The Philosophical Definition of Libertarianism
Libertarianism holds that we have free will with respect to a particular choice only if we are able to choose otherwise from how we actually choose.
The Philosophical Definition of Compatibilism (also known as Soft Determinism)
Compatibilism holds that we have free will with respect to a particular choice even if we are unable to choose otherwise from how we actually choose.
An Illustration
Imagine that you have a choice between two doors. The libertarian would say that you have a genuine choice only if both doors are unlocked, while the compatibilist would say that you have a genuine choice even if one door is locked - as long as the door which is locked is not the door which you would have chosen.
Sunday 31 January 2010
Thursday 28 January 2010
The Best Possible World
God is therefore not the author of essences in so far as they are only possibilities. But there is nothing actual to which he has not decreed and given existence; and he has permitted evil because it is involved in the best plan existing in the region of possibles, a plan which supreme wisdom could not fail to choose. This notion satisfies at once the wisdom, the power and the goodness of God, and yet leaves a way open for the entrance of evil.
- G. W. Leibniz, Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." - Genesis 50:20 (NIV)
- G. W. Leibniz, Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." - Genesis 50:20 (NIV)
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Prudence in Politics
Prudence is concerned with right action and requires deliberation, judgment, decision and execution. Wisdom understands what is right; prudence involves making the right decision and implementing it well. Prudence takes account of limitations in a world of constraints and strives to achieve the greatest measure of justice - the greatest good possible - under the particular circumstances.
Although politics is perhaps the first arena that comes to mind when we think about prudence, prudence is a virtue first cultivated or neglected in our personal lives. Americans live in a culture of choice. Choice is a major theme of marketing. We shape our identity and our legacy through our choices. We make hundreds of choices a day, from the trivial to the profound, and we love to choose. When I asked my six-year-old daughter to get ready to go grocery shopping with me, she looked me in the eye and asked, "What are my options?"
We spend much more time making choices than we do thinking about making good ones. What are our goals and priorities? Are they the right ones? How will we use our time and resources? Who can give us good counsel? What is the right decision in these circumstances? And, having made a decision, how do we implement it effectively?
But considerations of prudence inevitably extend to public policy and politics. Questions about the goals of politics, the purpose of law, the effective use of law, the moral boundaries of law, are as old as the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
These concerns were traditionally debated against the backdrop of the classical virtue of prudence. Greek, Roman, Stoic and Christian philosophers, like Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant, reflected on the nature and application of prudence. Political leaders like Edmund Burke and William Wilberforce, and American founders like Thomas Jefferson, John Jay and John Adams expressly relied on prudential decision making.
A prudential political (and legislative) strategy focuses on worthy goals, identifies effective means to achieve those ends and the wise use of limited resources, recognises the limitations of the fallen world and its constraints on political action, and seeks to preserve the possibility of future progress. A prudential approach balances zeal with knowledge, especially knowledge of the current obstacles and of effective ways to overcome them...
Prudence is not pragmatism; prudence requires moral purpose. Prudence aims to achieve the greatest good possible in the concrete circumstances. Prudence does not require an all-or-nothing approach to public policy. In fact, an all-or-nothing approach, generally speaking, is often neither prudent nor effective. An all-or-nothing approach is not dictated by divine or natural law, moral philosophy, or ethics. Prudence must necessarily guide the consideration of constraints and contingencies in politics, especially when lawmakers begin to grapple with the specifics of legislation and efforts to limit unjust laws and conditions.
- Clarke D. Forsythe, Politics for the Greatest Good: The Case for Prudence in the Public Square
Although politics is perhaps the first arena that comes to mind when we think about prudence, prudence is a virtue first cultivated or neglected in our personal lives. Americans live in a culture of choice. Choice is a major theme of marketing. We shape our identity and our legacy through our choices. We make hundreds of choices a day, from the trivial to the profound, and we love to choose. When I asked my six-year-old daughter to get ready to go grocery shopping with me, she looked me in the eye and asked, "What are my options?"
We spend much more time making choices than we do thinking about making good ones. What are our goals and priorities? Are they the right ones? How will we use our time and resources? Who can give us good counsel? What is the right decision in these circumstances? And, having made a decision, how do we implement it effectively?
But considerations of prudence inevitably extend to public policy and politics. Questions about the goals of politics, the purpose of law, the effective use of law, the moral boundaries of law, are as old as the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
These concerns were traditionally debated against the backdrop of the classical virtue of prudence. Greek, Roman, Stoic and Christian philosophers, like Aristotle, Seneca, Cicero, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant, reflected on the nature and application of prudence. Political leaders like Edmund Burke and William Wilberforce, and American founders like Thomas Jefferson, John Jay and John Adams expressly relied on prudential decision making.
A prudential political (and legislative) strategy focuses on worthy goals, identifies effective means to achieve those ends and the wise use of limited resources, recognises the limitations of the fallen world and its constraints on political action, and seeks to preserve the possibility of future progress. A prudential approach balances zeal with knowledge, especially knowledge of the current obstacles and of effective ways to overcome them...
Prudence is not pragmatism; prudence requires moral purpose. Prudence aims to achieve the greatest good possible in the concrete circumstances. Prudence does not require an all-or-nothing approach to public policy. In fact, an all-or-nothing approach, generally speaking, is often neither prudent nor effective. An all-or-nothing approach is not dictated by divine or natural law, moral philosophy, or ethics. Prudence must necessarily guide the consideration of constraints and contingencies in politics, especially when lawmakers begin to grapple with the specifics of legislation and efforts to limit unjust laws and conditions.
- Clarke D. Forsythe, Politics for the Greatest Good: The Case for Prudence in the Public Square
Tuesday 26 January 2010
The Providence of God
Writing
It is one thing to write about the providence of God (in a Philosophical Theology essay, for example).
We are responsible for what we would freely do in every possible situation in every possible world, and God is responsible for working all things (i.e. what we would freely do in every possible situation in every possible world) 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV) in this particular world - the best possible world out of all possible worlds.
Reading
It is another thing to read about the providence of God. York Baptist Church is currently in the middle of a series of sermons on the story of Joseph and I just finished reading John Piper's recent book on Ruth, A Sweet and Bitter Providence.
Joseph and Ruth
"When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?" He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die." Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. So Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also." - Genesis 42:1-5 (NIV)
"As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!" - Genesis 42:35-36 (NIV)
"In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab." - Ruth 1:1 (NIV)
"Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." - Ruth 1:20-21 (NIV)
Two families (Jacob and Naomi). Two famines (Canaan and Bethlehem). Two foreign lands (Egypt and Moab).
Joseph
And suddenly you begin to see that this [Genesis 39] is not merely a morality play, again it's part of a deeply Christological reading of the whole Bible. It's bringing you to Jesus, how God in His own purposes, through the foibles and weaknesses and through the strengths and faithfulness of individual believers across redemptive history, has - in the fullness of time - brought forth His Son, the Redeemer, through Whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
And there is no text in Genesis 39 that says, "Now listen, pay attention folks, this is heading to the great Christological centre." It's not saying that. It's the narrative that conveys it, the narrative of Genesis 39 in the context of the book of Genesis, Genesis in the context of the Pentateuch, the Pentateuch in the context of the whole Bible, do you see?
- D. A. Carson, The Living Word 2008
Ruth
Sweet Providence Unseen (pg 58)
The hand of God had fallen hard upon Naomi and her family - a famine in Judah, a move to Moab, the death of her husband, the marriage of her sons to foreign wives, ten years of apparent childlessness for both daughters-in-law, then the death of her sons, and the departure of one of her daughters-in-law. One blow after another caused Naomi to say, "The hand of the LORD has gone out against me... [T]he Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me" (1:13, 20).
In fact, she is so oppressed by God's bitter providence in her life that she can't see the signs of hope as they start to appear. She knows there is a God. She knows he is sovereign and rules over the national and personal affairs of men. And she knows that God has dealt bitterly with her. Her life is tragic. What she does not see with the eyes of her heart is that in all her bitter experiences, God is plotting for her glory.
This is true of all God's children. In the darkest of our times, God is plotting for our glory. If we would believe this and remember it, we would not be as blind as Naomi was when God began to reveal his grace.
Closing the Circle for Naomi (pg 105)
But now there is a surprising shift in chapter 4. Notice how the focus in verses 14-17 is not on Ruth at all, nor on Boaz. The focus is on Naomi and the child. Why?
The story began with Naomi's losses. It ends with Naomi's gain. It began with death and ends with birth. A son is born. Whose son is it? Of course, we would say, it is Ruth's son - Ruth's and Boaz's. But that is not what it says. It says, "A son has been born to Naomi" (4:17). Not only to Ruth but also to Naomi!
