“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 1

VERBATIM
VERBATIM

Fantastic Things
People Worth Reading hadn’t met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley’s pretended she
didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The
to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Dursleys shudderd to think what the neighbors would say if the
They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters
anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy
with such nonsense. was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they
didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty,

wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor As I was saying, the mother of this hobbit—Bilbo Baggins, that
yet a dry sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: is—was the famous Belladonna Took, one of the three remark-
it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. . . . This hobbit able daughters of the Old Took, head of the hobbits who lived
was a very well-to-do hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The across The Water, the small river that ran at the foot of The
Bagginses have lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time Hill. It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of
out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of
only because most of them were rich, but also because they course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not
never had any adventures or did anything unexpected. entirely hobbit-like about them, and once in a while members
of the Took-clan would go and have adventures. They discreetly
disappeared, and the family hushed it up; but the fact remained
Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which that the Tooks were not as respectable as the Bagginses, though
made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, they were undoubtedly richer.
although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was
thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck,
which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday
craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside
Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be
there was no finer boy anywhere. happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he
picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley
gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into
The mother of our particular hobbit—what is a hobbit? I his high chair.
suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the
have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us. They window.
are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller
than the beared dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little J.K. Rowling
or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort
which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of
stupid folk like you and me come bludering along. . . . They are the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the
inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours hobbits were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins
(chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet was standing at his door after breakfast, smoking an enormous
grow natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his wooly toes
stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown (neatly brushed)—Gandalf came by. Gandalf! If you had heard
fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs only a quarter of what I have heard about him, and I have only
(especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they heard very little of all there is is to hear, you would be prepared
can get it). for any sort of remarkable tale. Tales and adventures sprouted up
all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary
fashion. . . . All that the unsuspecting Bilbo saw that morning
The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a was an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a
secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which his long white beard
it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out hung below his waist, and immense black boots.
about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley’s sister, but they
J.R.R. Tolkien

2 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 CONTENTS OF OUR TABLE
TABLE

Credenda/Agenda is published as one

Fantasy
of the literature ministries of Christ Volume 14, Number 2
Church (the other is Canon Press), a
member of the Confederation of Re-
formed Evangelicals (www.crepres.org).
Credenda mailing and phones: P.O. Thema: Most Real Fantasy 4
Box 8741, Moscow, Idaho 83843. Douglas Jones makes faces at those who dismiss “fantasy” as unreal and explores the Christian categories
(208) 882–7963. FAX: (208) 892– behind both the Tolkien and Potter stories.
8724. For subscriptions, mail your ad-
“Harry Potter can’t be a threat. Wizardry doesn’t really work. And if your kids
dress and a donation to the address
above, or email sensitive information to are really tempted to join a coven, then it’s not a giant leap to say that you’ve failed
[email protected]; letters to the miserably as a parent.”
editor to [email protected]
A statement of faith is available Poetics
Poetics:: The Lord of the Rings 28
upon request. We are in essential agree- Douglas Wilson discusses both the life of Tolkien and the Christian mythopoeic themes behind his Middle
ment with the confessional statements Earth.
of classical Protestantism and stand firm
in our call for a playoff to replace the
“When literature like The Lord of the Rings is criticized, it is often attacked for
soulless pimping of college football being ‘escapist.’ This means we should ask a question. What is being escaped from?
called the Bowl Championship Series. As Tolkien once put it, the people who are so concerned about escapism do have a
The statement describes our doctrinal name—we call them jailers.”
editorial policy; it does not define our
boundaries of fellowship. Quotations
are from the AV unless otherwise noted. The Supporting Cast:
Permission to reproduce material from Verbatim: Quotations/ People We Like 2
this publication is hereby freely granted, Childer: Children and the Movies/ Douglas Wilson 15
except in the case of art, fiction, and
poetry
poetry. Please provide appropriate
Flotsam: Wanna Save the World?/ Nathan Wilson 16
credit and send a copy of the reprint to Tohu: The Meaning of Magic/ Jared Miller 17
the address above. Stauron: Potter Knows Best?/ Gary Hagen 18
Recipio: Potter’s Magic/ Ben Merkle 25
Editor: Incarnatus: Knowing is Story/ Douglas Jones 27
Douglas Wilson
Ex Libris: Reviews/ Woelke Leithart 32
Senior editor:
Douglas Jones
Managing editor: Also Rans:
Nathan D. Wilson Sharpening Iron: Letters to the Editor/ You all 6
Contributing editors: The Cretan Times: New News/Douglas Jones 8
Chris Schlect, Jim Nance, Ben Anvil: Editorials/ Douglas Wilson 10
Merkle, Duck Schuler, Jack Van Presbyterion: This is More of That/ Douglas Wilson 11
Deventer, Gary Hagen, Peter Leithart, Musica: Liturgical Culture/ Duck Schuler 12
Patch Blakey, Joost Nixon, Gregory C.
Dickison, Jared Miller, Roy Atwood, Husbandry: Sexual Grumbling/ Douglas Wilson 13
Matt Whitling. Femina: The Postpartum Mother/ Nancy Wilson 14
Contributors:
Poimen: Crocodile Tears/ Joost Nixon 19
Nancy Wilson, Woelke Leithart, Pogo Virga: Squinting Across the Simile/ Matt Whitling 20
Throckmorton Magistralis: Strange Gods/ Gregory Dickison 21
Technical editors: Liturgia: Do Not Forget the Levite/ Peter Leithart 22
Nancy Wilson, Paula Bauer, Charles Cultura: Potions?/ Roy Atwood 24
Nolan Doctrine 101: Helicopter Salvation/ Patch Blakey 26
Circulation: Historia: Northumbrian Time Reckoning/ Chris Schlect 30
Judi Christophersen Meander: Chonklit Cake/ Douglas Wilson 31
Cover design and setup: Cave of Adullam: Mutterings/ Pogo Throckmorton 34
Paige Atwood Eschaton: Amillennial History/ Jack Van Deventer 35
Original cover art: Footnotes: Our Wonderful Sources 36
Peter Bentley
Illustrations: Mark Beauchamp, Bekah Fiction:
Lee Merkle
Similitudes
Similitudes: Stone Cherubim/ Douglas Wilson 23
Scanner man:
“ ‘Welcome to my home,’ the creature on the right side said. His voice sounded
Mike Lawyer
deep, like black gravel.”

Pictura
Pictura: Babylonian Bowling/ Ben Merkle 37
“Out in the fresh evening air of the summer she tried to collect her thoughts.
She lit a cigarette and drew deeply. Just then another figure emerged from the same
side door. It was Nergal-Sharezer, by far the quietest of the Babylonians.”
Semper constans, numquam praedici

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 3

 THEMA

Most Real F
Real antasy
Fantasy
Douglas Jones can’t write about real reality without degrading it (“degrad-
ing” is the etymological root of the verb “to Peretti,” by the
SOMETHING IS desperately odd when, of all people, Christians way).
so easily call stories like The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of On the one hand, we acknowledge that Christian reality
Narnia, and even, shudder, Harry Potter, “fantasies.” The is full of weirdness and twisting shades but on the other we
assumption is that reality is pretty much what bare science can’t actually name them without blaspheming. Thus, fantasy.
says it is, blocks of chemicals and cells of organisms pushing Good fantasy (of which there is little) offers an intriguing
off each other, everything visible and measurable. We take solution to the dilemma. It allows us to hint at the full magic
“realistic” literature to be stories which stay put within these at work around us, but it calls it by another name, another
quantifiable bounds; fantasy, by contrast, is typically de- world. But it’s often a world much more akin to biblical
scribed as taking place in “an imaginary world,” a “nonexist- reality than anything modern realism offers. At one level, The
ent realm” in which the characters have “supernatural Lord of the Rings is a much more accurate depiction of meta-
powers.” physical reality than any naturalistic story, but the names have
But this all gets turned upside down when we ask which been changed to protect the storyteller. Even the Potter stories
sort of fiction is actually closer to biblical reality. Closer is a are fun reminders of the unpredictable oddness of creation.
key term here. But even from a distance, fantasy is an easy And yet, fantasy’s accuracy needn’t be absolutized. It
winner for realism. At its best, it offers a much more accurate shouldn’t be taken as an argument against typically realist
picture of the oddness of Christian reality, a reality packed literature. Not every story has to do everything. Typically
with weird invisibles and interlacing graces and dark evil. realist literature offers us a glimpse from our particularly
These are a large part of the world around us, but they are human angle: the one we primarily live in, walking by faith;
precluded from “realistic” stories; they can’t be measured. we see through a glass darkly. We rarely see all of reality. But
The prophet Elisha presents an intriguing picture of this it’s nice to have some fantasy there once in a while to give us a
reality. Elisha’s servant was troubled. He looked out and saw a reminder of the weirdness of God’s world.
great army of Syrians surrounding the city (2 Kgs. 6:14).
Doom was sure. The facts were all in. They were grossly Too Real
outnumbered. The reality was visible. “What shall we do?” But it is just this reality of fantasy that sets off other Chris-
was his cry to Elisha. In one of those rare occasions, we get tians. The modernist Christians targeted above “don’t want to
the surface-reality pulled back so that the thicker reality, the waste time on Tolkien” and end up with a shrivel of life. But,
fantasy-reality, shows through. Elisha tells him not to fear: let’s call them, Satanist-Christians fall the opposite way. They
“for those who are with us are more than those who are with think Satan is alive and well and sees evangelicalism as a threat
them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘LORD, I pray, open his to him(!). They think Satan, having bound Christ, now rules
eyes that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the eyes of the the earth and is intent upon using Harry Potter to set us up
young man, and he saw. And behold the mountain was full of for the Antichrist. That last clause is actually a quote.
horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kgs. 6:17, These believers often fear Harry Potter and Tolkien’s
18). The world was crammed with beings—flaming chari- Gandalf because of a their tiny view of what happened at the
ots—that a surface scan couldn’t begin to see. The servant’s cross. They have no sense of The Triumph. No sense of the
scientific vision was utterly unrealistic and narrow. The reality defeat levelled against all things Satanic. We live in a new
was far more fantastic. world. In Tolkien’s terms, we live post-Mordor, and we have
Similar biblical examples could be multiplied, all to the come back to the Shire to clean up the minor skirmishes,
sum that even in our day, Christian reality is much more petty Satanisms lurking about after the war. But Christ’s death
bizarre and magical than modern “realistic” eyes will allow. and resurrection have made a new world. Satanist-Christians
So if a Christian wishes to write about real reality, what is he deny the deep victory of the cross; they dismiss the biblical
to do? What sort of contemporary literature has the freedom declaration that, “Having disarmed principalities and powers,
to include that larger reality? He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in
But another problem quickly intrudes, a problem that it” (Col. 2:15). Satan is disarmed. He still causes petty
forces the need for fantasy. The problem is that we can’t just squabbles, but nothing like he did before the cross when he
start putting dialogue in the mouths of angels and demons at locked all Gentiles in darkness. That world is dead.
whim. Their reality and psychology is beyond us; it would be Harry Potter can’t be a threat. Wizardry doesn’t really
backhandedly blasphemous to write a tale that dictated where work. And if your kids are really tempted to join a coven then
these great beings went and said, what God did next, and how it’s not a giant leap to say that you’ve failed miserably as a
the Holy Spirit answered a particular prayer. In short, we parent. Where is the ballast in your childrearing? How could

