tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63307939624430091122024-03-13T09:14:23.654-07:00Reading, Writing, and... well, that's it.I love to read. And write. I have very eclectic tastes in books and if I don't rant about them here, I'll drive my family and friends crazy.
Since I read so much, I thought it best to record summaries of what I read here. This way all my reading is not in vain!MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-18687166159716648902024-01-11T13:05:00.000-08:002024-01-11T13:05:49.153-08:00Beartown by Fredrik Backman<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizo9mH578Nko7CMpOat4N8qjVbLpYkf2aUOGo-rr7JOiyCS80FYEyqr-LNI1ByMpLN7oUxKpVGfEpKuS9XpRzwi_uhVN7152gre4lLLbTNc0nuUkbU1Dy_PvzqKx12uo0FXLLQgCYEFBmK1fGtQd3e1P1huLoWxbHTorhVXUm2P74NWlLWsDVL8QfzuavW/s1000/81cZJm3j5iL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="673" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizo9mH578Nko7CMpOat4N8qjVbLpYkf2aUOGo-rr7JOiyCS80FYEyqr-LNI1ByMpLN7oUxKpVGfEpKuS9XpRzwi_uhVN7152gre4lLLbTNc0nuUkbU1Dy_PvzqKx12uo0FXLLQgCYEFBmK1fGtQd3e1P1huLoWxbHTorhVXUm2P74NWlLWsDVL8QfzuavW/w269-h400/81cZJm3j5iL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="269" /></a></div>Our latest book club genre is "Books in translation." My pick was <i>The Count of Monte Cristo.</i> We voted on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beartown-Novel-Fredrik-Backman/dp/150116077X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GQEB9SQ0FCUG&keywords=Beartown+by+Fredrik+Backman&qid=1705006382&sprefix=beartown+by+fredrik+backman%2Caudible%2C157&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Beartown by Fredrik Backman</a> instead.<p></p><p>It's staccato prose and subject, a dying, desolate, and desperately cold hockey town, proved an initial obstacle to me. But once I got over that, the story really began to suck me in. I don't think I've had a book grab ahold of me like this in a while. All the characters were multi-dimensional. They all had their flaws and virtues. Just when I was ready to write off a character as unredeemable, he would surprise me. But the actual plot a bit to get going. </p><p>But once the central action took place, it was non-stop.</p><p>Except that what appeared to be the central action was not. The author keeps us up-to-date on the happenings of a secondary character, Benji, who appears to move "off-screen" as the plot really takes shape. In those glimpses, we see hints that this boy is a closeted gay student. But that is a distraction to the gripping story the town is facing. </p><p>Somehow the author manages to pull out a somewhat satisfying end. No one gets everything they want, but all get some satisfaction. That's the point we shift the focus back to Benji and his coach's discovery of the young man's sexual attraction to males. Suddenly the story becomes about acceptance and the appalling lack of sympathy the coach and players have displayed when it comes to same-sex attraction. The big takeaway seems to be, "Don't be a bigot to gay people." </p><p>This "moral of the story" left a bad taste in my mouth. Obviously, as Christians, we are called to love all people and treat all with dignity and respect. Acceptance of that bent is another story. But just as a matter of story-telling, the ending felt jarring. While one really big and intractable story is seemingly the focus, Backman pulls a bait-and-switch and seems to say, "And by the way, while I got you hooked on one compelling story, I'm going to use this time to shame the anti-gay bigots." </p><p>Anyways, I wouldn't recommend it. And I'm leery of reading his other novels. I don't need to be that invested to have the rug pulled out from under me. </p><p>It's really a shame.</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-26745573679706206112023-12-28T14:09:00.000-08:002024-01-08T14:17:12.876-08:00A Light in the Window by Jan Karon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIUco0mcu_gXLrajjgtXBgEcBv8UzDTlITWfzk9AlUW5NdNyW_Qin-zUnjZnw2i5pTYBAMyuRaknkXfPQwJzwFDmvOIRt16PxaJDSF3mUNuXH3rBbc6K1gGFUA1cZD_HO-Ta1V8BL0Iy-xcN4wZBV538jgo6fb-rsqzxnVdWEQAUnHP8NaSDGpoRdIg88/s349/96CAEB87E712BBEA104EDF94680B82C5DE5F61A7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="228" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaIUco0mcu_gXLrajjgtXBgEcBv8UzDTlITWfzk9AlUW5NdNyW_Qin-zUnjZnw2i5pTYBAMyuRaknkXfPQwJzwFDmvOIRt16PxaJDSF3mUNuXH3rBbc6K1gGFUA1cZD_HO-Ta1V8BL0Iy-xcN4wZBV538jgo6fb-rsqzxnVdWEQAUnHP8NaSDGpoRdIg88/w261-h400/96CAEB87E712BBEA104EDF94680B82C5DE5F61A7.jpeg" width="261" /></a></div>Since Tim and I both enjoyed the first "Mitford" book, we decided to read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/A-Light-in-Window-Jan-Karon-audiobook/dp/B000JLSS4U/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11OAMJURWAS1X&keywords=A+Light+in+the+Window+by+Jan+Karon&qid=1704751878&sprefix=a+light+in+the+window+by+jan+karon%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1" target="_blank">A Light in the Window by Jan Karon</a>. She keeps up the small town feel in the next installment which begins immediately upon Father Tim's return to Mitford from Ireland.<p></p><p>Things are progressing with his lady love Cynthia. Of course they cannot go perfectly smooth and lots of miscommunication and jealousy ensue.</p><p>Father Tim must deal with the cantankerous contractor in charge of building Miss Sadie's bequeathed nursing home. </p><p>On top of all that, Cousin Meg shows up out of the blue (or maybe Ireland, it's unclear). </p><p>Between the daily events that consume Father Tim's time and finding Dooley a new school where he has a chance to flourish, Cynthia and Time struggle to figure out where their relationship fits in. </p><p>I guess I'll have to read the third book!</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-79500646938401080312023-12-24T08:53:00.000-08:002023-12-29T09:09:21.342-08:00The Crucible by Arthur Miller<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6qlO1SB9LD-tAz7wkFu9HOJoBHBzf4sv_j_temPKpU-Gioym8A070GeyMR9sywOxMUZemcWQpCQWKchVmToKbZfCPMl_UXy-WSsnG9BHWIEt9LCH_rDdCnRUInlXx_sJRs6SODqI9NlxQGfPvUgee86mqV96dQP3-UGdM4bV5-qYGeLdbiZNtAYcgG25p" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><img alt="" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="288" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi6qlO1SB9LD-tAz7wkFu9HOJoBHBzf4sv_j_temPKpU-Gioym8A070GeyMR9sywOxMUZemcWQpCQWKchVmToKbZfCPMl_UXy-WSsnG9BHWIEt9LCH_rDdCnRUInlXx_sJRs6SODqI9NlxQGfPvUgee86mqV96dQP3-UGdM4bV5-qYGeLdbiZNtAYcgG25p=w257-h400" width="257" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">As I work to read the list I give my students of "Books to Read Before you Die," I grabbed <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crucible-Play-Four-Acts/dp/0142437336/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39H48ZHQTSXAX&keywords=The+Crucible+by+Arthur+Miller&qid=1703868971&sprefix=the+crucible+by+arthur+miller%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>The Crucible</i> by Arthur Miller</a> off my shelf.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">As a substitute, I watched the second half of the movie multiple times, so I felt a familiarity with the characters, setting, and plot. Now I want to go back and watch the whole movie.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The story is engrossing. It ostensibly centers on the Salem Witch Trials, but is obviously so much more. The tale reveals the very dark underbelly of humanity. Lust, greed, fear. It's all in there. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The story begins with young women doing what young women do: fighting for an escape and freedom. One has apparently seduced a married man and sees her chance to break him free from his long-suffering wife. Not only do the girls shout, "Witch" in order to absolve themselves, the town uses the opportunity to free itself of gadflies and cranks, or even obstacles to prosperity. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The panic, the rush to judgment, the absolute certainty mirror our own during the Covid nightmare.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Nothing has changed. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">John Proctor takes center stage as he seeks to redeem himself from his sin of adultery and betrayal. He is the hero of the play. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Interestingly, after the madness, the town returns to "normal" and consigns the horror to a never-spoken-of anecdote. This too is typical of humanity. We don't learn. We intentionally forget. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The play is horrifying. It's a slow-motion train wreck in which multiple people yelled, "Stop!" Yet the reader knows it will not stop until the cancer has worked itself out. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Never didactic, the play shines a bright light on our own foibles. </span></div></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> </span><p></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-58068296940651616032023-12-22T09:10:00.000-08:002023-12-29T10:04:10.263-08:00At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5-Fwf2uLW59qfDPZolENOEf-1damlGQNLF3d12WhMmEAwEVD5tcXa03k5nTTDTz958A9YYSBeblEYJKTp_ZJ30O2x_u7oFg-nrwU38x3hpcLSM4u50hYBBYAvq4uy4C9cpnGkIdkuOqSE1Z0DOK88T2nF9ENwdmqPY5Wu8vFYaKmkEflnFbmhiTc2PW5/s639/At%20home%20in%20mitford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="418" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5-Fwf2uLW59qfDPZolENOEf-1damlGQNLF3d12WhMmEAwEVD5tcXa03k5nTTDTz958A9YYSBeblEYJKTp_ZJ30O2x_u7oFg-nrwU38x3hpcLSM4u50hYBBYAvq4uy4C9cpnGkIdkuOqSE1Z0DOK88T2nF9ENwdmqPY5Wu8vFYaKmkEflnFbmhiTc2PW5/w261-h400/At%20home%20in%20mitford.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>Robyn Vandewalle sent me <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crucible-Play-Four-Acts/dp/0142437336/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39H48ZHQTSXAX&keywords=The+Crucible+by+Arthur+Miller&qid=1703868971&sprefix=the+crucible+by+arthur+miller%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>At Home in Mitford</i> by Jan Karon</a> for my birthday. Set in Blowing Rock (Mitford) North Carolina, she figured I love a "hometown" novel. She was right.<p></p><p>The book features a variety of small town characters led by Father Tim, a gracious and good-natured bachelor. As he deals with the daily circumstances that present themselves, we fall in love with the charming and slow-paced town. </p><p>All stories, no matter how dire, seem to end well. Small setbacks are simply fodder for spending time with the demention-adled Miss Rose, the long-suffering Uncle Billy, the misunderstood child Dooley, the opinionated secretary Emma, and rich spinster Miss Sadie, as well as the intriguing "neighbor" Cynthia Coppersmith. </p><p>The plot is not especially relevant in this slice-of-life novel. </p><p>Father Tim is simply going about his day trying to handle each hiccup as best he can. </p><p>I look forward to reading more in the series. </p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-37001931682404766182023-12-17T10:07:00.000-08:002023-12-30T08:03:41.411-08:00A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method by Jennette DeCelles-Zwerneman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOT_QtnDpgl3-BMGNQy6iT9tT6jPhBoBeZbNcBDc0NjLEfiGrEbWCD5r_q8VjT9sjWLyUST7YeIEEncUpIp5cx9qzEUdm4P4eqR4vmyxn_uNOEQqMy15Ioj0j1CKjoiuyidhNXKasvv0vy5FfLmh6LIXTliFypmWrI4hXRuxWPubHwXeiEl76gO8_qbzKP/s399/514THaGr-ML.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOT_QtnDpgl3-BMGNQy6iT9tT6jPhBoBeZbNcBDc0NjLEfiGrEbWCD5r_q8VjT9sjWLyUST7YeIEEncUpIp5cx9qzEUdm4P4eqR4vmyxn_uNOEQqMy15Ioj0j1CKjoiuyidhNXKasvv0vy5FfLmh6LIXTliFypmWrI4hXRuxWPubHwXeiEl76gO8_qbzKP/w301-h400/514THaGr-ML.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div>A fellow teacher recommended a website to help us as we craft our Seminar class. On that site I discovered <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lively-Kind-Learning-Mastering-Seminar/dp/1733832300/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3H14N2IWMFAW6&keywords=A+Lively+Kind+of+Learning%3A+Mastering+the+Seminar+Method+by+Jennette+DeCelles-Zwerneman&qid=1703873303&sprefix=a+lively+kind+of+learning+mastering+the+seminar+method+by+jennette+decelles-zwerneman%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1#customerReviews" target="_blank">A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method</a></i> by Jennette DeCelles-Zwerneman. It turned out to be a very helpful book. I recommended that our entire team read the short treatise and discuss a la "book club"!</div><div><br /></div><div>I found several worthy gems: "The goals of the seminar are to teach the following skills and habits of mind: how to read well with sensitivity to genre; how to speak precisely in a spirited, adult conversation marked by wonder and rigor; how to defend their positions and gracefully change their minds when necessary; how to think through a thorny problem from beginning to end with precision; and how to think about the world more generally." (p. 5)</div><div><br /></div><div>Something to reflect on: "Another more sober complaint against conducting seminars with high school students is that it invites arrogance in young people who enjoy minimal experience of the world and who are already prone to sophomoric pronouncements. (p. 6)</div><div><br /></div><div>The goal: "If a seminar discussion is successful, the students should know that they have learned something at its conclusion." (p. 8)</div><div><br /></div><div>Questions to ask: "Why do you say that? What do you mean by that? Where is that in the text?</div><div>Can you expand on that? How can you maintain that reading in light of this other passage? You are now contradicting what you said before; did you mean to do that? What would we have to assume to believe what you're saying is true?" (p. 9)</div><div><br /></div><div>A call to center the text: "Seminar leaders should always begin with the concrete text before them. The rest will follow naturally. The students should know that the text is the source of their discussion and that they should not be consulting outside sources." (p. 20)</div><div><br /></div><div>A word of advice on what to <i>do</i>; "When sorting through philosophical texts, an exceptionally useful habit to acquire is the practice of distilling arguments on a one-half sheet of paper in outline form. Restricting oneself this way has the effect of clarifying the issues and disciplining the mind." (p. 28)</div><div><br /></div><div>The author outlines "Six Patterns for Leading Seminar":</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Recreate the drama, collect the questions. "Learning to ask good questions is an important intellectual skill that should be acquired in seminar training." (p. 36)</li><li>Arguments: Find them first than evaluate. "The students are directed to locate the thesis of an argu-ment, the argument's logical construction, and the evidence offered by the interlocutor for that position." (p. 36)</li><li>Two by Two. "In this pattern, the students are working together, building a shared experience of the text. They are seeing it through the eyes of their colleagues, and they are seeing afresh what they had missed on their own." (p. 40)</li><li>Line by line. "We are trying to teach the students how to read, and that involves occasions of close, detailed investigation of the text." (p. 44)</li><li>Competing Essays. "The fifth kind of seminar discussion is based on two competing essays written by the students themselves...The essay assignment would have to solicit opposing but arguable positions." (p. 49)</li><li>The Big Picture. "It involves comparing and contrasting assessments of various authors on a variety of overlapping concerns an interests." (p. 50)</li></ol><div>Finally the book ends with "Common Mistakes that Spoil a Seminar."</div></div><div>The Expert: "[T]hey fear the unruly and often unpredictable nature of the seminar. They are frightened when students start interrupting each other. Because they fear the seemingly gigantic pauses that sometimes open up in these conversations, they fill them, instead of patiently waiting for the students to catch up...If the seminar leader plays the Expert long enough, the students will catch on and wait for him to settle the debate..."