Inculturation

I’m a fan of classical music in general, and opera music in particular. I think of opera as sophisticated and intellectual, so it has become my music of choice. However, I’ve recently realized that the belief that anything Wagner wrote is wonderful demonstrates inculturation. Just like movies, books, plays, and paintings, there are good operas and bad operas.

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<>A month or two ago, I was listening to an operetta by (I think) Johann Strauss. The best way to describe the music would be to say that it sparkled. The sound was delightful. I got so caught up in one of the arias that I turned in the libretto (script) to read the English translation. The song that I thought was so beautiful was a flirting song. The woman singing was at a costume party without her husband, and because she was wearing a mask, she decided she had license to behave however she wanted. The plot went from bad to worse. The music was amazing and the vocal talent was superb, but there was nothing redemptive about what was being sung.

At that moment I realized that I had chosen to accept a certain cultural message that promoted opera as morally neutral, a message that says, if the music is beautiful, it doesn’t much matter what the singers are saying. As a Christian, I can’t accept that message and remain biblically consistent. Many operas fail the ‘Philippians 4:8 Test.’ So, as much as I love opera, in order to remain true to my worldview presuppositions, I have to be selective when choosing which operas to listen to for entertainment. Otherwise, I’m inculturated, just like Robinson Crusoe.

It does seem kind of silly to make such a big deal about opera. After all, it’s a far cry from the inculturation issues of human value and dignity presented in Robins Crusoe. Yet, sometimes it’s the things that seem silly or unimportant that can reveal gaps and flaws in our thinking, which means they aren’t silly or unimportant after all.

Homechool Blog Awards: Thank You!

Spunky Homeschool announced the results of the Homeschool Blog Awards yesterday, and Rhetorical Response received the title of best Student Homeschool Arts Blog!

I feel incredibly blessed, as well as incredibly grateful to everyone who voted for Rhetorical Response. In addition, I'm inspired to reach for a higher standard on this blog.

Again, Thank You to everyone who supported Retorical Response!

Be sure to look at the full results of the Homeschool Blog Awards

Crusoe's Culture

The back cover of my edition of Robinson Crusoe says, ‘Consistently popular since its publication 1719, Daniel Defoe’s story of human endurance in an exotic, faraway land exerts a timeless appeal…[it] has taken its rightful place among the great myths of Western civilization.’ So, not only is Robinson Crusoe an amazing and entertaining adventure story, it is an historical treasure which possesses timeless appeal. Unsurprisingly, it also has a timeless and universal message. This message is not one that Defoe purposely inserted in his work, but one that becomes clear through a cultural analysis of the times in which Defoe wrote. The message is that culture possesses great, great power, and that we are all affected by it, for better or for worse.

Robinson Crusoe, like most fictional works, reflects, like a mirror, the culture of the times in which it was written. In many ways, this is wonderful. The book communicates godly messages about honoring one’s parents, the sovereignty of God, and personal responsibility. England in the 18^th century was a Christian nation, and Christian principles are very clear in Defoe’s book. For example, throughout the story, Robinson Crusoe attributes his misfortunes to the fact that he refused to listen to and obey his father. In the early chapters, Crusoe’s father predicts disaster if Crusoe chooses to run away to sea:

‘…though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I would have leisure thereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.’

These words are prophetic, and eventually Crusoe deeply regrets that he did not listen to his father. The sovereignty of God is another theme in the book. Whenever Crusoe receives provision, such as when he is able to rescue supplies from his wrecked ship, when he finds food, when he escapes being noticed by cannibals, and when he meets Friday, he attributes these events to God’s sovereign provision.

A third cultural theme is personal responsibility. Robinson Crusoe never blames anyone but himself for his misfortunes, he never seeks to shift blame when he is at fault, and he never hesitates to meet out justice to wrongdoers, be they cannibals or mutineers. This attitude is a far cry from the welfare state mentality in American today.

Despite all these excellent messages, Robinson holds some beliefs that are not Christian, beliefs influenced by his culture. For instance, he believes that white men are superior to ‘savages,’ as he calls them, and that slavery is justified. When he sees that Friday (though he has not given him this name at the time) is about to be killed and eaten by cannibals, he decides to rescue him, but not because he wants to protect the sanctity of life or because he desires a friend. Instead, his first thought is that Friday would make a good servant. No passages in the Bible supports this type of thinking, but the psychology and culture of the British Empire did.

This is amazing. For over twenty years, Robinson Crusoe has been alone on a tropical island with only some cats, goats, and a Bible to keep him company. He prays and reads the Bible regularly, and he even fasts sometimes. He is totally removed from his native culture. It seems like he is in the ideal situation to develop the perfect worldview. But it is not so. The two decades-old influence of his culture is stronger than the influence of Scripture on his thinking. That’s how powerful culture can be.

