matter most.

Where We Go for Help

Although the conditions of our society make it more challenging to make decisions, and because of the lack of clear, moral guidance, decisions are more likely to be poor. Nevertheless, people have always faced the necessity of making good decisions. This has been true throughout history. The entire wisdom literature of the Old Testament is one long dissertation on making good life decisions. That’s why it’s essential to develop the habit of reading a small section of wisdom literature every day. It can be Proverbs. It can be Ecclesiastes. It can be The Wisdom of Solomon. It can be James. It could be one of many places in the Scriptures where the question of making good decisions is addressed. Yet, there is a deeper truth than just reading appropriate literature.

Romans 12 and Wise Decision-Making

This week, I focus on a tiny section of scripture, Romans 12:1-3. When I was in seminary, we were warned not to preach too much on a single text. Every pastor has their favorite texts, and there’s a tendency to return to them time after time. Our professors warned us against overdoing this. About five years into my preaching career, I reviewed a list of every sermon I’ve ever preached and where it came from in the Bible. It turned out that except for the Christmas and Easter passages, Romans 12:1-2 was the passage I had most often taught or preached on. Here it is:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

The Practical Nature of Faith

If we are going to be able to make good decisions in life, it’s important to understand the difference between practical knowledge and abstract knowledge. Abstract knowledge is theoretical in nature, while practical knowledge always leads to action. Christianity is not an abstract system of doctrine; it’s a way of life. Christian life is all about action. It is about doing. It is about living each day in view of God’s revelation in Christ.

Paul’s letters have a standard structure. One feature of Paul’s writing is a tendency to begin a letter with teachings about God and end the letter with its practical implications for life.  He nearly always does this, and for a good reason: Paul thanks that our faith should lead us to action. This is why he begins the letter with the phrase “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5).  The obedience of faith is practical action in everyday life based upon the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Romans 12 begins with the word “Therefore.” Paul is showing that we need to live differently because of all that he has said and all the logical arguments he’s made up to this point about the meaning of Christ. “Therefore” clues us into the fact that the mighty act of God in Christ has implications for our lives.*

It’s easy to believe that if we’ve got our theory right, we will get our practice right. Philosophers warn us that this is not always the case. There’s always a distance between any idea we have and reality. Making good decisions in life is about adjusting our lives to the way the world really is. Of course, to do that, we have to understand the way the world really is. The apostle Paul knows this, which is why he begins by urging the Romans to “offer their bodies as living sacrifices….” In Paul’s mind, God and God’s involvement in the world and our lives is the most fundamental fact. If we don’t recognize this fundamental reality, we won’t be able to make the best decisions possible.

Present Yourself to God

Paul begins by urging us to make a total commitment to the Gospel of Christ.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” In a sermon many years ago, I asked the men of our congregation how many prayed before they asked their wives to marry them. Not one person raised their hand. The point was that we sometimes fail to “present our decisions and ourselves to God.”

You can argue that the decision about who to marry is the most critical decision many people make. My life would be completely different if I hadn’t married Kathy. Indeed, no decision I’ve ever made has had a more positive influence on my life. If there is any decision that ought to be lifted up to God, deciding who to marry is the one.

What is Paul urging us to do? He’s asking us to discern the will of God. To do this, we have to present ourselves to God. He doesn’t begin by asking believers to check out a library book and study it. Notice Paul doesn’t begin by saying “Memorize a lot of scripture.” He starts by saying that we should present ourselves to God. This doesn’t mean we won’t study our Bibles. It doesn’t mean we won’t read secular sources of information about our decisions. It doesn’t mean that we won’t ask the opinion of trusted counselors.

 It means that, most importantly, we must present ourselves to God. This means we have to pray. We have to meditate. We have to take time to allow God into the decision-making process that we are about to make. Finally, and this is the most challenging part of presenting ourselves to God, we need to present ourselves to God with an attitude of worship and sacrifice. When Paul uses the phrase “present yourselves as living sacrifices,” he uses a word that means worship. He is saying, “Bring yourself into the presence of God and pray and praise God continually as you make your decision, and don’t be afraid to make sacrifices along the way.”

For the past 50 years, with very rare exceptions, I’ve spent every Sunday morning in church. A good bit of the time, it was a sacrifice to attend worship. I might have rather been somewhere else, like the golf course.  The same thing is true in decision-making. It won’t always be easy or pleasant if we bring ourselves before God in an attitude of total worship as we make decisions. A good bit of the time, we wish we could do something else and be somewhere else.

Occasionally, we’re going to make a decision that we don’t really want to make based on our feeling that God wants us to make it. It’s true in my life over and over again. Some of my best decisions have been made in situations where I felt it would result in a bit of sacrifice. On the other hand, some of the worst decisions I’ve ever made were made under circumstances where I was taking the easy way out – deciding because I thought it would please me instead of pleasing God.

One final element at the beginning of this passage needs to be emphasized. At the end of the passage, Paul urges the Romans to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice precisely because it is their “true and proper” worship. The word in Greek is difficult to translate, and “true and proper” may not capture all the Greek implies.  The Greek word literally means “logical.” [3] It means reasonable. It is the very same root word used in John when he refers to Jesus as the “logos of God,” that is the word of God in human form.

In Jesus Christ, the most profound reason of the universe is revealed. As Paul points out in First Corinthians, at first glance, this deeper reason may not seem reasonable (I Corinthians 1:5-10). Nevertheless, our Christian faith should not lead us to act unreasonably, even though the world may often think that our pattern of decision-making is unreasonable. Instead, our decision-making should be logical and reasonable at a level that most people cannot imagine.

Be Transformed

How is it possible for us to live a life characterized by constant and total worship of God? Most of us can’t do this a lot of the time. This is why Paul says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). My paraphrase of this reads, “Do not allow yourself to become conformed to the spirit and pattern of thought and behavior of our society but be transformed by complete changing your character and the way you make decisions so that you may in every situation discern the will of God in every situation.”

In one way or another, all of us tend to view the world through the lenses given to us by our own society. We internalize a worldview, habitual way of life, and a set of values, not primarily consciously but unconsciously, as we grow, mature, and live out our daily lives. In our society, this habitual worldview inclines us to believe that material things are very important. In our society, this habitual worldview inclines us to think that being powerful, wealthy, and able to control our environment is fundamentally the most essential thing in the world. Against all this, Christians believe that the most important fundamental thing is God revealed in Christ, who is the Truth and Love of God in human form (I John 3:8). Learning to live like Jesus is the most important thing in life–and Jesus did a lot of sacrificing to make our faith and life possible.