(p. 57)</div><div><br /></div><div>The Traffic Cop: "They believe their purpose is to stay out of the way and keep the traffic moving by calling on students to speak; directing traffic by quieting interruptions and ticketing malcontents; and waving travelers through the intersection by cueing up the next remark." (p. 60)</div><div><br /></div><div>The best Seminar teacher functions as an "Experienced Mountain Guide."The skillful teacher needs to be intellectually alive, energetic, and opportunistic. When the students move the conversation into unexpected territory, and the issues arising are potentially fruitful, the teacher needs to guide that conversation and move in the fresh direction suggested by the students' questions and remarks." (p. 61)</div><div><br /></div><div>And finally, my biggest takeaway: "One of the most important skills students gain in these discussions is learning how to engage each other, not just the teacher, in a lengthy and substantive exchange. It is imperative that the students be consistently redirected to address one another in these conversations." (p. 76)</div><div><br /></div><div>In true Seminar fashion, the author details the Final Cause of Seminar: "We want them to become reflective, rigorous, intellectually honest, spiritually sensitive, and competent readers of a wide and various selection of genres. The seminar should cultivate in the students the ability to think through problems independently, collaboratively, and imaginatively; to scrutinize arguments and evaluate the truth of those ar-guments; to imaginatively observe and reflect on the created world in a piece of literature and the development and motivation of the characters who inhabit that world; and to be genuinely moved by the beauty and the suffering they confront in their reading. Finally, the students should acquire an understanding of the world and their place in it." (p. 89)</div>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-23991598616162660612023-12-15T08:04:00.000-08:002023-12-30T08:18:24.234-08:00"The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TsQJvPsE7UVA_95WLdtfwIEBLhL4sB-X0l7SkdDeneqig_LLhehIT498L_SThMi45elQ40F306Kcjfqsw68stCz_H6c15G3mOgUhBEEi2xtuWsFdtr-huF9qSY0jg6eHKrw5lVaVgLLV1kg2gBXJEZWTM6eBARpk2Ob0m_3LvYUtQbTTFPX7atpAzwI4/s639/The-Reluctant-Debutante-movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="417" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TsQJvPsE7UVA_95WLdtfwIEBLhL4sB-X0l7SkdDeneqig_LLhehIT498L_SThMi45elQ40F306Kcjfqsw68stCz_H6c15G3mOgUhBEEi2xtuWsFdtr-huF9qSY0jg6eHKrw5lVaVgLLV1kg2gBXJEZWTM6eBARpk2Ob0m_3LvYUtQbTTFPX7atpAzwI4/w261-h400/The-Reluctant-Debutante-movie.jpg" width="261" /></a></div></div><p>For the genre "play" our book club chose, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Reluctant+Debutante+by+Samuel+French&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjI-ozckbWDAxU8qoQIHZ2aDGAQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=The+Reluctant+Debutante+by+Samuel+French&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoHCAAQgAQQGFC6vowmWLq-jCZgp8GMJmgCcAB4AIAB-AGIAZ4FkgEFMC4zLjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=fv2OZcjDHbzUkvQPnbWygAY&bih=715&biw=1440&client=safari#imgrc=98IcSJXCYMcfjM" target="_blank">"The Reluctant Debutante" by Samuel French</a>. The picture is from the movie version. The actual "book" is a script with a red nondescript cover. </p><p>The play centers around a young woman, Jane, whose mother is desperate for her to find a suitable husband. A friend of the mother's also has a daughter "coming out" and in a similar search. Two very different men, both named David, provide the potential love interests. That each is initially made to understand that one particular David is the right one, and that it ultimately proves incorrect is basically the entire plot. Hijinks ensue. The reluctant debutante's parents, Jimmy and Sheila, provide a bit of a Mr. and Mrs. Bennet-style characters.</p><p>The play claims to be hilarious and warns against introducing over-the-top staging to enhanced its humor. At most, I found it slightly amusing. However, when our book club met to discuss it, someone suggested reading a scene out loud. We assigned ourselves parts and proceeded to do a read aloud. The results were actually very funny. I finally understood the initial note. Exaggerating for effect was unnecessary. </p><p></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-68091648904773645572023-12-02T08:21:00.000-08:002023-12-30T08:52:48.776-08:00The Lincoln-Douglas Debates by Abraham Lincoln<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEHMULFmeoNzmM0ZA-hsKIw8SxxtzHRxzT74bqsnB-cMjgPa6Ap8xTsqBpO3haLjlSe59le5Ui0z7RkEGZNYlqooJe8ipZbQgIJ1vcwkEyH8tneOXZ6UtZbyzD7FZvvaiCBMuTGjaFM46mUtKDDyRGgVBHljFvznxBHuMnigLtz0KUm5DuFIlv3mfed8K/s1400/9780243474370f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="928" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEHMULFmeoNzmM0ZA-hsKIw8SxxtzHRxzT74bqsnB-cMjgPa6Ap8xTsqBpO3haLjlSe59le5Ui0z7RkEGZNYlqooJe8ipZbQgIJ1vcwkEyH8tneOXZ6UtZbyzD7FZvvaiCBMuTGjaFM46mUtKDDyRGgVBHljFvznxBHuMnigLtz0KUm5DuFIlv3mfed8K/w265-h400/9780243474370f.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>Although I've read most, if not all, of the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Douglas-Debates-1858-Charleston-Newspapers/dp/1527719421/ref=sr_1_9?crid=3DZ7YW6MV1GYL&keywords=The+Lincoln-Douglas+Debates+by+Forgotten+Books&qid=1703953488&sprefix=the+lincoln-douglas+debates+by+forgotten+books%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-9" target="_blank">Lincoln-Douglas Debates</a> in the past, this small (58 pgs.) excerpted form was a perfect encapsulation of the arguments made by Lincoln and Douglas. The rapidity with which the reader can encounter each argument creates an easy-to-follow flow from one debate to the next. It is so much more of an extended conversation than a series of long speeches.<p></p><p>Interestingly, Lincoln is clearly on his heals throughout most of the debates. Although today his argument about the immorality of slavery and its incompatibility with the Founding ideal rings obviously true, it was one he sought to promulgate over enormous obstacles. </p><p>Douglas perfectly captures the zeitgeist by pointing out that the Founders actually left slavery in place. It was Lincoln who sought to upend the delicate balance procured by Jefferson, et. al. Repeatedly Douglas accuses Lincoln of believing that blacks were equal to whites in <i>every</i> way, including as voters and marriage partners. This "bridge too far" kept Lincoln in the unfortunate position of arguing that is not what he meant by saying slavery is incompatible with "All men are created equal." Douglas' rejoinder that the Founders clearly meant "All <i>white</i> men are created equal" seemed an adequate refutation. </p><p>Not until the seventh and final<span style="font-family: trebuchet;"> debate is Lincoln finally able to free himself of the web Douglas has wove about him. Lincon shifts gears to say that slavery is <i>morally</i> wrong: </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The real issue in this controversy--the one pressing upon every mind--is the sentiment on the part of one class that looks upon the institution of slavery <i>as a wrong</i>, and of another class that <i>does no</i>t look upon it as a wrong...[The Republicans] look upon it as being a moral, social and political wrong; and while they contemplate it as such, they nevertheless have due regard for its actual existence among us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way and to all the constitutional obligations thrown about it...T</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">hey insist that it should as far as may be, be treated as a wrong, and one of the methods of treating it as a wrong is to make provision that it shall grow no larger...</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles--right and wrong--throughout the world...The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings... It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principal...And whenever we can get rid of the fog which obscures the real question...we can get out from among them that class of men and bring them to the side of those who treat it as a wrong. Then there will soon be an end of it, and that end will be its 'ultimate extinction.' (p. 54)</p></blockquote><p>As Lincoln makes clear, there is no room for someone like Douglas who "doesn't care" whether slavery is voted up or down. If something is wrong, it is wrong. And any moral person must oppose it. To stand by and let it continue or expand is to concur with its basic morality. </p><p>Interestingly, Douglas, after Lincoln's devastating take-down of the "don't care" mindset, reverts to his strongest ground: Lincoln seeks equality in <i>every</i> way. This distasteful ignoring of the real issue suddenly reveals Douglas to be a cowardly racist afraid to state what is plainly true and in full alignment with the Founding of the country.</p><p>This book resonated with me greatly and will be a go-to defense of all attacks on Lincoln. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"> </p></blockquote><div><br /></div>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-60119679874716291112023-11-13T08:40:00.000-08:002023-12-30T08:19:12.853-08:00Sweep the Story of a Girl and her Monster by Jonathan Auxier<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgE8R7g7sWdo6uhr9NDivZc2gJRN1p-Zj7omrm6yOlRLpRFVjf7zG-p9vDS1uqwXSmDmSoForxTEVVm9npIrElSjgOgx0xhQzbIXAgIrRRP3o8nP-MdWJOueT_ZWrTu1kawZVRemwjEdEeuxkPDBu27f7QiOEI5WbIMmzMY1n5pTC1jQ56DkbyPiN3P8EkL" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="704" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgE8R7g7sWdo6uhr9NDivZc2gJRN1p-Zj7omrm6yOlRLpRFVjf7zG-p9vDS1uqwXSmDmSoForxTEVVm9npIrElSjgOgx0xhQzbIXAgIrRRP3o8nP-MdWJOueT_ZWrTu1kawZVRemwjEdEeuxkPDBu27f7QiOEI5WbIMmzMY1n5pTC1jQ56DkbyPiN3P8EkL=w282-h400" width="282" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Our book club decided to read the delightful book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sweep+the+story+of+a+girl+and+her+monster+by+jonathan+auxier&crid=JGXHTTYOGALF&sprefix=Sweep+the+story+of+a+girl+and+her+monster%2Caps%2C82&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_41" target="_blank">Sweep the Story of a Girl and her Monster</a> by Jonathan Auxier.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">The tale describes the life of a little girl chimney sweep, Nan, in late 19th century London. She has lost her friend and mentor, Sweep, and now works for a horrid abusive boss. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">But Sweep left her a small lump of coal. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">This coal turns out to be a Jewish goyim, a monster that is tasked with one thing and then disappears. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">Nan and her friends work to free themselves from the grip of their evil boss. Meanwhile they learn to love a monster and live bravely. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">This review from "Happily Ever Elephants" on Amazon captures my thoughts exactly:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">"<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111;">I love stories that teach without being didactic, ones that encourage you to make new discoveries every time you open their pages. Sweep is that and so much more - a book that tackles tough topics and follows Nan as she puts one foot in front of the other after facing so many unspeakable losses. Sweep is separated into two sections, appropriately called Innocence and Experience, and they so beautifully illuminate Nan’s journey from a guileless young child to a tween fraught with complicated questions and even more troubling realizations about society and her place within it. Why are children forced to work dangerous jobs? Why are kids losing their lives due to nothing but their unfortunate lot in life, and what on earth can she do to change it?</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111;">Simply put, Sweep is a feat. It is an adventure of the greatest kind, an ode to friendship, a discovery of self, and a testament to the power of one voice to create change. But my favorite part? Sweep excels in its exploration of “monsters,” finds tenderness in the terrifying, and combats all of our preconceived notions about the frightening things that keep us up at night. Exquisite - this masterpiece will stay with me for a long, long time."</span><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><br /><br /></span></div><br /><p></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-72518457529026806082023-10-16T08:53:00.000-07:002023-12-29T09:08:31.776-08:00Ithaca by Claire North<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTA1oMj9KR8Ni0rKxYpuCCQxHF8kD_5ah0fP7DhJHwOo05D_tYALuouxfRZ6L3Ep8GOsQ5Zhpx9TdC8SLUTfXR99FcbCukAQw0FfszVc9pHpOGT5BrmjOCv-r-pryequfKesEUd9v4MHW-2B59FqqOJBYIOhU5wK56acXBt8UgDOGTmvhSlsayaG0Q0tg/s1000/91QCHAHYPLL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="637" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTA1oMj9KR8Ni0rKxYpuCCQxHF8kD_5ah0fP7DhJHwOo05D_tYALuouxfRZ6L3Ep8GOsQ5Zhpx9TdC8SLUTfXR99FcbCukAQw0FfszVc9pHpOGT5BrmjOCv-r-pryequfKesEUd9v4MHW-2B59FqqOJBYIOhU5wK56acXBt8UgDOGTmvhSlsayaG0Q0tg/w255-h400/91QCHAHYPLL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>I read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316422967?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_thcv_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1703868103&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>Ithaca</i> by Claire North</a> because I saw it on a shelf of recommendation at the library and because I'm interested in the subject matter. It's fresh take on a very old story made it definitely worth it. It takes the Odyssey and flip it on its head. Rather than hear the story from Odysseus point of view, it shows us Penelope as seen through the eyes of Hera. <p></p><p>The author does a good job delving into the complicated world inhabited by Penelope. She especially provides insight into the relationship with her son Telemachus and the threats he faced. She intrigues with the introduction of an "Egyptian" but we never really get the payoff. </p><p>Penelope must prove her strength against mysterious invaders, while keeping the suitors at bay and not at each other's throats. The clock is ticking and her son is in the crosshairs. No word from Odysseus, her loyalty does not seem to be necessarily to him, as much as to keeping herself, her son, and her island alive. She seems to succeed to live another day, but so many questions remain.</p><p>That was one of the issues I had with the book. The ending was ambiguous and not fulfilling. Odysseus does not even return to banish the suitors. Who is the mysterious "Egyptian"?</p><p>I discovered this is part one of a trilogy. I'm interested to read the others. Hopefully the questions will be answered. </p><p>Clair North has done a good job retelling an ancient story. Her narrator, Hera, is funny, irreverent, and smart. The language grates a little with anachronistic phrasing and jenky metaphors. But overall, a fun ride.</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-52551081065842719932023-10-12T11:53:00.003-07:002023-10-12T11:57:29.036-07:00In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CLPISAFUV8cPN9g0cPTUwQkDhw3hWc9j3PCMvDSevRF5XaSCdytIgVVjX8gBlP1auJuFj9IDyVbz0ePo5gf-pLPViR9YZtCSSCEKQ4m-qphJXP1Z5BTPMzoHKaU9XT8_4FIBMafFc1AJlb1nJ3XRzf4wv25VciCi9oSB6IL4Wl7v71v42LWvqAyb3H6i/s1100/9781921844799.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="714" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CLPISAFUV8cPN9g0cPTUwQkDhw3hWc9j3PCMvDSevRF5XaSCdytIgVVjX8gBlP1auJuFj9IDyVbz0ePo5gf-pLPViR9YZtCSSCEKQ4m-qphJXP1Z5BTPMzoHKaU9XT8_4FIBMafFc1AJlb1nJ3XRzf4wv25VciCi9oSB6IL4Wl7v71v42LWvqAyb3H6i/w260-h400/9781921844799.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>When our book club needed and "Narrative non-fiction" book, I immediately thought of Erik Larson. I've read his "The Devil in the White City" and "Dead Wake" and found both fascinating. So I suggested, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Garden-Beasts-Terror-American-Hitlers-ebook/dp/B004HFRJM6" target="_blank">In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson</a>, and it was chosen.<div><br /></div><div>After reading the first few pages, I realized that I has already read this book. That doesn't mean, however, that I remember it! But apparently I never blogged about it. An oversight on my part, about to be rectified.