What does this mean for modern America? Quite frankly, it’s scary. In his book Prophetic Untimeliness, author and apologist Os Guinness remarks that American culture is more pervasive that any other culture at any other time in history. The ungodly culture in which we now live is the most influential of all, because of the reach of the media, the entertainment industry, the Internet, and globalization.

If Robinson Crusoe was ‘inculturated,’ shall we say, after spending half his life alone, isolated from his culture, how much more must we be inculturated, with the benefit of movies, 24/7 television, and the Internet? It’s something to think about. We have to ask ourselves, how much of what we think and do is influenced by my worldview, and how much is influenced by my culture? I’ve been asking myself this question, and God has showed me at least one area in which culture has been influencing me, and not in a good way. I’ll post it tomorrow.

About Robinson Crusoe

Last night I was reading one of my little brother's library books (it was a Richard Peck book -- hysterically funny author), and I found a Robinson Crusoe joke!

Said the farmer to his son while explaining why the family would have to work on Saturday: 'The only man who got his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.'

Read a summary of Robinson Crusoe's plot here.

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, is widely considered to be the first English novel. It is the story of a man shipwrecked on a tropical island. After Defoe wrote his book, the 'castaway' theme gained in popularity, and many, many more books with a similar plot followed. Later, these books were turned into popular movies. To read Robison Crusoe is to read a piece of history.

Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

What Do You Think?

A friend of mine had this insight today:

Christianity and nihilism are the only true worldviews. Christianity is true on earth and in heaven, and nihilism is true in Hell.

About Christian theism
About nihlism

Thoughts? Comments?

-- Inspired by James Sire's The Universe Next Door, an excellent book--

Convicting Thought

I suppose any good book must also be either convicting or inspiring. Any book that did not encourage us to amend our thinking or our actions in some way would be useless. By that standard, Knowing God by JI Packer is a very good book indeed.

Packer on Christian doctrine:

'As we saw earlier, there can be no spiritual health without doctrinal knowledge; but it is equally true that there can be no spiritual health with it, if it is sought for the wrong purpose and valued by the wrong standard. '

‘We need to ask ourselves: What is my ultimate aim in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God, once I have it? For the fact that we have to face is this: If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of out interest in it and grasp of it; and we shall look down on those whose theological ideas seem to us crude and inadequate and dismiss them as very poor specimens. For, as Paul told the conceited Corinthians, “Knowledge puffs up…the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know how he ought to know.” (1Cor 8:1-2)

To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in itself, to approach Bible study with no other desire than to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it. As we saw earlier, there can be no spiritual health without doctrinal knowledge; but it is equally true that there can be no spiritual health with it, if it is sought for the wrong purpose and valued by the wrong standard. In this way, doctrinal study can really become a danger to spiritual life, and we today, no less than the Corinthians of old, need to be on our guard here.’

Merry Christmas

A post at Semicolon put into words my most recent Christmas thoughts. The advent of Christ was a direct revelation of the Logos, the Word of God, and it was real. Jesus was physically present on earth, at a space-time point in history.

I'm celebrating the immanence of God today. After all, Emmanuel means 'God with us.'

Merry Christmas.

The Truth About Torture

Evangelical Outpost is hosting an online Christian Ethics Symposium on the subject of torture, in response to Charles Krauthammer's article in The Weekly Standard. Several prominent Christian theologians and ethicists (Albert Mohler, Richard John Neuhaus, Darrell Cole, John Jefferson Davis, Daniel Heimbach, Mark Liderbach, and Robert Vischer) have written essays answering questions about the definition and historical use of torture, what the Bible says about neighborly love, justice, and war, and how Christians should respond to the unique threat posed by terrorism. The articles are scholarly, godly, and gracious, and a great way to educate yourself about an important issue facing our country.

The Humbling Force of Poetry

Humans will do almost anything to be seen as unique, or special. I can’t count how many times I’ve tried to persuade myself that I feel or think more deeply about an issue than those around me. I do my best to tell myself that I have ‘hidden depths.’ I suspect that everyone does this: President Teddy Roosevelt once said of his first wife, Alice, ‘I do not think ever a man loved a woman more than I love her.’ President Roosevelt certainly loved his wife, but it’s a stretch to say that no one else’s love was stronger than his.

King Solomon’s words speak to this human desire to be unique: ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ This statement strikes a great blow to human pride, one of the greatest blows of all time. Much of our pride comes from a belief that we are special. Yet, no matter how we choose to imagine ourselves, the Bible says that anything we experience has been experienced before. If we could remember and internalize this, I think it would change the way we thought about ourselves: we would know that we are unique and beloved creatures, but that we have no cause to boast or brag.