What Paul has in mind is that we need a change not in our exterior behavior, though there will be a change in our exterior behavior, but a change in our very being. When Paul says “be transformed,” the Greek word implies that there should be a complete and total transformation in the essential being of our person. [4] In Protestant circles, we tend to call this process “sanctification. In Orthodox circles, they use the word “Theosis,” which means becoming not just like God on the outside but participating in the life of God on the inside. We are transformed, not just by what we believe, nor just by how we behave, but by who we are. This is exactly what Paul means.

Eugenia S. Constantinou puts it this way, “The Holy Spirit illuminates, sanctifies, and actualizes the life in Christ. As we participate fully in the life of the Church, we acquire an orthodox phronema, a mind shaped not by the world but by the Spirit.” [5] As we grow in Christ as part of the community of faith, we acquire a new attitude, a new perspective, a new frame of reference, a new worldview, a new kind of reason, and a new orientation in our lives. This new orientation grows and matures as we embody more of Christ. This is how we learn to make good decisions in the will of God. There is no good decision-making without transformation.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Peter L. Berger, A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity (New York, NY: Anchor Books, 1992), 89.

[2] Stanley Hauerwas, The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer on Christian Ethics (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Press, 1983), 2

[3] Karl Barth, A Shorter Commentary on Romans (Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1959), 150.

[4] William Barclay, “Romans” in The Daily Bible Study Series Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1975), 157-158.

[5] Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2020, 77.

The paradigm for visualizing the world and human society envisioned the universe as made up of matter and society as made up of isolated individuals, both of which were bound together by forces. In the realm of industry, this meant technology. In the political sphere, this meant human ingenuity was put into the service of gaining political and economic power. In the thoughts of Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx, and others, there was no inherent limit to the sovereign’s power. In the hands of Nietzsche, this became a recipe for disaster because all that mattered was raw power and the desire to dominate (Will to Power).

American and other political institutions have been powerfully impacted by the Newtonian worldview, a Hobbesian view of politics focused on power and the theoretically unlimited power of the state. Just as under the influence of a mechanical view of the universe, modern thinkers were predisposed to perceive the world as consisting of small units of matter held together or influenced by forces; in politics, this worldview predisposed policy-makers to either extreme individualism or Marxist-influenced communalism, viewing the core governmental forces as power influenced solely by economic factors, all explicable through scientific analysis. Thus, the 20^th Century’s most influential political and economic theories: Capitalism and Marxism.

In recent years, a materialistic model of the world has been superseded by a model that assumes deep interconnectedness, relationality, freedom, and inner sensitivity. By the middle of the 20^th Century, at least physicists understood that the Newtonian model of the universe was limited and fundamentally incorrect. Today, scientists believe that the world, at its most fundamental level, is composed of disturbances in a wave field, with the result that every aspect of reality is deeply connected with every other aspect. Some scientists even believe that the world is fundamentally composed of information. Whichever view turns out to be correct, the fact remains that matter and forces are not fundamental. In theology, a robust analysis has emerged, suggesting that the world is profoundly interconnected and relationships are more essential than matter or energy. This fundamental view of reality cannot help but impact our view of human beings and society.

The insights of theoretical physics and other academic disciplines into the fundamentally relational nature of reality and the limits of a merely reductive scientific enterprise have been slowly transforming society. A newer “organic model” that sees the universe not as a machine but as an organism or a process is gradually emerging and influencing public life.  As the implications of this new worldview are better understood by citizens and politicians alike, political life and the contours of our politics and political institutions are bound to change, hopefully rationally and peacefully.

The modern world is dying, and something new is emerging. What we call “post-modernism” is only the beginning of the change and might be better called “Hyper-Modernism” or “End-stage Modernism.” The descent of modern thought into “hermeneutics of suspicion,” “deconstructionism,” and various forms of nihilism is fundamentally critical reasoning taken to an absurd end. The inevitable result will be that reason, spiritual values, moral imperatives, and the like will reemerge as essential factors in a wise polity. The vision of the purely secular, materially driven, and scientifically managed state will wither away until it finds its proper place in a more comprehensive human polity.

Hopefully, a newer vision of political reality will emerge in its place – a constructive form of postmodernism.“Sophio-agapism” describes the philosophical proposal defended in these essays. Just as the world comprises an intricately intertwined web of reality, governments will recognize that human politics must begin with smaller units, like the family, and move organically into more comprehensive organizational units with essential but limited powers. The vision of the all-powerful nation-state that controls a territory through legal, administrative, and bureaucratic power will be proved inadequate and false. Whether this happens due to a great crisis and collapse of the current nation-state, world-state visions, or organically, through the decisions of wise leaders, depends on the decisions we all make. One thing is for sure: a wise and genuinely post-modern political order will value dialogue as much as debate and decision.

In this series of essays, I’ve tried to discuss historical pragmatism and the development of a particular approach to political life and thought. In the process, I’ve been attempting to sketch out the contours of a sic approach to political theory and life. Briefly, the essential elements are as follows:

A Politics of Wisdom

Sophio-agapism embraces the notion that political philosophy and political action can be reasonable (the sophiomove) and serve the common good by understanding a society’s political life, the options for change available, the historical trajectory of that society, and other factors while experimenting wisely among various policy options. This is a turn away from a view of politics as primarily a matter of Will and a return to an older view that politics is mainly a matter of practical wisdom (phronesis). As a form of practical wisdom, sophio-agapism embraces the notion that wisdom comes from experience embedded in the human race’s experience through the ages and from the advances of modern science and technology.

A Politics of Love

Sophio-agapism embraces a communitarian viewpoint that sees all participants in society as part of a common community bound together not just by power but fundamentally by a willingness to sacrifice for the community, whose interests must be considered in addition to the selfish interests of individuals that make up that community (the agapic move). In particular, nurturing families, neighborhoods, mediating institutions, and voluntary societies creates social bonds that give stability and restraint to the state’s power and can accomplish goals that state power alone cannot achieve.