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>This book chronicles the four-year ambassadorship of William Dodd to Hitler's Germany from 1933-1937. </div><div><br /></div><div>Dodd was an unlikely candidate chosen after all the obvious choices turned down the assignment. He was a history professor at the University of Chicago and not a wealthy child of elites. For his ordinariness, he was hated by those with whom he served. </div><div><br /></div><div>And yet, as Hitler consolidated power in Berlin, few elites around the world recognized the unique threat posed by his Nazi party. Dodd, who did all he could to wake the world to the threat and communicate his objections to Nazi rule, was usually ignored. It's incredible that an American, living "in the garden of beasts," with a front-row view of all that was happening could be systematically ignored and belittled. While Roosevelt seemed to believe Dodd, his hands appeared to be tied by a country and a bureaucracy willfully blind. </div><div><br /></div><div>The book seems to be the story of a possible missed opportunity while acknowledging that there was probably nothing to be done. Hitler's rise was inexorable given the world's desire to look away. No one, and certainly not a Cassandra-like, disrespected bureaucrat could convince the world to pay attention. </div><div><br /></div><div>While Dodd is the focus of the book, his adult daughter, Martha, takes up a lot of space as well. A pseudo-intellectual and self-described radical, she (literally) flirts with the Nazi regime. It took over a year for the bloom to come off that rose, even when confronted with the horrors of the government first-hand. Her promiscuity put her in bed (again literally) with some of the most powerful people in Berlin at that time. Both the Nazis and the Soviets tried to make an asset of her. In her left-wing naïveté she believed she could work effectively at... it's not clear. She loved being in the room with powerful people, but she left wreckage in her wake. Several deaths can be almost directly attributed to her presence in the victim's lives. She ended up exiled from America for communist activities. It took actually living in a communist country for her to disavow that particular affection. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think the biggest theme of the book is willful blindness and naïveté, both on the part of the world at large and in Martha in particular. Knowing the ending, it's particularly frustrating to read again and again of the obstacles placed in Dodd's path as he tried to warn the world of the coming war. Could he have stopped it? Obviously not. But it's tantalizing to imagine the, "What if...?"</div></div>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-55182277464126382952023-09-03T17:08:00.001-07:002023-09-03T17:08:18.469-07:00Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-JJQ99rybUKSxP_SEqIAFUBWBsYLxXZwCSrjk7h0SPuj-RlddyUnlQ3k8_i7L9G5zAIKbouCrLgq8ozNXKccQw8hqqKM6KgI1UZgFDAMs9es0fczGIU0mejbl-JKomvG6fUDmWbnYLwtjEAwY2mIKPJ5q_lpunsCWORtKd4zLkWWXReKbzVy7lNKIytT/s940/Gentle%20and%20Lowly%20by%20Dane%20Ortland.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="613" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-JJQ99rybUKSxP_SEqIAFUBWBsYLxXZwCSrjk7h0SPuj-RlddyUnlQ3k8_i7L9G5zAIKbouCrLgq8ozNXKccQw8hqqKM6KgI1UZgFDAMs9es0fczGIU0mejbl-JKomvG6fUDmWbnYLwtjEAwY2mIKPJ5q_lpunsCWORtKd4zLkWWXReKbzVy7lNKIytT/w261-h400/Gentle%20and%20Lowly%20by%20Dane%20Ortland.jpeg" width="261" /></a></div>Our church decided to read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Gentle+and+Lowly+by+Dane+Ortland&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss" target="_blank">Gentle and Lowly</a> by Dane Ortlund in our Community Groups.<p></p><p>After reading it, my first thought was, "Why don't we lead with this?"</p><p>The book reflects the Puritan-style of explicating at length on a single verse. Ortlund has chosen Matthew 11:29: I am gentle and lowly in heart. </p><p>Ortlund begins by reminding us that this is the only place in all of Scripture where Jesus talks about his heart. It might be good for us to start there.</p><p>This not one characteristic among many. It is not in tension or balancing out his wrath. It's who he is. </p><p>Jesus <i>IS</i> gentle and lowly.</p><p>We see this time again in the gospels as he acts with love and humility towards ALL who sought him. The seeking him is key. Ortlund states, "This is not who he is to everyone, indiscriminately. This is how he is for those who come to him, who take his yoke upon them, who cry to him for help" (21). </p><p>Jesus pronounces "woe" and judgement on the non-repentant. But to the sick, he is the Great Physician. </p><p>In fact, in a very moving metaphor, Ortlund compares Jesus to a doctor working in third-world conditions. He is overjoyed when someone who is hurting and broken comes to him. He does not reject the patient or load him with guilt. He welcomes the chance to restore and to heal. That's who Jesus is. We, who come to him in repentance, are his joy. </p><p>Not only is Jesus standing with open arms, ready to welcome the profligate home, he understands us. The beauty of a god who came to earth as a man, and suffered in every way a man can suffer, means he looks on us with compassion. He knows what it is to be in our shoes. He knows how hard it is to run from temptation. He's seen first-hand in those he loved failure. In fact, tied up in the word "gentle" is the understanding that he will deal with us perfectly. The deeper the anguish, the pain, the hurt, the brokenness, the sin, the gentler he becomes. He is there for us in the exact perfect way we need him to be. We cannot outsin his grace. It enlarges to encompass even our biggest failures. </p><p>At the same time, Jesus understands the destructive nature of sin even better than we do. He, alone, sees the full damage caused by sin. Even in our most self-effacing moments, we fail to grasp the entirety of the damage done. In our fallenness, we will always color our repentance with some amount of self-justification. Jesus looks on our sin and knows it's worse than we thought. </p><p>But rather than causing him to reject us, that knowledge of the depth of sin increases his compassion for us and his anger towards sin. He alone knows the havoc sin wreaks on his children. He will judge. But he will not judge the penitent. He already paid the price for our sins. Therefore when one takes up his offer of forgiveness, even with only a tiny glimpse of the damage done, his heart bursts with joy and love. That sacrifice has been made worth it.</p><p>And not only has Jesus paid the price in the past, he continues to make intercession for us today. Some see this as Jesus pleading for mercy from a harsh and retributive Father. This is not true. Jesus continuously brings us up to the Father and together they celebrate what he's done. Jesus is praying for us. And the Father is more than delighted to answer. Imagine that. He not only intercedes, Jesus is our advocate. He's on our side and he's making our case. This is his heart. </p><p>He is a true friend. The most true friend we will ever have. He pursues us while allowing us to pursue him. And it is a two-way relationship. We have the honor to be <i>his</i> friend. Incredible. He knows every broken part, every shameful secret, every act of unfaithfulness, every betrayal. Yet he loves. He despises sin for its warping effect on us. He intercedes for us. He makes our case. His joy is when we come to him. And he calls us "friend." Not simply that we can regard him as a friend. He looks at us and says, "Friend." </p><p>With all this focus on Christ, the temptation is to view him as "the good one." The Father is eternally indignant and must be pacified. The Spirit is around, but not doing much. This is so far from the truth. Everything that is true of Jesus is true of the Father and the Spirit. God the Father has the <i>same</i> heart. He, too, runs toward repentant souls with open arms. He does not need convincing. The Son advocates and intercedes because that is the job the Father gave him. The Spirit is the actual spirit of the Father. It is God. It's this loving, gracious, merciful friend in a form which can indwell us. It's God in us. Loving us and shaping us from the inside out. It's what makes God, God. It's the most intimate form of God. </p><p>The heart remains the same. Yesterday. Today. And Forever.</p><p>From childhood, we are raised with a view of God as eternally angry, sitting high above in judgment, ready to pin us to the ground with thunderbolts. We are tolerated. We are perpetual disappointments. We are charity cases.</p><p>This is <i style="font-weight: bold;">not</i> the heart of God. </p><p>He <i>delights</i> in a repentant child. He loves and welcomes sinners. The deeper the sin, the more grace to pour out on us. His greatest joy is to welcome us back into relationship with him. Think of the the Father of the Prodigal Son. He scans the horizon looking for the first sign of our return. And when we slink towards him, he runs towards us. He throws a party in our honor. That is the heart of God. </p><p>Anger and wrath are his "strange work." Necessary, but not his natural bent. His love requires justice. He hates sin. He knows the vast extent of the damage sin does. He cannot allow it to continue. </p><p>But his natural bent is love. We are his <i>heart.</i> His most natural desire is to embrace the repentant and rejoice. He must be provoked to anger. He naturally loves.</p><p>Why is this idea of God so strange to our ears. It's because we tend to see God as a bigger version of ourselves. We think, "If it was me, I'd be really mad. I might forgive, but I'd never forget." We anthropomorphize God. And we attribute our most sin-laden responses to him. How far off the mark is this! God, himself, tells us, "My ways are not your ways." He doesn't think or act like us. He's not just a better version of us, he's other. He responds in ways we can only hope for, but would never do ourselves. Our sinful nature justifies ourselves and condemns others. God has no sinful nature. He does not have vestiges of a sinful natures. He is not us, just redeemed. He <i>is</i> redemption. He does not need to justify himself, and he offers no condemnation to the repentant. This is simply not possible for a human. We <i>cannot </i>respond in this way. It goes <i>against</i> every fiber of our being. It goes <i>with</i> the grain of his being. It is God being most fully God. </p><p>He <i>is</i> gentle and lowly. </p><p>Ortlund ends with,</p><p></p><blockquote>The world is starving for a yearning love, a love that remembers instead of forsakes. A love that isn't tied to our loveliness. A love that its down underneath our messiness. A love that is bigger than the enveloping darkness we might be walking through even today. A love of which even the very best human romance is the faintest of whispers. (168)</blockquote><p></p><p>Christ offers us that love.</p><p><br /></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-4364722966243988922023-08-11T08:19:00.000-07:002024-01-01T08:37:20.056-08:00The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0C57umJI8V7C3n1NtlQq9ZftMZb-1jQ32lhathE0eophu3FlW0LzWXy_j8tD2Qd58a9BcgSOB3DGBpV_BhjMjT05QBm6AQjETSQeYvKr2dfuO_Aok4mEvGMpHxdkDGSo3EK076cXnRC2IKom_34IvnOUnoyVs9g_34FJTlEIfo8XYJhvPTnXzFzIdRTo/s630/9780618640157_p0_v2_s1200x630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="419" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0C57umJI8V7C3n1NtlQq9ZftMZb-1jQ32lhathE0eophu3FlW0LzWXy_j8tD2Qd58a9BcgSOB3DGBpV_BhjMjT05QBm6AQjETSQeYvKr2dfuO_Aok4mEvGMpHxdkDGSo3EK076cXnRC2IKom_34IvnOUnoyVs9g_34FJTlEIfo8XYJhvPTnXzFzIdRTo/w266-h400/9780618640157_p0_v2_s1200x630.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Our book club decided to read The Fellowship of the Ring, which is book 1 of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-50th-Anniversary-Vol/dp/0618640150/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1W7T5XM7JIQD4&keywords=lord+of+the+rings+50th+anniversary+edition&qid=1704126161&sprefix=lord+of+the+rings+50th+a%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Lord of the Rings</a> trilogy. I didn't love that first book as much as I thought I would. That could have been because I listened to the audio version and so may have been distracted. I decided to read the remaining two books and I'm glad I did.<p></p><p>I don't know what I can say about The Lord of the Rings. It's become so culturally prevalent, it's hard to add anything to the conversation. I've seen the extended version of the movies several times, and I notices the movies track along with the books pretty well. Even the twelve hours of footage, however, leave out a few scenes. I'll admit that having the visuals to refer back to helped me greatly as I read. Tolkien has a gift for description, but knowing the way the scene is portrayed in the movie and constant referral to the maps in the back helped tremendously.</p><p>What sets Tolkien apart from every other author is his ability to create entire universes in his head. Not only does he conjure up whole physical world, he brings to life an entire made-up history. His character have family trees and backstories. He refers to ancestors with the assumption that the reader has heard the story and needs the information as a point of reference. I have no idea how he does that! It makes the story so rich. It's not just the history and geography of an imagined place, but it's a world he, as a story-teller, asks us to enter into. Normal history is not like that. The best historians can try to weave a tale out of the events and people who populate the past, but even the giants are stuck with myriad unfamiliar names and places which can make communicating a big story difficult. Tolkien has set up for himself the best of both worlds. He's a great historian telling a tale with enough extra-textual information to make it seem real, but no more than he needs to tell the story he is telling. Somehow, he manages to place all those details in service to a narrative involving two small hobbits. Do we need the entire hobbit geneology? No. Does it add richness and depth and a sense of reality if we do? Absolutely!</p><p>The book is long. My copy clocks in at 1178 pages including the appendixes, index, and maps (seriously, what <i>fictional</i> book has all that?!?). But do not leave life on <i>this</i> earth without immersing yourself in Middle Earth!<br /><br /></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-28651102410746195332023-08-05T17:08:00.005-07:002023-09-05T12:10:49.370-07:00East of Eden by John Steinbeck<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfcCnXWsUHVpHZT9qHxtiAmqBvFnUwZaenpL2wKbQzKrJUAGBiN-yVfFBhTJKWAKQTvw6yAb6Dr10OpCAChMaQVY7dJYs64C_X6x2Mfq1T7J91EdybFn8z-Baao84PsBukote0LOVSs7j389MhldCM-drkPSOuv16BQsdrLR7vUHPUYhBrde_FqwmGZMR/s350/df7200e84d3a19960076a7d8972be32ce8b63e61.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="205" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfcCnXWsUHVpHZT9qHxtiAmqBvFnUwZaenpL2wKbQzKrJUAGBiN-yVfFBhTJKWAKQTvw6yAb6Dr10OpCAChMaQVY7dJYs64C_X6x2Mfq1T7J91EdybFn8z-Baao84PsBukote0LOVSs7j389MhldCM-drkPSOuv16BQsdrLR7vUHPUYhBrde_FqwmGZMR/w234-h400/df7200e84d3a19960076a7d8972be32ce8b63e61.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>Our book club decided to read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/East-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0140186395/ref=asc_df_0140186395/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312009759033&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2026206318473915904&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009667&hvtargid=pla-497960627037&psc=1" target="_blank">East of Eden by John Steinbeck</a>. I had been wanting to read this book since the summer of 2019, so I was pleased with the selection. <p></p><p>In the past, I have not really enjoyed books by John Steinbeck. And although it took me a bit to get past the "And that's why I don't love Steinbeck" moments, I eventually got to a place where I loved the book.</p><p>The thing about Steinbeck that has always turned me off is his lack of nuance. He sees things in stark contrast. People are usually somewhat good or very bad. A situation starts bad and gets worse. He rarely lands in the little middle ground. Traveling from Oklahoma to California during the dust bowl is a frying pan to fire situation (Grapes of Wrath); Incredible luck will turn into incredible disaster due to the evil of men's hearts (The Pearl); Lenny must be killed humanely before the mob tears him to pieces (Of Mice and Men). Life is bad. People are the worst. The end.</p><p>That still existed to an extent in this book, but not entirely.</p><p>Obvious from the title is the concept of the battle between good and evil. And yet Steinbeck seems to be making the point that evil is not as evil as it seems and good is not as good. There's the nuance. He may be making the argument that Cain has been unfairly maligned. He ends with the idea that Cain <i>always</i> had a choice. That choice may have been constrained by events outside his control, but he had a choice.</p><p>In addition, I believe Steinbeck is pointing the spotlight back on the father (or possibly God, himself) in order to lay some of the culpability for Cain's sin on the Father. After all, God was the one who, through his seemingly irrational choice, put Cain in the position of having to resist the evil welling up inside himself.