10.12.08

These are Anxiety-inducing Times

Posted in Religion at 5:08 pm by Karl

This commentary is inspired by the Believers and Doubters group’s recent discussion of Letter VI of C. S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters excerpted in the anthology of Lewis works, The Joyful Christian. As in the other “Screwtape Letters,” the retired senior devil (Screwtape) in this letter instructs his nephew and novice devil (Wormwood) on strategies for undermining or sabotaging formation of the faith of the Christian (whom Screwtape refers to as the “patient”). This letter is particularly relevant in the current climate of imploding housing and financial markets and there is genuine concern for the health and well-being of American families. Fear of the unknown would seem to be a natural reaction to the recent events and the apparent impotence of national governments in the face of these unprecedented events.
In my understanding, Lewis does not argue that fear is an illegitimate emotion for the Christian. There’s nothing wrong with being fearful in the face of trials that one is presently facing. The Christian is “on the devil’s ground” so to speak when “the patient’s mind is diverted from the thing feared to fear itself.”
In the current climate, some Christians who subscribe to an apocalyptic (dramatic) end of history point of view see the whirlwind of events of the past few weeks as signs of the end. On the strength of scripture, whether this is so or not is known only to God. A question which naturally follows from this, it seems to me, is what should be the Christian’s posture. Are we merely bystanders or is there some affirmative action that we are enjoined to take?
I take the view that the Christian does not have the option of being indifferent or entertaining any sense of resignation in the face of the current catastrophe. It’s foolhardy–even a denial of reality, I would argue–to act as if we’re untouched or unaffected by the unfolding events. Rather, there is an obligation to engage with members of the larger community to effect such changes as are politically feasible. Such engagement cannot be one-off; the times “they are a-changing” and call for sustained and purposeful involvement. [Karl]

That They May Be One?

Posted in Religion at 3:38 pm by Karl

A comment made by the guest on today’s edition of Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett set me to thinking about the notion of community and whether even within the Christian “faith community” we are even capable of achieving the goal for which Christ prayed–”that they may be one.” Krista’s guest was illustrating some point or other when he mentioned two evangelical families in Texas, one with eight children, the other with twelve. The sizes are based on both families’ conclusion that they were operating in obedience to God’s will as they understand it.
The point that got me thinking about the notion of community was that in mentioning the two families the guest remarked that both families made their living from organic farming–a conservative thing to do, the guest noted. In his illustration he’d also said that clients of the two farm families included folks who are socially and politically liberal. The thing that caught my attention was the need to label one or the other group as conservative or liberal. In my view, labelling in this way is intended to mark someone or some idea as “other”–alien, foreign, suspect.
It would seem that the human tendency to create in-groups and out-groups may be two strongly imprinted to be overcome, except for brief periods when groups–whatever their self-identity or values–face a commonly perceived threat that none by itself is capable of dealing with. This may be kind of off-the-wall; but is the ideal of worldwide Christian unity (ecumenism) an achievable objective?