Political love is fundamentally a recognition that society is a joint endeavor requiring the cooperative efforts of all participants to achieve human flourishing. It is a social bond that transcends individual grasping and the search for personal peace, pleasure, and affluence. It requires confidence that the existing social order, as flawed as it may be, provides positive benefits to all members of society and should be protected while at the same time advancing in the realization of justice and human flourishing.

A Focus on Social Harmony

Sophio-agapism embraces the ideal of social harmony as the goal of political life. The modern, revolutionary focus on equality dooms political life to unending conflict among persons and classes. Political life aims to achieve progressively more significant degrees of harmony among the various participants in any society. A return to viewing social harmony as the foundation of wise and just decision-making is implied by the interconnectedness of the world and the various societies humans inhabit. Equality is undoubtedly an essential component of justice, as are opportunities to achieve, the acquisition of property that one can call one’s own, respect for all citizens, and a host of other components of a functional society.

The Reality of Universal Values

Sophio-agapism embraces the recovery in the public life of the notion that critical universal values, like justice, are not merely matters of the will of a majority or the choice of a single individual or ruling class but noetic realities. These noetic realities, what I have called Transcendental Ideals, can be studied, internalized, and applied to practical problems and extended in the dynamic process of the political life of a society. This requires the disciplined, fair, and impartial search for such values and their application in concrete circumstances by all the relevant players in society, private citizens, public officials, policy advisors, etc.

The kind of moral confusion we see in the West is evidence of the need to recover a sense of the reality of ideals, such as justice, and the importance of their continuing enfolding as part of a tradition of moral, political, legal, and philosophical inquiry by communities devoted to the unbiased search for justice. These Transcendental Ideals exist as ever-evolving noetic realities to be progressively revealed by a community dedicated to uncovering their nature and application.

A Wholistic Reason

Sophio-agapism embraces a holistic view of political wisdom and a recovery of classical and modern thought in guiding public policy. This means superseding the dissolving effects of critical reason as the primary source of political thinking and including with critical reason a form of reasoning that involves the cherishing of people and institutions within the political life of a society. In modern political theory, will and power have become dominant factors in public life. Power alone and the Will to Power do not lead to human or social flourishing unless they rest on a substructure of caring for others and institutions.

Politics is not primarily science; it is a skill. The skills involved include the ability to choose among alternatives, forge a consensus, make difficult decisions in solving public problems, maintain the maximum degree of social harmony, and other skills that are not primarily cognitive. In addition, they are not encouraged by the dissolving effects of critical reason. Just as there is a skill beyond technical proficiency in creating a symphony, social harmony is not entirely a matter of technical ability or scientific determination. Polls, for example, can only get you so far in the search for justice.

Fallibility and Limits

Sophio-agapism embraces developing a sense of limits in public life. The historical trajectory of the political development of any society places limits upon wise and caring change. The history of a society and its trajectory also opens avenues for developing the tradition of which that society is a part. The Enlightenment brought about a period of revolutionary thinking, exemplified by the French Revolution and the Marxist revolutions of the 20th Century. The results are not encouraging in the search for either social harmony or human flourishing. Rather than being revolutionary, sophio-agapism is evolutionary. It believes that the gradual evolution of human society guided by human wisdom and love can create a better future over time. Connected with this insight is a resistance to millenarianism of the left or right, Marxist or Capitalist. Humans cannot achieve a perfect society, but humans can improve upon the society in which they live.

Sophio-agapism encourages a sense of limits and a recognition of human fallibility in political life. Not all problems can be solved, and very few can be solved entirely or quickly. The attempt to make massive social changes involves the risk of enormous societal damage. This argues for an incremental approach whenever possible. Not all problems are susceptible to incrementalism, but a great many are. There is the chance of a significant cost and waste if substantial changes are made. It is hard to reverse the damage done by a massive political change. It is much easier to change course when the original action is incremental. This kind of incrementalism is not enhanced by the emotion-driven politics that currently characterizes Western democracies.

Investigation and Dialogue

Embracing an abductive (scientific) and dialectical model of political reasoning and behavior that deliberately attempts to find the best rational solution for all involved, seeking the harmony of society as a whole, and resisting political life’s descent into a form of warfare by other means. Reasonable dialogue is essential for societies to recover a sense of mutual respect for differing opinions and a standard search for the best solution among available options.

Many social problems arise from illogical, emotionally driven, poorly conceived policies. From how many governmental programs are structured to the outcomes permitted to the corruption and waste involved, these programs represent both a failure of character in leadership and a failure of thoughtful reaction to societal needs. The propensity to avoid complex problems until they are dangerously large and politically unavoidable is a risk in any democratic society. When the propensity becomes endemic in all areas of conflict, it is dangerous to political institutions.

Dialogue is important because it allows political actors to accomplish two essential goals in maintaining social harmony: the investigation of alternative policies and proposals and the maintenance of the maximum degree of unity during periods of decision. Contemporary politics is exceptionally reliant upon divisive, simplistic, and polarizing rhetoric. Focus on dialogue and reason would allow political actors to maintain social harmony while investigating the best policy to adopt. It would also allow the political climate to become more harmonious.

Overcoming the Focus on Power

Both political liberals and conservatives agree that there are fundamental problems in society and the human community. Interestingly, it may be a shared fundamental worldview that is at the root of the decay of public institutions. The idea that the world is fundamentally material and that politics is a matter of power and power alone is a profound source of the irrational behavior of the right and the left. If the world is fundamentally rational and relational, then all solutions that flow from a purely materialistic view of society—a view shared by extreme capitalist and socialistic theories of government, lie at the root of many of the problems we face and certainly at the root of an increasingly dysfunctional style of politics. The urgency for a new, more relational rational government ontology is apparent, emphasizing the potential importance of further developing the philosophical perspective outlined in this series of essays.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved 

“After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive” (Acts 1:3)

            Some years ago, the Memphis Commercial Appeal ran a story titled “Most of Us Don’t Expect Resurrection of the Body.” The article began by disclosing that while most Americans identify themselves as Christians, those who identify themselves as Christians don’t necessarily believe in the resurrection. However, the church has always believed in this doctrine, and it is found in every orthodox creed. Every Sunday, all over the world Christians meet together and affirm their faith in the resurrection.