Unfortunately, it’s really hard to do this. Poetry, however, is a great tool to help us remember how small we are. The great poets were able to put into beautiful, soaring words our most precious and profound emotions. Reading Shakespeare’s sonnets is exciting because we identify with what he wrote: we feel the same things that he felt when writing, and his poems help us to better understand our feelings. Rather than present something new and foreign, much of great poetry speaks to us of what is already in our hearts.

This ought to be very humbling. I may think that my vision to accomplish great things is somehow more vibrant than any one else’s, but when I read John Milton’s ‘When I Consider How My Light Is Spent,’ I realize that my emotions are not significantly different than those of many other people.

Or, I may think that my love for music is uniquely sensitive and profound, but reading John Dryden’s ‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day’ shows me how ridiculous that thought is. As much as I delight in Dryden’s words, they also help me put myself in perspective.

So, here is yet another benefit of reading great poetry: if read with the correct attitude, it can aid us in our quest for humility. It can help us see ourselves in the context of a great, great universe. It can show us that, while it is true that we are each precious and important, it is also true that we are all very tiny parts of a ‘universe charged with the grandeur of God.’

Contrast in 'A Song for St. Cecilia's Day'

‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day’ is the type of poem that sweeps you off your feet. Its musical theme makes it timeless, like all great classics, and John Dryden’s magnificent use of contrast throughout the poem gives it tremendous impact. Contrast is perhaps the most important key to this poem’s greatness. There is specific contrast in the form of antithesis within several of the stanzas, and there is more general contrast between the stanzas themselves. These two types of contrast help the poem fulfill its purpose

John Dryden wrote ‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day’ to honor St. Cecilia by celebrating and glorifying music. Each of the poem’s seven stanzas furthers this purpose. Stanza 1 claims that ‘from harmony, from Heav’nly harmony this universal frame began.’ This stanza tells the reader two things: first, that music is powerful, and second, that music is primeval. This knowledge informs the reader that, in general, music is very important, and, in specific, music was instrumental during the creation of the world.

Stanza 2 accomplishes a similar purpose. Dryden repeats the line ‘What passion cannot music raise and quell!’ two times. This line is designed to reinforce the earlier statement about music’s power. However, Stanza 2 goes farther than Stanza 1, declaring that music not only was powerful at the beginning of time, but that it is currently powerful, that it is immanent and that it influences human emotions and actions in the present.

Stanzas 3-6 expand on the messages of the first two stanzas by describing the effects produced by specific instruments: trumpets, drums, flutes, lutes, violins, and organs. The seventh and last stanza praises St. Cecilia herself: ‘When to her [St. Cecilia’s] organ, vocal breath was given/An angel heard and straight appeared/Mistaking earth for Heav’n.’ So, the poem concludes by saying that the beauty of earthly music competes with the beauty of Heaven. Christians do not quite agree with this, but still, Dryden’s poem is amazing, primarily because he was so good at employing different levels of contrast.

The most direct contrast in the poem is called antithesis. Antithesis appears several times, most notably in Stanzas 1, 2, and 5. In Stanza 1, Dryden personifies music by having it call to the still earth, ‘Arise ye more than dead!’ Then, in response, ‘Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry/In order to their stations leap/And music’s pow’r obey.’ Antithesis occurs in the words ‘cold, and hot, and moist, and dry.’ Dryden illustrates music’s power by showing how elements of all different, even opposite kinds, obey music’s command.

Another example of antithesis is in Stanza 5, where Dryden discusses violins: ‘Sharp violins proclaim…/Depth of pains and height of passion.’ By using the contrasting words ‘depth’ and ‘height’ as well as ‘pains’ and ‘passion’ Dryden shows the broad reach of emotions that music can express and evoke. It is yet another statement of music’s influence and power.

Equally as effective as direct antithesis is the more general contrast that exists between the different stanzas. Stanzas 3-6 talk about the specific power of several different instruments, and the contrast between the sound of trumpets and flutes shows how the great range of human experience that music can express. Stanza3 is about drums and trumpets and how these instruments serve as calls to war and expressions of human anger, violence, and justice. In Stanza 4, the focus is on human sorrow as Dryden writes of the ‘soft complaining flute.’ The more tempestuous human emotions are discussed in Stanza 5, as Dryden describes the sounds of violins. Finally, in Stanza 6, Dryden describes the organ, and how it plays holy, religious music. The contrasts in these poems show the reader that music influences human wars, human sorrow, human emotion, and human religion.

In ‘St. Cecilia’s Day,’ Dryden offers a comprehensive analysis of music’s power in the past and in the present. In another poem, ‘Grand Chorus,’ he ‘finishes the thought,’ so to speak: he predicts that music will also play an instrumental (pun intended) role at the end of the world:

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<>‘So when the last and dreadful hour
<>This crumbling pageant shall devour,
<>The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And music shall untune the sky.’