4 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 THEMA

that even be an option? You obviously have much more to Tolkien’s Maturity
fear from the subtleties of modern rationalism and individual- Though Potter is fun and complimentary in its place, it only
ism than from Potter. scratches the surface of Christian psychology in the way many
The truth is that the Harry Potter series doesn’t pretend other non-Christian stories already do.
to be great literature. It will be forgotten within fifteen years, Part of Tolkien’s genius, however, is his mastery of time,
while Tolkien will be remembered beyond 500 years. But the especially the psychological feel of time. For all its positives,
sad truth is that the Potter series is far funnier and the movie version of The Lord of the Rings can’t register this at
nonsentimental than the vast majority of evangelical children’s all; it is a typical cinematic rush that gives off a cartoonish air
works. Christians are such scowlers, and we try to inspire the when compared to the feel of time in the written version.
next generation with dark frowns, somewhat akin to starting a But it’s not just a thoroughly realistic sense of time
Grand Prix from a tar pit—it’s much safer. And then, there between narrative events that Tolkien captures so well. He has
fly the Harry Potter characters having a great time, being also somehow magically been able to express the psychologi-
playful, heroic, earthy, unresentful, humorous, smart, mascu- cal weight of time, the weight of maturity. He has expressed
line, risk-taking—all the things evangelicals fear most, all the what communities experience which have carried forward an
things that should properly characterize Christian life. In abundance of history on their shoulders; he has expressed the
these characters’ simplicity, their love of life on earth is much feel of tradition, the feel of thousands of years of sanctifica-
more mature than evangelicals will understand for generations tion and degradation, passed on from generation to genera-
to come. Certainly, the Potter stories know far more about tion. Americans can have no sense of this at all, not only
the shape of Christian living than the likes of Elsie Dinsmore because of our minimal span but also because we are genera-
and Veggie Tales. This fits though, because historically the tional individualists, each disconnected from the prior.
Lord has loved to provoke His people to jealousy—“For the Even more striking than communal time is Tolkien’s
sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than expression of individual maturity in characters, such as that
the sons of light” (Lk. 16:8). found in the elves—elegant, mysterious, whole, richly
One of the most overlooked features of modern stories peaceful. Because Tolkien has written within Christian
like the Potter series is their implicit confession of the categories, the feel of maturity that results is that of a
triumph of Christianity. This compliment to Christianity is distinctively Christian maturity, a maturity found in someone
not just the fact that the Potter stories are decidedly Christ- who has entirely absorbed Ecclesiastes and the Psalms.
figure stories—an elect son, threatened at birth, who sacrifices Anyone who has been growing as a Christian over twenty
His life for his friends and triumphs over evil in an under- years knows at least some hint of the difference between the
world, even coming back from death for a feast. weight of early and later Christian experience. Tolkien has
Those narrative categories are complimentary enough, extended this feel and gathered it together to be expressed
but the deeper compliment is the story’s use of a Christian through various fictional individuals. The literary effect is
psychology. In its generic sense, a psychology is just a quite astounding, but it takes time to grasp. Those who don’t
worldview’s characteristic way of interacting with life. There have any appreciation for that experience (largely younger
is a distinctive Christian psychology, a hellenistic psychology, Christians or older Christians who have just put in the time
a modernist psychology, a postmodern psychology, a wiccan with no growth) are often put off by Lord of the Rings. They
psychology, and so on. The Potter characters could have been can’t appreciate it because they lack the personal categories.
written with any of these. They could have acted like those They have something to look forward to, though.
resentful infant-adults of the Iliad; they could have had the When Christians actually mature to the extent hinted at
psychology of ancient druids. But they don’t. Instead, the in the trilogy, will they still find Tolkien great or thin? Will
Potter stories give us largely Christianized witches, witches who real maturity match his picture? Or is he just an eschatological
have fully absorbed Christian ethical categories, love, kind- tease for our less mature centuries? Fantasy most real.
ness, hope, loyalty, hierarchy, community, and more. Plenty of
witchy stories use other psychologies, and they haven’t scored.
A Potter who thought like Achilles would have been yawned
off. Christian psychology makes for a far more interesting
clash of values and characters than other psychologies could
supply. But you couldn’t have pulled this off in ancient
Greece. They wouldn’t get the story. But it’s a great testimony
to the cultural triumph of Christianity in the West, even in
our brittle century.

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 5

 SHARPENING IRON

From Us:
assuming Nathan hasn’t regularly he’s in situations where he’ll get hurt if he
Yes, it is we, predicate attended public school?) But OK, so doesn’t hurt someone else first (and he
nominative. We have maybe he really wanted to talk only about will get hurt because he’s, well, weak),
snapped under the education and not the entire culture. I show him that physical weakness is for
pressure and given in. guess that’s fine, just let me know first losers and girls. It won’t take long before
We are taking off the gloves. Finally, we next time. Onward. . . . you’ll have to stop him from doing
will speak our uninihibited minds, and Rules cannot be equated with those anything that pops into his head to keep
do as we feel. Until now we have been who happen to be the enforcers of them. from being stepped on, including playing
restricted by the stifling flea and tick Indeed, rules transcend their enforcers dirty, using weapons, gunning down his
collar of social convention. We have been and if they are valid should be obeyed classmates.
adding water to our wine. Now that regardless of outside personality conflicts. Quite the opposite of what you assert,
collar lies unused in the alley where we And I know very few budding young Nathan, there seems to be no lack of
scratched it off. We were born free, free as fourth-graders who resist authority on testosterone in our culture. Turn the TV
the wind blows. Now we will act like it. the basis of conscience. School rules are on at any time and you’ll see men
No more will we hold our peace in the often designed to prevent injury and battling each other in sports, often
name of convention. We are coming misbehavior, and those other things violent sports. Athletes’ obscene salaries
down off of our sunny rock where we which disrupt the educational process. betray the importance our culture lends
once basked. It is time to chase kids Schools are not designed to turn boys them. . . . Popular music includes profane
around the park. It is time for play. into men, they are designed to teach celebrations of violence by men against
children “reading, writing, and arith- both other men and women. You
From You:
You: metic.” know—men satisfying God-given
Perhaps boys do have a natural desire emotional needs. Enough pop culture.
NATHAN’S A POOFTER to get knocked down, but it seems the What about us common folks and our
more prevalent desire is to knock own lives? High school heroes aren’t
Dear Editor, someone else down; to, in fact, be the last ballerina stars, they’re the best athletes,
After reading “Raising Poofters” [C/ one standing. The emotional need seems and those who won’t let an insult lie but
A, 13/5] and getting all fired up about it to be to rule, not to lead (this is broadly beat the other SOB up for it. . . . Our
and making the decision to compose a true of much of humanity, not just boys). culture is awash in masculinity and always
reply, I had two main fears: one was that And this happens everywhere, including has been. Certainly there are radical fringe
Nathan Wilson wasn’t writing a serious schools: it’s called bullying. This is a need elements—perhaps even the intelligen-
article, but was merely throwing out a that doesn’t necessarily need to be tsia—who are preaching the opposite, but
sort of ludicrously-colored bait, hoping encouraged, and certainly not at school. they will always be fringe. Because in our
to reel in some fun letters to the editor— Nathan now begins to bring us to the fallen world, power always rules. The
and I was swallowing it, hook, line, and climax, the real problem. It goes some- strongest win. We may root for the
sinker. My other fear was that he was thing like this: Christian boys are taught underdog, but we bow to the winner.
serious, and that there was actually a to obey authority. Authority in schools Fortunately for us, Nathan, you’re not
group of people somewhere that (again, are we to assume this is the only a leader, you’re a follower. A daddy’s boy,
considered that piece of writing to be authority in a boy’s life?) tells boys to still hanging on to Pop’s belt loops and
cogent, thoughtful, and worthy of behave like girls (that is, as we’ve repeating his words. . . . God may be
publication (that is, worthy of public previously noted, to obey the rules). masculine and all-powerful, but He
consumption). Whichever the case may Strong boys can’t behave like girls. So tempers his power with wisdom, and
be, I decided to go for it anyway. they come to despise authority. Then wisdom is a woman.
Nathan begins by stating that they come to despise Christianity for Hosannah Valentine
“Everything in our culture” is at war with telling them to obey authority. Weak boys Seattle, WA
boys. Fine. I can handle this in an (ah, finally, we learn what the mysterious
opening paragraph—obviously, however, “poofter” is) obey the rules, and are thus TOO SEXY
I’ll expect some evidence. But in vain, as weak. The solution: for the strong boy,
Nathan doesn’t even pretend to address change the rules so he can be as violent as Dear Editor,
the culture as a whole, but goes straight he is inclined to be (and strong boys are I appreciate and have benefited from
for that part of it which, I assume, he inclined to be violent because when many of your written efforts to take every
knows least about: the public education violence rules, strength is power). For the thought captive, and to encourage the
system. (Or perhaps I’m wrong in weak boy, let him get beat up, make sure saints in not being conformed to the