Why does it say that? To make crystal-clear the complete reversal of Naomi's situation. She had said in Ruth 1:21, "I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty." But now she is full, and the LORD has given her a son through Ruth.
God was at work in the darkest times to bring about this amazing turn of events. If we would trust God implicitly, like Ruth, we would find that all our complaints against God are unwarranted. Our providences may be bitter, but God is at work for our good - whether we can see it or not.
Looking to the Farthest Meaning (pg 111)
The story of Ruth, at one level, is about God's sweet and bitter providences. He governs the famine, and the marriage of Naomi's sons to foreign women, and the death of her sons, and the faithfulness of Ruth, and the availability and nobility of Boaz, and the birth of a child to preserve the line of Elimelech. The story shows that God is at work in the darkest of times for the good of his people. The life of believers is not a straight path to glory, but they do get there.
But at another level, the story is about something much larger than one family and their sorrows and joys. It is about God's plan to glorify his grace in the Son of David, the Messiah, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Ruth and Naomi and Boaz are caught up in something of eternal significance. Glory is not too big a word for the destinies implicit in this story.
- John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence
Experiencing God
It is yet another thing to experience the providence of God in our lives. More precisely, it is yet another thing to recognise the providence of God in our lives. We all experience the providence of God in our lives - the question is whether we recognise it or not.
Incidentally, quoting both Carson and Piper reminds me of listening to them at New Word Alive 2008, which was absolutely amazing. 77 days (exactly 11 weeks) to New Word Alive 2010!
During my national service from Jan 05 to Nov 06, I spent most of my time hoping that I could disrupt from national service and come to York in Oct 05, or at least Oct 06. But looking back, Oct 07 was exactly the right time for me to come to York.
Now I see that had I come to York earlier, I would not have had the opportunity to go for New Word Alive for all 3 years of my time in the UK (Word Alive only split off from Spring Harvest to form New Word Alive in 2008). Of course, New Word Alive is just one of many reasons as to why Oct 07 was exactly the right time for me to come to York.
"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:26-27 (NIV)
Going mysteriously forward, I trust that Jul 10 will be exactly the right time for me to return to Singapore.
The best is yet to be!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Link: Reflections on New Word Alive (20 Apr 10)
It is one thing to write about the providence of God (in a Philosophical Theology essay, for example).
We are responsible for what we would freely do in every possible situation in every possible world, and God is responsible for working all things (i.e. what we would freely do in every possible situation in every possible world) 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV) in this particular world - the best possible world out of all possible worlds.
Reading
It is another thing to read about the providence of God. York Baptist Church is currently in the middle of a series of sermons on the story of Joseph and I just finished reading John Piper's recent book on Ruth, A Sweet and Bitter Providence.
Joseph and Ruth
"When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?" He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die." Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. So Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also." - Genesis 42:1-5 (NIV)
"As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!" - Genesis 42:35-36 (NIV)
"In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab." - Ruth 1:1 (NIV)
"Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." - Ruth 1:20-21 (NIV)
Two families (Jacob and Naomi). Two famines (Canaan and Bethlehem). Two foreign lands (Egypt and Moab).
Joseph
And suddenly you begin to see that this [Genesis 39] is not merely a morality play, again it's part of a deeply Christological reading of the whole Bible. It's bringing you to Jesus, how God in His own purposes, through the foibles and weaknesses and through the strengths and faithfulness of individual believers across redemptive history, has - in the fullness of time - brought forth His Son, the Redeemer, through Whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
And there is no text in Genesis 39 that says, "Now listen, pay attention folks, this is heading to the great Christological centre." It's not saying that. It's the narrative that conveys it, the narrative of Genesis 39 in the context of the book of Genesis, Genesis in the context of the Pentateuch, the Pentateuch in the context of the whole Bible, do you see?
- D. A. Carson, The Living Word 2008
Ruth
Sweet Providence Unseen (pg 58)
The hand of God had fallen hard upon Naomi and her family - a famine in Judah, a move to Moab, the death of her husband, the marriage of her sons to foreign wives, ten years of apparent childlessness for both daughters-in-law, then the death of her sons, and the departure of one of her daughters-in-law. One blow after another caused Naomi to say, "The hand of the LORD has gone out against me... [T]he Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me" (1:13, 20).
In fact, she is so oppressed by God's bitter providence in her life that she can't see the signs of hope as they start to appear. She knows there is a God. She knows he is sovereign and rules over the national and personal affairs of men. And she knows that God has dealt bitterly with her. Her life is tragic. What she does not see with the eyes of her heart is that in all her bitter experiences, God is plotting for her glory.
This is true of all God's children. In the darkest of our times, God is plotting for our glory. If we would believe this and remember it, we would not be as blind as Naomi was when God began to reveal his grace.
Closing the Circle for Naomi (pg 105)
But now there is a surprising shift in chapter 4. Notice how the focus in verses 14-17 is not on Ruth at all, nor on Boaz. The focus is on Naomi and the child. Why?
The story began with Naomi's losses. It ends with Naomi's gain. It began with death and ends with birth. A son is born. Whose son is it? Of course, we would say, it is Ruth's son - Ruth's and Boaz's. But that is not what it says. It says, "A son has been born to Naomi" (4:17). Not only to Ruth but also to Naomi!
Why does it say that? To make crystal-clear the complete reversal of Naomi's situation. She had said in Ruth 1:21, "I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty." But now she is full, and the LORD has given her a son through Ruth.
God was at work in the darkest times to bring about this amazing turn of events. If we would trust God implicitly, like Ruth, we would find that all our complaints against God are unwarranted. Our providences may be bitter, but God is at work for our good - whether we can see it or not.
Looking to the Farthest Meaning (pg 111)
The story of Ruth, at one level, is about God's sweet and bitter providences. He governs the famine, and the marriage of Naomi's sons to foreign women, and the death of her sons, and the faithfulness of Ruth, and the availability and nobility of Boaz, and the birth of a child to preserve the line of Elimelech. The story shows that God is at work in the darkest of times for the good of his people. The life of believers is not a straight path to glory, but they do get there.
But at another level, the story is about something much larger than one family and their sorrows and joys. It is about God's plan to glorify his grace in the Son of David, the Messiah, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Ruth and Naomi and Boaz are caught up in something of eternal significance. Glory is not too big a word for the destinies implicit in this story.
- John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence
Experiencing God
It is yet another thing to experience the providence of God in our lives. More precisely, it is yet another thing to recognise the providence of God in our lives. We all experience the providence of God in our lives - the question is whether we recognise it or not.
Incidentally, quoting both Carson and Piper reminds me of listening to them at New Word Alive 2008, which was absolutely amazing. 77 days (exactly 11 weeks) to New Word Alive 2010!
During my national service from Jan 05 to Nov 06, I spent most of my time hoping that I could disrupt from national service and come to York in Oct 05, or at least Oct 06. But looking back, Oct 07 was exactly the right time for me to come to York.
Now I see that had I come to York earlier, I would not have had the opportunity to go for New Word Alive for all 3 years of my time in the UK (Word Alive only split off from Spring Harvest to form New Word Alive in 2008). Of course, New Word Alive is just one of many reasons as to why Oct 07 was exactly the right time for me to come to York.
"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:26-27 (NIV)
Going mysteriously forward, I trust that Jul 10 will be exactly the right time for me to return to Singapore.
The best is yet to be!
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Link: Reflections on New Word Alive (20 Apr 10)
Monday 25 January 2010
Secure in Christ
"Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?" - 2 Samuel 23:5 (NIV)
"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." - Psalm 16:5-6 (NIV)
"Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 6:16-20 (NIV)
For Your covenant is sure
And on this I am secure
I can stand on every promise of Your Word
"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." - Psalm 16:5-6 (NIV)
"Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 6:16-20 (NIV)
For Your covenant is sure
And on this I am secure
I can stand on every promise of Your Word
Sunday 24 January 2010
First and Second Natures
Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.
The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.
An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The point about the word "virtue" - if we can recapture it in its strong sense - is that it refers, not so much to "doing the right things", but to the forming of habits and hence of moral character.
I remember Rowan Williams [the Archbishop of Canterbury] describing the difference between a soldier who has a stiff drink and charges off into battle waving a sword and shouting a battle cry, and the soldier who calmly makes 1000 small decisions to place someone else's safety ahead of his or her own and then, on the 1001st time, when it really is a life-or-death situation, "instinctively" makes the right decision. That, rather than the first, is the virtue of "courage".
Yes, we modern westerners - and even more postmodern westerners - are trained by the media and public discourse to think that "letting it all out" and "doing what comes naturally" are the criteria for how to behave. There is a sense in which they are - but only when the character has been trained so that "what comes naturally" is the result of that habit-forming training.