            There are many good books in which the authors defend the Christian faith and the resurrection. To name a few, C. S. Lewis wrote a book titled Miracles defending the resurrection. [1] Josh McDowell compiled a book entitled, Evidence that Demands a Verdict. [2]  The physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne wrote The Faith of a Physicist, in which he makes a scientist’s defense of the resurrection. [3] Lee Strobel, in his book, The Case for Christ, gives a reporter’s defense of the resurrection. [4] It is fundamental to Christian theology and Christian faith that the resurrection of Jesus was God’s vindication of his sinless life – proof of his victory over sin and death. Each time we say the Apostles or Nicene Creed, we affirm our belief that Christ rose from the dead, and that we too will be resurrected in the last day. [5]

The Argument from Changed Lives.

The resurrection is important. You see, Christ’s victory over sin and death, the resurrection, is also proof of our victory over sin and death. It is because of the resurrection that we Christians can live confidently amid danger and adversity. It is because of the resurrection that we can have hope amid trials. It is because of the resurrection that we can proclaim with the apostle Paul, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!” (Romans 8:38).

There are many arguments for the resurrection. My favorite is this: The most significant argument for the truth of the resurrection is the changed lives of the disciples who formed the church, left their homes, and went to the ends of the world – and their graves – proclaiming the risen Christ. Formerly afraid and hiding, they were now willing to face great opposition resulting from their claim that Jesus was alive.

In this blog, I do not intend to regurgitate the arguments others have made. Instead, I want to discuss a practical question, “How can we experience the power of the new life of the resurrected Christ in our lives?”

Better Together with the Risen Jesus

           Dr. Luke begins the second volume of his biography of Jesus and the history of the early church with a brief review of the final days before Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Earlier, in Luke, Paul described the betrayal by Judas (Luke 22:47-48), the denial of Peter (Luke 22:54-62), the death of Jesus (Luke 23:44-46), and the flight of the other disciples. Luke then narrates the events surrounding the resurrection – the angels’ appearance to the women in the Garden, Jesus’ appearance to the two disciples on the Road to Damascus, and the Twelve in the Upper Room. Luke describes Jesus’ telling them that they were to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Luke 24:44-49). Finally, he describes Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the disciples’ return to Jerusalem (Luke 24:53).

            In the first chapter of Acts, Luke again recounts a story of the resurrection. He takes time out to reinforce in readers’ minds the fact of the resurrection. [6] Jesus, we are told, appeared to the disciples on many occasions after the resurrection. In First Corinthians, Paul gives a summary of these appearances, saying that Jesus appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve, then to more than five hundred people at the same time, then to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to Paul (see, 1 Corinthians 15:5-8). [7] In just a few weeks, the disciples, who were discouraged, despairing, and disbursed, came together and boldly proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah and had risen from the dead.

From Despair to Courage

The disciples went from being a scattered, dispirited, discouraged group of former followers of Jesus of Nazareth to being filled with the Holy Spirit. They became a “Band of Brothers” whose exploits the world will never forget. [8]They were ready to face anyone or anything in the name of Jesus. Where there was danger, they possessed courage. Where there was persecution, they possessed fortitude. Where there was opposition, they possessed endurance. Faced with death, they had faith in God and hope for eternal life.

Isn’t this what we desire for our lives? Don’t we wish we could live free of petty fears and petty desires? Don’t we wish we were free to share the love of God with others as Jesus could and did? This morning, I want to highlight three ways we can experience the power of the resurrection in our lives.

Wait for the Holy Spirit

The first thing we must do is to wait for the Holy Spirit. We can imagine that, after they became convinced of the resurrection, the disciples were anxious to begin the business of proclaiming the rule of Christ. Luke gives us some inkling of this when he recounts that the disciples asked Jesus, “Is now the time when you will restore the Kingdom of Israel?”(Acts 1:6). In other words the disciples were saying, “Now that you have returned, can we get started defeating your enemies?”

The fact is, we Christians don’t always understand what God is doing or when and how God intends to do it. We can be overly anxious to get along with the plan before God has fully revealed to us what the plan is, much less what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it. We can have difficulty waiting.

Many of you know that I am impatient. Once I’ve figured out that there is a problem, I am ready to start solving it, sometimes before God is ready. I’ve noticed that God often reveals some of his plan to me, but not enough for me to get started. I have to wait on God. God likes to teach us patience by asking us to wait. We learn to wait for Jesus to send his Spirit of Wisdom, Love, and Power before we act.

The Power of Meeting Together.

As Christians, we need to learn to wait on God, but waiting does not mean doing nothing. There was plenty to do during the days and weeks between the resurrection and the promise of the Holy Spirit and its arrival. Our text tells us that Jesus continued to appear to them and to teach them, giving them instruction concerning the meaning of his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus taught, and the disciples listened and asked questions, such as “Is now the time when you will restore the Kingdom of Israel?” (Acts 1:6). [9] As we wait for Jesus to empower us in some area, we can still do a lot. We can gather together for worship. We can study our Bibles, attend church, do small group Bible studies, and volunteer in some ministry. We can grow in our understanding of God, of God’s ways, and of God’s call on our lives. While we wait, we can grow closer to Christ and his people.

Some years ago, my former church participated in 40 Days of Community in small groups. Each person experienced a simple daily Bible study, a time of sharing in a group, perhaps a discipleship group or Sunday school class. Each had the opportunity to engage in one of several small service projects. In other words, we had the opportunity to grow together as disciples and work together as Christians. It was life-changing for many people.

Most of the Christian life is spent between tremendous spiritual experiences. Most of the time, we aren’t on the mountain top. We are slogging through the jungle of everyday life, trying to make ends meet, raising children, taking care of other human beings, watching over parents growing old – just trying to show a little of God’s love to those around us. If we are wise, during these ordinary times, we will be a part of some kind of small group of Christians as we share our lives and our faith in small but life-transforming ways.

Pray for the Presence of God.

The most important thing we can do when we meet is pray. Our text tells us that after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples gathered together in the Upper Room and prayed. It says, “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:14). I want to mention two things about this verse.

First, if we desire to live Spirit-empowered lives, we must pray constantly.