Antithesis

I am an ‘auditory leaner,’ and as such, very responsive to music. That is why I like ‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day,' by John Dryden so much. The poem, written in honor of the Roman Catholic patron of church music, is a celebration of all things musical. When reading great literature, a good question to ask is ‘What makes this work great?’ In this case, as always, the answer is multi-faceted. One of the many literary techniques that contributes to this specific poem by Dryden is antithesis: the juxtaposition of two contrasting words, thoughts, and phrases. There are several examples in this poem, one of which is in the following stanza:

<>What passion cannot music raise and quell!
When Jubal struck the corded shell,
His list’ning brethren stood around
And wond’ring, on their faces fell
To worship that celestial sound:
Less than a god they thought there could not dwell
Within the hollow of that shell
That spoke so sweetly and so well.
What passion cannot music raise and quell!

The first and last lines combine the words ‘raise’ and ‘quell’ to create antithesis.

Why does antithesis add to the impact of the poem?

The Chronicles of Narnia

Well, I saw The Chronicles of Narnia today - it was fantastic, but that is not why I am posting. A couple articles I read this week about CS Lewis' style have made great points about why symbolic fiction (or myths) is so effective. In a nutshell, the best way to effectively communicate an abstract or unfamiliar message to people is to relate the message to something they already know or understand. This is precisely what The Chronicles of Narnia does. For that matter, this is what most of great literature does. That is why literature impacts us: it teaches truth by guiding us through an experience. See one of my earlier posts, 'Mastering the Metaphor.'

Further reading:
The Brilliance of CS Lewis, from The Dawn Treader
Letter to a Religious Friend, John Mark Reynolds

Of Interest

Of great literary interest: today is Jane Austen’s birthday.

Of great comedic interest: despair.com is an extremely funny website. This picture, in particular, is worth your time.

Of great brainy interest: this letter by Dr. John Mark Reynolds is about The Chronicles of Narnia and the importance of myths.

Of great predicting-the-future interest: upcoming is an analysis of the literary techniques John Dryden employed in ‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day.’

Homeschool Blog Awards: Voting Is Open!

I am keeping this post on top so everyone gets a chance to read it, but there are new posts below it.

The voting for homeschool blog awards is now open! All of the nominations are in, and now it is time to visit the polls and decide which blogs you like the best. There are quite a few categories, with quite a few nominations in each one. I encourage you all to vote while you can. The deadline is December 26th.

Rhetorical Response has been nominated for Best Homeschooling Arts Blog. If you enjoy Rhetorical Response, you can show your support by clicking here and voting.

UPDATE: Several of my most favorite blogs have been nominated in other categories. I will update this post as soon as I decide for whom I will vote in each category. Please consider the following blogs as you vote:

Best Homeschool Teen Blog - The Rebelution
Best Current Events Blog - Legal Redux
Best Site Design - Smart Homeschool

'Grand Chorus,' by John Dryden

Below is a sample of John Dryden’s beautiful poetry. I have to read Dryden’s poems several times to really understand them, but what I’ve read so far is incredible – some of my favorite poems so far this year.

Grand Chorus

<>As from the pow’r of sacred lays
The spheres began to move,
And sung the great Creator’s praise
To all the bless’d above;
So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live; the living die,
And music shall untune the sky.

‘Grand Chorus’ is one of many pieces of literature that compare God’s creation to a musical composition. JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion uses musical metaphors when describing the creation of Middle Earth, the lyrics of the hymn ‘This Is My Father’s World’ talk about ‘the music of the spheres’ (a term that originated in ancient Greece) and the modern song ‘The Danse’ sung by Caedmon’s Call has a beautiful verse that relates creation and music:

<>All creation moves in a cosmic Danse
Before the Lord her King;
And the rhythms, the reason, the rhyme
Of the Danse pulses through everything.
And the universe wheels and whirls
Like a dervish in perfect, seven-step time.
The Lord made the Danse,
He taught her the steps, and He
Causes the stars to shine.

Where else do we find musical metaphors in literature?

Another Dryden poem is ‘A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day.’  This poem
 is an ode, or a lyric poem with sustained noble sentiment and
appropriate dignity of style.  This poem also discusses music,
because St. Cecilia was declared a saint by the Roman
Catholic Church, as well the patroness of church music.

Comparing Shakespeare, Herrick, and Milton on Mutability

It is interesting to compare how different writers have dealt with the same theme in their works. For example, William Shakespeare, Robert Herrick, and John Milton all wrote poems about human mutability and the passage of time. They all recognized that individual lives are short, almost too short, yet the conclusions that each author reached are all unique. While Shakespeare and Herrick write about human mutability in inclusively Christian terms, Milton wrote from an exclusively Christian perspective.

Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets deal with the combined themes of love and mutability. In Sonnet 116 he wrote, ‘Love is not love/That alters when it alteration finds/Or bends with the remover to remove/Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark…’ This poem looks at human mutability and all the problems associated with it and concludes that true love is one thing that remains constant. This message is somewhat idealized, but true within the Christian system: love is more than a feeling; it is a commitment. This message is good and true, but it is not exclusively Christian because many non-Christians would agree with it. In modern America it is very common to hear people say that if we would all just love one another, most of our problems would go away. Thousands of years ago, the Islamic poet Omar Khayyam wrote that he would be happy if all he had in the world was food, drink, a good book, and his true love. The constancy of true love and its ability to sustain and encourage is not unique to Christianity.

Robert Herrick’s poem ‘To Young Virgins to Make Much of Time’ is another example of an inclusively Christian exploration of mutability. The first stanza of the poem says ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may/Old Time is still a-flying/And this same flower that smiles today/Tomorrow will be dying.’ Faced with the inevitability of death, Herrick’s message is that we should all live life fully while we may. Not all of the implications of this view are Christian, but the idea that we need to make the most of the time that is given to us is definitely biblical. Still, many non-Christians, especially humanists, also accept it as sage advice.

In ‘How Soon Hath Time,’ John Milton laments about the same problem that inspired Shakespeare and Herrick. However, there is a marked difference in his conclusion: ‘It ‘ [his life] shall be still in strictest measure/To that same lot, however mean on high/Toward which time leads me, and the will of Heav’n…’ Milton does not look to human source for comfort; he looks to the sovereignty of God. Realizing that God has already measured his days, Milton’s prayer is that he will have the grace to use his time wisely. Christianity is the only religious and philosophical system that holds such a view of the sovereignty of God. ‘How Soon Hath Time’ fits into no other worldview besides Christianity.

Exploring the different levels of Christianity in the arts is fascinating, but it would be deceptive to conclude that inclusively Christian literature is inherently inferior or less godly than exclusively literature. In the cases of Shakespeare, Herrick, and Milton, the most committed Christian was the one whose poems are the most exclusively Christian – Milton, but does not always have to be so. Equally important is the fact that inclusively Christian themes alone do not Christian literature make. Beowulf is a literary work that communicates many inclusively (and several exclusively) Christian messages, yet it also communicates a worldview with some pagan elements. Allusions, inclusively Christian writing, and exclusively Christian writing are helpful tools for analyzing literature, but they are only one piece of the puzzle, as it were.

How Do You Know If Literature Is Christian?

How do you know if literature is Christian? In his excellent book The Liberated Imagination, Leland Ryken presents three ways to evaluate Christianity in the arts. The first way is to determine whether or not the work contains biblical allusions. Not all books that have biblical allusions are Christian, just like not all authors who refer to the Greek myths in their works believe in Zeus and Pandora. In fact, some authors deliberately refer to the Bible to make a non-Christian point. For example, the song ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ in George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess. However, biblical allusions do show that the author is familiar with the Bible and regards it as worthy of reference.

The second way to evaluate literature for Christian content is to look for inclusively Christian themes. Inclusively Christian themes express morally right ideas that harmonize both with Christianity and with other worldviews. Leo Tolstoy explored the misery that adultery and unfaithfulness cause in his book Anna Karenina, presenting conclusions that are certainly biblical. However, Christianity is not the only belief system that frowns upon adultery. Thus, the theme includes Christianity, but is not Christian in an exclusive sense.

The final way to measure Christianity in the arts is through exclusively Christian themes. Works like John Milton’s Paradise Lost communicate messages that are unique to Christianity. The depravity of man, sovereignty of God, and redemptive power of Christ are ideas that Milton supports, as well as doctrines that Christianity shares with no other worldview system.

We’ve established that the three Milton sonnets I’ve posted contain biblical allusions, so the next question is whether their themes are inclusively Christian, exclusively Christian, or a mixture of both. What do you think?

Biblical Allusions

Christians recognize that the Bible is a unique book. That is to be expected. But it is really amazing that non-Christians, too, understand how powerful and influential Scripture is. Most of the world’s greatest authors, Christian or not, have recognized the Bible in their writings by using biblical allusions, or references. Scripture and Greek mythology are the two most common sources for literary allusions. Poems, novels, short stories, essays, and plays written by a myriad of writers include references, both direct and subtle, to the Bible. As a Christian poet (some say the Christian poet), John Milton used such references frequently. His many biblical allusions contribute to the richness of his sonnets.