- N. T. Wright, The Rebirth of Virtue: An Interview with N. T. Wright
Some things are by nature and some things are by nurture. To be sure, we just cannot nurture some things to become part of our first nature. For example, we just cannot nurture a man to be a woman or a woman to be a man. However, we can at least nurture some things to become second nature to us.
In particular, we can (and should) 'train [ourselves] to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come' (1 Timothy 4:7-8, NIV).
Wisdom and Folly in Proverbs
"The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly." - Proverbs 14:24 (NIV)
"The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly." - Proverbs 15:14 (NIV)
"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." - Proverbs 26:11 (NIV)
Wisdom and folly are not just individual choices. They are habits which are consciously (or subconsciously!) cultivated. Wisdom begets wisdom, which in turn begets more wisdom... and folly begets folly, which in turn begets more folly...
To return to C. S. Lewis, 'good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance'.
The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.
An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The point about the word "virtue" - if we can recapture it in its strong sense - is that it refers, not so much to "doing the right things", but to the forming of habits and hence of moral character.
I remember Rowan Williams [the Archbishop of Canterbury] describing the difference between a soldier who has a stiff drink and charges off into battle waving a sword and shouting a battle cry, and the soldier who calmly makes 1000 small decisions to place someone else's safety ahead of his or her own and then, on the 1001st time, when it really is a life-or-death situation, "instinctively" makes the right decision. That, rather than the first, is the virtue of "courage".
Yes, we modern westerners - and even more postmodern westerners - are trained by the media and public discourse to think that "letting it all out" and "doing what comes naturally" are the criteria for how to behave. There is a sense in which they are - but only when the character has been trained so that "what comes naturally" is the result of that habit-forming training.
- N. T. Wright, The Rebirth of Virtue: An Interview with N. T. Wright
Some things are by nature and some things are by nurture. To be sure, we just cannot nurture some things to become part of our first nature. For example, we just cannot nurture a man to be a woman or a woman to be a man. However, we can at least nurture some things to become second nature to us.
In particular, we can (and should) 'train [ourselves] to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come' (1 Timothy 4:7-8, NIV).
Wisdom and Folly in Proverbs
"The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly." - Proverbs 14:24 (NIV)
"The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly." - Proverbs 15:14 (NIV)
"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." - Proverbs 26:11 (NIV)
Wisdom and folly are not just individual choices. They are habits which are consciously (or subconsciously!) cultivated. Wisdom begets wisdom, which in turn begets more wisdom... and folly begets folly, which in turn begets more folly...
To return to C. S. Lewis, 'good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance'.
Saturday 23 January 2010
Surprised by Suffering, Surprised by Hope
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." - 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 (NIV)
Suffering, Perplexity and Despair
We all know what it means to be hard pressed. We use the word pressure to describe tense moments in our lives. Troubles in our jobs, troubles in our marriages, and troubles in our relationships can mount up and attack our spirits. If we add the tragic death of a loved one or the difficulty of a prolonged illness to these daily pressures, we feel the pain of being hard pressed all the more.
To be hard pressed is to feel as if we are used automobiles that have been consigned to the junk heap and put in a metal compactor. To be hard pressed is to feel a massive weight that threatens to crush us.
When we experience severe heartbreak, we may be inclined to say, "I'm crushed." But this is hyperbole. We may feel crushed; we may even come close to being crushed. But the bold declaration of the apostle is that we are not crushed...
There have been times in my life when I have uttered foolish prayers. When I have been hard pressed, I have cried out to God: "This much and no more, Lord. I can't handle another setback. One more straw and I'm finished." It seems that every time I pray like that God puts a fresh load on my back. It is as if He answers my prayer by saying, "Don't tell Me how much you can bear."
God knows our limits far better than we do. In one respect, we are very much like camels. When the camel's load is heavy, he doesn't ask his master for more weight. His knees get a bit wobbly and he groans beneath the burden, but he can take on more before his back will break. The promise of God is not that He will never give us more weight than we want to carry. The promise of God is that He will never put more on us than we can bear.
- R. C. Sproul, Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." - Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." - Romans 8:18-25 (NIV)
Suffering, Perplexity and Despair
We all know what it means to be hard pressed. We use the word pressure to describe tense moments in our lives. Troubles in our jobs, troubles in our marriages, and troubles in our relationships can mount up and attack our spirits. If we add the tragic death of a loved one or the difficulty of a prolonged illness to these daily pressures, we feel the pain of being hard pressed all the more.
To be hard pressed is to feel as if we are used automobiles that have been consigned to the junk heap and put in a metal compactor. To be hard pressed is to feel a massive weight that threatens to crush us.
When we experience severe heartbreak, we may be inclined to say, "I'm crushed." But this is hyperbole. We may feel crushed; we may even come close to being crushed. But the bold declaration of the apostle is that we are not crushed...
There have been times in my life when I have uttered foolish prayers. When I have been hard pressed, I have cried out to God: "This much and no more, Lord. I can't handle another setback. One more straw and I'm finished." It seems that every time I pray like that God puts a fresh load on my back. It is as if He answers my prayer by saying, "Don't tell Me how much you can bear."
God knows our limits far better than we do. In one respect, we are very much like camels. When the camel's load is heavy, he doesn't ask his master for more weight. His knees get a bit wobbly and he groans beneath the burden, but he can take on more before his back will break. The promise of God is not that He will never give us more weight than we want to carry. The promise of God is that He will never put more on us than we can bear.
- R. C. Sproul, Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." - Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." - Romans 8:18-25 (NIV)
Friday 22 January 2010
Jan 15 to 21
Jan 15: "I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." - Matthew 12:6-8 (NIV)
Jan 16: "For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones." - Proverbs 2:6-8 (NIV)
Jan 17: "Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." - Matthew 13:12 (NIV)
Jan 18: "But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." - Matthew 13:23 (NIV)
Jan 19: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." - Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
Jan 20: "Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it." - Proverbs 2:20-22 (NIV)
Jan 21: "And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times." - Psalm 12:6 (NIV)
Jan 16: "For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones." - Proverbs 2:6-8 (NIV)
Jan 17: "Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." - Matthew 13:12 (NIV)
Jan 18: "But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." - Matthew 13:23 (NIV)
Jan 19: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." - Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
Jan 20: "Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it." - Proverbs 2:20-22 (NIV)
Jan 21: "And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times." - Psalm 12:6 (NIV)
Thursday 21 January 2010
The Point of Imputation
*The inspiration for this post comes from reading a philosophical theology essay on the atonement by Dave Worsley, a Masters student (MA in Philosophy, Theology and Ethics) at the University of York.*
Marriage is not primarily about husbands and wives. Marriage is primarily about Christ and the church. More precisely, marriage is primarily about Christ (the groom) imputing His righteousness to the church (His bride).
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." - Ephesians 5:25-27 (NIV)
The question is not whether Christ imputes His righteousness to us. He does. The question is when Christ imputes His righteousness to us. To answer this question, we must recover the Jewish roots of Christianity.
Proposal, Pledge, Engagement and Consummation
In the Jewish tradition, the groom approaches the father of his (willing) bride to seek her hand in marriage, redeems his bride by paying the bride price, departs to prepare a place for his bride, and returns one day to marry and become one flesh with his bride.
Life, Death on the Cross, Resurrection/Ascension and Second Coming
In Christianity, Christ approaches God our Heavenly Father to seek us, 'redeem[s] us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13, NIV), departs to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-4), and returns one day to marry and become one flesh with us.
""For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church." - Ephesians 5:31-32 (NIV)
Marriage is primarily about Christ (the groom) imputing His righteousness to the church (His bride), in - and only in - becoming one flesh with her. After all, 'righteousness is not an object, a substance or a gas which can be passed across the courtroom' (N. T. Wright in What Saint Paul Really Said, 1997: 98).
The Point of Imputation
When does Christ impute His righteousness to us?
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His life is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride in his proposal. This is way too early.
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His death on the cross is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride in his pledge. This is still too early.
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His resurrection/ascension is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride during the engagement period. This is just a bit too early.
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His second coming is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride in consummating the marriage. This is the right thing at the right time, literally making us right with God!
Of course, we are NOW counted righteous in Christ. At the same time, we have NOT YET been conformed to the righteousness of Christ.
The point of imputation is the second coming, when Christ returns one day to consummate our marriage and become one flesh with us!
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."" - Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)
Links: The Point of Justification (26 Feb 10), The Power and Point of Touch (27 Feb 10)
Marriage is not primarily about husbands and wives. Marriage is primarily about Christ and the church. More precisely, marriage is primarily about Christ (the groom) imputing His righteousness to the church (His bride).