6 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 SHARPENING IRON

Cover image for C/ A ,13/1

world. Your “Sex and the Reformation” men are. The problem is the very possibility
issue contains several helpful articles of a fall. Second, Wilson’s examples of
addressing a topic that is worthy of “evil” are insufficient. He speaks of war,
serious (but reverently joyful) consider- civilian casualties, and the World Trade
ation. Particularly trenchant is Douglas Centers. There is a sense of dignity to
Wilson’s “Modest Daughters” piece that this sort of suffering and a possible feel
opens with this statement: “Let’s be of the “justice involving evil in the
frank. Immodesty is a very common world.” But what if I run over my baby’s
problem in the Church today.” This is head on the way to church? Shall we see
sadly a very true statement that was with believing eyes the authority and
commendably addressed by Mr. Wilson. justice? No, that is not obedience;
After reading this article, however, I had obedience is believing despite such things
to pause and take a second look at the that God is good.
cover of this issue. And there before my POE But Wilson thinks that all evil will
eyes was a picture that can only be make sense to us if only “we were to use
described as provocatively erotic. This Dear Editor, the heads He gave us.” This is false. God
cover is not designed to provoke modesty I am writing in to suggest a problem did not make our noetic faculties for the
within the Church! (I showed this to my with Nathan Wilson’s “Flotsam: PoE” purpose of intellectually “making sense”
excellent wife and she agrees with my (C/A, 13/6). Wilson has taken a heavy of dead babies. He “made us” pre-fall.
assessment). I for one would not want my apologetic wallop to what he names “the We are rationally perplexed, but we love
wife or daughter posing in such a problem of evil,” and has leveled the Him anyways. This is not to say that the
titillating manner. Sure, we don't see the strong charge of rebellion and foolishness problem of evil rationally defeats our
model's face, but the effect is still the to those who see the problem of evil as Christian Belief, but we are being
same, particularly on male viewers who any real problem at all. Although this dishonest if we don’t admit that it is quite
may have a problem with their eyes. So kind of approach is many times appro- an argument.
keep up the good articles, but please priate, in “PoE” Wilson has attacked Michael Metzler
consider a bit more soberly the material unbelief just where sincere belief struggles Moscow, ID
pasted on the cover. We are to provoke and becomes perplexed. This communi-
one another, but only in a righteous Nathan Wilson replies: I appreciate
cates a bit of simplistic apologetic
direction! Mr. Metzler’s repsonse, but feel that
smugness over an issue that is usually there is very little real disagreement
David Kincaid handled in a more pastoral fashion.
Raytown, MO between us. To begin, I do not think
Wilson does not indicate any struggle that the Fall in any way dismisses the
with evil or perplexity over the problem of evil. I do find it amusing
Douglas Wilson replies: I guess this
unbeliever’s traditional argument that pagans everywhere attempt to use
situation reveals the importance of
regarding the “problem of evil;” but he the p.o.e. to prove that God lacks
context, and I suspect we
should, for not only has he not taken in existence. There is no king because he
agree more than we differ. We believe
consideration the problem that the tossed me in the dungeon. I do believe
in the importance of modesty, as
Mr. Metzler and I disagree when it
argued in that issue. But we also “problem of evil” posses for our true
comes to my refusal to take the
believe that the Bible teaches that a belief, he has not sufficiently answered the
problem seriously. I don’t think it is a
certain measure of "eroticism" is arguments furthered from unbelief in at serious problem, or any problem at all
appropriate, so long as it follows the least two basic ways. really, and I’m not being dishonest. It
patterns set by Scripture. We do not First, his reasoning that the argument all makes complete sense, but not
believe that it is right to be from evil does not take sufficient account logic. We do not need to know why
erotically provocative. At the same
of the fall is irrelevant. The fall itself falls God does a thing to know that His
time, what constitutes "provocative"
into the problem for the unbeliever, not authority allows for it. He rains on us,
must be defined scripturally, and not
merely the consequences of it. Dungeons and in the end He kills every one of
by the Victorians, the Muslims or the
are sure proofs of a king as long as our us. I am not puzzled, nor do I see a
neo-Amish. Perhaps the whole
problem. If we embrace Him, then we
photograph of my daughter Bekah will story does not speak of a king who must
embrace mystery, and mystery in the
provide the needed context. make evil men to throw in them. The
transcendant makes sense.
problem is not that God responds
appropriately to evil men, but that evil

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 7

 THE CRETAN TIMES
CRETAN

Muslim Extr emists F

Extremists ess Up to Cultur
Fess Culturee
KUNDUZ, AFGHANISTAN– laser wall surrounding the city. After culture. But here at New Beatisso you
Last week, while in pursuit of Taliban several hours of waiting, the initial finally see the wonderful depths of
operatives in the Pamir mountain range, Marine patrol and two divisions of Unitarian culture—interdependence,
a reconnaissance patrol of U.S. Marines backup were greeted sheepishly by a free speech, empathy, love of body,
stumbled upon a vast and sophisticated council of twelve Mullahs dressed in humane technology, and subtle irony.
Muslim city. This city of New Beatisso brightly colored Italian suits. Now leave us alone, you Trinitarian
“had slick monorail transportation, art U.S. intelligence sources report trash.”
museums, a nuanced cuisine, and a high- that the first words spoken by the lead Sergeant Brad Willis, one of the
tech sewage system like nothing I’ve Mullah were “Oh Jeez (Praise Be first supporting soldiers at the city, said
never seen back home,” said Lt. Ray Upon Him), I can’t believe the Great he now better understood the Muslim
Peterson, leader of the patrol. “They Satan finally found us.” strategy of using terrorism to keep the
tried to distract us away from it by The Mullah explained that all of West away from finding great cities like
faking Al Quaeda radio transmissions the lame Muslim culture that the West New Beatisso. Willis conceded, “We sat
from a nearby pit of a village. But we sees is a front. Muslim nations merely in on several of their stage plays, and I
knew something was up when our radios pretend to be soulless, dull, and have to honestly say that their Mr.
picked up a live broadcast of what at conformist, all the while veiling their Kafeel made Shakespeare look like a
first sounded like a Mahler symphony, true cultural riches in hidden cities like fool’s boy. The textured layers of
then we realized it was completely new New Beatisso. “We didn’t want contrasting Muslim emotions brought
music, a sort of Shostakovich, neo- Westerners aping our arts ham-fistedly me up short. All these years they tricked
Baroque blend with a bit of an Eastern and turning us into a weekly TV us into believing they only had one-and-
flair.” series—‘Mullah’s Place’— or some- a-third emotions.”
The Marines called in air and thing. We let you pine away thinking Douglas Jones
ground support before approaching the that only Trinitarians could produce a

Cat Owners P
Prrotest Ban fr om Iditar
from od
Iditarod
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA–The constrains a maximum number of dogs for centuries. Cats may not have the
annual Iditarod sled race from Anchor- and does not explicitly exclude any same leg strength as dogs, but they have
age to Nome, Alaska, will face a legal other mammals. “Only dogs are trail smarts. For example, they never
challenge this year from the National limited,” says Davis. “A cat musher can chase their own tails like retards.”
Cat Fanciers Association. “The Iditarod enter as many cats as she likes. We have The three planned cat teams are
race has no right to discriminate against three teams ready to go. They’ve been made up of Persian, Himalayan, and
sleds pulled by a team of cats. The training for years as part of various Siberian breeds whose genes have been
Iditarod committee still seems to be Snow Rescue Teams in the Yukon.” thoroughly acclimated to Alaskan
blinded by the old prejudice that The Iditarod Trail Committee conditions. Each team is to be made up
assumes dogs are stronger and more went public last month with statistics of eighty to ninety cats each. Mary
competent at sledding,” says Mary showing the low-performance record of Davis added that “the teams will feature
Davis, vice president of the NCFA. “If the cat rescue teams. “People were some of our strongest cats, especially
you say ‘sled’ they automatically picture dying left and right, for Pete’s sake. The Brighty, Samantha, Mr. Moomoo, and
a dog. They need to join the twenty-first cat teams would start off strong but Snuggles.”
century.” after a few yards they would become In response, Frank Durry, chairman
The race trail extends between totally indifferent to the plight of those of the Iditarod Trail Committee, asked,
1,049 and 1,150 miles and the current trapped. Other times they would start “Mr. Moomoo and Snuggles? I’m
race record held by Doug Swingley is 9 to dig through the snow but give up worried that the Huskies will laugh
days, 2 hours. In 2002, the prize money after a few inches and cover-up the hole their dog sort of laugh, and some cat is
total of $550,000 was split between 30 again.” bound to get squished, and then the
mushers. The NCFA disputes the statistics, whining will really start.” Mary Davis
The Iditarod rules state that “the claiming that they are “from early in appeared to hiss slightly and replied, “It
maximum number of dogs a musher the cats’ training” and that the methods sounds like someone’s a little afraid of
may start the race with is sixteen.” The assume “the same feline stereotypes that real competition.”
NCFA will argue that the rule only have held cats back from team sports Douglas Jones

8 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 THE CRETAN TIMES
CRETAN

Book of Chur ch Or
Church der Causes Epidemic of R
Order econciliations
Reconciliations
ATLANTA, PA–Conservative marriages and 904 apostate children Assembly minutes. Zondervan wouldn’t
presbyterians around the nation were turning back to their parents. We’re comment on rumors about a “Robert’s
found pumping their fists in the air over taking the BCO on a nationwide road Rules Bible” that fills in the all those
growing reports that their various Books show.” embarrassing procedural gaps in
of Church Order have spurred wide- Other conservative presbyterians Jerusalem Council types of passages.
spread spiritual revivals and reconcilia- quickly caught on and duplicated the Presbyterian theologian, Calvin
tions. “Critics have always whined that results across the country. After a Turret of ETA seminary of the RPS
spending hours of committee time month of twenty-four hour readings under the auspices of the CPR, ex-
perfecting super-precise constitutional from the BCO, the entire town of plained that “We’re realizing that the
language was pointless, but now we see Radish, NM, population 45,000, entire eschatological thrust of the New
the payoff,” said Archie Alexander, a converted to presbyterianism. Pastor Testament is toward increasing
midwest clerk of presbytery. “Legal Jade Maloney of First Providential bureaucratic precision and order. The
prose actually appears to prompt the Covenant Church said, “The people kingdom starts off as a little unseconded
Holy Spirit’s work.” were drawn by the sheer mathematical motion, but it grows into an amended
One southern presbytery that had orderliness of our church government. overture that might get a 2/3 vote.”
faced a rash of church splits decided to Then when we read to them from our The moderator of the RAF added that
go after the problems by making pastors presbytery minutes, they told us that “Presbyterians are really on the cutting
and church members sit through public they had not known life before such edge. The White House has ordered a
readings of the Book of Church Order careful procedural policies. Some special printing of the BCO for use in
and Robert’s Rules of Order. “The grateful teens started chanting ‘Neces- the Arab-Israeli conflict. When we
results have been beyond our wildest sary and Sufficient Conditions Forever’ heard this at presbytery, we got so
expectations,” said stated clerk Henley to a Britney Spears’ tune.” Several towns excited we broke out in quiet hand-
Vos. “Not only have the church in New England are demanding shakes.”
divisions been totally healed, we have sermons and even Bible translations that Douglas Jones
documentation showing 457 healed match the stirring precision of General

Face Pier
Pier cings Make Others Star
iercings Staree
SANTA MONICA, CA–A fierce is proud of that symbolism, and we’re face piercings empower people with a
division has arisen within the body- trying to recoup that attention denied to primitive spirituality that raises them
piercing community between those who us as kids. If people stopped staring at above technological impersonalism.
want to be stared at and those offended my tongue stud, then I’d have to “But they still want to work the high-
by all the staring. “I didn’t spend all that become an actor or a politician.” tech deep fryers at McDonalds,” says
money for a lip ring and five eyebrow Dr. Cynthia Newman of Southern one Fresno employer who wished to
rings just so people would look at me Coast Community College, herself a remain nameless. “They don’t have the
like some freak,” says Suzi Ricky, a double-nose ring bearer, has found courage of their convictions.” Another
WalMart greeter. Tracy Zachary, sociological support for the PIDNA, employer comments that “I am crippled
fourteen, explains, “I like did it to reading through recent field studies. by trying to avert my gaze all the time;
express my individuality, to show like “The face piercers we interviewed didn’t it gives them an aura of holiness that
control over my life. People just don’t directly invoke parental neglect, but makes me weak in the knees.”
get it; it’s as if they’re staring at my they did speak of their deep need to Suzi Ricky remains unconvinced.
breasts. It’s such an invasion.” conform with other nonconformists. “Look, I pierce my face to prove that I
Jake “The Spike” Theodore, Some mentioned duplicating the have no long-term vision for the future.
president of the newly formed Piercers symbolism of piracy, and historical I pierce to prove my dominion over my
in Desperate Need of Attention research on pirates suggests that pirate own face. Self-centeredness is sexy.”
(PIDNA), says that piercers who parents rarely read aloud to them.” After a three-day PIDNA
complain about people staring are More research from the Vermont roundtable-discussion evaluated various
simply bringing shame upon the project. Institute of Semiotic Studies suggests a proposals and research projects, the
“Staring opponents are just morons,” he link between face piercings and the panelists could only agree that face
says. “Body piercings are supposed to be longing for a primitive state, somewhat piercings actually do cause little kids to
uniforms for those of us who never got akin to those tribes who put tea saucers stare an awful lot.
enough attention as children. Our group in their lips. The study suggests that Douglas Jones