Second, not only do we need to be in continual prayer, but we need to be constantly praying in unison with others. We need to meet with other Christians occasionally to pray together. If we want to see the power of God in our marriages, we need to pray as couples. If we’re going to see the power of God in our families, we need to pray in our families. If we want to see God at work in our ministry, like the choir or the band, we need to pray together as a choir or a band. If we want to see God at work in our congregation, we need to pray as a congregation.

Over and over again, I’ve seen the truth that prayer is the key to unlocking and releasing God’s power into a situation. Sometimes, that prayer is one of confession. Sometimes, it is a renewed prayer of intercession. Sometimes, it is a prayer of thanksgiving. Sometimes, it is a prayer of desperation. Whatever the circumstance, prayer is the key to unlocking God’s power.

I’ve also noticed that God often waits until we are willing to be just a little desperate in our prayers. God does not want pro forma prayers. He wants prayers of the heart. I think God listens more to our hearts than to our words. He is often waiting for our hearts to align with his will. I wish I had a story to illustrate this, but the truth is that most of the stories I could tell are so private that I can’t share them. Nevertheless, I have seen the power of God to unlock the solution to problems that, humanly speaking, were impossible to solve.

Conclusion

            What does the resurrection mean? Oswald Chambers, in his daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest says this about the meaning of the resurrection, “When our Lord rose from the dead, he rose to an absolutely new life … And what his resurrection means for us is that we are raised to his Risen Life, not to our old life.” [10] The resurrection means new life – a different kind and quality of life. The resurrection means we can live the kind of God-filled life that Jesus lived.

            Most of us spend our lives isolated and burdened by old hurts, unresolved guilt, shame, bad habits, and the like. The resurrection is God’s promise that we don’t have to live as we always have. We are not predetermined by our biology, or by our family, or by our past. We can experience a new kind of life, even if we have to live with some of the consequences of the past. I love the contemporary a song “Christ Alone”. One of the verses goes like this:

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from his hand
‘til he returns and calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand. [11]

            This is the promise – Guilt about our past does not have to determine our lives. Fear of the future does not have to drive us. This means, especially, that fear of death – that fear which drives so much of human life, is gone. [12] To live in the power of the resurrection is to be free of that fear, and from any other fear, for we know nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Therefore, we need not fear others. Freedom from guilt means freedom from shame – shame that separates me from God and others. The resurrection means we are free to live joyfully as part of the Community of the Spirit – Christ’s church.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: McMillan, 1947). See also, Mere Christianity (London: Fontana Books, 1952).

[2] Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict. Colorado Springs CO: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972).

[3] John Polkinghorne, The Faith of a Physicist (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996). These are his Gifford Lectures in the form of a book.

[4] Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998).

[5] I mention the Nicene Creed (325 AD) because it is the universal creed accepted by Eastern and Western Christians. It is one of the official creeds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In the Nicene Creed, as in all orthodox creeds, it is affirmed that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that we, too, will be raised on the last day.

[6] See, William Barclay, The Acts of the Apostles 2^nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1955).

[7] Although there are differences among the Gospels concerning the details of the resurrection, they are united in a general pattern: the women first discovered the empty tomb, then Peter and perhaps John or the two on the road to Emmaus saw the Risen Christ, then the remainder of the disciples. Paul adds that there were appearances to many disciples and, last of all, to Paul (I Corinthians 15:3-8).

[8] See, William Shakespeare, “King Henry V Act IV. Scene III in The Collected Works of William Shakespeare (New York: Garden City Books), 581: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me/ Shall be my brother, be he e’re so vile./ This day shall gentle his condition:/ And gentlemen in England now abed/ Shall think themselves cursed they were not here….” (Emphasis Added).

[9] Jesus’ answer was a polite “No,” as he reminded them that no one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s final return (see Acts 1:6ff).

 

[10] Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest. (Grand Rapids: Discovery House Press, 1992), selection for April 8.

[11] This version of “Christ Alone” was recorded by Newsboys in their 2003 album, “Adoration”.

[12] William Willimon, “Acts” in Interpretation: A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox, 1988), 19-20.

During the last few weeks, I’ve been examining the work of the pragmatist John Dewey. Dewey’s form of pragmatism involved what he called instrumentalism, which briefly sees human thinking as instrumental in nature. He was raised in a Christian home and continued his religious faith into adulthood. Unfortunately, his philosophical studies and other intellectual commitments caused him to leave the Christian faith. By 1894, he had given up his Christian faith and became what he called an “unregenerate philosophical naturalist.” Charles Darwin and the emergence of evolutionary theory profoundly influenced this transformation. Darwinism, with its non-explanatory approach to the world and the emergence of human life, played a pivotal role in Dewey’s loss of belief in the supernatural.

As Dewey aged, he worried about the sustainability of portions of the intellectual and social projects to which he was committed. He came to see the need for a kind of philosophical underpinning for his commitments. He felt the need to develop common ground between religious and non-religious people to create a more just society. It was in this vein that he wrote A Common Faith. [1] Although I will be critical of some aspects of his program in this blog, I share both his concerns and his hope that a way can be found to build a common ground between religious and non-religious people and various religious groups.

Instrumentalism

Dewey’s form of pragmatism emphasized the instrumental character of human reason in solving practical problems. His view was naturalistic and did not involve the need for supernatural explanations. In this, Dewey differs from Charles Sanders Peirce and Josiah Royce. (In fact, it was the nominalist and naturalistic views of William James and John Dewey that caused C. S. Pierce to develop his brand of pragmatism, which he called “pragmaticism.”) Dewey was not interested in speculative philosophy or metaphysics, not in final or ultimate truths or realities, but in the practical application of philosophy to produce a better human society. In this, one might call Dewey a humanist in the best sense of the word.

Dewey’s Anti-Supernaturalism

Dewey’s form of pragmatism bordered on what we might call scientism. Dewey believed that science and modern scientific modes of human inquiry involved a fundamental change in the human condition and how humans adapted to life’s problems. He thought that a pragmatic humanist social agenda opened up hope for a better future. In this sense, Dewey is a typical post-Enlightenment thinker. In particular, Dewey was highly suspicious of any supernatural explanation for any phenomena.