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." - Ephesians 5:25-27 (NIV)
The question is not whether Christ imputes His righteousness to us. He does. The question is when Christ imputes His righteousness to us. To answer this question, we must recover the Jewish roots of Christianity.
Proposal, Pledge, Engagement and Consummation
In the Jewish tradition, the groom approaches the father of his (willing) bride to seek her hand in marriage, redeems his bride by paying the bride price, departs to prepare a place for his bride, and returns one day to marry and become one flesh with his bride.
Life, Death on the Cross, Resurrection/Ascension and Second Coming
In Christianity, Christ approaches God our Heavenly Father to seek us, 'redeem[s] us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13, NIV), departs to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-4), and returns one day to marry and become one flesh with us.
""For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church." - Ephesians 5:31-32 (NIV)
Marriage is primarily about Christ (the groom) imputing His righteousness to the church (His bride), in - and only in - becoming one flesh with her. After all, 'righteousness is not an object, a substance or a gas which can be passed across the courtroom' (N. T. Wright in What Saint Paul Really Said, 1997: 98).
The Point of Imputation
When does Christ impute His righteousness to us?
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His life is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride in his proposal. This is way too early.
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His death on the cross is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride in his pledge. This is still too early.
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His resurrection/ascension is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride during the engagement period. This is just a bit too early.
To say that Christ imputes His righteousness to us in His second coming is to say that the groom becomes one flesh with his bride in consummating the marriage. This is the right thing at the right time, literally making us right with God!
Of course, we are NOW counted righteous in Christ. At the same time, we have NOT YET been conformed to the righteousness of Christ.
The point of imputation is the second coming, when Christ returns one day to consummate our marriage and become one flesh with us!
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."" - Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)
Links: The Point of Justification (26 Feb 10), The Power and Point of Touch (27 Feb 10)
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Prudence in Proverbs
Prologue: Purpose and Theme (Proverbs 1:1-7, NIV)
Stage 1
v1: The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
v2: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight;
v3: for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair;
v4: for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young -
v5: let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance -
v6: for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
v7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Stage 2
v2a: wisdom and discipline
v2b: understanding words of insight
v3: a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair
v4a: prudence
v4b: knowledge and discretion
v5: the wise listen and add to their learning; the discerning get guidance
v6: understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise
v7: the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and discipline
Stage 3
v2a: A
v2b: B
v3: C
v4a: C
v4b: D
v5: D
v6: B
v7: A
Prudence, Knowledge and Discretion
"for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young" - Proverbs 1:4 (NIV)
"I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion." - Proverbs 8:12 (NIV)
The Wisdom of the Prudent
"The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception." - Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)
"A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps." - Proverbs 14:15 (NIV)
"The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge." - Proverbs 14:18 (NIV)
Stage 1
v1: The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
v2: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight;
v3: for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair;
v4: for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young -
v5: let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance -
v6: for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
v7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Stage 2
v2a: wisdom and discipline
v2b: understanding words of insight
v3: a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair
v4a: prudence
v4b: knowledge and discretion
v5: the wise listen and add to their learning; the discerning get guidance
v6: understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise
v7: the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and discipline
Stage 3
v2a: A
v2b: B
v3: C
v4a: C
v4b: D
v5: D
v6: B
v7: A
Prudence, Knowledge and Discretion
"for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young" - Proverbs 1:4 (NIV)
"I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion." - Proverbs 8:12 (NIV)
The Wisdom of the Prudent
"The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception." - Proverbs 14:8 (NIV)
"A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps." - Proverbs 14:15 (NIV)
"The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge." - Proverbs 14:18 (NIV)
Tuesday 19 January 2010
The Adams Family
While doing some research for Theological Ethics (one of the modules I'm taking this term), I discovered that Robert Merrihew Adams and Marilyn McCord Adams - both of whom are household names in the philosophy of religion - are married!
Robert Merrihew Adams is (among other things) the author of Must God Create the Best [Possible World]? (1972), Middle Knowledge and the Problem of Evil (1977) and of course, Finite and Infinite Goods (1999) - the text for Theological Ethics, while Marilyn McCord Adams is (among other things) the author of Hell and the Justice of God (1975), Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (1999) and Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology (2006). In fact, the Adams have co-edited a collection of essays on the problem of evil.
Having taken Philosophy of Religion last year and Philosophical Theology last term, I've come across both of their names a couple of times. However, it never really occurred to me before that they are a couple.
Interestingly, Marilyn McCord Adams - in addition to being a philosopher - is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church in the US. I wonder how the Adams work through theological (or for that matter, philosophical) issues as a couple...
Robert Merrihew Adams is (among other things) the author of Must God Create the Best [Possible World]? (1972), Middle Knowledge and the Problem of Evil (1977) and of course, Finite and Infinite Goods (1999) - the text for Theological Ethics, while Marilyn McCord Adams is (among other things) the author of Hell and the Justice of God (1975), Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (1999) and Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology (2006). In fact, the Adams have co-edited a collection of essays on the problem of evil.
Having taken Philosophy of Religion last year and Philosophical Theology last term, I've come across both of their names a couple of times. However, it never really occurred to me before that they are a couple.
Interestingly, Marilyn McCord Adams - in addition to being a philosopher - is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church in the US. I wonder how the Adams work through theological (or for that matter, philosophical) issues as a couple...
Monday 18 January 2010
Housemates, Relationships and the Will of God
*For Joe, Nathan and Peter*
It's 3am on Monday morning and I've just been having a theological discussion with my 3 housemates (4 guys including myself) for the past 3 hours.
In my experience, theological discussions generally end up being about one or more of the following:
1. Predestination and Free Will
2. (Male-Female) Complementarianism
3. (Boy-Girl) Relationships
4. Gifts of the Spirit
5. Baptism
6. Denominations
7. Churches and Parachurch Organisations
This time round, our theological discussion touched on all of the above.
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" - Amos 3:3 (KJV)
About a year ago, I wrote that being with another Christian is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a relationship to be according to the will of God. In other words, there is more to being in a relationship than merely being with another Christian.
After a year of searching the Scriptures, reading and reflection, and theological discussions with different people, I think that a relationship cannot be according to the will of God if both parties disagree on major theological issues.
"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
If you cannot even work through theological issues with your (future) spouse, how much more will you not be able to work through theological issues with anyone who is not your (future) spouse!
Link: Oxen and Donkeys (7 Apr 10)
It's 3am on Monday morning and I've just been having a theological discussion with my 3 housemates (4 guys including myself) for the past 3 hours.
In my experience, theological discussions generally end up being about one or more of the following:
1. Predestination and Free Will
2. (Male-Female) Complementarianism
3. (Boy-Girl) Relationships
4. Gifts of the Spirit
5. Baptism
6. Denominations
7. Churches and Parachurch Organisations
This time round, our theological discussion touched on all of the above.
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" - Amos 3:3 (KJV)
About a year ago, I wrote that being with another Christian is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a relationship to be according to the will of God. In other words, there is more to being in a relationship than merely being with another Christian.
After a year of searching the Scriptures, reading and reflection, and theological discussions with different people, I think that a relationship cannot be according to the will of God if both parties disagree on major theological issues.
"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
If you cannot even work through theological issues with your (future) spouse, how much more will you not be able to work through theological issues with anyone who is not your (future) spouse!
Link: Oxen and Donkeys (7 Apr 10)
Saturday 16 January 2010
Philosophy of the Criminal Law
"The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The House of the Dead
"The quality of a criminal justice system is an important measure of the value of a political community. Apart from waging war, no decision made by the state is more significant than its judgment about what conduct should be proscribed and how severely to punish it." - Douglas Husak, Overcriminalisation: The Limits of the Criminal Law
I mentioned that one of the modules I'm taking this term is Theological Ethics. Well, another of the modules I'm taking this term is Philosophy of the Criminal Law. It's going to be an interesting term!
*****
The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country.
A calm, dispassionate recognition of the right of the accused, and even of the convicted criminal - a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment - a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry those who have paid their due in the hard coinage of punishment: tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerative processes: unfailing faith that there is a treasure, if you can only find it, in the heart of every man.
These are the symbols which, in the treatment of crime and criminal, mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation and sign and proof of the living virtue in it.
- Winston Churchill, Speech in the House of Commons (1910*)
*exactly a century ago!