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 9

 ANVIL

Priestiality it well, because we have just now crested same accusers are simultaneously insisting
the hill, and are only now picking up that organizations like the Boy Scouts
There is no sense in complaining about speed. start to do.
the unfairness of it all—our adversaries Let us point out the obvious. These Suppose the Roman Catholic
understand that we are in a war, and we are homosexual priests. Now we have hierarchy in this country were not
do not. They employ whatever they can in been told ad nauseam by our enlightened corrupt (a big suppose) and had done the
that war, however they can, and they do rulers that homosexual teachers, and right thing. Suppose they defrocked these
not mind that we like to stand around in homosexual Boy Scout leaders, and so priests for being practicing homosexuals.
the middle of the battle, clueless. on, present no risks worthy of mention What then? Then the Church would have
The most recent egregious to those young boys who are under their been accused of a broad assortment of
manifestion of this very potent kultursmog authority and influence. Anyone who hate crimes.
is the reaction of our illuminati to the thinks differently was probably born in You can’t tell the players without a
scandals rocking the American wing of the ninteenth century, or eastern scorecard. The Roman hierarchy has the
the Roman Catholic Church. The scandal Tennessee, or both. worst possible combination going; they
concerns Roman Catholic priests who But now we have glaring evidence to are simultaneously cowardly and corrupt.
have been abusing their orders, along with the contrary. So what happened? All of a The homo priests were simply acting
teen-aged boys, coupled with the sudden, poof, the word pedophilia appeared their part as brute beasts, and so we
scandalous fact that the Church hierarchy from the clear blue sky. But these were understand their priestiality. And those
covered up and put up with all this in a not little kids. By and large they were dogs who have taken this occasion to
massive way. teen-aged boys. And why were we not howl at Christian sexual morality are
While there is no sense complaining referring to their seducers as gay priests, vicious and wicked. The sooner we learn
about the double standard that is applied or homosexual priests? this, the less we will have to regret later.
in such situations, we should at least The Roman Catholic Church is Douglas Wilson
understand it. And we should understand being accused of doing that which these

Pimps and Wimps

Wimps our midst don’t like the antithesis and like the bad guys—David’s brothers—so
don’t want a fight. They expend their they stand over on the Israelite side of the
The savage wit of Ambrose Bierce has energies trying to make the Church line, vaporing helplessly with their
quite a bit to teach us victims of the relevant to the world by making the swords. They do have enough valor to
cultural tempest in our particular little fin Church a third-rate copy of that world. shout back at Goliath, something witty
de siecle teapot. In his Devil’s Dictionary he For the purposes of definition here, by along the lines of “Oh, yeah?” But any
left us a short little edifying story under “moderates” I mean “liberals” who are display of valor beyond that would bring
his definition of “valor”: confused enough to think they are them into a collision with the enemy.
“Why have you halted?” roared the evangelicals—which, incidentally, is now I know that many will think that this
commander of a division at Chickamauga, who the character of the tepid moderate water is an over-generalization, and they will
had ordered a charge; “move forward, sir, at of the evangelical mainstream. Just as think of many individuals and organiza-
once.” conservative Republicans today are far to tions that are involved in our “culture
“General,” said the commander of the the left of the Democrats of forty years wars.” But this reputation for heroism is
delinquent brigade, “I am persuaded that any ago, so contemporary evangelicals are to largely undeserved. We are generally so
further display of valor by my troops will bring the left of the theological liberals of cowardly that we think yelling at the giant
them into collision with the enemy.” forty years ago—and all done with the is Bronze Star level behavior. Conscien-
This kind of thing can happen for kind of serene ignorance that would tious insiders in many of these organiza-
two reasons. First, the troops may be make the Buddha envious. tions will tell you that there is a fatal rule
more than a little sympathetic with the At any rate, this relevancy gambit is requiring hesitation and shrinking back.
adversary. They don’t want to fight when taken up by all those who want to pimp They will tell you of many discussions or
they could be friends. Or, second, there the bride of Christ, although they usually board meetings where it was decided to
may be true antipathy—but it is mingled like to use different verbs. And whenever hold back “for fear that . . .”
with cowardice. David’s brothers didn’t you hear the word relevance used in any And so the armor continues to sit in
like Goliath, but neither did they want to religious discussions, prepare for the most Saul’s tent, with no one to wear it.
actually go out there. astounding irrelevance to follow on hard. Douglas Wilson
Theological liberals and moderates in But then there are those who don’t

10 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 PRESB YTERION
PRESBYTERION

This is More of That

More
Douglas Wilson picked up over the years. Most copies of the New Testament
mark citations from the Old in some way. The unfortunate
IN our last installment, we addressed the importance of thing is that the reverse is not usually done—those places in the
typological interpretation in handling the Word. If Scripture is Old Testament which are quoted later on in the New are rarely
sufficient for all things, then surely it must be sufficient to teach marked as such. The thing to do is to fix the problem yourself
us how we are to handle the text of Scripture. The writers of the with marker pens. Look up every place in the Old Testament
New Testament provide us with many examples of typological which is quoted in the New and mark it with a highlighter.
interpretation from the Old Testament, and we have a prima facie Then off in the margin write down the New Testament
obligation to learn how to read Scripture the same way. reference where it is quoted.
But a very important question was raised in that column When this is done, it is time to read through the Old
which was not answered in any detail. Where are the brakes on Testament, together with all the reminders that the New
this system of interpretation? How can we handle Scripture in Testament contains authoritative teaching on the marked Old
this way without flying off into fanciful or frivolous interpreta- Testament passages. For example, when you come to Psalm 2,
tions? The fact that other schools of interpretation have to you are reminded at once that there is teaching on what the
answer the same question does not mean that we have answered Psalm means in multiple places in the New Testament.
it. The first thing that will become apparent is that Jesus and
So what prevents fanciful interpretation? How should we His apostles had favorite books and passages. Anyone who
begin our lessons in a sober and biblically grounded typology? wants to grasp the teaching of the New Testament has to master
Perhaps an analogy can help. Consider the text of the New Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Isaiah, which are quoted in
Testament on a single sheet as an overlay for the Old. The Old the New Testament constantly. And the way to learn these Old
Testament is a single sheet underneath. Every place the New Testament books (and all the others) is to learn what the New
Testament interprets the Old in a particular way, (metaphori- Testament says about them. But this is rarely done. Any preacher
cally) drive a nail through both testaments. Let the New who uses commentaries when preaching through Old Testament
Testament fix the meaning of every Old Testament passage it books can testify how rare it is for the apostolic interpretation
addresses. to be taken into account by the commentator as he seeks to find
What does this do to the passages that are not addressed the meaning of the text before him. Surely this should be a cause
directly? The passages that we have fixed in place limit our range of astonishment.
of motion. Let me illustrate. To understand Adam as a type of The modernist approach to the text is to interpret it
Christ is settled by the New Testament (Rom. 5; 1 Cor. 15). according to certain modernist rules, and to the extent the
Adam had a wife named Eve (Gen. 3:20 ), and Christ has a apostolic teaching is referenced at all, it provides anachronistic
bride also—the Church (Eph. 5:25). If we were to call the embarrassment. Once, while taking a class on hermeneutics at
Church the last Eve, we are saying something that Scripture does an evangelical seminary, I heard the instructor say that Paul was,
not explicitly say anywhere, but which Scripture does implicitly and I quote, “wrong” in his handling of Hagar and Sarah. But
require. Our fixed points of reference require this of us. We this instructor never would have dreamed of saying that the
cannot consistently deny that the Church is an Eve—she is academic experts were wrong about Genesis because they didn’t
married to an Adam. see two covenants in these women.
But if we were to say that Eve is a type of “Madeleine Some might still be suspicious of reasoning “by good and
Albright listening to the United Nations serpent,” then we are literary consequence” from fixed reference points. In the
exercising our imaginations, not interpreting Scripture. Our abstract, it can sound scary, but it is still academic. Most of us
interpretation amounts to little more than a common vocabu- could spend several profitable years discovering how thoroughly
lary exercise in elementary schools, where the students are told typological the New Testament handling of the Old Testament
to write a story using this week’s vocabulary words. Very few actually is in all the “fixed” places. Even if we never take a step
objective contraints are put on the work of imagination. The beyond that, we will still find ourselves with a much richer
Madeleine Albright illustration is biblical interpretation only understanding of the Word than we currently have.
because biblical vocabulary words, like Eve, are used in it. As And if we do take the next step, as we should, we will simply
C.S. Lewis once said of fanciful interpretation, if the text had be following dominical and apostolic leadership.
had small pox, the sermon wouldn’t have caught it.
An exercise that could be very helpful to pastors in accom-
plishing this mindset is one that was instrumental in helping me
shake loose many of the unbiblical doctrinal assumptions I

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 11

 MUSIC
MUSICAA

Litur gical Cultur

Liturgical e
Culture
Duck Schuler When He calls us into the throne room, He teaches us how
to be kings by His own perfect rule. When we hear His
MUCH HAS been written on the different kinds of existing Word, He teaches us how to live our lives according to that
culture: folk, high, and popular. An especially fine work on Word and how to share the Word with others. When He
this subject is Ken Myers’ All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes shows us how He sacrificed His own beloved Son, we learn
in which Myers compares these three cultures from a how to give our lives in thanksgiving and spiritual sacrifice.
Christian viewpoint and draws some insightful and deeply Image bearers want to be like their Father, and this is learned
profound conclusions about the value of each of these most keenly in worship.
cultures. As I have thought about music and culture from the In a biblical model, folk, high, and popular culture flow
perspective of a church musician, I have contemplated these out of and are formed by our liturgical culture. If our
categories of folk, high, and popular culture, with regard to liturgical culture is glorious, we would expect to see the
music performed in worship, and have come to the conclusion standard of culture in the world becoming more glorious; and
that there is perhaps another category of culture–liturgical. likewise, if the liturgical culture is full of stench, culture at
The difficulty with categorizing liturgical culture is large will come to have the same stench.
figuring out how it relates to the other three. The Bible begins An unbiblical model of liturgical culture works in the
its discussion of culture in Genesis 1:26 and continues it fully opposite way. Instead of learning from God by imitation and
in chapter 2. Genesis 2:5 tells us that “there was no man to then teaching the world by taking dominion, the culture
cultivate the ground.” One of man’s purposes was to cultivate would imitate the world and attempt to dominate God
ground. As in the English, the Hebrew root for the word through manipulation. In general, that is the way culture is
“cultivate” carries a variety of connotations in its meaning, working today. The Church has abdicated its responsibilities
including such ideas as plowing, working, fatiguing, working as salt and light in the culture. It borrows all the worst of our
as a slave, serving, being honored, and worshiping. When man stinking culture, brings it into the sanctuary, and attempts to
was made, God placed him in the Edenic garden-sanctuary in manipulate God through the saccharine sentimentalism of a
order that he might “cultivate (dress–AV) it and keep it” narcissistic culture.
(2:15). This verse is preceded by a discussion of the rivers Liturgical culture therefore is the fountain and source for
which flow out of Eden through the garden and into the the other kinds of culture, whether it follows a biblical model
world where Adam will be able to find gold, bdellium, and or an unbiblical model. An example of the musical outwork-
onyx as raw materials to dress the garden. ing of this in culture is the oft-used paradigm of using love
The garden was the place where Adam was to meet with songs and bar tunes as a source and model for music in
God; it was a place where Adam found food; it was a place of worship. Those who want to look to the world for their
worship and communion. Adam was charged to make the imitation of music will cite the Reformers and in particular
garden-sanctuary more glorious than it already was and at the Martin Luther as an example of one who borrowed the best
same time keep (guard) it. He was to guard it from the wiles love tunes of his age for singing in the Church. This tech-
of Satan and keep it for the glory, worship, and service of nique of adding liturgical texts to secular songs was called
God. Notice that God places Adam first in the garden and making a contrafactum and, although practiced by the Reform-
not in the land of Eden. As he cultivates and keeps the garden, ers, it was rarely done. But even though it was done, the
he is taught the skills necessary for taking dominion of the musical borrowing was still different than the contrafacta
land and eventually the whole world (1:26). The lessons are techniques today. Because the Church had a strong influence
learned in the sanctuary before dominion of the world takes on the culture, secular love songs of the Middle Ages and
place. God’s plan for cultivating man is to have him in His Renaissance often had the character and influence of the
presence in worship, to bring glory to God, and to learn what Church. So when a contrafactum was made, the musicians were
it means to made in God’s image. Only as a true image bearer not borrowing but taking back what already belonged to
will man be able to take dominion properly. How we them.
worship, then, determines how we live our lives. Today, the Church no longer has a strong influence on
Watch a child who has a good relationship with his culture. When it borrows, it no longer borrows in imitation
parents and you will see that the child imitates the parent. of God but imitation of the world. Who we imitate makes all
You’ll find a young boy mowing the lawn with his toy mower the difference.
when Dad is mowing the lawn, or shaving with his toy razor
while Dad is shaving. He wants to be like Dad. In the same
way we learn to be image bearers by observing and imitating
our heavenly Father. This is best done in the presence of God.