The word “Supernatural” can easily be misunderstood. The term is derived from Medieval Latin “supernaturalis,” which is derived from the Latin “super” (above, beyond, or outside of) and “natura” (nature). Thus, by its etymology, reference to the supernatural does not necessarily indicate a diminution of nature or science. Instead, it refers to something above or beyond science. Not surprisingly, Dewey would be inclined to focus on the supernatural as involving something magical or exceeding the laws of nature in common religion. Even today, one finds a great many people who do have a magical view of Christianity and other faiths. However, a magical faith is not the only kind of faith.

Many Christians believe that God created an orderly universe filled with natural laws that must be understood and which control a great deal, in fact, most of the operations of human life. On the other hand, our everyday orderly, mechanical world rests upon both a quantum world and, for people of faith, was created by God, who stands above nature as its creator. In this sense, God is “above” or “beyond” nature (supernatural) as the transcendent ground of the created order, which God has created to have its independent laws.

Dewey’s Later Religious Ideas

In his book, A Common Faith, Dewey discusses three aspects of religion as he attempts to find common ground between those who possess religious faith and those committed to a naturalistic view of reality:

1. Dewey distinguishes between religions and religious experience,
2. Dewey advances the idea of God as the creative intersection of the ideal or possible and the real or actual and
3. Dewey seeks to encourage the infusion of the religious as a pervasive mode of experience into democratic life.

In advancing these ideas, Dewey tried to find a way between those committed to a historical religion, such as Christianity, Catholicism, and Protestantism, and those who believed that advancing culture and science has rendered religions unnecessary. Dewey hoped he could find common ground between these two groups so that they could work together for the common good. We can certainly agree with Dewey’s intentions regarding this.

Religion vs. Religious

He advances his argument by distinguishing between religion and religious experience. Religion involves those ions and activities that are associated with any religion. For example, Christians have worship services, usually on Sunday. These worship services typically involve some kind of a liturgy, contemporary or traditional. Most of these worship services involve using scriptures believed to be of a divine origin. In almost every religion, there is also a kind of theology. That is to say, there is a group of beliefs held in common by the religious group. This might be the basics of the Christian faith, what are sometimes called the Five Sola’s of Protestantism, the Eightfold Path of Hinduism, the Five Pillars of Islam, the Torah of Judaism, or any other statements of essential religious belief.

This is not what Dewey means by religious experience. In A Common Faith, Dewey advances the idea that it is a part of human nature to have religious experiences in the sense of emotions and ideals of harmony, wholeness, inspiration, peace, comfort, and undivided engagement with the world. Religious experiences are diverse and might be inspired by reading poetry, making scientific discoveries, walking a picket line, or climbing a mountain. Such religious experiences create attitudes that help us commit more fully to our highest values. [2] Interestingly, among religious people I know, this kind of experience would not be deemed religious but like a religious experience. Why? Because religious experience is, by its nature, fundamentally an experience of the divine, not that of some portion of creation itself.

One author describes Dewey’s attitude as follows:

The highest religious attitudes, to Dewey, are (1) reverence for nature as the whole of which humanity is a part, and an understanding that we must cooperate with the natural world rather than attempt to dominate it; and (2) faith in the ongoing growth of humanity: growth in knowledge, wisdom, compassion. [3]

At the risk of sarcasm, what Dewey proclaims as “religious experience” seems a good bit like what the sociologist Robert Bellah describes as “Sheilaism.” Sheilaism is the kind of self-created abstract religion that demands nothing and has little content so common in our society. Here is how Bellah described Sheila:

Sheila Larson is a young nurse who has received a good deal of therapy and describes her faith as “Sheilaism.” This suggests the logical possibility of more than 235 million American religions, one for each of us. “I believe in God,” Sheila says. “I am not a religious fanatic. [Notice at once that in our culture any strong statement of belief seems to imply fanaticism so you have to offset that.] I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.” Sheila’s faith has some tenets beyond belief in God, though not many. In defining what she calls “my own Sheilaism,” she said: “It’s just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think God would want us to take care of each other.” Like many others, Sheila would be willing to endorse few more specific points. [4]

Dewey has examined his own mind and described the religious experience of the human race in general as his personal preference—or what he personally thinks would be best in spiritual experience.

Against what Dewey refers to as “religion, he postulates the notion of the “religious.” Being “religious” refers to human experience that has no necessary connection to any religious institution, social organization, or system of beliefs. This experience occurs “in different persons in a multitude of ways” and generates a feeling of harmony with oneself and the universe that, at its core, entails a profound change and transformation in the person’s entirety. [5]

As helpful as it is for understanding, this distinction is ultimately useless in practice. Being religious is almost always, in fact, inevitably connected with a religion. There is, in practice, no distinction between being religious and practicing a religion. Let me explain why this is true. I am a Christian, a Protestant, and inclined towards what C. S. Lewis described as” Mere Christianity.” Most people would call me “religious.” How do they know such a thing?

They might have observed that my wife and I attend Church regularly. I read my Bible daily. I have a prayer list occupying about thirty minutes of my day daily. I pray the Lord’s Prayer and the Nicene Creed several times weekly. When away, pray the Daily Office online.  I sometimes practice a form of contemplative prayer. We go on Mission Trips periodically. I teach Sunday School when asked. Although I am retired, I occasionally preach at other churches and help around the church we most regularly attend. My character as “religious” is embodied in my religion and its beliefs. While one can distinguish my faith and mystical connection with God from these various practices, they are not separated in actual life.

The same might be said of my friends who are Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, and the like. Like me, they have beliefs embodied in certain practices, without which their religious character would not exist.

Dewey’s God

In A Common Faith, Dewey wanted to construct an “idea of God” that could form a basis for the cooperation of religious groups (in his day, primarily Christian Protestantism and secular humanists, like himself, in a common project of improving humanity. Here is the way he describes his vision of God:

The import of the question extends far. It determines the meaning given to the word “God.” On one score, the word can mean only a particular Being. On the other score, it denotes the unity of all ideal ends arousing us to desire and actions. Does the unification have a claim upon our attitude and conduct because it is already, apart from us, in realized existence, or because of its own inherent meaning and value? Suppose for the moment that the word “God” means the ideal ends that at a given time and place one acknowledges as having authority over his volition and emotion. The values to which one is supremely devoted, as far as these ends, through imagination, take on unity. If we make this supposition, the issue will stand out clearly in contrast with the doctrine of religions that “God” designates some kind of Being having prior and therefore non-ideal existence. [6]

The problem with Dewey’s analysis begins with his definition of God, which states that “the ideal ends that at a given time and place one acknowledges as having authority over his volition and emotion.” This is precisely what theists do not believe. God is not my deepest belief that I should be a good spouse and father, a good citizen of my city-state and nation, or any of the like. Belief in God is belief in a person who stands outside of me and whose very being relativizes my self-chosen values.