</p><p>This story is told in an intergenerational way. Two brothers, Adam and Charles (notice the "A" and "C" connection to Abel and Cain) are very different from each other and each struggles with a fallible father who both loves too little and too much. Later, Adam's sons, Aron and Caleb ("A" and "C"), also very different from each other, must navigate a complicated relationship with their own father. All four sons are in some way abandoned by a father intent on his own interests. </p><p>Into this picture enters another family, the Hamiltons, who boast a wonderful father, and yet the children struggle in their own ways with living up to that great man. Steinbeck, the author, is the grandson of Samuel Hamilton, and has incorporated family lore into the fictional story. Is Steinbeck saying the father, whether good or bad, has little to no impact on his children? Maybe.</p><p>Adam's house servant, Lee, a Chinese-American, and therefore an outsider, plays the role of suffering savior. Although Lee has his own struggles, his life is subsumed under that of Adam and his boys. Lee, alone, sees the bigger picture and is imbued with wisdom. Yet even Lee cannot straighten the crooked path people have embarked upon. It is Lee who discovers the secret to the Cain and Abel story: Cain did not <i>have</i> to kill his brother. God warned him to <i>choose</i> wisely. </p><p>The final important character is Adam's wife and Aron and Cal's mother, Kate. Adam has tried to redeem her with his love, but she will have none of it. She is the town whore and plays the role of pure evil. </p><p>All the parallels to Scripture make it impossible to understand the story apart from that. Themes run throughout of original sin--Caleb struggles with his parentage; Adam's father is a self-centered con and a liar--Freewill--to what extend do the "bad" sons like Charles and Cal have the ability to be good--and what does it even mean to be good; Aron is the "good" son yet spends his whole life believing himself bad; The truly evil Kate has no such compunctions. The reader simply cannot get away from the biblical story of the Fall.</p><p>This is complicated book, yet Steinbeck's heavy touch makes it a bit cartoonish. I, however, really enjoyed it. I think Steinbeck has a lot to say. I believe he feels God put Cain in an impossible situation and then gave him a meaningless "choice." Human fathers, according to Steinbeck, do the same, but their human sons still have an ability to make a meaningful choice. I believe that in Steinbeck's estimation, an imperfect human father is better than a capricious heavenly one. Clearly, I don't believe that God forced Cain into an impossible situation; I do not attribute malice to God in the narrative of the murder of Abel. But I do believe humans are complicated. We can seem backed into a corner with no ability to make any kind of a meaningful choice, and yet I believe we always have a choice.</p><p>In the end, I think Steinbeck wrote <u>East of Eden</u> in order to redeem Cain. Does he succeed? Well, I suppose so, in the scripted world Steinbeck has constructed. I'm not sure how much the real world reflects Steinbeck's, however.</p><p> </p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-82359770942818269762023-06-25T09:00:00.219-07:002023-07-16T11:57:07.031-07:00The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7njTnFvGjDxP8m_OvOtQbzWAXpqk6NqD-3xJt8R8HNIyXwBdZBuK1IhgVkkuayJUw8OgPcDrkwkMGcXogqcjJ4I-ot3YgcLmZHbAvQqghBMvqXklG1kQBaVJgrwPE8U2_ZJtqU_ZfIK5rORcCkjpRk2sP_wAu__XzjVAHvUt7WAzt_sftcsXEOrMTyr7/s500/The%20Christian%20Mind.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7njTnFvGjDxP8m_OvOtQbzWAXpqk6NqD-3xJt8R8HNIyXwBdZBuK1IhgVkkuayJUw8OgPcDrkwkMGcXogqcjJ4I-ot3YgcLmZHbAvQqghBMvqXklG1kQBaVJgrwPE8U2_ZJtqU_ZfIK5rORcCkjpRk2sP_wAu__XzjVAHvUt7WAzt_sftcsXEOrMTyr7/w259-h400/The%20Christian%20Mind.jpeg" width="259" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times;">Fo</span><span style="font-family: Times;">r the fall session of teacher development, I was asked to read and discuss </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6330793962443009112/8235977094281826976" style="color: #954f72; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires</span></a><span style="font-family: Times;"> with the entire faculty. The teachers were given one of six chapters to read on their own. My job was to explicate how that chapter fits into the whole, how it fits into the classical, Christian model of education, and how teachers might incorporate the work. In 45 minutes. </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Let’s go.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">First off, Blamires makes the case in this 1963 book that the “Christian Mind” is greatly wanting in the significant conversations of the day. In the forward he says that he considered updating some of the material for the more recent publications, but found that since nothing had changed, the book remained cogent. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">While Christians might practice their religion with diligence and integrity, Blamires points out: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">But as a <i>thinking</i> being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization. He accepts religion</span><span style="font-family: Times; line-height: 17.120001px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times;">its morality, its worship, its spiritual culture; but he rejects the religious view of life, the view which sets all earthly issues within the context of the eternal, the view which relates all human problems</span><span style="font-family: Times; line-height: 17.120001px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times;">social, political, cultural</span><span style="font-family: Times; line-height: 17.120001px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times;">to the doctrinal foundations of the Christian Faith, the view which sees all things here below in terms of God’s supremacy and earth’s transitoriness, in terms of Heaven and Hell. (3-4)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian has given up the entire battlefield of ideas over to secular assumptions and secular ways of arguing. In fact Blamires asks the reader to attempt to think “christianly” on any issue, apart from preconceived biases or political positions, and then argue the point with fellow Christians. It will soon become apparent how lonely this place is. No one talks that way. In fact it can seem dangerous to cede ground as it might benefit a political opponent. Christians must “re-establish the status of objective truth as distinct from personal opinion.” (40) Only then can we hope to recover “the Christian mind—a mind trained, informed, equipped to handle data of secular controversy within a framework of reference which is constructed of Christian presuppositions.” (43)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Blamires contrasts the secular way of thinking to this christianly way: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">To think secularly is to think within a frame of referenced bounded by the limits of our life on earth: it is to keep one’s calculations rooted in this-worldly criteria. to think christianly is to accept all things with the mind as related, directly or indirectly, to man’s eternal destiny as the redeemed and chose child of God. (44)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Blamires goes onto state, “There is nothing in our experience, however trivial or worldly, or even evil, which cannot be thought about christianly.” (45)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">But exactly what it means to “think christianly” can evade us. Blamires starts with the notion that to think christianly is to this with <b>a supernational orientation</b>. “The Christian mind sees human life and human. history held in the hands of God. It sees the whole universe sustained by his power and his love. It sees the natural order as dependent upon the supernatural order, time as contained within eternity.” (67) I think this can be termed, “gospel-colored glasses.” That is, and granted this sounds very foreign, the Christian should approach every topic with an eye to the eternal and God’s sovereignty. “What is God doing in this circumstance, and how can I align myself with it?” is a question we should have at the top of our minds as we think through and contribute to the conversation. That world, God’s world, is the real world. Do we live like this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Next the Christian mind is <b>aware of evil</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The notion that this world, and the powers of it, are in the grip of evil, is too well established in Christian teaching to be lightly disregarded, yet Christians have grown accustomed to shrug off the more somber implications of this truth. (86)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">At the same time, we must avoid the trap of pride. It is easy to see the evil committed by the other. Blamires says we must approach or fellow travelers in this life with a sense of “What have <i>we</i> done?” (103) The world our Lord entered into was rotten to the core. Yet he entered in. He did not shy away from calling evil, evil, but he knew his place was in this world, with we fallen beings.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian mind must also <b>have a firm grasp of the conception of truth</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">One may say without exaggeration that failure to distinguish clearly between the Christian conception of truth and the conception of truth popularly cherished in the secular mind has been one of the most unfortunate neglects of our age. (106) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Our society today likes to talk about “my truth” and “your truth.” The Christian must understand that truth “is supernaturally grounded, not developed within nature; that it is objective and not subjective; that it is a revelation and not a construction; that it is discovered by inquiry and not elected by a majority vote; that it is authoritative and not a matter of personal choice.” (107) The Christian must be willing to say, “Don’t ask me what I like or what I approve of. Ask me what I think is true. The truth isn’t always nice. It isn’t always likeable. But I believe you’ve got to cling to it.” (121) But knowledge of the truth requires a deep understanding the theology presented in Scripture. We must never resort to an uninformed opinion prefaced with, “Well I believe...”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian mind <b>accepts authority</b>. The world does not and never can. The world does not tolerate authority or even understand it. We live under the authority of the Father, “benign yet authoritative, loving yet powerful, merciful yet wrathful.” (140) As Christians, the gospel message should lead to “that sense of personal inadequacy, human dependence, utter lowliness and lostness, which brings the Christian to his knees and throws him into the hands of our Lord.” We must avoid the “self-satisfaction of the pharisaical kind with which our Lord himself never came to terms.” (146) The vehicle the Father uses is the Church and therefore the world must adapt itself to the Church. This is heretical thinking in our times. Blamires spends a lot of time decrying the common refrain that the Church is in trouble in the modern age. Impossible. The Church cannot be destroyed. This was proven 2,000 years ago. The Church, as the body of Christ, will continue to exert its authority until Christ returns.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">The concern for the person</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> must also consume the Christian mind. The Incarnation is proof enough that the human being is an exalted life form. Blamires spends most of this chapter decrying the mechanization of our society. Technology and its all-consuming effects have served to dehumanize that which is made in the image of God. And this <i>before</i> the internet. “We have to ask ourselves what degree of dependence upon the technological artifacts that are drugging the bodies and minds of our contemporaries is appropriate in those who are trying to live the Christian life.” (160) Now he’s getting right up in our business! He posits that Christians everywhere should be up in arms about the materialism and dehumanization being fostered by technology. In 1963. We serve our technological innovations, not the God in heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">To those not convinced, Blamires is clear:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Powerful influences of government and commerce nourish the concept of man as a packet of diverse functions. There is lavish expenditure on numerous devices which appeal to man as the creature of one function only</span><span style="font-family: Times; line-height: 17.120001px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times;">propaganda, advertisement, entertainment, and indoctrination designed wholly to capture the undiscerning eye and the unthinking heart of man the conditioned consumer, the conditioned voter, the conditioned producer. Every effort is made to debase man by dehumanizing him; to condemn him to an existence in which he functions, not as a person, but as a thing; not as a thinking, choosing, creature, but as a cog in a piece of machinery. To function in a machine is to function sub-humanly</span><span style="font-family: Times; line-height: 17.120001px;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times;">to act in a preordained, automatic pattern which precludes the exercise of purpose, creativeness, choice, and reason. (165)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Finally, the Christian mind has a <b>sacramental cast.</b> He beautifully states:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian Faith presents a sacramental view of life. It shows life’s positive richnesses as derivative from the supernatural. It teaches us that to create beauty or to experience beauty, to recognize truth or to discover truth, to receive love or to give love, is to come into contact with realities which express the Divine Nature. (173) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">He uses society’s focus on all things sensual as ripe ground for the Christian mind. The Church has not recognized the extent to which today’s youth are seeking the transcendent when they lean into sexually-themed culture. Blamires makes clear that “the religion of the Incarnation must be presented to modern youth as something more exciting than a lot of prohibitions aimed at disinfecting life of its torrential delights, and something more positive than a plan to substitute a sterility of body and mind for that contemporary fleshly abandonment which, if no longer glad, is at least perversely affirmative of existence.” (174). Adolescents crave more than we are offering them. They will turn to the psychologist or the poet, but they will have their passions met. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Blamires suggests a Christian Romanticism as an answer to the youth. Once we recognize that the longings felt by the youth as expressed in their music, culture, clothing, relationships, stories, etc. is never going to be fulfilled in this life, we can point to them to the reality that it is not supposed to be. We are not <i>of </i>this world. Our hope lies outside it. As C.S. Lewis said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” He paints a beautiful picture of a heart flung to the stars, of longing never fulfilled, of dreams remaining dreams <i>because</i>that is the reality. We must engage our young people where they are, full of hope and longing and dreams. We must tell them those are wonderful markers of a world in which all <i>can</i> be fulfilled:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: Times;">Because they </span></i><span style="font-family: Times;">lose their intrinsic joy, we know our early dreams and longings for what they are, the pointers to fulfillment and reality; not ends in themselves, but significant disturbers of our peace. Unsatisfied longings must be nourished in us, and the elusive dream of fulfillment dangled before us, or we should never know that we are not here, on earth, in our proper resting-place. Utterly divested of this disturbing inheritance, men’s hearts would never desire the ultimate peace and joy offered by God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian mind makes sense of passionate youthful longings and dissatisfactions as pointers to the divine creation of man and the fact that he is called to glory. (179-180)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The instinct to envelop itself with passionate, sensual adventures is fundamentally healthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">What?