"The quality of a criminal justice system is an important measure of the value of a political community. Apart from waging war, no decision made by the state is more significant than its judgment about what conduct should be proscribed and how severely to punish it." - Douglas Husak, Overcriminalisation: The Limits of the Criminal Law
I mentioned that one of the modules I'm taking this term is Theological Ethics. Well, another of the modules I'm taking this term is Philosophy of the Criminal Law. It's going to be an interesting term!
*****
The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country.
A calm, dispassionate recognition of the right of the accused, and even of the convicted criminal - a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment - a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry those who have paid their due in the hard coinage of punishment: tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerative processes: unfailing faith that there is a treasure, if you can only find it, in the heart of every man.
These are the symbols which, in the treatment of crime and criminal, mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation and sign and proof of the living virtue in it.
- Winston Churchill, Speech in the House of Commons (1910*)
*exactly a century ago!
Friday 15 January 2010
Jan 8 to 14
Jan 8: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." - Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
Jan 9: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." - Matthew 7:24 (NIV)
Jan 10: "Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together." - Genesis 22:8 (NIV)
Jan 11: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" - Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)
Jan 12: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." - Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)
Jan 13: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." - Genesis 28:15 (NIV)
Jan 14: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
Jan 9: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." - Matthew 7:24 (NIV)
Jan 10: "Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together." - Genesis 22:8 (NIV)
Jan 11: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" - Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)
Jan 12: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." - Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)
Jan 13: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." - Genesis 28:15 (NIV)
Jan 14: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
Thursday 14 January 2010
The Perseverance of the Saints Chessplayer
Blunders. Don't you just hate them? Nearly all of the most dramatic moments in chess history concern those inexplicable moments of tragic weakness, when a player throws away the fruits of hours' of hard work. Chess is especially cruel in that way.
It is often said that blundering in a winning position is the chessboard equivalent of a cricketer getting himself out when on 99, but the late Hugh Alexander pointed out that the chess situation is even worse. Disappointed though he may be at missing out on a century, at least the batsman who gets out on 99 is allowed to keep his 99 runs. The chess player, who works like a Trojan for four or more hours to establish a winning position, and then blunders, gets a zero in the scorechart, just as surely as if he had allowed Fool's Mate - parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus [all that work and nothing to show for it], he can be heard to wail.
- Steve Giddins, chessbase.com
I just got back from a York league match in which I threw away a winning position in time trouble* and lost. It is unbelievably frustrating whenever that happens. At the end of the day though, a game of chess is hardly a matter of life and death.
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." - Hebrews 10:35-39 (NIV)
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4 (NIV)
"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." - 1 John 2:19 (NIV)
If we should persevere in a game of chess (which is hardly a matter of life and death), how much more should we persevere in our faith (which is certainly a matter of life and death)!
*Getting into time trouble in a game of chess, when you have very little time left to make your remaining moves, is a sign of poor time management. It varies from person to person, but you are typically in time trouble when you have less than 15 minutes left (in a 2 hour game) to make your remaining moves. You are typically in severe time trouble when you have less than 5 minutes left (in a 2 hour game) to make your remaining moves.
If we should manage our time properly in a game of chess, how much more should we manage our time properly in our lives!
Knowing the Time
On the first page of Romans in my Greek testament, I have scribbled at the top of the page a few significant dates. The first one is the year AD 386. In the latter part of the fourth century lived a young man whose father was a pagan and whose mother was a devout Christian. This young man had devoted himself to immorality. He had already sired one illegitimate son, yet his mother continued to pray for his soul and sought the counsel of her pastor, Bishop Ambrose of Milan.
This young man was pacing one day in a garden where a copy of the New Testament was chained to a lectern. As he was walking, he overheard children playing in the grass, singing a refrain to one of their childhood games: Tolle lege, tolle lege, which means "take up and read". So this young man, whose name was Aurelius Augustine, went to the Scriptures that were there. He allowed the volume of sacred writ to fall open where it would, and in the providence of God it fell open to Romans 13. Augustine's eyes fell on this passage:
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:11-14)
As Augustine read these words, the Spirit of God took them and pierced between joint and sinew, bone and marrow, to the very depths of this young man's soul. By the power of the Word of God with the Spirit attending it, Augustine was converted to the Christian faith, and we know him today as Saint Augustine of Hippo.
- R. C. Sproul, Romans
It is often said that blundering in a winning position is the chessboard equivalent of a cricketer getting himself out when on 99, but the late Hugh Alexander pointed out that the chess situation is even worse. Disappointed though he may be at missing out on a century, at least the batsman who gets out on 99 is allowed to keep his 99 runs. The chess player, who works like a Trojan for four or more hours to establish a winning position, and then blunders, gets a zero in the scorechart, just as surely as if he had allowed Fool's Mate - parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus [all that work and nothing to show for it], he can be heard to wail.
- Steve Giddins, chessbase.com
I just got back from a York league match in which I threw away a winning position in time trouble* and lost. It is unbelievably frustrating whenever that happens. At the end of the day though, a game of chess is hardly a matter of life and death.
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." - Hebrews 10:35-39 (NIV)
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4 (NIV)
"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." - 1 John 2:19 (NIV)
If we should persevere in a game of chess (which is hardly a matter of life and death), how much more should we persevere in our faith (which is certainly a matter of life and death)!
*Getting into time trouble in a game of chess, when you have very little time left to make your remaining moves, is a sign of poor time management. It varies from person to person, but you are typically in time trouble when you have less than 15 minutes left (in a 2 hour game) to make your remaining moves. You are typically in severe time trouble when you have less than 5 minutes left (in a 2 hour game) to make your remaining moves.
If we should manage our time properly in a game of chess, how much more should we manage our time properly in our lives!
Knowing the Time
On the first page of Romans in my Greek testament, I have scribbled at the top of the page a few significant dates. The first one is the year AD 386. In the latter part of the fourth century lived a young man whose father was a pagan and whose mother was a devout Christian. This young man had devoted himself to immorality. He had already sired one illegitimate son, yet his mother continued to pray for his soul and sought the counsel of her pastor, Bishop Ambrose of Milan.
This young man was pacing one day in a garden where a copy of the New Testament was chained to a lectern. As he was walking, he overheard children playing in the grass, singing a refrain to one of their childhood games: Tolle lege, tolle lege, which means "take up and read". So this young man, whose name was Aurelius Augustine, went to the Scriptures that were there. He allowed the volume of sacred writ to fall open where it would, and in the providence of God it fell open to Romans 13. Augustine's eyes fell on this passage:
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:11-14)
As Augustine read these words, the Spirit of God took them and pierced between joint and sinew, bone and marrow, to the very depths of this young man's soul. By the power of the Word of God with the Spirit attending it, Augustine was converted to the Christian faith, and we know him today as Saint Augustine of Hippo.
- R. C. Sproul, Romans
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Breakfast Bible in Bed
Cultivate the habit of falling asleep with the Lord's Prayer on your lips every evening when you go to bed and again every morning when you get up. And if occasion, place, and time permit, pray before you do anything else. In this way you get ahead of the devil by surprise and without warning, whether you are ready or not, before he catches up with you and makes you wait. For it is better to pray now, when you are half-ready, than later, when you are not ready at all.
- Martin Luther, quoted by Mark Rogers in "Deliver Us from the Evil One": Martin Luther on Prayer
I find it difficult to stay focused (or awake!) if I try to pray in bed right after I wake up every morning. However, I have been experimenting with reading the Bible in bed right after I wake up every morning and it works like a charm. Not only does it allow me to finish my Old Testament/New Testament/Wisdom reading for the day before I even get out of bed, it actually helps me to get out of bed more easily!
- Martin Luther, quoted by Mark Rogers in "Deliver Us from the Evil One": Martin Luther on Prayer
I find it difficult to stay focused (or awake!) if I try to pray in bed right after I wake up every morning. However, I have been experimenting with reading the Bible in bed right after I wake up every morning and it works like a charm. Not only does it allow me to finish my Old Testament/New Testament/Wisdom reading for the day before I even get out of bed, it actually helps me to get out of bed more easily!
Monday 11 January 2010
God's Good Purposes
Not only does God reign in all the affairs of men, and not only is His providence sometimes hard, but in all His works His purposes are for the good and the greater happiness of His people. Who would have imagined that in the worst of all times - the period of the judges - God was quietly moving in the tragedies of a single family to prepare the way for the greatest king of Israel?
But not only that, He was working to fill Naomi and Ruth and Boaz and their friends with great joy. If anything painful has fallen on you to make your future look hopeless, learn from Ruth that God is at work for you right now to give you a future and a hope. Trust Him. Wait patiently. The ominous clouds are big with mercy and will break with blessing on your head.