I count four biblical allusions, all from the book of Matthew, in the sonnet ‘When I Consider How My Light Is Spent.’ The title and first two lines are drawn from the biblical mandate to be a light to the world (Matthew 5:16). Milton’s mention of his ‘talent’ (line 3) is a reference to Jesus’ parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. In line 11, the personified character ‘Patience’ reminds Milton that God’s yoke is mild, referring to Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:30. The last allusion is from Matthew 8, in which the Roman centurion demonstrates his faith in Christ’s power to heal. He says to Jesus, ‘I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’ The centurion words were an analogy: he believed that Christ’s power was proportional to, but much greater than, his own. Milton’s paraphrase speaks of God’s power directly: ‘thousands at his bidding speed.’

‘How Soon Hath Time’ has fewer allusions, though its theme is certainly biblical. For example, the first two lines, that personify time by calling it ‘Thief,’ are similar to Ephesians 5:16: ‘Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most every opportunity, because the days are evil.’ Though there is correspondence, the relationship is not direct enough to be an allusion. There is an allusion in the latter half of the sonnet, when Milton speaks of time as being in ‘strictest measure.’ It is a reference to the words of Job (14:5): ‘Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.’ The same phrase ‘strictest measure’ also alludes to Greek mythology, in which three sisters, called the Fates, literally measured the days of each man’s life on a string, and then cut the string with magical scissors whenever it was time for a person to die.

In ‘To a Virtuous Young Lady,’ there are at least three distinct allusions. First, Milton considers ‘shunning the broad way and the green’ an example of taking Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:13-14 to heart. ‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’ The references to Mary and Ruth are obviously allusions, as are lines 10-14, in which Milton describes the parable of the ten virgins and their oil lamps. The ‘Bridegroom’ in the parable (Matthew 25) and in Milton’s sonnet is not a human bridegroom but Jesus himself.

An interesting point these many allusions raise is that a working knowledge of the Bible is a very practical skill, even for non-Christians. It is not only supposedly ‘archaic’ poetry that makes use of biblical allusions. Much of modern literature does, as well. To read and understand Milton’s sonnets the way he intended them to be read and understood, one must be able to catch the biblical references. Anyone who wants to know the value of great literature, both past and present, must be able to recognize biblical allusions. This means that when schools refuse to teach about biblical allusions, they are denying one of the formative influences in American culture, as well as defrauding students of important literary material.

A Playful Amusement About God-Blogs

I just found this through Evangelical Outpost. It is the first part of a paper analyzing and defending blogging by philosopher John Mark Reynolds. The introduction is tantalizing...

So far, here is why I like it:

1. It has a nifty philosopher joke. 'A pizza is better than a philosopher because a pizza can feed a family...unlike the philosopher.' (Tee hee)

2. It addresses networking, at least peripherally.

3. It addresses the cultural transition from the live performance as entertainment to the preserved performance. There is a lot to this issue. Not only are live performances waning in popularity (Hollywood over Broadway), but people passively accept entertainment far more often than they actively create it. In many ways, this makes us vulnerable to the messages the Hollywood elite chooses to communicate through their entertainment. Query: would we be more influential people if we put more emphasis on being able to speak articulately to and entertain others?

Towards a Christian View of Politics

Note & prayer request: my brother John is not doing well. He went for a CAT scan at the hospital today, which revealed that he has two areas of infection in his intestinal system. It looks like he will have to be hospitalized for at least three days. Unfortunately, he will have to go to a children's hospital forty minutes from our home. Last time, he was at our county hospital, which is only a five minute drive from where we live. Please keep him in your prayers: he is not looking forward to more time in the hospital.

This means my John Milton essays are not written, but fortunately, a friend of mine wrote a couple of excellent posts (1 & 2) for Legal Redux this week about Christian politics. There has been some great discussion thus far. I encourage you to at least read the posts, and, if you have time, to comment.

Blog Survey

A couple days I ago I started a search for more literary blogs. I've gotten some good results, and I thought I'd share them with you (these aren't all strictly literary, but they're all really good):

Evangelical Outpost - This is a well-known blog, but I've just now fallen in love with it...
Intellectuelle - An affiliate of sorts with Evangelical Outpost. There's a Francis Schaeffer category, which just about means it has to be good, as well as many great theology/apologetics posts.
The Lion Rampant - This blog is authored by a husband and wife studying for their PhD's. It's an amazing blessing to be able to read their thoughts.
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Two John Milton Sonnets

Part 2: Biblical Allusions
Part 3: How Do You Know If Literature Is Christian?
Part 4: Perspectives on Mutability

Read these sonnets by poetical genius John Milton. (Naturally, they're exceptional!) I shall post about them presently.