In Dewey’s use, God is not a being. God is a name that I assign to my own ultimate concerns. In other words, Dewey is a religious nominalist. “God” is a convenient general word to describe my moral and other ultimate preferences. I must confess that I detect a bit of Whitehead in Dewey. For Whitehead, God is an Eternal Object, but unlike other Eternal Objects, God is an actual existence as the fountain of all values incorporated into evolving reality. Here is Dewey’s way of putting it:

The idea that “God” represents a unification of ideal values that is essentially imaginative in origin when the imagination supervenes in conduct is attended with verbal difficulties owing to our frequent use of the word “imagination” to denote fantasy and doubtful reality. But the reality of ideal ends as ideals are vouched for by their undeniable power in action. [7]

Two aspects of this definition leap out at the reader:

1. Dewey’s fundamental pragmatism. God exists because it has a power to direct human action.
2. “God” is an abstract ideal that exists as a unification of all human values.

Compare Dewey’s definition of God with this language from Whitehead:

This nature conceived as the unification derived from the World of Value is founded on ideals of perfection, moral and aesthetic. It receives into its unity the scattered effectiveness of realized activities, transformed by the supremacy of its own ideals. The result is Tragedy, Sympathy, and the Happiness evoked by actualized Heroism. Of course we are unable to conceive the experience of the Supreme Unity of Existence. But these are the human terms in which we can glimpse the origin of that drive towards limited ideals of perfection which haunts the Universe. [8]

God in Whitehead is also “a unity of values focused on ideals that give meaning to human and natural existence. God is “realized” in the evolving process of the world (realized activities). This is close to Dewey’s position in A Common Faith.

Conclusion

As always, there is much to learn from Dewey. Ultimately, I think his project fails as a unification of secular striving and religious striving. However, as a vision of cooperation, it remains a valuable starting point in the common search of religious and secular people for a better and more just world.

I have almost certainly not done complete justice to the subtlety of Dewey’s argument. He was a great philosopher, and I hope to return to his religious views in a future post. I do recommend A Common Faith to my readers. It’s not an easy book to read and has been much criticized by secular as well as religious people; nevertheless, it is an attempt to find common ground.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] John Dewey, A Common Faith (New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1934).

[2] Kate Lovelady “Monday notes from Kate: John Dewey’s A Common Faith (November 28, 2011)

https://www.ethicalstl.org/monday-notes-from-kate-john-deweys-a-common-faith/ (downloaded, May 27, 2024).

[3] Id.

[4] Robert Bellah, “Habits of the Heart: Implications for Religion” http://www.robertbellah.com/lectures_5.htm (downoaded May 27, 2024).

[5] A Common Faith, at 17.

[6] Id, at 42.

[7] Id, at 43.

[8] Alfred North Whitehead, (“Immortality” in  The Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, ed.  P. A. Schilpp, (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1941), 697–98

It should be evident that the notion that reason has an instrumental function and that logic is instrumental has significant consequences for the development of public policy and the conduct of public debate. Rational public discourse cannot simply involve an attempt to gain enough public support that one’s personal ideas can be enacted into policy. From a sophio-agapic point of view, public policy formation begins with identifying a problem. Ultimately, it is about adopting strategies and tactics that will lead society to a better state. [1] As to justice, public policy is finally about the gradual evolution of a more just society in a way in which all citizens’ rights are protected and enhanced. As such, it is an essentially logical process. Dewey put it this way:

It is reasonable to search for and select the means that will, with the maximum probability, yield the consequences which are intended. It is highly unreasonable to employ as means, materials and processes which would be found, if they were examined, to be such that they produce consequences which are different from the intended end; so different that they preclude its attainment. [2]

Applied to the realm of public discourse, this principle can be stated as follows:

Public policy is unreasonable if it adopts policies and processes that, under examination, are likely to produce consequences contrary to the public good and the intended result.

Political actors must be willing to subject their views to criticism and modify their policies where the best evidence indicates that the public good intended cannot be acquired by the means chosen. This inevitably involves a logical and reasoned approach to public policy development, not simply enacting policies that more special interest groups favor.

Wise public policymaking involves using all forms of logic. Political actors must guess what the wisest public policy is (hypothesis). They must gather facts that either support or do not support our hypothetical public policy. Finally, in reaching our conclusions, we must ensure they’re not deductively incoherent. This is a part and parcel of proving or disproving the hypothesis.

Deliberation and Enhanced Common Sense

We have already seen that abductive logic proceeds from a perceived problem to a hypothetical proposal for the solution of the problem to a testing of that problem. Where ideology is allowed to determine the adoption of solutions to political problems, ideology or preconceived notions are improperly allowed to determine results. Here is how Dewey puts the problem:

But in social matters, those who claim that they are in possession of the only sure solution of social problems often set themselves up as being peculiarly scientific while others are floundering around in an “empirical” morass. Only recognition in both theory and practice that ends to be attained (ends-in-view) are of the nature of hypotheses and that hypotheses have to be formed and tested in strict correlativity with existential conditions as means, can alter current habits of dealing with social issues. [3]

Here, we have clearly stated the fundamental problem with much modern political discourse. Both those on the political left who favor collectivist solutions and those on the right who favor unlimited personal freedom believe themselves to possess the only sure scientific solution to political problems. Therefore, they do not see the need to consider their proposals as hypotheses that must be checked against reality to ensure that they work in practice.