- John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence
Link: God Moves in a Mysterious Way (18 Oct 09)
But not only that, He was working to fill Naomi and Ruth and Boaz and their friends with great joy. If anything painful has fallen on you to make your future look hopeless, learn from Ruth that God is at work for you right now to give you a future and a hope. Trust Him. Wait patiently. The ominous clouds are big with mercy and will break with blessing on your head.
- John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence
Link: God Moves in a Mysterious Way (18 Oct 09)
Sunday 10 January 2010
First and Second Causes
Molinism escaped every suspicion of Pelagianism by laying down at the outset that the soul with its faculties (the intellect and will) must be first constituted by prevenient grace a supernatural principle of operation in actu primo, before it can, in conjunction with the help of the supernatural concursus of God, elicit a salutary act in actu secundo.
Thus, the salutary act is itself an act of grace rather than of the will; it is the common work of God and man, because and in so far as the supernatural element of the act is due to God and its vitality and freedom to man.
It must not be imagined, however, that the will has such an influence on grace that its consent conditions or strengthens the power of grace; the fact is rather that the supernatural power of grace is first transformed into the vital energy of the will, and then, as a supernatural concursus, excites and accompanies the free and salutary act.
In other words, as a helping or cooperating grace (gratia adiuvans seu cooperans), it produces the act conjointly with the will. According to this explanation, not only does Divine grace make a supernatural act possible, but the act itself, though free, is wholly dependent on grace, because it is grace which makes the salutary act possible and which stimulates and assists in producing it.
Thus the act is produced entirely by God as First Cause (Causa prima), and also entirely by the will as second cause (causa secunda). The unprejudiced mind must acknowledge that this exposition is far from incurring the suspicion of Pelagianism or Semipelagianism.
- The Catholic Encyclopaedia on Molinism
Molinism is an interesting concept in philosophical theology which I've been trying to get my head around.
While there are Molinists who deny total depravity, the sovereignty of God in salvation and the perseverance of the saints, I believe that Molinism need not entail their denial. In other words, the Molinist can (and should) affirm total depravity, the sovereignty of God in salvation and the perseverance of the saints. Indeed, the Molinist can (and should) affirm Carson's compatibilism - though not philosophical compatibilism.
[Carson's compatibilism is NOT philosophical compatibilism.]
The question is not whether salvation is (caused) by grace through faith. (It is.) Rather, the question is whether grace is irresistible or resistible.
Links: The Freedom of the Will (14 Nov 09), The Freedom of the Will (Revised) (21 Dec 09), The Sufficiency of Christ (12 Feb 10)
Thus, the salutary act is itself an act of grace rather than of the will; it is the common work of God and man, because and in so far as the supernatural element of the act is due to God and its vitality and freedom to man.
It must not be imagined, however, that the will has such an influence on grace that its consent conditions or strengthens the power of grace; the fact is rather that the supernatural power of grace is first transformed into the vital energy of the will, and then, as a supernatural concursus, excites and accompanies the free and salutary act.
In other words, as a helping or cooperating grace (gratia adiuvans seu cooperans), it produces the act conjointly with the will. According to this explanation, not only does Divine grace make a supernatural act possible, but the act itself, though free, is wholly dependent on grace, because it is grace which makes the salutary act possible and which stimulates and assists in producing it.
Thus the act is produced entirely by God as First Cause (Causa prima), and also entirely by the will as second cause (causa secunda). The unprejudiced mind must acknowledge that this exposition is far from incurring the suspicion of Pelagianism or Semipelagianism.
- The Catholic Encyclopaedia on Molinism
Molinism is an interesting concept in philosophical theology which I've been trying to get my head around.
While there are Molinists who deny total depravity, the sovereignty of God in salvation and the perseverance of the saints, I believe that Molinism need not entail their denial. In other words, the Molinist can (and should) affirm total depravity, the sovereignty of God in salvation and the perseverance of the saints. Indeed, the Molinist can (and should) affirm Carson's compatibilism - though not philosophical compatibilism.
[Carson's compatibilism is NOT philosophical compatibilism.]
The question is not whether salvation is (caused) by grace through faith. (It is.) Rather, the question is whether grace is irresistible or resistible.
Links: The Freedom of the Will (14 Nov 09), The Freedom of the Will (Revised) (21 Dec 09), The Sufficiency of Christ (12 Feb 10)
Saturday 9 January 2010
Resurrection and Creation
The meaning of the resurrection, as Saint Paul presents it, is that it is God's final and decisive word on the life of His creature, Adam. It is, in the first place, God's reversal of Adam's choice of sin and death: 'As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive' (1 Corinthians 15:22). In the second place, and precisely because it is a reversal of Adam's decision to die, the resurrection of Christ is a new affirmation of God's first decision that Adam should live, an affirmation that goes beyond and transforms the initial gift of life: 'The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit' (1 Corinthians 15:45).
The work of the Creator who made Adam, who brought into being an order of things in which humanity has a place, is affirmed once and for all by this conclusion. It might have been possible, we could say, before Christ rose from the dead, for someone to wonder whether creation was a lost cause. If the creature consistently acted to uncreate itself, and with itself to uncreate the rest of creation, did this not mean that God's handiwork was flawed beyond hope of repair?
It might have been possible before Christ rose from the dead to answer in good faith, Yes. Before God raised Jesus from the dead, the hope that we call 'gnostic', the hope for redemption from creation rather than for the redemption of creation, might have appeared to be the only possible hope. 'But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead...' (1 Corinthians 15:20). That fact rules out those other possibilities, for in the second Adam the first is rescued. The deviance of his will, its fateful leaning towards death, has not been allowed to uncreate what God created.
- Oliver O'Donovan, Resurrection and Moral Order
The work of the Creator who made Adam, who brought into being an order of things in which humanity has a place, is affirmed once and for all by this conclusion. It might have been possible, we could say, before Christ rose from the dead, for someone to wonder whether creation was a lost cause. If the creature consistently acted to uncreate itself, and with itself to uncreate the rest of creation, did this not mean that God's handiwork was flawed beyond hope of repair?
It might have been possible before Christ rose from the dead to answer in good faith, Yes. Before God raised Jesus from the dead, the hope that we call 'gnostic', the hope for redemption from creation rather than for the redemption of creation, might have appeared to be the only possible hope. 'But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead...' (1 Corinthians 15:20). That fact rules out those other possibilities, for in the second Adam the first is rescued. The deviance of his will, its fateful leaning towards death, has not been allowed to uncreate what God created.
- Oliver O'Donovan, Resurrection and Moral Order
Friday 8 January 2010
Jan 3 to 7
Jan 3: "I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you." - Genesis 6:17-18 (NIV)
Jan 4: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." - Proverbs 1:7 (NIV)
Jan 5: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
Jan 6: "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." - Matthew 5:29-30 (NIV)
Jan 7: "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
Jan 4: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." - Proverbs 1:7 (NIV)
Jan 5: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
Jan 6: "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." - Matthew 5:29-30 (NIV)
Jan 7: "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:6 (NIV)
Thursday 7 January 2010
Virtue Reborn
The moral scheme which forms the historical background to their [Diderot's, Smith's and Kierkegaard's] thought had, as we have seen, a structure which required three elements: untutored human nature, man-as-he-could-be-if-he-realised-his-telos and the moral precepts which enable him to pass from one state to the other. But the joint effect of the secular rejection of both Protestant and Catholic theology and the scientific and philosophical rejection of Aristotelianism was to eliminate any notion of man-as-he-could-be-if-he-realised-his-telos.
What is abundantly clear is that in everyday life as in moral philosophy the replacement of Aristotelian or Christian teleology by a definition of the virtues in terms of the passions is not so much or at all the replacement of one set of criteria by another, but rather a movement towards and into a situation where there are no longer any clear criteria.
Virtues are dispositions not only to act in particular ways, but also to feel in particular ways. To act virtuously is not, as Kant was later to think, to act against inclination; it is to act from inclination formed by the cultivation of the virtues. Moral education is an 'education sentimentale'.
- Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue
The point about the word "virtue" - if we can recapture it in its strong sense - is that it refers, not so much to "doing the right things", but to the forming of habits and hence of moral character.
I remember Rowan Williams [the Archbishop of Canterbury] describing the difference between a soldier who has a stiff drink and charges off into battle waving a sword and shouting a battle cry, and the soldier who calmly makes 1000 small decisions to place someone else's safety ahead of his or her own and then, on the 1001st time, when it really is a life-or-death situation, "instinctively" makes the right decision. That, rather than the first, is the virtue of "courage".
Yes, we modern westerners - and even more postmodern westerners - are trained by the media and public discourse to think that "letting it all out" and "doing what comes naturally" are the criteria for how to behave. There is a sense in which they are - but only when the character has been trained so that "what comes naturally" is the result of that habit-forming training.
