American Babylon

I recently finished, American Babylon, by the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus.

The three excerpts below capture what Fr. Neuhaus was so masterful at recognizing: the relationship between religious and political thought in America.

1) ..."the American religion" is gnosticism. By gnosticism is meant the belief - sometimes more implied than explicitly stated - that the particularities of matter, time, and place are merely incidental, if not actually evil. Emancipation is to be found in transcending such particularities by "spiritualities" attuned to esoteric realigious knowledge (gnosis) or experience. In American evangelicalism, the esoteric - tat which is know the the initiated - is to be shared with everyone, thus producing what has been described as the "democratization" of American religion. Since gnostics are the elite, the "knowing ones," democratic gnosticism may seem like a contradiction in terms, but religion in America is notorious for producing improbable combinations of opposites.

Religious gnosticism goes hand in hand with ecclesiological docetism. Docetism was an early Christian heresy which held that Christ only seemed to have a human body and to have suffered and died on the cross. Ecclesiological docetism is the idea of an "invisible Church." To be sure, the saints who have gone on to glory are to visible to us, and only God knows who among the living are truly faithful. But the invisible Church affirmed by many is largely divorces from the Christian story through the centuries and becomes an ethereal and free-floating community separate from the actual community of the Church in time that is, as Newman would say, not notional but real (38-9).

2) The church of the novus ordo seclorum (a new world for the ages) had a thin public theology. In the fine phrase of the political philosopher Leo Strauss, its founding principles were "low but solid." Perhaps too low, and not solid enough. To change the metaphor, the new order was not wired for first-principle questions such as those addressing the humanity and rights of slaves of African descent. As it is not wired for today's questions about the humanity and rights of the unborn child and others who cannot assert their own rights - the questions that are at the vortex of what today are called the culture wars (40).

3) [of the Catholic Church]: Her chief political contribution is to provide a transcendent horizon for our civil arguments, to temper the passionate confusions of the political penultimate with the theological ultimate, and to insist that our common humanity and gift of reason are capable of deliberating how we ought to order our life together (54-5).

More on these excerpts later...

Changing Politics?

Deal Hudson has an interesting article at InsideCatholic.com on how the recent Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the House of Representative's Health Care Bill might mark the beginning of a change in our national politics. In addition to highlighting the important role the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops played in securing the votes for this amendment, Hudson notes:

...For the first time in a long time, the pro-life issue is setting the agenda for the national debate on a major piece of legislation. Even more startling is the fact that the impetus for this inversion results from the courageous efforts of a pro-life leader in the Democratic Party, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)...

...As a result, a genuinely new space within the Democratic Party for pro-life work has been opened, and the party itself, as well as the Obama agenda in the Congress, is being substantially altered...

I can't even begin to imagine how the national conversation on abortion might change if the Democratic Party continues this type of engagement with the Pro-Life Movement!

Perspective

From this morning's writing in the Treasury of Daily Prayer, the sainted Lutheran theologian, Hermann Sasse reminds us of the distinguishing mark of Christianity and the nature of a clergyman's vocation:

If one asks what the one characteristic feature of the Christian faith is distinguishing it from all religions of the world, then we would have to say: It is the forgiveness of sins. The pious Jew and even a pious Mohammedan may home for God's pardon. Forgiveness as a real gift, the full assurance of forgiveness, that is the gift of the Gospel.

To proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness, to declare the repentant sinners the forgiveness of their sins, to distribute the Sacraments with all the gifts of divine grace contained in them, this and nothing else, is the proper task of the minister of Christ as it was the officium proprium [proper office] of Christ Himself. This the Church had to learn in the great crisis of the second century...The church administration in Europe follows the patterns of the administration of the state, while in America the great business organizations seem to be unknowingly imitated by the churches. The consequence is that also the parish minister becomes more and more of an administrator and organizer who rushes from meeting to meeting and has not enough time for his proper calling as a shepherd.

Liberty

Words that every American can embrace...regardless of their political or ideological persuasion...