It is not enough for there to be debate, discussion, argumentation, or even conversation and dialogue. The conversation has to be conducted to evaluate public policies and choose rational means to test them before adoption, or at least before adoption in such a way that the consequences might be disastrous. In this vein, more judgments cannot be excluded from the evaluating process since they are part of the complex and intricate existential and potentially observable and recordable material that makes up the facts of the case. [4]

Wherever political conclusions are taken to be a priori true or determined by ideological, philosophical, or other commitments, the process of reasonable policy determination is bypassed. Do we put it this way as respects, classical laisse faire economics:

In consequence, the three indispensable logical conditions of conceptual subject-matter of the scientific method were ignored; namely, (1) the status of theoretical conceptions as hypotheses which (2) have a directive function in control of observation and ultimate practical transformation of antecedent phenomena, and which (3) are tested and continually revised on the ground of the consequences they produce in existential application. [5]

This failure of logic can be seen in both the ideological commitments of the right and the left, Marxist and Capitalist. Once again, Dewey is clear:

A further illustration of the demands of logical method may be found in other current theories about social phenomena, such as the supposed issue of “individualism” versus “collectivism” or “socialism,” or the theory that all social phenomena are to be envisaged in terms of the class-conflict of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. From the standpoint of method, such conceptual generalizations, no matter which one of the opposed conceptions is adopted, prejudge the characteristic traits and the kinds of actual phenomena that the proposed plans of action are to deal with. [6]

This conclusion is at the root of the sophio-agapic program. Whenever ideology supplants wise policy adopted to serve the best interests of all of society (the maintenance and creation of social harmony), there has been a failure of both logic and consideration of the best policy to undergird society.

The Deliberative Process

In matters of practice, there is no substitute for reason and deliberation in the consideration of alternative courses of action. Dewey understands that wherever practical issues are involved, and especially in matters involving political deliberation, the fact themselves and the situation itself continually changes:

Preliminary to offering illustrations of what has been said, I shall summarize formally what is logically involved in every situation of deliberation and grounded decision in matters of practice. There is an existential situation such that (a) its constituents are changing so that in any case something different is going to happen in the future; and such that (b) just what will exist in the future depends in part upon introduction of other existential conditions interacting with those already existing, while (c) what new conditions are brought to bear depends upon what activities are undertaken, (d) the latter matter being influenced by the intervention of inquiry in the way of observation, inference and reasoning. [7]

Deliberation about policy matters takes place in an evolving environment, sensitive to whatever actions are taken, subject to new conditions, and influenced by observers intervening in the situation using inquiry. This may seem not easy to understand, but I think it can be illustrated most adequately by examples from foreign affairs. Political actors make decisions in an ever-changing political environment where multiple nation-states are interested.  No international situation remains constant. There is constant change. Every action, however small, taken by international actors impacts others who will then change their behavior somehow. Finally, the fact that a nation is considering a change in policy influences the entire situation. This involves a constant process of evaluating and examining the various alternative courses of action available in an ever-changing environment. [8] Generally, policy policymakers have a state of affairs they wish could be created (for example, ending a conflict in the Middle East); even this policy goal can be and is subject to change as policymakers, change, and different policies are enacted. The result is that political decision-making, at best, is made in a volatile and rapidly changing environment.

Conclusion

Dewey should be taken seriously in a sophio-agapic understanding of political life. Since all human reasoning, including political rationale, must be conducted reasonably, restrictions are placed upon dialogue. It is also fundamental to a socio-agapic understanding of politics that decisions should be tested to ensure they are correct before being implemented on a grand scale. As Dewey puts it: “Unless the decision reached is arrived at blindly and arbitrarily, it is obtained by gathering and surveying evidence appraised as to its weight and relevancy; and by framing and testing plans of action in their capacity as hypotheses: that is, as ideas.” [9]

All of this involves the condition that dialogue be conducted reasonably and rationally. This takes us back to the fundamental meaning of dialogue. The Greek roots, “dia” or “through” and ‘logos” or “reason” indicate that dialogue is not a mere sharing of opinions. Instead, it is sharing logical views to reach a deeper understanding of the truth about a matter under deliberation. When one deliberates, one considers carefully all of the factors necessary to reach a conclusion. Wise decision-making involves the capacity to deliberate effectively. Once again, deliberation is an essentially social exercise, especially political decision-making. Balancing different social interests, achieving social harmony, and considering the consequences for those impacted are all part of a wise deliberative process.

From Peirce and James, Dewey has a “scientific and instrumental” view of knowledge that includes a kind of fallibilism that recognizes that our ideas, however well attested by reality and comprehensively accepted, can always be wrong and need revision. This excludes any sympathy for totalitarian undertakings in philosophy, politics, education, or any other field of inquiry. This part of Dewey’s philosophy is of increasing importance in our society, in which there are so many loud voices, left and right, who are sure of the truth about their own opinions and are contemptuous of the views of others. Where the advice of Dewey is ignored, there is a failure of logic, an increase in social conflict, and increasing contempt for opposing views—all phenomena we experience in American society today.[10]

The practical difficulties in the way of experimental method in the case of social phenomena as compared with physical investigations do not need elaborate exposition. Nevertheless, every measure of policy put into operation is, logically, and should be actually, of the nature of an experiment. For (I) it represents the adoption of one out of a number of alternative conceptions as possible plans of action, and (2) its execution is followed by consequences which, while not as capable of definite or exclusive differentiation as in the case of physical experimentation, are none the less observable within limits, so they may serve as tests of the validity of the conception acted upon. [11]

I could not more clearly state the sophio-agapic approach to public policy formation than the statement above. All public policy is in the nature of a social experiment, nearly always enacted where significant alternatives are available. Therefore, any given policy should not be seen as irrevocable or logically necessary but merely hypothetical. In executing such policies, policymakers should be conscious of the potential for error and, therefore, should be careful to evaluate the consequences of the policy and reverse courses if it turns out to have been unwise. This is the essence of a wise approach to policy initiatives.

Copyright 2024, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] John Dewey, Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1938), at 498.

[2] Id, 10.

[3] Id, 497. A generalization in the form of a hypothesis is a prerequisite condition of the selection and ordering of material as facts. Id, at 498.

[4] Id. “The notion that evaluation is concerned only with ends and that, with the ruling out of moral ends, evaluative judgments are ruled out rests, then, upon a profound misconception of the nature of the logical conditions and constituents of all scientific inquiry. All competent and authentic inquiry demands that out of the complex welter of existential and potentially observable and recordable material, certain material be selected and weighed as data or the “facts of the case.”

[5] Id, 506.

[6] Id.

[7] Id, 162-163.

[8] Id, 170.

[9] Id,161.

[10] Id, 507.

[11] Id, at 509