The Christian vision of the ultimate future, the "end" or "goal" of our human vocation, takes the place within the New Testament's scheme of thought which in Aristotle's philosophical scheme (where the "virtue" language goes back to) is taken by his idea of the human telos, or goal. The way "virtue" works is that the "virtues" are the strengths of character you need to develop in the present so that you can be shaped for that ultimate goal.
When you learn a language, your brain literally changes: new connections are made, new possibilities emerge, new habits of mind, tongue, and even sometimes body language emerge and are formed. The result is not, though, that you can speak it for the fun of it, but that you can communicate with people in that language, and perhaps even be able to go and live in the country where that language is spoken, and feel at home there.
The illustration I sometimes use is that when you learn to drive a car, the idea is that you will quickly come to do most of the things "automatically", changing gear, using the brakes etc, and that you will develop the "virtues" of a good driver, looking out for other road users, not allowing yourself to be distracted etc; but that the highway agencies construct crash barriers (so that even if you don't drive appropriately damage is limited) and also those "rumble strips", as we call them in the UK, which make a loud noise on the tyre if you even drift to the edge of the roadway.
"Rules" and the "Moral Law" are like those crash barriers and rumble strips. Ideally you won't need them because you will have learned the character strengths and will drive down the moral highway appropriately. But the rules are there so that when you start to drift, you are at once alerted and can take appropriate action - particularly figuring out what strengths need more work to stop it happening again.
- N. T. Wright, The Rebirth of Virtue: An Interview with N. T. Wright
Incidentally, I read After Virtue for one of my modules in Spring Term last year, Contemporary Political Philosophy, and one of my modules in Spring Term this year is Theological Ethics. In fact, Theology Today (a journal published by Princeton Theological Seminary) calls Finite and Infinite Goods by Robert Merrihew Adams (the text for Theological Ethics) 'one of the two most important books in moral philosophy of the last quarter century, the other being After Virtue'.
It will be interesting to read Wright's new book, Virtue Reborn (which will be released in the UK on 18 Feb and on which the above interview is based), alongside the readings for Theological Ethics.
Link: After After Virtue (26 Mar 10)
What is abundantly clear is that in everyday life as in moral philosophy the replacement of Aristotelian or Christian teleology by a definition of the virtues in terms of the passions is not so much or at all the replacement of one set of criteria by another, but rather a movement towards and into a situation where there are no longer any clear criteria.
Virtues are dispositions not only to act in particular ways, but also to feel in particular ways. To act virtuously is not, as Kant was later to think, to act against inclination; it is to act from inclination formed by the cultivation of the virtues. Moral education is an 'education sentimentale'.
- Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue
The point about the word "virtue" - if we can recapture it in its strong sense - is that it refers, not so much to "doing the right things", but to the forming of habits and hence of moral character.
I remember Rowan Williams [the Archbishop of Canterbury] describing the difference between a soldier who has a stiff drink and charges off into battle waving a sword and shouting a battle cry, and the soldier who calmly makes 1000 small decisions to place someone else's safety ahead of his or her own and then, on the 1001st time, when it really is a life-or-death situation, "instinctively" makes the right decision. That, rather than the first, is the virtue of "courage".
Yes, we modern westerners - and even more postmodern westerners - are trained by the media and public discourse to think that "letting it all out" and "doing what comes naturally" are the criteria for how to behave. There is a sense in which they are - but only when the character has been trained so that "what comes naturally" is the result of that habit-forming training.
The Christian vision of the ultimate future, the "end" or "goal" of our human vocation, takes the place within the New Testament's scheme of thought which in Aristotle's philosophical scheme (where the "virtue" language goes back to) is taken by his idea of the human telos, or goal. The way "virtue" works is that the "virtues" are the strengths of character you need to develop in the present so that you can be shaped for that ultimate goal.
When you learn a language, your brain literally changes: new connections are made, new possibilities emerge, new habits of mind, tongue, and even sometimes body language emerge and are formed. The result is not, though, that you can speak it for the fun of it, but that you can communicate with people in that language, and perhaps even be able to go and live in the country where that language is spoken, and feel at home there.
The illustration I sometimes use is that when you learn to drive a car, the idea is that you will quickly come to do most of the things "automatically", changing gear, using the brakes etc, and that you will develop the "virtues" of a good driver, looking out for other road users, not allowing yourself to be distracted etc; but that the highway agencies construct crash barriers (so that even if you don't drive appropriately damage is limited) and also those "rumble strips", as we call them in the UK, which make a loud noise on the tyre if you even drift to the edge of the roadway.
"Rules" and the "Moral Law" are like those crash barriers and rumble strips. Ideally you won't need them because you will have learned the character strengths and will drive down the moral highway appropriately. But the rules are there so that when you start to drift, you are at once alerted and can take appropriate action - particularly figuring out what strengths need more work to stop it happening again.
- N. T. Wright, The Rebirth of Virtue: An Interview with N. T. Wright
Incidentally, I read After Virtue for one of my modules in Spring Term last year, Contemporary Political Philosophy, and one of my modules in Spring Term this year is Theological Ethics. In fact, Theology Today (a journal published by Princeton Theological Seminary) calls Finite and Infinite Goods by Robert Merrihew Adams (the text for Theological Ethics) 'one of the two most important books in moral philosophy of the last quarter century, the other being After Virtue'.
It will be interesting to read Wright's new book, Virtue Reborn (which will be released in the UK on 18 Feb and on which the above interview is based), alongside the readings for Theological Ethics.
Link: After After Virtue (26 Mar 10)
Wednesday 6 January 2010
060105
Today is 6 Jan 10. Exactly 5 years ago, on 6 Jan 05 (or 060105, as the date is written in the military), I enlisted with the Singapore Armed Forces and began my National Service. This blog did not even exist back then. In fact, it would be around 9 more months before I would start this blog in Sep 05.
In the past 5 years, I have completed 1 year and 10 months of National Service, almost 1 year of internships with the Singapore Prison Service, and just over 2 years of my degree at the University of York. Above all, God has been gracious in granting me repentance unto life and I have become a Christian.
Let this be a landmark, a milestone, an altar to the LORD. Here by Thy great help I've come!
Do Not Forget The LORD
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
- Deuteronomy 8:1-5 (NIV)
All The Way My Saviour Leads Me
All the way my Saviour leads me
What have I to ask beside
Can I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Here by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
In the past 5 years, I have completed 1 year and 10 months of National Service, almost 1 year of internships with the Singapore Prison Service, and just over 2 years of my degree at the University of York. Above all, God has been gracious in granting me repentance unto life and I have become a Christian.
Let this be a landmark, a milestone, an altar to the LORD. Here by Thy great help I've come!
Do Not Forget The LORD
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
- Deuteronomy 8:1-5 (NIV)
All The Way My Saviour Leads Me
All the way my Saviour leads me
What have I to ask beside
Can I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Here by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
Sunday 3 January 2010
Philosophy and Theology
I had begun to read Van Til in college, seeking help in dealing with the philosophical problems I encountered at Princeton. I had earlier read C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles. Van Til was very critical of Lewis, but Lewis actually prepared me for Van Til. The Miracles book was especially helpful to me. There, Lewis showed that naturalism and Christianity were two distinct and incompatible worldviews, and that arguments against miracles typically assume that naturalism is true.
Lewis seemed to me to be entirely right, and that readied me to believe Van Til's assertion that the Christian faith is a worldview unto itself, with its own distinctive metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Lewis also prepared me to accept Van Til's view that opposition to Christianity is not based fundamentally on factual discovery, but rather on presuppositions that rule out Christianity from the outset of the discussion.
Van Til became the greatest influence on my apologetics and theology. In my view, although I have been subjected to some derision for saying this, Van Til was the most important Christian thinker since John Calvin. His message is precisely what people of our time need most to hear: that the lordship of Jesus Christ must govern our thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) as well as every other area of life.
Every problem of theology, apologetics, biblical studies, science, and philosophy takes on a very different appearance when we reject non-Christian presuppositions and seek to think consistently according to Christian ones. Certainly, nobody who has not spent time with Van Til can understand well what I am about.
- John M. Frame, Backgrounds to My Thought in John J. Hughes (ed.), Speaking the Truth in Love
"There are two kinds of presuppositionalists: those who admit it and those who don't." - D. A. Carson quoting Carl F. H. Henry
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
Incidentally, C. S. Lewis is my favourite author and 2 Corinthians 10:5 is one of the motivations for this blog. I started this blog during my army days (hence the web address) in Sep 05, sometime before I became a Christian (which was probably in late 05/early 06). But since becoming a Christian, and especially since starting university in Oct 07, 2 Corinthians 10:5 has been something of a guiding light to me.