12 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 HUSBANDR
HUSBANDRYY

Sexual Gr umbling
Grumbling
Douglas Wilson appetite abroad while eating at home. An undiscriminating
man who has a steady diet of movies and television shows he
A GOOD MARRIAGE is characterized by an ability to talk about shouldn’t have is going to grow increasingly discontented
anything. This does not mean that it is easy to talk about with his wife’s appearance.
everything, but rather that any subject can be addressed in a He might respond that he would be happy to be satisfied
way that is profitable. with her breasts, but that she won’t let him near them, which
One area where talking can be difficult is in the area of leads to the second kind of complaint—not the way she looks
sex—particularly in discussing the sexual temptations which to him, but the way she responds to him. Because her behavior
come at the relationship from outside. Because sexual is under her control, men sometimes assume that they have a
discussion between husband and wife can be difficult for right to complain here if they do not appreciate something.
many reasons, there are a number of things that a husband What these men do not realize is that a woman’s sexual
should remember as he takes responsibility for undertaking responsiveness flourishes, as a luxuriant green plant in the
such risky business. At the center of everything is his duty of garden, in direct correlation to how it is nourished and
Christian contentment. watered. Many men complain that their wives are too
First, a husband should be clear in his mind that he is embarrassed to be as responsive and hot as the Shulamite, but
talking about his temptations, not giving way to them. In they are too embarrassed to praise her as the Shulamite’s
short, talking should be honest talking, and not a form of husband did. And so we may call this the complaint of the
discontented manipulation. He should understand what his fool.
temptations actually are, and what they are not. His wife The third complaint occurs when a wife is actively
should be able to help him resist those things which are sinning against her husband, either through infidelity, gross
temptations to sin. But if he doesn’t believe something is sin, lack of submission, refusal to have relations with him, and so
but talks to her as though he is “struggling” with it, he is on. If a woman is sinning in this way, a husband does not
actually trying to manipulate or corrupt her, not talk with her. have the right to overlook the problem. If he cannot bring the
More than one man has “confessed” certain things to his wife situation around, then he is responsible to get help from the
when he was actually trying to corrupt her with them. outside. If he refuses, but still complains, it is the complaint
Another issue is that honor and praise always edify every of a coward.
aspect of a relationship, including sex, while grumbling is If a man knows that his desire to talk with his wife does
destructive and tears down. Many men are chronic sexual not proceed from discontent, then a talk about all these things
complainers, and Scripture forbids complaining (Phil. 2:14), can be quite helpful. He should remember that a husband is
and requires contentment (Phil. 4:11). Further, the Bible says responsible to help his wife respond to him correctly as he
that men are to honor their wives (1 Pet. 3:7), and this talks with her. Many women have gotten themselves into a
includes expressing honor to them for their sexual attractive- trap—they are offended when their husbands keep things
ness. Godly contentment is closely related to an undefiled back from them, but then they are offended in a different way
marriage bed (Heb. 13:4–5). Put another way, many men if their husbands tell them any details about their temptations.
think they are tempted by lust when they are really tempted In short, they penalize honesty and penalize dishonesty.
more by a discontented and critical spirit. When wives do this, a man can’t win for losing, and so he
In many cases, they wouldn’t dream of complaining frequently winds up clever and dishonest. He needs to become
about their food-life the way they complain about their sex wise and honest. It is all well and good to say that a woman
life. But complaining always tears down. A man who com- shouldn’t respond this way, but the husband is the one
plained about the food all the time is unlikely to see an responsible to help her work through this. She is given to him
improvement in the cooking. It is the same in the bedroom— as a helper, and one of the things he needs help with is sexual
a man who constantly complains about sex is unlikely to see fidelity (1 Cor. 7:2). And marriage is a help with this in other
improvement in the cooking there either. This remains true ways than simply providing physical sexual release. Godly
even if all his complaints remain unspoken. Complaining is communi- conversation is an important part of it.
cated in countless ways. But in order to provide true help, the foundation of all
Complaints can be divided into three categories. The first discussion between a Christian husband and wife must be
is that a man’s wife does not look like other women. We may contentment. A contented man and woman can strive to
call this the adulterous complaint. A man is told to be glorify God still more in what they learn sexually. But if the
satisfied with his wife’s breasts (Prov. 5:19), and this excludes striving is built on discontent, then everything they learn how to
the common practice that many men have of getting their do will only exacerbate that discontent.

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 13

 FEMINA

The Postpartum Mother

Postpartum
Nancy Wilson should seek to glorify God throughout the process, both in
the preparation and the actual delivery. She should reject false
“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the ideas about her personality suddenly changing in labor,
everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27) turning her into a sharp, nasty woman who is biting people’s
heads off. This is a lie. If she is normally quick to be angry,
WHENEVER I ADDRESS a topic related to child birthing, it is a certainly labor will just be another opportunity to sin. But if
very delicate operation indeed. Women have strong loyalties she is normally a kind-hearted woman, she will continue to be
and views, as well as birth stories and experiences that may so even under the provocation of labor. The world wants to
conflict with what I say, and I do not want to give offense excuse sin and does so by calling things “syndromes.”
needlessly. So in this article I hope to encourage and edify, Childbirth is something women are equipped by God to do.
not discourage or offend. He has promised to keep His people, and He will certainly
In all things related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the not abandon His children at a moment when He is bringing a
postpartum mother, a Christian woman is called to think and new covenant-child into the world. The everlasting arms are
act like a Christian. In our day, as in every other generation, something a new mother can trust eternally. In this, as in
the secular community is eager to give its input and make everything, the Christian has a tremendous advantage over the
disciples. Most modern books about pregnancy and childbirth unbeliever: ours are the promises! Christ will never leave us or
espouse secular, nonChristian, or sometimes anti-Christian forsake us. He wants to bless us and provide for us in all
views. The Christian woman must gather her information conditions. Our business is to rest in Him.
with great care and wisdom as though she were picking At the same time, we are flesh and blood. He knows our
flowers in a dangerous minefield. frame. We are not to see ourselves as cartoon bionic women
What are some of these dangerous ideas? Here are a few who can do anything: no drugs, no doctors, no problem. We
samples. Often the pregnant woman is told to expect to be may become frightened. We may grow weary. We may
angry during birth. She will probably yell at her husband, and wonder why we are shedding tears. We must remember that
that is okay because labor pains are in fact pains. She may not He is sanctifying us; we are all at different places in this
even like her baby at first because of the trouble the child has supernatural process. So we must be kind to one another and
caused her in birth. And after birth she may plunge into a bear one another’s burdens. If a weaker sister “loses it” in
depression that may last for weeks. These statements imply childbirth, then we gently instruct her and forgive her and
that a woman has no control over her own feelings and pray better things of her next time. If she becomes “de-
actions. pressed” after childbirth, we must seek to help her. It may be
What is wrong with this sort of preparation for child- hormones. What isn’t? It may be that she thinks she is
birth and mothering? It can be frightening to a godly woman expected to have a bout with the postpartum blues, and so she
who fears she will be a disgrace to her God and her husband. is doing her best to do what she has been told. She may not
Or it can give the weak Christian an excuse for all kinds of know what is causing it. But we must encourage her not to
ungodly behavior. This mentality that makes provision for sin give way to it. The blues are a common thing. We must not
speaks nothing of duty and does not account at all for the indulge ourselves at this point. Our feelings must in this case
promise of grace and strength from Christ. be ignored. Yes, it is common for some women to feel blue
Though many things relating to childbirth fall in the after birth. For some it is a passing thing of but a few
category of things indifferent, some things do not. What do I minutes. For others it may persist longer. And for some, they
mean? These are examples of things indifferent, things that cannot imagine feeling blue after such an exhilarating event.
are not moral issues: birthing at home vs. the hospital, But for those who do lose heart, we must cheer them on, and
midwives vs. doctors, pain medication vs. natural, exhort them to resist the temptation to stop and analyze what
breastfeeding vs. the bottle, schedule vs. demand feeding. But is going on. There is too much work to be done!
some things are moral issues, and these include the demeanor Birthing is such a glorious privilege and high calling. We
of the new mother. Christian women (whether childbearing must embrace it with wisdom and hardheaded obedience. We
or not) are required to be patient in affliction, to cast their ought to stay away from reading stupid stuff or listening to
cares on the Lord, to trust Him in all their ways, to honor foolish women. We should determine before God, by the
and respect their husbands. These are moral issues that matter grace of God, to make our husbands proud of us as we do our
to God. hard work of bringing children into the world. We don’t
As the Christian woman approaches childbirth, she want our husbands or our God to be ashamed of us by
should endeavor to prepare herself spiritually as well as forgetting who we are or in Whom we trust. The eternal God
physically and mentally. She should pray that God would give is our refuge at all times, particularly as we fulfill our calling
her a gentle and quiet spirit as she enters into labor. She by bearing children.