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation’s security, and the calling of our time. So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary…The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America’s influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America’s influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom’s cause.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner “Freedom Now” – they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

President George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address

Authority

Once again, I find myself "stuck" on the issues of Church and Authority. This video exerpt of Fr. Barron raises a number of salient points on this subject. I am certain to read Alister McGrath's text that he references ("Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Reformation-A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First"). But in the meantime, I am beginning to believe that the issues of Church and Authority are the fundamental issues that both separate, and might ultimately unite Christendom. How one defines the Church and her Authority begins the process by which one understands the Christian faith. If one confuses what the Church is and the Authority she possesses, then I believe one's faith is doomed to confusion as well.

Indeed, this issue of Authority might in fact be the issue on which the Church stands or falls...

The Protection of the Mother of God

Today, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the 'Protection of our Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary'. Fr. Stephen at Glory to God for All Things offered the following thoughts on this Day:

I reflected this morning on the “Veil of Protection” which we enjoy many times in the course of our life. Protection is more than the active warding off of enemies – it is sometimes a gracious hiding. My short trek to Church this morning was through one of the fogs that blanket the Tennessee Valley this time of year. Many things are hidden.

Much of my life remains hidden even from myself. Who is there that knows all of his own sins or all of the goodness of God? I think that these things remain hidden from us by the mercies of God. Who could bear the full knowledge of his own sins or even the full knowledge of the goodness of God?” The depths of such things are hidden and revealed to us by a merciful God as and when they are good for our salvation.

The prayers of the saints, including those of the Mother of God, is a great mystery – they are part of the greater reality of life as communion with God. Earlier this year I offered this thought on the prayers of the saints:

Christ’s “intercession for us” should not be understood as an eternal torrent of words; intercession is Christ’s union with us who have now been united to Him and thus united to His eternal communion with the Father.

This same understanding of prayer is at the heart of the intercession of the saints. Much confusion about the intercession of the saints has been wrought by poor images of prayer. We have reduced prayer to talk and intercession to talk to God about someone else. It is in this imagery that the Protestant question comes forward: “Why do we need someone else to speak to God for us? Isn’t Christ’s prayer enough?”

Of course, if prayer is just talk, then surely Christ’s words would be sufficient. But this oversimplification of prayer fails to do justice to Christ’s own prayer (as well as that of the saints). The intercession of the saints is their communion and participation in the life of Christ. By His life they live and the very character of that life is a communion with God. Rightly understood – that communion is prayer itself. When we express our own communion with the saints through asking their prayers we are giving verbal expression to what is already an ontological reality. As we are in communion with Christ so we are in communion with the saints. The Church cannot be other than the Church.

There may be those who reject the “intercession of the saints” (particularly as caricatured by inadequate understandings of prayer), but if they are truly in the communion of the Church then the intercession of the saints is inherently part of that communion. There is no Church that is not also the communion of the saints.

Today I give thanks for the protecting veil of the Mother of God – for the things I do know and those that I do not.

I believe Fr. Stephen makes a number of compelling points above. Particularly at the end when he notes that "if they are truly in the communion of the Church then the intercession of the saints is inherently part of that communion. There is no Church that is not also the communion of the saints."

I understand there are many who suggest that if we advocate such prayer and intercession of the saints, then we will take away the honor that is due to Christ. But I can't think of a more honorable, and Christ-like thing, than relying on those saints that He has given to His Church. Indeed, the saints are nothing other than a gift given to us by our Lord. Our communion, fellowship, and intercession with them is inherently part of our faith and our relationship with Christ.

The Rebirth of Consertavism

Mark T. Mitchell has a compelling article at Front Porch Republic.

Calling for a "serious overhaul" of conservatism, Mitchell notes that:

The word “conserve” comes from the Latin conservare, which is a verb meaning to watch over, preserve, protect, to continue to dwell in. Conservatives understand themselves as stewards. They commit themselves to preserving the good things of this world. Together they dwell in their various places, watching over those places and the goods inherent therein as they tend them in trust for the next generation. A conservative, then, practices the habits, arts, and disciplines of stewardship in community with others. Stewardship gives birth to acts of responsibility and care that are oriented toward the long-term preservation of the natural, social, and institutional goods we have inherited even as it seeks to cultivate them and thereby improve them in the process.

I wonder...might this type of conservatism embrace the idea that: It takes a village to watch over, preserve, and protect the good things of this world? Echoing Mitchell's sentiments, might conservatives finally rally around the call to community, over against the obscene individualism of our modern culture, all in the name of good stewardship? Ultimately, might conservatives "once again start thinking about conserving"?