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">This runs so counter to everything we communicate to young people. We bombard them with do’s and don’ts. We <i>never</i> tell them that their desires are good, true, and beautiful. We tell them those worldly attractions will not fulfill, but we never tell them it is right to long for more. We tell them Jesus is enough. He is. But not until we see him face-to-face. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">But it’s not enough to promise them a time in the sweet by-and-by. We must help them own these desires and cherish them for what they are: glimpses of heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Blamires turns to the poetry of Coventry Patmore, with whom I admit unfamiliarity, as an example of “the God who woos the soul of man through the self-transcending grab of grateful love.” (182) Blamires reminds us that the “pull of beauty in love, or art, or Nature” are all instance of:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">the voice of God which calls, and the grace of God which urges us to listen. Youth’s romanticism before the potent glamour of sex, music, dancing, and the like, must be a Christian romanticism which recognizes the divine Voice. Unless youth’s stirring urges and visions are seen to point beyond time, they will be worshipped as ends in themselves. (182)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Blamires also enlists the writing of Charles Williams, of whom I’m also unfamiliar, to point the way romantic love relates to Christian Romanticism. The way the lover envisions his beloved is how we are to understand how God sees us. In addition, we are to understand that when that which is perfect is come, we will see our fellow man in the same light, with a “rapture of emotion, which seems to blend humility with exultation, self-giving with grateful receiving, in a joyful interchange of laughter and courtesy.” (185) This kind of love, whether glimpsed through romantic love or the beauty of nature demands immortality. All other human activities will cease, but Blamires asserts, “Death is incompatible with love.” (186) Only the Christian theology of eternal life promises love fulfilled. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Blamires then ends with this powerful statement: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Sexual love is one of the most powerful openers of the human mind to the reality of the eternal, one of the most potent disturbers of human willingness to come to terms with materialistic secularism, For nothing in natural experience more universally touches the soul of man with the call to worship, to serve, to adore, that which is outside himself, with the hunger for an immortality spent in love and self-giving, As a lever to prise open the heart of man to the awareness of mystery and to the glimpse of glory, both rooted in eternity, sexual love is one of God’s most efficient instruments. (188) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 15.693334px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The Christian Mind thinks supernaturally, aware of evil and grounded in the truth; it accepts authority and is centered on humans; it makes all things sacramental. This kind of think is sadly limited today. Even very intelligent Christians can lapse into secular thinking with the thought, “No one will accept arguments based on theology.” While this view holds some merit, it is unacceptable. If we cannot offer the world a Christian way of thinking about the issue facing society, we risk becoming just another clanging gong in a very noisy world.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-53153420512173603612023-06-20T07:06:00.008-07:002023-06-30T11:33:09.981-07:00Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution by Myron Magnet<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8kBENIOtvV47BOlvLotnAhzNO_duWbrCljrQp7eVgQ15GbmHtO9mMjO4HEo6R5GTJzfOboQiFc9Sc4Sjy7FCuM-VPZmzcNjg2_uG7DkkyaZO7-47lqXwyOXH3sQNM7KenVq2X3Mqzr0bewXjayAjsnqRVSzRhONBhuiO2PnPbux1_Jvv-fkbne_EpRIx8/s900/Thomas.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8kBENIOtvV47BOlvLotnAhzNO_duWbrCljrQp7eVgQ15GbmHtO9mMjO4HEo6R5GTJzfOboQiFc9Sc4Sjy7FCuM-VPZmzcNjg2_uG7DkkyaZO7-47lqXwyOXH3sQNM7KenVq2X3Mqzr0bewXjayAjsnqRVSzRhONBhuiO2PnPbux1_Jvv-fkbne_EpRIx8/w266-h400/Thomas.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Justice Thomas is one of my heroes. Not only is his one of those only-in-America type tale of rising from the very bottom to the very top, he has maintained a consistent ethos is the face of withering criticism. So when I heard about the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Clarence-Thomas-Constitution-Myron-Magnet/dp/164177052X/ref=asc_df_164177052X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=353132197416&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7780004672991874350&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009703&hvtargid=pla-680182913972&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=70700047345&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=353132197416&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7780004672991874350&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009703&hvtargid=pla-680182913972" target="_blank">Clarence Thomas and the Lost Constitution by Myron Magnet</a>, I immediately put it on my book "gift" list. Thankfully I received it one Christmas (or birthday). <p></p><p></p><p>Myron Magnet uses the jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas to show the ways the Supreme Court has misinterpreted the Constitution and how Justice Thomas believes the errors should be rectified. Magnet identifies three specific items which endanger our republic: the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment, the rise of the administrative state, and the doctrine of a "living" Constitution. </p><p>Magnet spends time on the iconic background of Thomas, recounting his chaotic childhood and his subsequent life with his grandparents. Thomas' grandfather, in particular, looms large. Although Thomas rebelled for a short time against his grandfathers strict structure of integrity and hard work, and fell, himself, into grievance politics, today Thomas reflects the basic standards of fairness and decency, the love for and protection of liberty, as embodied in that man.</p><p>Magnet then asks the question, "Who killed the Constitution?" (33) It begins with the 14th Amendment. Originally passed to force <i>states</i> to recognize the rights of citizens previously only recognized by the federal government, the Supreme Court quickly began denigrating the very foundation of the law. In the 1873 <i>Slaughter House</i> cases, the Court rightfully asserted that the 14th Amendment gave the rights of citizens to blacks, but as far as the "privileges an immunities" guaranteed, those were highly limited. Rather than restate the clear meaning of the text written to address a clear problem of <i>states</i> not respecting the rights of black people, the Court held that the 14th Amendment only extended the rights of what was to be found exclusively in the federal domain: right to travel on interstate waterways and not be subject to <i>ex post facto</i> laws. This original misreading bears fruit to this day. Subsequent cases continued to let states off the hook for failing to protect the rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, leading inexorably to <i>Plessy v. Ferguson</i> and the "separate but equal" doctrine.</p><p>This judicial mockery of the clear will of the people played right into President Wilson's doctrine of a "living" Constitution. Frustrated at the roadblocks presented by the "Newtonian" Constitution of the Founders' design with its checks and balances, Wilson appealed to a "Darwinian" Constitution: one that every grows and evolves. Franklin Delano Roosevelt elevated this idea into a full-blown administrative state designed to regulate and dictate all levels of society. Initially rebuffed by a Court committed to a more proper understanding of the division of power, the recalcitrant court was threatened with court-packing and the judges switched sides. </p><p>The idea that the government was no longer one of limited and enumerated powers found its apex in the mid-20th century. It begins with the Warren court and <i>Brown v. Board of Education.</i> Under the Constitution, the federal government had no role in education, but Justice Earl Warren, using the 14th Amendment as a pretext, found that its "equal protection" clause demanded desecrated schools. While this result is highly laudable, it created a "right" with no prior recognition. Rather than appealing to the clear language of the "privileges and immunities" guaranteed to all citizens, Warren sidestepped overturning <i>Plessy</i>, and invoked "equal protection" instead. In an ironic turn of events, future courts would use this same language, designed to make the government color-blind in regards to race, to <i>advance</i> race-based policies like Affirmative Action. It also allowed future courts to find additional "rights," no where enumerated in the Constitution, as they saw fit. Eventually rights would be found in the "emanations" and "penumbras" of the Constitution, forming a right to privacy, which was then interpreted to include a right to abortion.</p><p>Enter Justice Thomas:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The Constitution means not what the Court says it does, but what the delegates at Philadelphia and at the state ratifying conventions understood it to mean... We as a nation adopted a written Constitution precisely because it has a fixed meaning that does not change. Otherwise we would have adopted the British approach of an unwritten, evolving constitution. (61)</p></blockquote><p>Thomas believed the Constitution was the ultimate <i>stare decisis,</i> or prior decision. It made no sense, in his opinion, to honor prior <i>wrongly decided</i> cases. As C.S. Lewis points out, if you find yourself on the wrong road, the most progressive thing to do is to turn around and go back. </p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">[T]o describe [Thomas'] fully mature method of constitutional interpretation more precisely: he begins with the plain command of the constitutional text or amendment in question, locates it in all the concrete complexity of its historical context, traces the historical process by which the command got distorted from its original meaning, explains the real-world consequences of that distortion, and points out how the Court can repair the damage going forward. His goal is a return to the framers' vision, aimed at protecting the liberty he cherishes as dearly as they did. (72)</p></blockquote><p>We see this in his attempts to rein in a bloated administrative state, to replace a "living" Constitution with an originalist and textual approach, and a desire to reestablish a correct understanding of the 14th Amendment.</p><p>On this last front, Thomas combats the idea of "substantive due process," a legal doctrine that has become a catch-all for "whatever a judge wants it to mean." Magnet calls this idea, "smoke and mirrors...a hokey dodge around an old but incorrect, blood-soaked, and disreputable reading of the Fourteenth Amendment." (75) This doctrine, as opposed to plain old "procedural due process," claims that some rights are so fundamental that no state can withdraw them. What are those rights? Well the justices claim to know them when they see them. This has resulted in rights to education, marriage, privacy, abortion, and criminal rights, wreaking havoc in society as the government at all levels seeks to enforce an ever-growing list of rights no matter the outcome. Students have a right to an Olympic-sized swimming pool, drug dealers have a right to government-financed housing, thieves have a right to steal up to $950 in merchandise. At the same time, the government has a right to take property for any reason, the government has a right to regulate political speech, the government has a right to regulate anything and everything. </p><p>Thomas traces the roots of all of this to a time when Americans abandoned the ideas of virtue and role models. People are no longer held accountable for their actions; echoes of Thomas' grandfather resound. The New Deal marked a turning point in American history with FDR's "freedom from want." Suddenly the government's job was to provide whatever you wanted and the Supreme Court's job became to find that particular "right" in the Constitution. </p><p>As Magnet so eloquently puts it:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">as people lose their veneration for the unalienable rights of mankind and their reverence for the active, heroic virtues that sustain them, the rights themselves crumble, government looms larger, the people feel themselves all the more powerless and dependent, allowing government to arrogate ever more power to itself, and so on, in a vicious circle. (120)</p></blockquote><p>Clarence Thomas is fighting to end that doom loop by faithfully interpreting the Constitution.</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-9147887489035108202023-05-29T11:16:00.002-07:002023-09-07T11:29:10.289-07:00Six Great Ideas by Mortimer Adler<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-gFZMMtw6TOzn-oFvqqNr7NH36B6XZvriuNyrsFnKMGUs_naNcbJ0jCWG-aBtanf3vDd5vn3hbhtMJymufKmDKazkITHlVpdJ_oXFscBAltM0w3f_L8OakqEJ4tN2dr1QrVBXNq8NQJJHxdIb3GjgWjg8h9whqtOx_kvP3JxE4JtHDZ135-ym8xAI4g/s500/51cT9Xocy-L.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-gFZMMtw6TOzn-oFvqqNr7NH36B6XZvriuNyrsFnKMGUs_naNcbJ0jCWG-aBtanf3vDd5vn3hbhtMJymufKmDKazkITHlVpdJ_oXFscBAltM0w3f_L8OakqEJ4tN2dr1QrVBXNq8NQJJHxdIb3GjgWjg8h9whqtOx_kvP3JxE4JtHDZ135-ym8xAI4g/w259-h400/51cT9Xocy-L.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>As part of the ACCS teacher accreditation, we were asked to read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Six-Great-Ideas-Mortimer-Adler-ebook/dp/B001D1UOV0" target="_blank">Six Great Ideas by Mortimer Adler</a>. I was already familiar with this book because several of the chapters were given to us when we began designing our Seminar class. I knew I would enjoy the book, and I absolutely did. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Mortimer Adler has engaged in yeoman’s work in his book <i>Six Great Ideas</i>, which seeks to place broad parameters around Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Justice, Liberty, and Equality. Since these great ideas are in fact, great ideas, I found the book remarkably helpful for Seminar class. I have proposed to our Seminar team that we study his chapters on Truth in 9th grade Seminar, his chapters on Goodness in 10th grade Seminar, and his chapters on Beauty in 11th grade Seminar. That leaves the trifecta of Justice, Equality, and Liberty for 12th grade Seminar. As this is the class into which I most directly contribute, I am very excited to introduce his conceptions to our students. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ninth-grade Seminar deals with the question of “What is the Good Life?” Adler’s thoughts on Truth are perfect for this section. Adler states, "So the truth of thought consists in agreement or correspondence between what one thinks, believes, or opines, and what actually exists or does not exist in the reality that is independent of our minds, and of our thinking one thing or another” (34). This definition helps lead the students into what is fundamental in the good life, namely, the pursuit of Truth. Not only does truth exist, but it is foundational that we align ourselves with it. Of course, as Christians, this Truth has taken the form of a person, Jesus Christ. As humans, Adler says we have a “moral duty” to pursue Truth. He states, “When we recognize that the possession of truth is the ultimate good of the human mind, and, recognizing this, commit ourselves to the pursuit of truth, we have a number of moral obligations to discharge” (63). This perfectly summarizes the lesson we would love our 9th graders to take away: The pursuit of Truth is essential to the good life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The pursuit of Goodness is also perfect for 10th grade. We focus on how to rightly order our loves. Therefore, all of our loves should be aimed at the Good. Adler helps here with his discussion of <i>real</i> and <i>apparent</i> goods. We all believe that what we desire is in fact, good. And yet Adler makes the distinction between “<i>is</i> and <i>ought</i>.” As humans we must figure out what we <i>ought</i> to desire. These <i>oughts</i> line up with what is actually good for us. In 10th grade, as we discuss rightly ordering our loves, we can easily segue into loving what is an actual good: loving what we ought to love.