14 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 CHILDER

Children and the Movies

Children
Douglas Wilson A second principle is closely related, and that is a
humility of mind which does not reject centuries of sanctified
IT USED to be possible to say that a child’s formal schooling nervousness out of hand. Parents should recognize that the
was—after the influence of the child’s parents—the most historic Christian church has had a long (although not
important formative influence in the life of that child. But I unbroken) tradition of nervousness over drama, theater, and
have come to the conviction that in most instances, formal all such kindred arts. From the early church fathers on down,
schooling has dropped to third place. Parents still occupy “plays” have consistently been regarded with strong suspicion.
first, if for no other reason than for what influences they With the Reformers Martin Bucer and Theodore Beza, I do
allow to follow after them. But in most cases that second believe such an across-the-board rejection is misguided. But at
place has been taken up by pop culture. the same time, because I want to respect my fathers in the
In referring to the effects of pop culture, I mean all the faith, I want to honor the heart of their concern, which is
influence exercised by top-40 radio, CDs, movies, videos, legitimate. Paraphrasing Chesterton, some errors are too
book crazes like Harry Potter, television shows, fashion ancient to be patronized. If I were in an debate with John
crazes, athletic fads, and so on. Children may be taken to Chrysostom about the corrosive effects of “theater,” the
church, educated in a Christian school or homeschooled, but overwhelming majority of young people I know who are into
the gaseous nature of pop culture still makes it possible for it movies would supply his case with a good deal more evidence
to fill up every available crack. From that position, filling than they would mine. This second principle is simply that
every void, pop culture exercises an enormously destructive the burden of proof lies with the one who calls loudly for
influence. But it does not do this automatically. The destructiveness entertainment—will this also be edifying? Is it pure? Noble?
always requires a certain kind of naive simplicity on the part Lovely?
of the victims. The application of this in the home works this way—
Let us consider just one aspect of this—children and the worldview thinking in this whole area has to be positive, not
movies. If parents are grounded in certain basic principles, negative. In other words, most parents get turned around
they can ensure that their children learn to acquire those same backwards in discussions with their children about this. Let us
principles. But if the parents are not so grounded, or they say that the parents have said, “We do not want you to go
refuse to apply what they know as they teach their children, with your friends to see Stupid in Seattle.” The kid then asks,
then those children are going to be discipled by the culture of naturally, “Why not?” and the burden of proof is now on the
reprobates. parents to show why they have made the prohibition, and so
The first principle concerns discrimination and the off they go to screenit.com to count the hells and damns. But the
amount of movie-watching. The natural tendency of “much inculcation of a biblical worldview means that children
movie-watching” is to blur and smudge the mind. It is always should be taught to do everything they do as Christians, and
difficult to smell the atmosphere you breath. If you grow up they should be required to interact with their world intelli-
near the railway, you can’t hear the trains. Now it is not gently as Christians. So let us say that they were allowed to go
necessary to smell the atmosphere you breathe, provided it is to see Stupid in Seattle. When they return, they are asked, “How
healthy. But if you live downwind of the paper mill, the fact was it?” The natural answer invariably comes back—it was
that you can’t smell anything anymore is not a good sign. In not unacceptable. But parents should not be content with this.
order to maintain perspective about movies, it is necessary They should want to hear from their children a distinctively
that children be unable to say that in movies, they live and Christian review of it—something more than what they could
move and have their being. get from a review in Time or Newsweek. If the kids cannot do
As our children were growing up, one of the house rules this, they are not to be trusted to watch any movies by
was that there was to be no video (television or movies) on themselves, not even Bambi Among the Smurfs. And when a
school nights at all. An occasional show or movie was question about the next movie arises, the parents should say
permissible on the weekends. It is important that children they are making no claims about the movie; the concern is
grow up being aghast at the fellow in line at the video store that their children do not yet view or review movies like
with a stack of ten for “tonight and tomorrow.” thinking Christians. The issue is not any alleged “evil” of the
A corollary of this is that parents should discourage in director and producer, but rather the lack of wisdom in the
their children the desire to watch “a movie, any movie.” A teen-aged viewer.
movie should be seen because there are good a priori reasons Someone who can’t handle a handgun shouldn’t walk
for wanting to watch it, and not because the adolescent viewer across the city at two in the morning with $500 in his wallet.
has a need to be watching something. Mom asks, “Why do you
need to get a movie?” “I’m bored.” Such an one should clean the
garage.

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 15

 FLOTSAM
FLOTSAM

Wanna Save the World?

World?
Nathan D. Wilson good thing. But if you want to get inside the head of Aragorn
(unless you are a king yourself, and called to that breed of
WHEN you read Tolkien’s trilogy, which characters, if any, do typology) then you do an unhealthy thing. We are called to
you relate to? Do you want to be Tom Bombadil? Do you mirror Christ as best and as faithfully as we can, as Faramir
have a lot of things in common with Fanghorn? Aragorn? does Aragorn, but not to pretend to be Christ, or try to get in
Frodo? His head, or marry His bride. We love ours in imitation of
Tolkien crafted his story in a very Christian way. The His love for His.
heros are unrelatable. Not for all people, but for most. One of This is also true for Lewis’ Narnia. While boys are happy
the modern complaints that movie makers had to work to pretend to be lions, you generally won’t find them pretend-
around in producing their film is the completely unrelatable ing to be Aslan. The stories don’t lend themselves to such
character of Arwen. She is the pure, immortality-sacrificing imagination.
elf maiden who cannot marry any mortal lower than a king of This is not true for the Harry Potter stories. The
all of the West. She doesn’t have much in common with your difference is substantial. It is also not an evil. The Harry
average female viewer. Potter stories should not be chucked because you relate to the
But Eowyn. She’s got it. She is the shield maiden with a main character. This is a stylistic literary difference which
longing for greatness. She reaches for Aragorn but falls betrays both Lewis’ and Tolkien’s wisdom and Rowling’s
beneath him. She has angst, discontent, drive, and desire. She popness.
disobeys her king to fight with the men. She’s human. She In Tolkien all the relatable characters surround the hero.
also is nothing like the modern theater-going female. But she In Rowling the only relatable character is the hero. We don’t
is a character that watching girls could claim to be like. They relate to Hagrid the half-giant, or Dumbledore the wizard.
would love to think they are of the same mold. Why doesn’t We don’t relate to Harry’s friend Ron (generally), though
she get Aragorn? She’s so much cooler than Arwen. Hermione is thrown in there to give girls something to
And so, in the film, Arwen needs a greater role. She needs pretend. The only head we get inside, and this is quite literal,
to compete with Eowyn. The modern American teen needs to is Harry’s. We constantly dwell in his thoughts, and very
be satisfied when she gets the guy, and the modern American rarely (I can’t remember an instance) in any other characters’.
boy needs to be more attracted to her than to Eowyn. In all of the stories, Harry serves as the Christ figure. He
Otherwise how will he be satisfied when he is pretending to is the messiah of this particular world. He is also the one
be Aragorn and ends up with the one he didn’t like? What’s whose head we are all in. While it is evil to try to get into the
he doing relating to Aragorn in the first place? head of Christ, passion plays and Jesus films included, it is
One of the truly Christian beauties of Tolkien’s stories is not evil to try and get into the head of a Christ type. We read
their hierarchy. He paints a picture of the world as Scripture the Psalms and see more of David than we ever do of
does. There are those in the story who mirror the angelic, or Aragorn. We read of Samson and want to understand him.
are Christ figures. There are those who are the lords of men, But Harry Potter and Aragorn exist for different reasons.
there are the faithful servants of various degrees, and unfaith- Aragorn exists in a conscious attempt to paint truth and
ful servants. reality in the most effective and accurate way possible, faithful
We are not meant to relate to Aragorn or Arwen. We are service and lordship. Harry Potter exists to give kids an
not meant to relate to Gandalf, Bombadil, Elrond, or even, interesting hero in an interesting world and a reason to read.
quite possibly, Frodo. They are our superiors. We are meant Harry Potter is fluff when compared to the depths that
to view Aragorn as a lord, Gandalf and Elrond as angelic, and are plumbed in Narnia and Middle Earth. And Rowling was
Bombadil as an odd Adamic-Christ figure. We are not meant not aiming for depths, she was aiming for a pop story. She
to fall in love with Arwen because she is our queen. We are emphatically got one, and lots of money besides.
not meant to view ourselves as the one called up to carry the Harry Potter is a not a healthy diet for children if they
burden of the world, because we are not meant to be arrogant. live on it exlusively, and it creates their imaginative paradigms.
We are the Sams, the Eomers, the Beregonds and If they are fed only dreams of being the most magical of all
Faramirs. We are Pippins and Merriadocs. We are even the little boys and girls, and mixing up potions, then you are
Boromirs, but we are not Aragorns. We may love Eowyn killing them. But if your children have been fed on dreams
because she is beneath the king, meant for his faithful steward marinated in Lewis and Tolkien, they’ll have no trouble
Faramir. We can strive to be like Legolas and Gimli, but surviving a corndog from Potter.
never Galadriel and Celeborn.
The characters we are meant to relate to are also vastly
our superiors. But they are set up for us as models of imita-
tion. If you were to strive to be like Faramir, you would do a