Like William Shakespeare, Robert Herrick, and many other Elizabethan poets, Milton dealt with the theme of mutability in his sonnets, though in a distinctively Christian way:

How Soon Hath Time

<>How soon hath time, that subtle thief of youth,
Stol’n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew’th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth
That I to manhood am arriv’d so near;
And inward ripeness doth much less appear.
That some more timely-happy spirits endu’th.
Yet it be less or more, or soon or slow.
It shall be still on strictest measure ev’n
To that same lot, however mean of high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heav’n:
All is, if I have the grace to use it so
As ever in my great Task-Master’s eye.

This sonnet is typical of Milton in that it is richly endowed with biblical allusions:

To a Virtuous Young Lady

<>Lady! That in the prime of earliest youth
Wisely hath shunned the broad way and the green,
And with those few art eminently seem
That labor up the hill of heavenly Truth;
The better part with Mary and with Ruth
Chosen thou hast; and they that overween,
And at thy growing virtues fret their spleen,
No anger find in thee, but pity and ruth.
Thy care is fixed, and zealously attends
To fill thy odorous lamp with deeds of light,
And hope that reaps no shame. Therefore be sure
Thou, when the Bridegroom with his feastful friends
Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night,
Hast gained thy entrance, Virgin wise and pure.

Points of analysis (I’ll address these questions in later posts):

1. What constitutes Christian literature? Milton can certainly be considered Christian. What about Shakespeare? (Read a sonnet with a related theme here.)
2. How does Milton address mutability differently than Shakespeare and Herrick?
3. What biblical allusions did Milton incorporate into his poems? (‘How Soon Hath Time,’ ‘To a Virtuous Young Lady,’ and ‘When I Consider How My Light Is Spent’)

Trust & Communication

I am in the midst of a two day speech and debate tournament right now, so I have no literary analysis to post (more John Milton is soon to come, though). For now, here is one of the speeches I gave today:

<>

<>“Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”

So wrote the author of “St. Patrick’s Breastplate,” a medieval Celtic poem. This poem was written either by or in honor of St. Patrick, the great British missionary who evangelized 5^th century Ireland and brought the majority of the population to Christ in his lifetime. The author of this poem voiced Patrick’s longing for his devotion to Christ to be apparent in all aspects of his life, not just his words. This, most would agree, is a noble sentiment, one that should be the goal of all Christians, but for St. Patrick, this goal was a necessity. St. Patrick realized, as have many other great missionaries, that successful evangelism depends on this principle. While words are the primary tool we use in communication, our audience has to trust in our sincerity in order for our words to have weight. Trust is essential to effective communication. Let’s examine this principle more closely by examining our audience, our message, and ways to make the two connect.

In Alexander Solzhenitsen’s book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, he explores the basic needs of humanity by examining prisoners in a Stalinist era Siberian labor camp. Faced with a fight for their most basic survival needs, the prisoners eek more than the food and warmth necessary to keep them alive. Within these starved, half-frozen, overworked men exists a desire for more than survival, an insatiable craving for relationship. Those that do abandon all scruples and values for the sake of survival, remarks the main character Ivan, are the first to die. In the midst of discomfort and cruelty, the men in the prison camp keep their souls alive by seeking relationship with one another. That spark of humanity, more than anything else, is their hope of survival. This book gives a profound insight into the nature of man. It reveals that inside each of us is a yearning that can be satisfied only by relationship. Man does not live by bread alone.

This innate yearning has begotten a quest for relationship that usually ends in disillusionment. When someone thinks he has found satisfaction, it turns out to be an illusion. The Roman poet Catallus reflected his disillusionment in his poem, “My Woman Says.” “My woman says there’s nobody she’d rather marry/than me, not even Jupiter himself if he asked her./She says, but what a woman says to a hungry lover/you might as well scribble in sand and swift water.” As the author of Ecclesiastes wrote, “This too is vanity, a chasing after the wind.” There are millennia between Catallus and ourselves, but people still identify with his frustration because the majority of humanity hasn’t moved beyond the desire for relationship. This, the one desire common to mankind, is the one desire it can’t satiate.

As Christians, we realize that our message provides the answer to this dilemma. St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is man fully alive,” meaning that men and women are meant to reflect God’s glory by living to the fullest extent of their being in connection with the personal God who created them. God is the ultimate personality, and people can realize their longing for relationship only in communion with Him. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich showed us that man does not live by bread alone; Christianity reveals that he needs the water of life. However, it’s not easy for people to accept the Christian message. William Gurnall voiced this: “It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages Hell; it is at this that the demons hurl their mightiest weapons.” People search for relationship, but they also live in fear of being tricked. Like Catallus (My Woman Says), people know longer believe what others say, and they won’t listen to anyone unless they trust them first.

