Freedom from Religion

Don't be misled by the title. R.R. Reno's response to a public appearance by retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama is not, no matter how justifiable it may be, a comment on how confusedly religious interests are handled by U.S. administration officials these days. Instead, it's a trenchant analysis of mankind's headlong flight from God, as aided and abetted by religious authorities who should (and probably do) know better.

Netflix offers help to the graduate student

It turns out those mid-90s Disney cartoon films were so boring because they were biographical documentaries. If only they had hired Ken Burns...

An odd confluence on abortion availability

One doesn't expect Time and First Things to agree on much regarding abortion rights. However, this week I read articles in both magazines which discussed how the pro-choice movement has declined since the passage of Roe vs. Wade.

The Time piece, "What Choice?," notes that the Roe decision not only energized abortion opponents, it also instilled complacency in the pro-choice movement. In Kate Pickert's narrative, this allowed abortion opponents to chip away at the national abortion-on-demand license with various restraints passed by state legislatures, such as 24-hour waiting periods or mandatory information on prenatal development. As one might expect, the article evokes in the reader a faint but definite taste of moral repugnance as it recognizes that each passing year brings more irrefutable scientific evidence of the fetus' humanity, and simultaneously strikes the standard liberal pose that there is something inherently distressing about a decrease in the number of abortions in this country.

In "Roe's Pro-Life Legacy," Jon A. Shields begins with the same observation as Kate Pickert. From there, however, he attributes the decline in abortion numbers not to legislative triumphs, but to the ever declining acceptability of abortion itself among the American public. This he attributes to the pro-life movement's commitment to moral argument and care for individual women and their families.

The confluence of topic is no doubt the result of the Roe decision's upcoming anniversary. The divergence of analysis is attributable to a more fundamental difference in worldview. The modern American liberal regards the state, and in particular the national government, as society's primary, and in some senses only, institution which can mediate among individual citizens. Liberals thus believe gaining control over legislatures and courts will enable them to steer society according to their liking. Sadly, this blinds them to the fact human society has any number of mediating institutions, and that most people organize their lives not primarily with regard to the state, but instead toward other people. Relationships open the door to genuine conversation, and conversation to the possibility of conversion to other points of view.

Returning to the subject at hand, the primacy of individual relationships in ordinary life forces us to recognize our shared humanity; and once you start recognizing human beings, it's hard to stop at those who have already been born.

Baptism books

2013 started off well for me, as I got to perform my first baptism of the year on Epiphany, which had the good manners to fall on a Lord's Day this time through the liturgical calendar. This gave me the opportunity to cram in two sacraments after the sermon, which in turn meant I got to go from Epiphany to Pentecost to the new heavens and earth within about 45 minutes, and pulled off the whole liturgy in just 90 minutes. A pretty decent land speed, if I say so myself.

For a number of years now, I've made a practice of gifting baptizands with an age-appropriate book. For infants (as this last one was), I've been giving copies of Water, Come Down! by Walter Wangerin. It anthropomorphizes elements of the creation to teach the child about the significance of his or her baptism. Read repeatedly (as any children's book must be), it will help said child interpret Biblical imagery and appropriate her or his identity as a child of God.

I also pay a home visit during the week before the baptism. For a first child, this gives me the opportunity to instruct the new parents on the reasons we baptize our children. (Sadly, those who grew up in presbyterian or reformed homes are often the shakiest on these.) For subsequent children, it's a chance to help the older sibling(s) view the upcoming celebration less as yet another occasion on which s/he will be ignored in favor of this new interloper and more as the first time to really improve on one's own baptism. To that end, the board book Things I See at Baptism by Julie Stigmeyer explains the sacrament by emphasizing important key words and by emphasizing baptism as the entry point into Church membership. I usually ask the parents to read it with their child(ren) every day before the baptism.

My discerning readers will have already searched Amazon for these titles and noticed they're both written by Lutherans, for Lutherans. Given our robust doctrines of covenant and, therefore, infant baptism, one would think presbyterians would have produced any number of children's books on baptism. One would think; however, after much searching, I must tell one that one is incorrect.

I trust someone in my vast international readership will soon correct this grievous oversight.

UK still has 13,000 black-and-white TVs

Maybe it's because we still had a black-and-white set at least until I turned ten, but I find this fact oddly inspiring.

Or maybe it's because I'm a curmudgeon.

Whatever.

Fatherhood after Christmas

Don't just take me at my word when I say this essay by Nicholas Frankovich is lovely: go read it.

With Epiphany nigh

No doubt because Epiphany is nigh, the OPC website this week features an attempt to explain the Star of Bethlehem as a supernatural celestial phenomenon. As I've preached on Matthew 2:1-12 several times without ever feeling any concern over just what was going on in the skies two thousand years ago, I can't fault this explanation. However, I prefer one offered by Allen P. Ross, whose lecture "Matthew and the Magi" was recently featured on the Beeson Divinity School podcast. Ross suggests the "star" may have in fact been the divine Glory-Cloud which led Israel through the Exodus wilderness and was associated with Solomon's Temple. As Matthew is rather vague on the details, one can't say for sure, but that fact has never stopped scholarly speculation in the past.

Ross also argues that the magi probably visited Jesus in Bethlehem shortly after his birth, defending the popular impression  they arrived on January 6, just after the twelfth day of Christmas but still in time to appear in manger scenes atop mantels and pianos everywhere. I have a curmudgeonly appreciation for this contrarian position, but was disappointed at the cheap shots Ross takes at "We Three Kings of Orient Are." He's not content to observe the indeterminate number of magi in Matthew's account, but seems to think we believe each magus explained the symbolical meaning of his gift as he presented it. No one thinks they did, and as a professional exegete, I must say the interpreations offered in the classic Christmas hymn are as good as any I've ever found in any commentary. Our ignorance of the number of wise men aside, the ommission of "We Three Kings" from either edition of the Trinity Hymnal is a great tragedy. Much better, I think, to sing at Epiphany and at other times,

Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Sounds through the earth and skies.