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Eleventh-grade Seminar, deals with modern philosophy, mostly Enlightenment thinking. We also discuss the way art is impacted by and impacts the culture around it. Art at this time breaks down from realistic, mostly religiously themed, art, dedicated to the proliferation of truth, to a more chaotic and confused modern, abstract version of art. Therefore, a discussion of beauty fits in perfectly with 11th grade. Here, Adler makes a distinction between “enjoyable beauty” and “admirable beauty.” <i>Enjoyable beauty,</i> is that which we simply enjoy. <i>Admirable beauty</i> is that which we <i>ought</i> to enjoy. Therefore, we once again see this “is and ought” distinction. Adler gives this admonition, “We need only say that education should result in the formation of good taste so the individual comes to enjoy that which is admirable, and to derive more enjoyment from objects that have greater intrinsic excellence or perfection” (119). I would add to Adler's discussion of beauty, that true beauty is beautiful to the extent that it reflects the qualities of God. In fact, beauty is, at its essence a reflection of the character and heart of God. This can be applied not only to the visual arts, but even to beautiful ideas. As 11th grade begins to discuss ideas which move past revelation to reason alone, we can discuss the “beauty,” or lack thereof in those ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Finally, we come to the Great Ideas of Justice, Liberty, and Equality. Adler begins by saying Justice must rule over Liberty and Equality. We cannot have too much Justice, but we can definitely have too much Liberty or too much Equality. It is Justice that determines their boundaries.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Adler begins by defining Liberty in three ways: the liberty inherent in human nature, the liberty associated with wisdom and virtue, and the liberty to do what one wants based on external circumstances. It is this final liberty which falls within the domain of Justice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Similar to Liberty, Equality exists in three parts: equalities we are entitled to by nature, equalities were entitled to due to our own efforts, and equalities we experience through circumstances. Once again, it is this third dimension in which Justice is most relevant. Inequality is justified when “All must have an equal opportunity to employ their innate and acquired abilities in productive work” (185).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The earlier discussions of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty should lead the students to an understanding of a virtuous man. And that virtuous man, according to Adler, “Is still able to do as he pleases, since he pleases to do what he ought. A right rule of conduct, and a just civil law command actions that ought to be performed and prohibit ask it ought not to be done” (147). Therefore, when <i>just</i> laws are in place, the virtuous man is free to do whatever he “wants,” because he <i>wants</i> to do the right thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Here is the place for a discussion of Justice. Twelfth-grade Seminar begins with Plato’s <i>Republic</i>. In it, Socrates, seeks to make the argument of why men should <i>want</i> to be just. He does this by designing the Just Society. Yet in actuality, this Just Society is a tyranny. If a man will not be just, justice will be imposed upon him. And he will not like it. Since Socrates arrives at such a roundabout, definition of Justice, I believe it is imperative to study Adler’s more focused discussion of Justice. He divides Justice into two main spheres: the man to the state and the state to the man. When dealing with the man to the state, or to the community, a man must recognize what his fellow citizens deserve by right and what they deserve by comparison with others. But he must also act in a way which serves the common good. Justice is often conflated with “fairness.” But fairness is only justice in comparison to others. Justice, vis-à-vis rights due, and Justice vis-à-vis the common good of all fall outside the scope of fairness. In regards to Justice, vis-à-vis the state to men, the state has a similar duty. Adler states, “The man-made laws of the state, derives its authority from justice, in each of three ways: one by the enactment of measures that protect natural rights; two by legislation that prescribes or safeguards of fairness in transactions among individuals; three by regulating matters affected with the public interest for the general welfare of the community” (197). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This ties in beautifully to the <i>Republic</i> where Thrasymachus advocates a “might makes right” philosophy. Adler makes the convincing case that Justice based on might alone destroys the concept of Justice entirely. That cannot be the case. Adler answers Socrates question, “Why should we be just?” with a great answer. “It is an indispensable factor in our achieving happiness for ourselves” and others (204). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 12pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> I'm very excited to incorporate all of this into Seminar next year. I think it will give us great umbrella ideas in which to subsume everything else we are discussing. It provides a coherence and consistency. That just makes me happy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-15708003808568863282023-05-19T19:23:00.001-07:002023-06-14T19:29:35.418-07:00Sin Boldly by David Williams<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41m7l5CbsDTII7FDzkJokohJztCtAlBZETEARSfJhlX0aLEqcJ0M__sLijW-tHU4K5LIyLivZG5aPjk8bGk-AUOMjud0siFqvSSyl2xuJyulUcUbJhYKcdYiAok3yg2vXcB83u6Ytzu1NF2iBqQ7SZRccbN8k-_rieJylsq0h5y3i3225bcs1B4Bugw/s1542/61AVVkHctvL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1542" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41m7l5CbsDTII7FDzkJokohJztCtAlBZETEARSfJhlX0aLEqcJ0M__sLijW-tHU4K5LIyLivZG5aPjk8bGk-AUOMjud0siFqvSSyl2xuJyulUcUbJhYKcdYiAok3yg2vXcB83u6Ytzu1NF2iBqQ7SZRccbN8k-_rieJylsq0h5y3i3225bcs1B4Bugw/w260-h400/61AVVkHctvL.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>I saw this book on my son-in-law's bookshelf. With a title like <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sin-Boldly-Daves-Writing-College/dp/0465091598/ref=asc_df_0465091598/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312050258636&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8930769186083871943&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009667&hvtargid=pla-571689721155&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61316181039&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312050258636&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8930769186083871943&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009667&hvtargid=pla-571689721155" target="_blank">Sin Boldly by David Williams</a>, how could I resist? Who knew a book on how to write could be so engrossing?<p></p><p>In chapter after chapter, I found myself nodding along. I wanted to yell, "That's exactly what I tell my students." In short, I felt vindicated. </p><p>Anyone wanting to learn to write well or how to teach writing well should read this book.</p><p>For a writing book, it can be a bit spicy. Definitely a PG rating, but, honestly, that's what makes is so good!</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-34896499670810143782023-04-10T11:37:00.158-07:002023-09-07T14:46:36.428-07:00The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gulag-Archipelago-Experiment-Literary-Investigation/dp/0061253715" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJcDKg854qL7xJjO0Y9b76ZVOzTDsQWe2pRaWlbNXIamzGWkq0qvQD4Dg-X1FqEwTItM3og898j_7X41O6I__da0dLNbo5st6649VQuoAjxLHc4KF9y_zLVAHECBtkp4-vaxsTaO4MoaIKx694o2n8KlhwX-UksOsw8mD0w-dnf64Qvl4CiAtwRE_HVQ5y/s500/Gulag%20Archipelago.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="330" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJcDKg854qL7xJjO0Y9b76ZVOzTDsQWe2pRaWlbNXIamzGWkq0qvQD4Dg-X1FqEwTItM3og898j_7X41O6I__da0dLNbo5st6649VQuoAjxLHc4KF9y_zLVAHECBtkp4-vaxsTaO4MoaIKx694o2n8KlhwX-UksOsw8mD0w-dnf64Qvl4CiAtwRE_HVQ5y/w264-h400/Gulag%20Archipelago.jpeg" width="264" /></a></div>I had heard of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gulag-Archipelago-Experiment-Literary-Investigation/dp/0061253715/ref=sr_1_1?crid=V1OLU7CAG35C&keywords=gulag+archipelago&qid=1688650649&s=books&sprefix=gulag+archipelago%2Cstripbooks%2C94&sr=1-1" target="_blank"> The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn</a>, and I absolutely love his speech, "Live not by Lies," so I had to read the book that made him famous.<p></p><div>I'm glad I did, but honestly, it's an odd book. Maybe because he's Russian, and he just has a different way of telling stories. The Russians can be bleak and seemingly accepting of whatever life throws at them. The story is not written necessarily in a chronological order. Nor does it even have what we would call a plot. It's written in vignettes and together they weave a tale of absolute horror. Yet the tone is mildly amused and sarcastic. I assume that to tell the story in a straightforward manner, would be overwhelming to both the author and the reader.</div><div><br /></div><div>Solzhenitsyn begins with, "How do people get to this clandestine Archipelago?" (3) And the rest of the book is his journey to the prison after being unjustly arrested. He calls it an Archipelago because it's spread out all over the country. And it seems that no one really knows of its existence, as it is shrouded in mystery. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the main points of the book is to make clear that however bad it may have seemed under the Tsars, enlightened and modern Soviet Russia was far worse. It seems that he worried people would not believe him. Perhaps the conditions faced by those arrested were not well known at the time. He tells the reader: </div><blockquote><div>What had been acceptable under Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich in the seventeenth century, what had already been regarded as barbarism under Peter the Great, what might have been used against ten or twenty people in all during the time of Biron in the mid-eighteenth century, what had already become totally impossible under Catherine the Great, was all being practiced during the flowering of the glorious twentieth century--in a society based on socialist principles, and at a time when airplanes we're flying and the radio and talking films had already appeared--not by one scoundrel alone in one secret place only, but by tens of thousands of specially trained human beasts standing over millions of defenseless victims (94).</div></blockquote><p>And yet, time and again, Solzhenitsyn returns to the idea that none is completely innocent. He recognizes in each human the capacity for the kind of evil perpetrated by the state."And just so we don't go around flaunting too proudly the white mantle of the just, let everyone ask himself: 'If my life had turned out differently, might I myself not have become just such an executioner?'" (160) </p><p>"Pride grows in the human heart like lard on a pig" (163)</p><p>It is at this point that he makes his most famous statement, "But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being" (168). This is unbelievable grace from a man so wrongly accused. Humans, he states, <i>must</i> believe they are doing good. No one believes himself evil. Therefore a human will justify any level of cruelty. Ideology is the great justifier in the Soviet Union. Trying to understand the level of evil and its grip on humanity is one of the things I believe kept him sane.</p><p>Time and again, Solzhenitsyn details the sheet ridiculousness of the whole system. In the beginning, only one sentence was passed, ten years in prison, and all were guilty. Eventually other lengths were introduced--five-years, twenty-five years, death--but it was all random. Solzhenitsyn cautions his reader not to ask <i>why</i> he is being arrested. There is not an answer for that and there never will be. The arrest is the point. Stalin simply wanted to instill terror in anyone who may threaten him, real or imagined. To ask questions was to sentence yourself. To ask about a loved one was to be convicted as well. Women were brutally raped. Men had all their possessions stolen by roving gangs. Food was almost non-existent. Prisoners were kept in the most inhuman conditions imaginable. For what?</p><p>Every story is told with an ironic touch. Solzhenitsyn rejoices that only half the bread was moldy. O happy day! This jarring method of story-telling both reduces and increases the sheer horror of the situation. I believe he arrived at a place where, in order not to lose his sanity, he had to approach each fresh terror with a slightly crazy lens.</p><p>He tells stories which have been smuggled out from prisoner to prisoner of individuals and their plights. Many end badly or have no ending at all; The person simply disappeared into the jaws of the Archipelago. In one touching vignette, he describes one of his cellmates:</p><blockquote><p>If the first thing you see each and every morning is the eyes of your cellmate who has gone insane, how then shall you save yourself during the coming day? Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev, whose brilliant career in astronomy was interrupted by his arrest, saved himself only by thinking the eternal and the infinite: of the order of the Universe--and of its Supreme Spirit; of the stars; of their internal state; and what Time and passing Time really are. (484)</p></blockquote><p>Time and again, Solzhenitsyn offers his reader advice for how to survive the Archipelago. Divest yourself of all possessions. They will be taken anyways and you will only end up bloody in the process. "But by owning things and trembling about their fate, aren't you forfeiting the rare opportunity of observing and understanding?" (915) Cherish the moments when you see the stars or hear music. "Prison will become easier to bear. Otherwise you will explode from rage." (526) Understand the weight under which your jailer toils. He knows he will be joining you soon and it is that thought that drives the fear that drives his madness. </p><p>As he finishes his journey and arrives at his destination, he concludes:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Shut your eyes, reader. Do you hear the thundering of wheels? Those are the Stolypin cars rolling on and on. Those are the red cows rolling. Every minute of the day. And every day of the year. And you can hear the water gurgling--those are prisoners' barges moving on and on. And the motors of the Black Marias roar. They are arresting someone all the time, cramming him in some-where, moving him about. And what is that hum you hear? The overcrowded cells of the transit prisons. And that cry? The complaints of those who have been plundered, raped, beaten to within an inch of their lives.</p><p>We have reviewed and considered all the methods of delivering prisoners, and we have found that they are all . . . worse. We have examined the transit prisons, but we have not found any that were good. And even the last human hope that there is something better ahead, that it will be better in camp, is a false hope.</p><p>In camp it will be . . . worse.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>And yet, before the end, he sums up his advice:</p><blockquote><p>Live with a steady superiority over life--don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to over-flowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don't claw at your insides. If your back isn't broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes see, and if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart--and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well (591-592).</p></blockquote><p><br /></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-77129291894310326552023-01-20T10:27:00.034-08:002023-02-04T11:06:29.438-08:00The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhivkRn_tC34lblPq64XFler27XW2rx6pA1qJrzg53_9jOaRXC1pqIsa6Ihsq-o0vy3cFkTLxX2t7yqNBWdUVlabbj04HCwHDaqNc5UskyerPqtuj-4SJ151Fs7gaVVMgEOtffQm5DsCiBZVX6DHwSa-YY6gQtqrKv5ipFTOT48RIKW37ucKEhdPJbw/s800/919yKVACdPL._AC_UF700,800_QL80_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="519" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFhivkRn_tC34lblPq64XFler27XW2rx6pA1qJrzg53_9jOaRXC1pqIsa6Ihsq-o0vy3cFkTLxX2t7yqNBWdUVlabbj04HCwHDaqNc5UskyerPqtuj-4SJ151Fs7gaVVMgEOtffQm5DsCiBZVX6DHwSa-YY6gQtqrKv5ipFTOT48RIKW37ucKEhdPJbw/w260-h400/919yKVACdPL._AC_UF700,800_QL80_.jpg" width="260" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">A friend gave me this book to read, and I'm glad she did.