That’s the nature of our mission field and of our message, and we have to bring the two together. We’ve seen that this task requires more than words because too many people believe that talk is cheap. Each individual receives the challenge to circumvent the barrier of distrust so that our words can have effect. So how do we position ourselves so that we can communicate this message? In 1 Thessalonians 1 Paul writes, “…our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.” These words embody the desire of the author of “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” Paul and his fellow evangelists came to the Thessalonians not only with the words of the gospel, but also with the Holy Spirit shining through all of their actions. They lived among the Thessalonians and the witness of their lives paved the way for their words. Later, in chapter 2 we read, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” At the heart of this verse is the concept of unconditional love. It would seem that this is also at the heart of the necessity for more than words. If the question is, “Why more than words?” The answer is that love is of prime importance. Love is the way to secure the trust that is fundamental to effective communication and evangelism. The people who surround us thirst for relationship, and by offering them love, we can gain their trust. If we use primarily words in an effort to reach beyond the cynicism that characterizes the disillusioned, we’ll be met with words, but if we use lives, our own lives, we’ll be met with lives. Paul’s love caused him to live among the Thessalonians. His loving, Christ-like witness gained their trust, and then he was able to use his words. The same can be said of St. Patrick, Mother Theresa, and Jim Elliot. In the stories of great missionaries and evangelists, we find the common pattern: love gains trust, and trust is the context in which words are effective.

This pattern has held true as we have examined our audience, our message, and the connection between the two. We have a message of love to communicate to an audience starved for love, and the way we communicate it is through a life of love. Our primary tool is not words, but love. Jesus himself voiced this principle when he said, “Greater love has no man this, that he lay down his life for a friend.”

Searching for More Literary Blogs

To Whom It May Concern:

If you look at my blogroll, you will see a quite a few excellent teen bloggers. Your attention may also be drawn to several philosophical/theological blogs as well, and with good reason. However, you will not, at present, find any literary blogs, because I do not know of any. I am currently seeking to amend this tragic state of affairs by enlisting your aid. If and when you learn of other blogs that engage in Christian literary criticism, will you be so good as to comment or email me? Thank you in advance for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Karen Kovaka

Networking: Applied and Beautified

I love the abstract theory behind the concept of networking. I also enjoy its concrete applications. In addition, it is exciting to see the practical side of Christian unity. This past week, I have been able to experience the blessings of Christian networking firsthand, which has broadened my perspective on this topic.

My nine-year-old brother, John Calvin, has been in the hospital with appendicitis since Saturday. He had an infection after his surgery, had allergic reactions to several medicines which made him delirious and gave him bad rashes, needed an NG tube, and couldn’t eat or drink for five days. Thankfully, he is on the mend now, and may be able to come home tomorrow.

As a rule, my family is a health, hearty crew, and we are not used to hospitals and such. However, our Christian community has been so faithful to support us in every possible way that what could have been a miserable week has actually left us in awe of the power of Christian networking.

For one thing, the reach of our prayer support has astounded us. Members of our church our speech and debate club, our Tae Kwon Do University, our cottage school, our extended family, and friends from all across the United States have called and emailed to let us know that they are praying for John and for the rest of the family. We’re still at a loss to explain how some of our friends know about the situation!

The beauty of applied networking does not stop with prayer. Though my sister and I are capable of running the house and cooking meals while my mother spends the day at the hospital, our friends have insisted on bringing us dinners. They have also offered to transport us to and from work, school, the hospital, debate club, and tournaments. No one has hesitated to excuse us from commitments we have not been able to keep. Everyone has been unfailingly kind and encouraging.

In addition, John has had more visitors over the past week than any other patient in the hospital. The same goes for telephone calls. I spent yesterday afternoon with him, and in the space of six hours, four families came, bearing gifts, to see him. Several friends have visited not only once, but two or three times over the last few days.

Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the situation is that it is not at all unique. Christians behave like this all the time. (Granted, not all of them do, but still, this type of behavior characterizes committed Christians.) Though my family is having an unusual experience, other Christians across the world regularly receive the same love and kindness from their friends and family.

To everyone who has supported my family this week: we are all more grateful than we can say. Not only have you blessed the six of us, you have been a witness to all the unbelievers involved in the situation. This shining example of Christian networking is, in the words of Francis Schaeffer, ‘what the world cannot explain away'. Thank you, again and again and again.

'If we only speak of and exhibit the individual effects of the gospel, the world, psychologically conditioned as it is today, will explain them away. What the world cannot explain away will be a substantial, corporate exhibition of the logical conclusions of Christian presuppositions. When the world can turn around and see a group of God's people exhibiting substantial healing in the area of human relationships in their present life, then the world will take notice.'