16 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 TOHU

The Meaning of Magic

Jared Miller magic” of aboriginal cultures (popularly described as “voo-
doo”—objective transference of symbolic actions), and the
THE PRACTICE and description of magic does not alarm me; phenomenon of magical words, objects, or substances in the
more alarming is the fact that we possess a category for “magic” ancient and medieval Western world. But a brief examination
in our heads and don’t have the foggiest idea of what it means. renders this definition, too, hardly satisfactory. Consider the
If the use of magic in literature is to become a bone of premises: there is some kind of force in the world; it is under-
contention in Christian circles, we at least had better know what stood only by a small group of initiates; it is morally neutral
we are talking about. except in application; it is harnessed by the human will in a
Perhaps we could think of it as any means of control or predictable and repeatable way, by means of procedure and
knowledge which makes use of “supernatural” beings or forces. apparatus. It is, in fact, no different from our modern science.
Necromancers consult the dead; witches conjure familiar spirits; What is the difference between “sympathy” and electromagne-
special words, objects, or substances exert mysterious influences. tism? Incantations and equations? The scientist would reply
Such an idea is as problematic as the idea of “supernatural” that magic was primitive science which, lacking a rigorous
itself—we so often assume that nature is an inflexible, friction- logical and experimental foundation, “didn’t work.” Magic in
less atom billiard-table, cheerfully banging away until some fiction may reduce to a higher science, but in history it reduces
observing spirit (possibly a human spirit) doesn’t like what he to scientific heterodoxy, just as in our earlier definition it
sees and intervenes, causing a brief jumble until the machinery reduced to religious heterodoxy.
takes over once more. If this is the case, as Lewis once pointed Any use of the word magic to refer to historical phenom-
out, you would be performing magic every time you move your enon is thus extremely problematic, and depends heavily on the
hand or think a thought. The Christian, who believes in reigning orthodoxy. Jesus himself was a magician in the eyes of
concurrent Providence, must also admit on this definition that ruling-class Judaism, being to them the “wrong sort of person”
everything is magical, because all events and causes are a direct to perform miracles, although the people accounted Him a
exertion of the power and will of a supernatural God—but prophet.2 I would argue that we can only really think of magic,
what good is a term that denotes “everything”? Furthermore, in a historical sense, as a heterodox liturgy of power, whether it
how can this view distinguish “magic” from “miracle”? depends upon what we call “natural” or “spiritual” forces, and
We might escape these difficulties by excluding actions of entirely relative to whatever the current orthodoxy and hetero-
the human spirit (though we can’t escape having it initiated by doxy might be.
human will), conveniently ignoring Providence (ultimately, of This is all very well, but what of magic in fiction? As one
course, God does it all), and by stipulating that magic involves might expect, much of the magical phenomenon in literature is
only evil spirits or dead souls. In other words, magic is nothing merely a reflection of the culture’s perception of magic in the
more than “a miracle done by the wrong sort of person.”1 historical sense: thus Faust and the clichéd Shakespearean witch.
Though this seems rather artificially ad hoc, it is at least more But we also find misfits: fairies, elves, Merlin, Galadriel—
clear. Unfortunately the term has not been consistently used in representatives of an earthy, personal sort of power over matter
such a narrow sense in the corpus of history or literature, as and spirit, proceeding from both something good in itself but
medieval romances and folk-tales are full of beneficent magic, capable of corruption, something intuitive, creative, and artistic,
and many instances of recognizable magic do not involve which is neither a supernatural intrusion nor a mechanical lever-
personal supernatural beings at all. It still does not escape the pull. It is something like a creaturely imitation of God’s
problems of generality and the supernatural. Prayer to an idol is creation, providence, incarnation, and efficacious grace. Tolkien
a prayer to demons; such prayer is a means of power; so then is and Lewis took great care to distinguish it from “magic,” and we
all wrong worship to be construed as magical; or conversely, should pay them the complement of believing them. They are
does any use of magic reduce simply to idolatry or heterodoxy, not describing heterodox sources or means of power; they are
rendering the extra terminology useless? And a rigid nature/ translating orthodoxy into another realm, consistent within
supernature distinction reveals that we have already swallowed itself, so that we might experience it afresh. Their worlds, as
the billiard-table nature, rather than accepting the seamless symbol, remain orthodox, but benefit from the expressive range of
organic unity of all creation and insisting only on the more magic. Only clunky literalism has a problem with middle-earth.
biblical Creator/creature distinction. In short, in Christian fantasy we find a stunning paradox: the
Let us then free ourselves from supernaturality in magic; it magic of orthodoxy.
turns out to be at best vague and superfluous, and at worst
unbiblical. Magic must be defined as the use of impersonal
occult (read: hidden or secret) forces in order to obtain
knowledge or power. Such is the well-known “sympathetic

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 17

 STAURON
STA

Potter Knows Best?

Gary Hagen kind of discernment is not always simple, but it is available to
those willing to chew on adult food (Heb. 5:14).
IS HARRY Potter lawful entertainment for Christians? Yes. As to the issue of fantasy literature, a cursory survey finds
And no. superficial parallels between Harry Potter and Christian
Far from equivocating or trying to have it both ways, fantasy literature such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and C.S.
such an answer is an application of fundamental biblical Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Wheaton College English
wisdom. But some Christians are quick to hyperventilate over professor Alan Jacobs has “argued for a slippery slope from
the ubiquitous sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, divination, Tolkien and Lewis to Rowling, suggesting that Christians
and spells in Rowling’s books and the movie spin-off. This who accept Tolkien and Lewis but object to Rowling are
list of abominations is roundly condemned in Scripture and being inconsistent or hypocritical.”8 But an analysis of the
forbidden by God.1 The prohibitionists point out that the hedges employed by both Lewis and Tolkien to create a gulf
biblical sanction for these acts was the death penalty and between real-world occult practices and fantasy magic very
eternal hellfire. All true, and a hearty Amen. But none of that adroitly refutes views like Jacobs’.9 But other writers have
prescribes a wooden phobia in the way many modern legalists shown the clear trend of modern authors such as Rowling
would like to have it. toward a neopagan worldview and their inversion of historical
Take another sin: idolatry. Scripture minces no words on Christian symbolism in recent fantasy literature.10
the evils of whoring after strange gods. Not only is idolatry It is this neopagan worldview, and not so much the
forcefully forbidden in the Ten Commandments, but it leads surface fantasy trappings, that spells potential for trouble in
the list. The pollutions of this spiritual adultery are repeatedly Potter. Like the Pauline admonition about eating meat,
driven home with rather graphic, some might say obscene, viewing or reading Potter can be harmless—if the spiritual
language, such as that used by the prophet Ezekiel.2 The maturity level is present. Our problem is its pervasive absence
point is that idolatry is every bit as much an abomination to in the modern church.
God as sorcery.3 And both can offer connections to the Many Christians are unwittingly steeped in the same
occultic realm of demons.4 Gnostic worldviews that permeate Potter. We need look no
Now most of us are familiar with Paul’s discussion further than the best-seller reception of The Prayer of Jabez.
regarding meat offered to idols. But notice that those Chasing after “hidden formulas” to successful prayer betrays a
Christians were eating the sacrificed steaks right there in the shallow Gnostic-leaning Christianity.
idol’s temple. It is worth noting that Paul did not devolve into a Man’s first sin in Eden involved a desire for secret
scolding (as we would today) about temple restaurants and knowledge and power. Potter quests for these through the
how stupid Corinthians trashed their testimony, much less magical arts. While just an infant, aided by his mother’s love,
swam in occultic waters. Rather, Paul’s caution was to take he defeated the powerful Darth Vader character, Lord
care not to stumble weaker brothers. Voldemort. Like Skywalker, Potter has awe-inspiring raw
At first glance, temple T-bone seems about as relevant to power. “The Force is strong with this one” almost echoes in
Harry Potter as Paul’s muzzled oxen5 are to pastoral W-2 the background. Wizards, witches, and students all alike fawn
forms. Exactly. with giddiness at meeting him. But like Skywalker, Potter’s
We have much to learn from Paul about Potter. A innate potential must be honed with secret knowledge. Hence
biblical response by the evangelical church is as elusive as a Hogwarts.
golden snitch. Why? Because many believers are functionally The Hogwarts School is portrayed as Gnostic guardian
illiterate on two counts: theology and culture. of esoteric knowledge that will save mankind from evil. Harry
Tolkien discouraged an allegorical view of his Rings becomes the savior-elect and trains in the hidden arts. Later,
trilogy. Nonetheless, he reflected at the close of On Fairy Stories Harry again vanquishes Voldemort, but collapses. After three
that “the distinctive joy that is the outcome of successful days he revives. By volume four, we learn that his blood has
fantasy is ‘a far-off gleam or echo of evangelium in the real resurrection powers.
world’ so that it may even enable us better to understand the Second-century Gnostics distorted the gospel. Gnostics
true gospel.” 6 But he warned that this reflection, this echo of “save” themselves with secret knowledge. But with Paul, we
the gospel, could just as easily be corrupt: “Myth and fairy must determine “not to know anything …except Jesus Christ
story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements and Him crucified.”11
of moral and religious truth (or error).”7
Therefore, the point about Potter is not simply one of
whether to countenance fantasy literature. It’s a deeper
question of what that literature says and is it true? Or, as
Tolkien put it, is it an erroneous reflection of the gospel. This

18 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 POIMEN

Cr ocodile T
Crocodile ears
Tears
Joost Nixon can take away the guilt, God, but don’t You dare infringe on
my sex life.” There is a sorrow that produces death.
WHEN PETER concluded his sermon at Pentecost, the Others wrongly identify repentance with various religious
conscience-smitten Jews asked, “Brethren, what shall we do?” acts. Repentance, they think, is responding to an altar call,
To which question Peter replied, “Repent . . . and be bap- praying “the prayer,” signing a card, or getting baptized.
tized” (Acts 2:38). But what is repentance? The question is a Repentance is walking to Dubuque on one’s knees or flogging
weighty one indeed. Hell is teeming with men who have oneself with celery greens. But God has words for those who
answered it carelessly—according to their own fancy, and not reason so foolishly. He declares all our whitest deeds to be
the Word of God. nasty and putrescent—they are to Him like menstrual rags
What is repentance? One answer identifies repentance (Isa. 64:6, Hebrew text). And if this is His opinion of our
with strong religious feelings, feelings of guilt and remorse, righteous deeds, how much more vile our unrighteous ones?
feelings of sorrow over sin. This guilt can come from a Salvation, the Bible declares, is “not a result of works” (Eph.
number of sources. Perhaps your slumbering conscience has 2:9) and “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified”
been roused by some particularly wicked act you’ve commit- (Gal. 2: 16; cf. Rom. 3:28). So our only conclusion can be
ted. Or maybe some itinerant preacher, warning of judgment that nothing we do saves us—not repeating the sinner’s prayer,
day, has conjured up the smell of brimstone (2 Thess. 1:7–8). not selling our possessions and giving to the poor, not getting
Whatever the source of religious feelings, they cannot be on the wagon, not anything. It’s all filthy rags. Only God saves.
equated with repentance, and some of them, in fact, have only Only God.
a baneful and hardening effect. One pastor wrote over 150 Repentance is not a feeling, though it is often preceded
years ago: by feelings. Repentance is not a work of the flesh, though
Christians will work at repentance until the day they see God.
Many ardent professors seem too readily to take it for So what is it? Repentance, simply put, is turning from sin and
granted that all religious feelings must be good. They to Christ. It is a change of mind that leads to a corresponding
therefore take no care to discriminate between the change in action. It is giving up rule of yourself, and willfully
genuine and the spurious, the pure gold and the tinsel. submitting to God’s rule. But if repentance is “turning” and
Their only concern is about the ardour of their “changing” and “giving up” and “submitting,” aren’t these all
feelings; not considering that if they are spurious, the works? On the surface it appears we may have been chasing
more intense they are, the further will they lead them our tail. But only on the surface. From a human perspective,
astray. In our day there is nothing more necessary than all one need to do to repent is to stop pursuing sin, turn
to distinguish carefully between true and false around, and start pursuing God. But because of the debilitat-
experiences in religion.† ing effects of sin, the very act of turning from it is not
possible. Man is “dead in his trangressions and sins” (Eph.
2:1), and dead men can’t do much. Certainly they cannot
Satan has filled the earth with his counterfeits, thus all
repent. Hence, the only reason anyone is ever saved is that the
religious feelings are not good, and even the best cannot save in
God of mercy intervenes and bestows repentance as a gift.
and of themselves. The Apostle Paul tells us, “the sorrow that is
“And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,
according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to
but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with
salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10).
gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps
There is a good sorrow, a sorrow that leads to (but is not
God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the
equated with) repentance and life. There is also the sorrow of
truth.” (2 Tim. 2:24–25).
the world, an ungodly sorrow that brings death. Worldly
In closing, it should be noted that repentance has a
sorrow is sorrow at being caught, sorrow at feeling bad,
Siamese twin sister whose name is Faith (Eph. 2:8–9, with
sorrow about the consequences of sin, sorrow about anything
2:10; Mark 1:15, etc). Faith and repentance cannot be viably
and everything except the offensiveness of sin to a loving and
separated without killing both. Faith without repentance is
holy God.
dead faith (James 2:17). And repentance without faith is dead
Miss Smith calls in for “religious counseling.” She is
works (Heb. 6:1).
quite forthcoming in explaining that she is laboring under a
crushing load of guilt from a recent abortion, and she seeks a
remedy. Of course, you are happy to tell her that Christ, and
Christ alone, can throw off such a burden. But when she
understands that He requires her to “go and sin no more”—
that her steamy one-night stands are over—she balks. “You