My past two years or so at York has been a season of 'tak[ing] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ' (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV), and studying philosophy in particular has enabled me to 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Peter 3:18, NIV).
The Philosophy of Philosophy
Philosophy, like most other disciplines, is neutral and can be applied either to the glory of God or to the dishonour of His name. If anything, philosophy points us towards Christ. As the saying goes, theology is the queen of the sciences and philosophy is the handmaiden of theology. In fact, we could even say that theology is philosophy with Christian presuppositions.
The problem with the postmodern pursuit of philosophy is not a problem with philosophy as a discipline, but with the conflation of philosophy and humanism. When we conflate philosophy and humanism, we make man the measure of all things and turn the quest for God's truth into the quest for man's truth.
Reason and Revelation
Reason is not opposed to revelation. On the contrary, reason is founded on revelation.
Peter's Confession of Christ
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
- Matthew 16:13-17 (NIV)
We reason not because reason replaces revelation. Rather, we reason precisely because revelation requires that we respond to it in the only reasonable manner - faith.
Faith and Reason
Faith is not opposed to reason. On the contrary, faith is founded on reason.
Faith is "blind" in the sense that we put our faith in something we do not see. After all, 'faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). However, faith is not blind in the sense that we are not certain of what we do not see. We ARE certain of what we do not see.
My faith that England will win the World Cup in 2010 is a blind faith because I cannot be certain of it. Indeed, my faith that England will win the World Cup in 2010 is a blind faith even if England does end up winning the World Cup in 2010.
In contrast, my faith that
1. "Jesus died and rose again and... God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." - 1 Thessalonians 4:14 (NIV)
2. "We who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep." - 1 Thessalonians 4:15 (NIV)
3. "The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." - 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NIV)
4. "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." - 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NIV)
is not a blind faith because I am certain of it. More importantly, it will certainly come to pass - whether or not I am prepared for it!
Knowing About God vs Knowing God
Of course, we can know God as a proposition without knowing God as a person.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" - Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV)
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does." - James 1:22-25 (NIV)
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder." - James 2:19 (NIV)
It is possible to know about God without knowing God, but it is not possible to know God without knowing about God. In other words, knowing about God is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for knowing God.
"Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time." - Deuteronomy 4:39-40 (NIV)
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
"Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." - Hosea 6:3 (NIV)
You know it. So do it!
Links: Why Theology Matters (11 Apr 10), I think, therefore I am (10 Aug 10), Scripture and the Interpretation of Scripture (4 Sep 10)
Lewis seemed to me to be entirely right, and that readied me to believe Van Til's assertion that the Christian faith is a worldview unto itself, with its own distinctive metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Lewis also prepared me to accept Van Til's view that opposition to Christianity is not based fundamentally on factual discovery, but rather on presuppositions that rule out Christianity from the outset of the discussion.
Van Til became the greatest influence on my apologetics and theology. In my view, although I have been subjected to some derision for saying this, Van Til was the most important Christian thinker since John Calvin. His message is precisely what people of our time need most to hear: that the lordship of Jesus Christ must govern our thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) as well as every other area of life.
Every problem of theology, apologetics, biblical studies, science, and philosophy takes on a very different appearance when we reject non-Christian presuppositions and seek to think consistently according to Christian ones. Certainly, nobody who has not spent time with Van Til can understand well what I am about.
- John M. Frame, Backgrounds to My Thought in John J. Hughes (ed.), Speaking the Truth in Love
"There are two kinds of presuppositionalists: those who admit it and those who don't." - D. A. Carson quoting Carl F. H. Henry
"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
Incidentally, C. S. Lewis is my favourite author and 2 Corinthians 10:5 is one of the motivations for this blog. I started this blog during my army days (hence the web address) in Sep 05, sometime before I became a Christian (which was probably in late 05/early 06). But since becoming a Christian, and especially since starting university in Oct 07, 2 Corinthians 10:5 has been something of a guiding light to me.
My past two years or so at York has been a season of 'tak[ing] captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ' (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV), and studying philosophy in particular has enabled me to 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Peter 3:18, NIV).
The Philosophy of Philosophy
Philosophy, like most other disciplines, is neutral and can be applied either to the glory of God or to the dishonour of His name. If anything, philosophy points us towards Christ. As the saying goes, theology is the queen of the sciences and philosophy is the handmaiden of theology. In fact, we could even say that theology is philosophy with Christian presuppositions.
The problem with the postmodern pursuit of philosophy is not a problem with philosophy as a discipline, but with the conflation of philosophy and humanism. When we conflate philosophy and humanism, we make man the measure of all things and turn the quest for God's truth into the quest for man's truth.
Reason and Revelation
Reason is not opposed to revelation. On the contrary, reason is founded on revelation.
Peter's Confession of Christ
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
- Matthew 16:13-17 (NIV)
We reason not because reason replaces revelation. Rather, we reason precisely because revelation requires that we respond to it in the only reasonable manner - faith.
Faith and Reason
Faith is not opposed to reason. On the contrary, faith is founded on reason.
Faith is "blind" in the sense that we put our faith in something we do not see. After all, 'faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). However, faith is not blind in the sense that we are not certain of what we do not see. We ARE certain of what we do not see.
My faith that England will win the World Cup in 2010 is a blind faith because I cannot be certain of it. Indeed, my faith that England will win the World Cup in 2010 is a blind faith even if England does end up winning the World Cup in 2010.
In contrast, my faith that
1. "Jesus died and rose again and... God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." - 1 Thessalonians 4:14 (NIV)
2. "We who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep." - 1 Thessalonians 4:15 (NIV)
3. "The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." - 1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NIV)
4. "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." - 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NIV)
is not a blind faith because I am certain of it. More importantly, it will certainly come to pass - whether or not I am prepared for it!
Knowing About God vs Knowing God
Of course, we can know God as a proposition without knowing God as a person.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" - Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV)
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does." - James 1:22-25 (NIV)
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder." - James 2:19 (NIV)
It is possible to know about God without knowing God, but it is not possible to know God without knowing about God. In other words, knowing about God is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for knowing God.
"Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time." - Deuteronomy 4:39-40 (NIV)
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
"Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." - Hosea 6:3 (NIV)
You know it. So do it!
Links: Why Theology Matters (11 Apr 10), I think, therefore I am (10 Aug 10), Scripture and the Interpretation of Scripture (4 Sep 10)
Saturday 2 January 2010
Verse(s) of the Day
About a year ago, one of my resolutions for 2009 was to read the Bible in one year. This time round, one of my resolutions for 2010 is to reread the Bible in one year and pick a verse (or verses) of the day from the Old Testament/New Testament/Wisdom reading for the day, everyday.
These are the verses I have picked so far:
Jan 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." - Psalm 1:1-2 (NIV)
Jan 2: "Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling." - Psalm 2:11 (NIV)
Already this has led me to a verse (Psalm 2:11) which I haven't really paid much attention to before. Hopefully this keeps up!
These are the verses I have picked so far:
Jan 1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." - Psalm 1:1-2 (NIV)
Jan 2: "Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling." - Psalm 2:11 (NIV)
Already this has led me to a verse (Psalm 2:11) which I haven't really paid much attention to before. Hopefully this keeps up!
Friday 1 January 2010
The Great Reversal
In C. S. Lewis' masterful children's story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he tells of a country, Narnia, which is under the curse of the White Witch. This evil queen places a spell on the land so that it's 'always winter and never Christmas'. Under her control, the future of Narnia looks bleak until word gets out that 'Aslan is on the move'.
In the story, Aslan is a noble lion who represents Christ. He's coming to set things straight. He's coming to destroy the White Witch and thus reverse the curse on Narnia. The first sign of Aslan's movement towards this cursed land is that the snow begins to melt - 'spring is in the air'. The cold begins to fade as the sun rays peer through the dark clouds, promising the dawn of a new day. Everything in Narnia begins to change.
You'll have to read the book to see how the story ends, but when I'm asked to describe the true meaning of Christmas, I like to say that the birth of Christ is the sure and certain sign that 'God is on the move'. The arrival of Jesus two thousand years ago ensured that God had begun the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things. In Jesus, God was moving in a new way and, in the words of C. S. Lewis, 'winter began stirring backwards'.
- Tullian Tchividjian, The Great Reversal
The Christmas/New Year period is a great time to reflect on what God has done for us, and will continue to do for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:31-32 (NIV)
Incidentally, 21 December is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (in terms of daylight hours). It is still very much winter in York at the moment, but now that 21 December has passed, winter has literally begun to stir backwards!
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