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: trebuchet;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chilbury-Ladies-Choir-Novel/dp/1101906774/ref=asc_df_1101906774/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312065522531&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10946481655618644492&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009667&hvtargid=pla-435761671351&psc=1&region_id=674469" target="_blank">The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan</a> is a fun, quick read. It's reminiscent of </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); font-family: trebuchet;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Guernsey-Literary-Potato-Peel-Society/dp/0385341008/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1CAC6L37O56P&keywords=potato+peel+pie+society&qid=1675536536&s=books&sprefix=potatoe+peel+pie+soci%2Cstripbooks%2C85&sr=1-1" style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society</a>. </span></p><p>The book is set in Britain during World War II and the Chilbury Choir has lost its men to the war. In an astonishing feat of pluck, they rebrand themselves The Chilbury Ladies Choir and go on to compete with other local choirs. </p><p>Of course the book involves a variety of characters, each bringing her (usually) own spice to the mix. A love interest is unavoidable and obviously messy. </p><p>All ends well with lessons learned. </p><p>The most interesting part of the book is its epistolary style. Going back and forth as characters either write to those outside the story or in their own diaries, makes for an interesting read. The story is told from multiple points of view, causing it to unfold in way significantly differently than it would have from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. </p><p>The story includes the characters we love, the ones we love to hate, and the ones we hate to love. </p><p>Definitely worth a look.</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-51266320328159018652023-01-18T12:02:00.001-08:002023-02-04T12:06:36.623-08:00A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5W3noHI6EpEdQ1fnqtBctPCqy2eRKjh9rPrRdW0GJESeoVvx1g1TUUVaSphgSwtJ-0uQzmf9zhj_ZatifEyxvetdxyM7wuJv_sZzkNI2uJlOllqNEVHodUqXIDhiamq7QFuzMaYYbciXOTc86OBx0CBnDyerb-C4SYuj6-J6sHHA6om-WlGVSdwAJTg/s2529/a-moveable-feast-the-restored-edition-9781439182710_hr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2529" data-original-width="1643" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5W3noHI6EpEdQ1fnqtBctPCqy2eRKjh9rPrRdW0GJESeoVvx1g1TUUVaSphgSwtJ-0uQzmf9zhj_ZatifEyxvetdxyM7wuJv_sZzkNI2uJlOllqNEVHodUqXIDhiamq7QFuzMaYYbciXOTc86OBx0CBnDyerb-C4SYuj6-J6sHHA6om-WlGVSdwAJTg/w260-h400/a-moveable-feast-the-restored-edition-9781439182710_hr.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>Not being a Hemingway fan, this book would have never crossed my path had it not been for my book club. I don't know why <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moveable-Feast-Restored-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/143918271X" target="_blank">A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway</a> was chosen; I wasn't there for that part. <p></p><p>I missed the book club meeting, so I am stuck with my own thoughts. </p><p>The book felt to me the way Twitter did when I only went on it occasionally: never quite sure who exactly anyone was and what exactly the poster was referring to. </p><p>I don't know Hemingway at all, I don't know Paris at all (in the 1920s or today for that matter), and I don't know the other authors he refers to (with the exception of F. Scott Fitzgerald, whom I only know because of The Great Gatsby).</p><p>Therefore it was a struggle. </p><p>It doesn't help that Hemingway is intentionally writing in a way so as to preclude our ability to intuit whether he's telling the truth or not.</p><p>It's a fun look at quintessential period of time. I think Hemingway wrote the series of vignettes towards the end of his life to capture a magical, perhaps not exactly-the-way-it-happened, moment in his life. I imagine that if I wrote unconnected stories from my high school days, without explanation and without a overarching point, it would sound the same. It might return to me some rose-colored memories, but to everyone outside my small circle, it would be a hazy collection of "inside baseball" glimpses into someone else's life. </p><p>I think I missed a lot of the point of the book. </p><p>But it was beautifully written. That's worth a read right there. </p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-50497222622548727272022-12-21T11:42:00.007-08:002023-06-14T19:33:21.711-07:00The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQo7Z1hTk3JvoZVCoXioK8TyVHmkn8zjbLgSQkJR_jM7RD_udf52RwOhlP3A-IxbcoKCv83neEzD-lcKn13xo6ThmBUwJdHX0X0Ide_1o8KABgYn0oeDxmMTrs_jbNM2v5Gz6YSA1EQjvan_OAj90YnlnFRpkq0FLHQMVwXtR3BlPctBNwwM4Y7yfcCw/s500/41LNmPTcYLL._AC_SY780_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQo7Z1hTk3JvoZVCoXioK8TyVHmkn8zjbLgSQkJR_jM7RD_udf52RwOhlP3A-IxbcoKCv83neEzD-lcKn13xo6ThmBUwJdHX0X0Ide_1o8KABgYn0oeDxmMTrs_jbNM2v5Gz6YSA1EQjvan_OAj90YnlnFRpkq0FLHQMVwXtR3BlPctBNwwM4Y7yfcCw/w266-h400/41LNmPTcYLL._AC_SY780_.jpg" width="266" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <b><span>The Seven Worldview Questions</span></b></span><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><ol><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What is the nature of Ultimate Reality (or Truth)?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; text-indent: -0.25in;">What is the nature of material reality?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What is a human being?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia; text-indent: -0.25in;">What happens to a person at death?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Why is it possible to know anything at all?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">How do we know what is right and wrong?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What is the meaning of human history?</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span></span></li></ol></ol><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></div><div><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I’ve been asking my students to use these questions when we analyze art for about as long as I’ve been teaching. I have no idea where I got this idea. I probably picked it up in one of the myriad resources I access all dealing with Classical Christian Education. Answering one or more of these questions seemed like a great way to look at a piece of great art.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And thus far, I’ve been happy with the results as my students are forced to look at a masterpiece and try to discern the artist’s message or other truths.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And yet, I now realize I was operating blind. After reading </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Next-Door-Worldview-Catalog/dp/0830849386" style="font-family: georgia;" target="_blank"><i>The Universe Next Door</i> by James W. Sire</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, I can imagine a much fuller use of these central questions. Specifically, I am challenged to use these questions to analyze my own presuppositions. I am also challenged to use them to analyze my student’s assumptions. How often do we, as Christians, stray from orthodoxy because it “sounds about right”? Is it possible that what I, or my students, are claiming to be true is not, in fact, true?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The beauty of a Christian Theistic worldview is its insistence on absolute Truth. This worldview “teaches that not only is there a moral universe but there is an absolute standard by which all moral judgments are measured. God himself—his character of goodness (holiness and love)—is the standard” (p. 30). And yet, the pursuit of this absolute Truth can become difficult and at times, divisive. That’s where the Deistic Worldview enters. This view, so similar to Christian Theism, can tempt a believer with its simplicity and rationality. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our culture is awash in, what Sire calls, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” This belief posits a good and loving God who wants His creation to be happy. He does not need to be involved daily, </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">per se</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">, but is available when a problem arises. He promises Heaven to all the “good” people. He’s not at all demanding. He </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">is</i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> love. This is so close to the mark, that the Christian can easily find himself slipping into this form of deism. It infuses our culture and shows up throughout social media. It’s in the “feel-good” and “uplifting” memes meant to bring hope and happiness to all.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And it’s easy to “like.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a Christian and a Christian educator, I must be on guard for this slippery thinking. Yes, God is love. Yes, God is good. He is available to us when we are challenged. Heaven does await His children. But our God also demands perfection, and barring that, has made a way where there seemed to be no way through the death of His Son. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This brings up the additional eighth Worldview question not addressed earlier, “What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consistent with this worldview?” Sire answers this question, echoing the Westminster Catechism, “Christian theists live to seek first the kingdom of God, that is, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (p. 32). Our purpose on earth is <i>not</i> our own personal happiness. So often I can find myself falling into this mode. “God wants me to be happy.” That is <i>not</i> my purpose. My purpose is to glorify God and praise him for the grace and mercy He showed through His sacrifice on the cross. My happiness is incidental. His purpose for me is to mold and shape me into the likeness of the Son. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our students can be caught in this trap as well. For them, life is about good grades to get into a good college to get a good job to make a good living to live in a good house with a good family and surrounded by good stuff. This is happiness. But that is <i>not</i> happiness. That’s the lie of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. And our students are buying it. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My job is to recognize and combat this lie, both in myself and in my students. True happiness is in pursuing God and becoming like Him. This is often painful. This is, at times, sublime. But it is, and should always be, the goal.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Although it is helpful to explore all the worldviews circulating in our world, for me, the value of this book is in its ability to shine a light on the areas where I find myself, and my students, most likely to err. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style></div>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-2373279883057527572022-09-23T12:44:00.003-07:002022-11-23T07:16:13.614-08:00The Christian Philosophy of Education Explained by Stephen C. Perks<p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DrWHzVShPNFYgyxkjFH6SmfrAW5Rdi957KhpZdl3qkSMMAS-kP6_UvhFMa8joY1Wg-Gn9tn6mIw_Ui_ns9wI0CRjS6SXXiGxyx2noOtXlEdhB58XPodoSAgB2w94dsuQCfPVCZsQCqI1QxpoXpIJGkVzkqIQpsgmB4WARaihRyIjXdpU5ugdks3X3w/s2367/Christian+Philosophy+of+Education.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2367" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4DrWHzVShPNFYgyxkjFH6SmfrAW5Rdi957KhpZdl3qkSMMAS-kP6_UvhFMa8joY1Wg-Gn9tn6mIw_Ui_ns9wI0CRjS6SXXiGxyx2noOtXlEdhB58XPodoSAgB2w94dsuQCfPVCZsQCqI1QxpoXpIJGkVzkqIQpsgmB4WARaihRyIjXdpU5ugdks3X3w/w254-h400/Christian+Philosophy+of+Education.jpg" width="254" /></a></div>Although I generally know and believe that a Classical,<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Christian,</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">education is better than a Classical education bereft of theological backing,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Christian Philosophy of Education Explained</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Stephen C. Perks sealed it for me.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It goes back to how we can know anything at all. “For the Christian, therefore, the ultimate locus of rationality and intelligibility is the God of Scripture and thus man, if he is to know anything truly, must, as God’s creature, created in His image, ‘think God’s thoughts after Him,' to use the words of Cornelius Van Til.” (16) If no actual knowledge is possible apart from the recognition of God and His Word, then Classical education, by itself, cannot lead to actual knowledge. Only a Christ-centered education can do that.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Apart from the Christian aspect of education, education has no real or lasting purpose. “The aim of education is thus to promote maturation in the image of <i>God,</i> and it is the duty of Christian parents to care for the child, mould his character and discipline him in terms of <i>God’s</i> purpose for his life.” (italics in the original) (39) Our cultural, with its emphasis on rationality and empiricism, has made education an idol whose purpose is to mold and shape the child in <i>its</i> image. Christians must see the true purpose of education and act accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Since God has a plan for the child, he must be educated in such a way that prepares him to take his place as a “viceregent over the earth, governing all things under his authority according to God’s word, proclaiming the sovereign word of God in all things, and bringing all things into subjection to Christ.” (78) No education that fails to prepare a child for this God-given role should actually be regarded as “education.” With such an awe-inspiring duty, and such a magnificent responsibility to prepare for, can an education that sees its main goal as creating “college and career ready” young adults even be worthy of the name? Only an education focusing on equipping children for the role God plans for them is sufficient.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Seeing as we are called to govern the world under Christ, it must be the case that we see the world in the way God sees it. “It is vitally important that in every subject and at every level this learning process should presuppose the God-created and God-interpreted nature of reality, and that it should be pursued in terms of godly principles of thought and action throughout.” (89) A secular education, even a secular Classical education simply cannot demand the world be seen through the eyes of God by the student. Even the best Classical schools, modeled on, but not governed by Christian principles, cannot present the world as “God-created.” They cannot promote the “God-interpreted nature of reality.” They may try to, at first. But over time, without a recurrence to the Word of God and His thoughts, a Classical school, will, by necessity eventually abandon its commitment to first principles. Without regeneration, secular education has no leg to stand on. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">All of us, believer and non-believer alike, will serve someone. Our choice is not between servitude and freedom but whom we will serve. It is the Son alone who sets free. Choosing a secular education, devoid of Christian principles and epistemology, sets a student up for slavery to himself and the world. “Man is to <i>rule</i> <i>over</i> nature and serve <i>God</i> thereby. His true freedom consists in the fulfilling of his God-created purpose in life, and this is only possible as he submits to God in obedience.” (107) This truth simply cannot be communicated in a secular educational environment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Perks ends the book with a powerful summation:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is the Christian’s duty to educate his children in the Christian faith for dominion, for the shouldering of man's creation mandate to bring the whole earth into subjection to himself as God's steward and vicegerent on earth, and thus into subjection to God and His word. This necessitates a Christian culture and the building of Christian civilization, and this in turn necessitates a Christian, covenantal, dominion oriented philosophy and practice of education. (116)<o:p></o:p></span></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-64628049372396275242022-07-25T14:45:00.003-07:002023-02-04T11:10:40.488-08:00Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9uBuef6jEQKkVvRA9xBGymJafZv95miLDo9ZL1_hzvjEvkuwCAqnCh1-KN6T5olhBtIAXA3RHPcFwNk9up6BVFOOm-Ky00_hoXuwqKji9C49vMAaqENSp0Nqd-wUiUxaQUa_fc31qWSy3WGKv78lrtEovxIB1KAuJM0ZBjUHrcTyTM9ygGUdM561uA/s2560/Jane%20Eyre.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1668" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9uBuef6jEQKkVvRA9xBGymJafZv95miLDo9ZL1_hzvjEvkuwCAqnCh1-KN6T5olhBtIAXA3RHPcFwNk9up6BVFOOm-Ky00_hoXuwqKji9C49vMAaqENSp0Nqd-wUiUxaQUa_fc31qWSy3WGKv78lrtEovxIB1KAuJM0ZBjUHrcTyTM9ygGUdM561uA/w261-h400/Jane%20Eyre.jpeg" width="261" /></a></div>As I endeavor to read great books, I turned next to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jane-Eyre-Charlotte-Bronte/dp/B085H5MDGG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Jane+Eyre+by+Charlotte+Bronte&qid=1658773812&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte</a>. Generally I love this kind of book. I'm a big Jane Austen fan. But I also read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and didn't love it. So I proceeded with low expectations. Fortunately, I really enjoyed the book.<p></p><p>First of all, Jane Eyre, unlike her Austen-like fellow characters, is poor. She's an orphan, taken in by wealthier relatives who mistreat here. She is not looking for a man. The book is so much more about her and her character growth than marriage, although that, of course, is included. </p><p>She begins as a wholly unlikable, yet pitiable creature. Jane is loud and opinionated and headstrong. But she also has a strong moral center on right and wrong. She is sent to a boarding school and forgotten. She must forge her own way in the world. However, by this point, she has been molded and shaped in her character and, while not necessarily having achieved perfection, knows that as the goal. </p><p>She finds employment with the Rochester clan as a governess for Mr. Rochester's ward. This is where the book turns Austen-esque as Jane and Mr. Rochester, twenty years her senior, declare their undying love and intention to marry. Jane is saved by a rich, but unattractive, man who plucks her from obscurity, intending to lavish her with his fortune and make a fine lady of her. As with most Victorian romantic novels, the love is told to the reader and described in voluminous terms, but the reader is never <i>shown</i> the love. Why Mr. Rochester loves Jane is unclear. She's different from the other women who are apparently vacuous and money-grubbing. She is an interesting conversationalist. Even he calls her plain looking, however. She's subservient and clearly his inferior. They have no chemistry or event that bonds them together. It just <i>is</i> that they are mad for each other. </p><p>Of course there is a twist and "happily ever after" is abandoned. But 1/3 of the book remains. Jane continues in a very different adventure with a family when she literally collapses on their doorstep. But the story circles around and all ends well.</p><p>One thing the book had going for it was a real sense of a life that seemed wholly unfair, yet through it all the thread of God's sovereignty runs. Jane, and consequently those around her, learn to trust in God's plan and call for righteousness, especially when it's hard. Jane spends the book learning the lesson and implementing it. Those around her, including Mr. Rochester, must discover its truth in their own way. The redemption of injustice and trial turn God into the hero of the story. While the moral is clear, Trust God and Do Right, I don't believe it was heavy-handed or overdone. It feels real. It feels hard. But in the end, it feels right.</p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-89590272683103590852022-07-18T11:56:00.002-07:002022-07-18T11:56:18.694-07:00Charitable Writing by Richard Hughes Gibson and James Edward Beitler III<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXz04WBhH-Im4eAEnsJXNol2x3OXvplTbNX54nyCuEOhh4hH0VqAc2MRmHDduEhwgCm26PYIVrv_G_zHiliQkBFosCY0Q7uyn5Yd19DXvaCPnRwGyXu356Ejv6ID0EIOW3yL0qVLLMXr8FXbH_vEoFdKt3FkxSc1IzK2lkdh6z9gdMe2o5f8D_2sRNw/s499/charitable%20writing.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="323" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXz04WBhH-Im4eAEnsJXNol2x3OXvplTbNX54nyCuEOhh4hH0VqAc2MRmHDduEhwgCm26PYIVrv_G_zHiliQkBFosCY0Q7uyn5Yd19DXvaCPnRwGyXu356Ejv6ID0EIOW3yL0qVLLMXr8FXbH_vEoFdKt3FkxSc1IzK2lkdh6z9gdMe2o5f8D_2sRNw/w259-h400/charitable%20writing.jpeg" width="259" /></a></div>My Seminar team is making an intentional effort in the upcoming school year to inculcate "Intellectual Virtues" in our students. A helpful companion book was suggested by one of the teachers, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Charitable-Writing-Cultivating-Virtue-Through-ebook/dp/B08C94J3JF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1XTUPB1805EZO&keywords=charitable+writing&qid=1658169016&sprefix=charitable%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Charitable Writing by Richard Hughes Gibson and James Edward Beitler III</a>. I found this book invaluable to our mission.<p></p><p>The authors begin by lamenting that writing is taught the same in public and Christian schools. They realized the error in this and this book is their attempt to correct that. The dual command to love God and love others should infuse everything a Christian does, including writing. Yet the current model of writing is hardly a model of love, but rather that of war. Arguments are made and the opposition is refuted. Someone wins and someone loses. While recognizing the importance of making an argument, the authors desire to infuse the search for truth through writing with love. </p><p>Realizing that writing is truly a communal activity, Gibson and Beitler divide the writing process into three components: Humble Listening, Loving Argument, and Keeping Time Hopefully. I marked up particularly helpful advice that I intend to put into practice in my Rhetoric class. </p><blockquote><p></p><blockquote><b>Humble Listening:</b> After you've successfully grasped the argument's content (what it says) through paraphrase, turn to a consideration of the arguments form (how it says) and function (what it does). Don't evaluate at this stage; instead, attempt to describe how the argument is constructed and what the argument's parts--its paragraphs, sentences, and word choices--accomplish. By paraphrasing your peers' ideas and describing the form and function of their arguments, you'll be better equipped to offer them evaluative feedback and suggestions for improvement when it is time to do so. Humble listening, we are suggesting, begins the process of offering feedback not with a summary judgment about the success or failure of this or that. It opens like Alice Duer Miller's "Splendid auditorium where every sound comes back fuller and richer." In humility, we can respond by simply offering back what we heard--describing what the writer said, how the writer went about saying it, and for what purposes. Giving your peers' writing back to them in this way will almost certainly be a revelatory experience for them, and for you. </blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">The authors propose a new metaphor for writing to replace the old one of war: a feast. </p><blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Loving Argument: </b>To recognize that writing not only can be but also should be a hospitable practice has profound implications for Christian writers. To write hospitably requires that we use words and genre conventions that our reader will recognize and understand. To write hospitably requires that we take the time to edit our writing so as to make it approachable. To write hospitably requires that we actually think about who our readers are in the first place. Above all, to write hospitably requires that we recognize writing as a gift. "And yet,; Gibson writes, "I know of few students who describe their academic papers as gifts. As "work' or products' or achievements' or 'projects'-but not as gifts." As Gibson perceives, our educations form us to understand our writing first and foremost in terms of our personal productivity or success. It's about us. That, of course, is not how a banquet functions. A banquet succeeds when the hosts and guests enjoy themselves together.<br /></p></blockquote></blockquote><p>"Keeping Time Hopefully" is to say that writing needs to be a slow, savored process. A labor of love. The Gibson and Beitler compare it to the "Slow Food" movement which desires and intentionality and appreciation for the eating process. It is not procrastination, but deliberation. </p><p><b></b></p><blockquote><b>Keeping Time Hopefully: </b>A second, related way to revitalize revision is by recognizing it as an opportunity to love our readers. Revision can be an act of charity. To recall several features of J. I. Packer's definition, charity involves giving of oneself and what one has, freely and without consideration of merit, to meet the actual needs of specific people and promote their greatness." Few of us understand revision in such terms. Instead of viewing it as a gift that promotes others' well-being, we see it as obligatory work we must do to strengthen our writing, earn the "A," get published, or win awards. We may have been taught to revise with the rhetorical needs of our readers in mind, but we typically strive to meet the needs of those who are in a position to promote us--professors, bosses, and other "higher-ups." The social position of our readers should matter to us because, if we're being honest, our desire is usually to make ourselves, not others, great.</blockquote><p>This book is a fantastic wake-up call to me as a teacher to try to infuse love in all I do and especially to help my students to infuse love in what they do. </p><p></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6330793962443009112.post-24054814868552321472022-07-16T12:55:00.001-07:002022-09-05T13:39:53.528-07:00Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRZjkBpD4J6scL0KtIzo2WuT8t1b3R1d_KXIQyuOwQ_uGa_QvhOiHVG8aRH0pSSC7VhvDiXlxzX_3yjocD6kWc6mYe15fSX-q_0sihowEGHbUIL98hO8XdTHyL6LP4kpb-_7iNv4rFVP_cxFowJvuv7jmGhMkeOiRGYzsm4ESipDWI-ksn9w3nNQsvA/s2560/Ethics.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1705" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRZjkBpD4J6scL0KtIzo2WuT8t1b3R1d_KXIQyuOwQ_uGa_QvhOiHVG8aRH0pSSC7VhvDiXlxzX_3yjocD6kWc6mYe15fSX-q_0sihowEGHbUIL98hO8XdTHyL6LP4kpb-_7iNv4rFVP_cxFowJvuv7jmGhMkeOiRGYzsm4ESipDWI-ksn9w3nNQsvA/w266-h400/Ethics.jpeg" width="266" /></a></div>Because it is such a classic, and probably an absolute must for classical educators, I decided to read the entire <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Aristotles-Nicomachean-Ethics-Philosophical-Library/dp/1585100358/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WU3ZBVNFL3AZ&keywords=Nicomachean+Ethics+by+Aristotle+Joe+sachs&qid=1662407784&sprefix=nicomachean+ethics+by+aristotle+joe+sachs%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle</a>. I had read portions of it, and had watched the Hillsdale <a href="https://online.hillsdale.edu/landing/aristotles-ethics?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-YX06bj--QIVSClMCh1lfgM8EAAYASAAEgLeJPD_BwE" target="_blank">videos</a> on it as well as heard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKtYMcL8fto" target="_blank">Spencer Klavan</a> on it. But it seemed time to actually read it. Besides, I had to read something floating in the pool. <p></p><p>It was as good as I'd hoped. </p><p>Aristotle can be tough. His overarching goal is to categorize everything. As he does this, his writing can seem repetitive and actually somewhat obvious. But it is his drilling down on definitions--on saying what something is, and what something is not--that causes us to see what we thought we already knew in a new light. </p><p>Nicomachean Ethics proceeds Politics because Aristotle thought his students needed to know what exactly is the good at which they are aiming before embarking on a political program. That said, he begins Ethics with this familiar line:</p><p>Every art and every inquiry, and likewise every action and choice, seems to aim at some good, and hence it has been beautifully said that the good is that at which all things aim.</p><p>He is saying that everything we do is in pursuit of something we would call "good." It is therefore incumbent upon us to define this term. This preoccupies the rest of the book. </p><p>Of course we could also say that we aim at "happiness" and Aristotle will explore this next. He creates a term, "being-at-work" for when a thing is its best self. When it is doing what it is made to do. This is "good." A tree, which is being as tree-like as it can, is a good tree. Human "beings-at-work" aim to be happy. And we can only be happy by aiming at the highest goods. Therefore only a good human is truly happy. A good human is one who has mastered the virtues to the extent he has internalized them and they define him. </p><p>Therefore Aristotle proceeds to define the virtues. He shows that the virtues rest as a mean between two vices. Courage is between recklessness and cowardice. This does not mean that a virtue is exactly between them, but it is somewhere in the middle. The circumstances and our own natural proclivities will determine where the exact mean is. This makes it a difficult target to hit. Aristotle advises to overshoot in the direction that is hardest for you. If you are naturally cautious, aim for reckless and vice versa. In this way, you will hit closer to the virtuous mean than if you gave into your own natural desire. We become virtuous as we continuously do the virtuous thing. This is why it's important to know what that is. </p><p>This brings Aristotle to the virtuous way of thinking. Humans make choices. And they make choices based on deliberation. Deliberation only involves subjects in which the particular human has some agency. In order to be virtuous, each person must deliberate and choose the most beautiful choice with the most beautiful of intentions. Repeating this process then leads to a virtuous person. Often, we are seduced into thinking that we can push the line in the small things, but when it counts, we will act virtuously. This is the opposite of what Aristotle wants us to see. Each deliberation, and therefore each choice, defines and builds our character. The kind of character needed to make the tough choice simply cannot be called into existence without practice.</p><p>When it comes to justice, Aristotle describes it as giving what is due. It is the most public of virtues and the one that requires all the others. Unlike courage, which can be done when called upon and doesn't need the other virtues, justice requires a virtuous way of thinking in order to understand what is actually due. Each situation is unique and requires serious deliberation and beautiful choices. Justice is the virtue of all other virtues. And once a man understands justice, he can make practical application and exercise practical judgment. </p><p>Aristotle seems to go off topic when he dives into friendship. He categorizes friendships as those of utility--a relationship with an accountant--and those of pleasure--people who share a hobby--and those of virtue. This last form is rare. It is the friendship in which each person makes the other a better person. It's hard, but possible, among unequals. This is a friendship for the simple sake of the friendship. We are tempted to say that our friendships are of this sort. Yet Aristotle, as he is wont to do, reminds us that if we are complaining about a friendship, it is because it is not serving us. Therefore it is a friendship of utility. Ouch. I can see how most friendship fit into the first two categories. This makes sense. A virtuous friendship can only exist among virtuous people. Aristotle has spent the book so far showing how difficult that is. If there are two virtuous people, and they find each other, this must be rare.</p><p>Returning to his ideas of the "good," Aristotle calls us to be good humans. The end of the book makes clear that all this discussion of ethics is nothing more than a prelude to governing. He knows the men he is teaching will become law-makers and as such must know how to make good laws. He ends the book with, "So having made a beginning, let us discuss it." </p><p>I love that this whole book was a prelude to the discussion of how best to govern a society. We rarely think about politics or politicians and say, "Well if you want to discuss that, we need to spend 10 or 20 hours discussing the good, virtue, wisdom, justice, and practical knowledge first."</p><p>Too bad. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>MLaschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312012739271295097noreply@blogger.com0