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 19

 VIRGA

Squinting Acr
Acr oss the Simile
cross
Matt Whitling be seen between God the Father and His children. In other
words, God the Father dictates how earthly fathers should
BLACK NIKES chirp on the desktop tearing a math paper in discipline their children by showing them His example. Of
two–the book had already hit the carpet, and the entire class course this is nothing new, fathers always teach their children
went up in effusive laughter. Ervin lay on the floor in the fetal by example, and children always learn by imitation. These
position, clutching his kidneys and undulating in an uncon- principles clearly point to the fact that godly discipline is
trollable fit of delight. One swift bound and there he was, the dependent upon the disciplinarian knowing God. Apart from
other one, standing on the desk adjacent to the podium. a knowledge of God, there is no faithful paradigm to imitate.
Another predictably bedlamourous day in Basic Math. The Given this context, it should be no surprise that those in
bent figure at the front of the room, the one with the tie on– the Christian church today, especially her leaders, are lousy
supposedly in charge–gripped the podium in anticipation of disciplinarians. The way that we discipline our children is
the next leap. Too young for heart attacks, he simply simply an echo of what we believe we
gasped. It happened. More pencils and papers see on the other side of the simile.
cascaded to the floor. Ervin’s friend leaped from Smith thinks that God’s call is
desk to desk until he landed next to the door, ineffectual, it follows that Smith’s
Nikes first. Ervin still lay jiggling on the floor, call in his home is ineffectual as
prostrate now. The bent one with white knuckles well. He believes that God is soft,
must have spoken, his lips were moving at least, mild, and impotently detached,
but it’s at this point that a deep fog invades the and in like manner he bathes his
memory. children in the same sludge. He
Many teachers and parents want pointers when it believes that God loses sheep from
comes to disciplining their kids. When my son says, (you his flock regularly, and therefore
fill in the blank), what should I say back? When my students Smith is not surprised when he loses his
do ... how should I respond? One lesson that Ervin’s friend own children. After all, it’s up to the sheep to stay in the
should teach us is that when it comes to discipline, it’s wisest flock. What’s a shepherd to do when one or two wander off,
to deal with the principles first. Naturally, the individual cases but shake, worry, and dribble on himself over the hard luck
must be addressed along the way, but unless there is a solid that has befallen them. “We did everything we could.” Fathers
foundation to rest upon and go back to, we are starting from need to look across the simile and repent of the idol they see
scratch each day. This foundation does not consist of staring them in the face. Without a clear understanding of
pointers, helpful hints, or trouble-shooting techniques. who the Father is, we are left to our own disfigured imagina-
God’s Word sets the paradigm for discipline, both in the tion of whom to imitate.
classroom and at home. And in His Word we find a number The “bent one with the tie” wanted some sort of magic
of comparisons between the way that God disciplines His wand (or other projectile) that he could wave over these
covenant people and the way that fathers should discipline students in order to make them behave. Like him, many
their own children. “Thou shalt consider in thine heart, that, as a man teachers and parents are after some sort of technique that will
chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee” (Deut. 8:5). In guarantee success with or without a foundation to stand on
this simile the children of God are commanded to consider and build upon. Ervin eventually gained ballast and crawled
two pictures. The first is that of a father chastening his son, back into his desk, moist nostrils and flushed face all aglow.
and the second is like it, the Father chastening His children. However, it was only moments before he joined Nate at the
We are told that the relationship between the two is similar. door. Two good friends laughing their way to the SRC
It would be ludicrous for us to assume that God imitates man (Student Responsibility Center)–that special room which
in the way that He disciplines His covenant children, and conveyed upon all who entered the golden virtues of responsi-
Ephesians 5:1 makes clear that God the Father sets the bility, respectfulness, and a hoot’n good time tooling leather
paradigm for all earthly fathers to imitate. Therefore be imitators and playing “The Stock Market Game.” Those shoes will be
of God as dear children. back.
Similes like this are figurative circus-mirrors, used to
reflect a particular face in an atypical way so that it can be
seen and understood more clearly. Because human fathers find
themselves and their sons in this simile, it is only natural that
they should squint across the chasm at the opposing mirror
and learn from it. Whatever godly discipline looks like, it can

20 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 MAGISTRALIS
MAGISTRALIS

Strange Gods
Gregory C. Dickison they wanted would do. He would demand a tithe—just like
God. He would demand their service—just like God. He
Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 1 Sam. 8:5 would take the best of their land, their belongings, and their
children for himself—just like God. In other words, the king
WHEN SAMUEL was old, he made his sons to be judges over would effectively declare himself to be a god. But unlike God,
Israel. The Israelites were unhappy about the prospect of the king would not return a blessing to those from whom he
being judged by Samuel’s sons. Joel and Abiah did not walk demanded worship. Because a king would be a child of Adam
in the ways of their father, who never defrauded or oppressed like themselves, Israel would “cry out in that day because of
anyone, or perverted justice. Rather, they judged according to your king which ye shall have chosen you.” (1 Sam. 8:18).
who was the highest bidder. But instead of asking for Yet, because God was merciful to His chosen people,
different judges, Israel threw the baby out with the bathwater even in the midst of their rebellion, He put conditions on the
and asked for an entirely new, and foreign, form of govern- kingship. The king had to be an Israelite of God’s choosing, a
ment. After centuries of being ruled by God through judges member of the covenant. And he had to write out his own
and priests, Israel asked for a king. copy of God’s law, that he would follow it and not his own
Asking for a king went beyond asking for a different (Deut. 17:14–20).
bureaucratic structure. The demand for a king was a theologi- There can be no law greater than God’s. No law of man
cal shift, an act of rebellion and idolatry. In telling Samuel to can bestow wisdom, greatness, and righteousness on a nation
acquiesce to their demand, God says to Samuel that “they like the law of God (Deut. 4:6–8). God says that only His
have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I law can make a nation great. But rebellious men reject God’s
should not reign over them” (1 Sam. 8:7). From the day they law, and try to be great without Him. Men can never rebel
came out of Egypt, Israel had been seeking other gods, and just a little; they must needs go whole hog.
this was more of the same (1 Sam. 8:8). Look at what comes of rejecting God as king and setting
Judges and kings are fundamentally different. A judge up a king of our own, one who does not keep covenant, and
resolves disputes by applying the law given to him by the who does not follow God’s law. He takes more of our
king. His office is not that of a sovereign, and it is not the substance than God ever demanded, and he gives it to our
judge’s job to make up new laws. The king is the lawmaker. enemies. We own our land and our homes only at his
He makes the law the judge is to apply. The king is sovereign, pleasure. He claims our children, and demands that they be
and can do as he wills. taught the ways of his gods. He is threatened by right worship
God gave Israel the law when they were wandering in the of the living and true God, and declares it hostile to freedom
wilderness, explained by example how the law was to be and liberty. He carefully screens judges to make sure they will
applied, and commanded the appointment of judges to be just as faithless as himself. He multiplies tedious rules and
implement the law. We would call it a common-law system. regulations, which have nothing to do with loving our
The law did not lay down expressed and detailed rules for neighbors as ourselves, but which require that we love false
every situation, but it did provide comprehensive principles gods with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.
which would guide the judges in any decision they would be The solution is not, as some would have it, and as
called upon to make. The judges were expected to apply the worldly wisdom would suggest, to replace the bad king with a
law to the situation within the broad outlines given. good one, or to rebel against his office. God has not made the
For example, houses were to have battlements on the roof world that way. In any reformation, God starts with the small
to keep people from falling off and being killed (Deut. 22:8). things. He uses the weak to overthrow the strong, and the
This was an example of the application of the commandment. foolish to confound the wise. He begins at home, in His own
The example did not limit the judge to battlements. If an house. Every Bible story of God’s deliverance begins with one
Israelite had blood on his house because he did not make his simple command: put away your idols from among you, put
house adequately safe for his neighbor in some other way, he away the strange gods, prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and
could be held accountable. At the same time, he was free to serve Him only.
love his neighbor in the building of his house as God led him,
and not as the local building inspector decreed.
In giving Israel a law, God was demonstrating that He
was Israel’s King. When Israel asked for a king, they were
asking for a lawgiver apart from God. In asking for a king
“like the other nations,” they were asking for a civil religion.
God commanded Samuel to warn the people what the king

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 21

 LITURGIA

Do Not For
Forget the Levite
orget
Peter J. Leithart rial” portion) was burned on the altar, while the rest was
given to the priests (Lev. 2:2; 6:14–18).
THE OFFERTORY has long been a crucial part of Christian Though all offerings represented the worshiper’s labor to
worship, but it hasn’t always been a monetary offering. Placed some degree (sacrificial animals had to be fed and cared for),
at the beginning of the liturgy of the sacrament, the offertory the tribute offering is more closely connected with labor than
in early liturgies was the offering of the eucharistic elements the animal offerings. In the animal offerings, the worshiper
themselves. According to Gregory Dix’s classic The Shape of the brought the animal in its natural state; he did not butcher or
Liturgy, “In the West the laity made their offerings for roast the animal. Tribute offerings, however, were never
themselves at the chancel rail at the beginning of the Eucharist presented in a raw state. The grain was always at least roasted,
proper. Each man and woman came forward to lay their own and was normally ground to flour and baked into a cake of
offerings of bread in a linen cloth or a silver dish. . . held by a some sort (Lev. 2). When an Israelite brought a tribute
deacon, and to pour their own flasks of wine into a great offering, he was symbolically offering his labor to Yahweh,
two-handled silver cup . . . held by another deacon. When the and also to the priests of Yahweh.
laity made their offerings, each man for himself, the deacons Animal offerings followed a similar pattern. Apart from
bore them up and placed them on the altar.” the “ascension” offering (what most Bibles call a “burnt
Other gifts sometimes accompanied the bread and wine. offering”), a portion of sacrificial meat was nearly always
Joseph Jungmann writes that “from various churches we gain given to the priest (Lev. 5:11–13; 6:24–30; 7:7–8; 7:11–18).
the information that other foodstuffs and other articles were Deuteronomy reiterates that Israelites were to provide for the
also offered, especially those that might be of use for the Levites at the annual feasts (12:12; 16:11, 14). Every act of
divine service, like oil, wax, candles, church implements; and a worship in Israel involved bringing gifts to be handed over to
part of these gifts was used for charity.” the priests and Levites.
By the fourth century, however, there was growing Paying the preacher, in short, was integral to the sacrifi-
discomfort with the presentation of alms during worship. As cial ritual. The command, “Don’t come empty-handed”
a result, Jungmann continues, “regulations were issued that in (Deut. 16:16) means “Bring something to offer to Yahweh.”
future bread and wine and other things necessary for worship It also means “Bring something for the priest.” And, since we
be brought to the altar as heretofore, but that all other gifts be continue to offer a “sacrifice” of praise, we should continue
handed in elsewhere. It was understood that through the gifts the biblical practice of presenting gifts.
of bread and wine, all the other things which the faithful Including an offertory also has the important practical
wanted to give were symbolically represented and conjointly benefit of manifesting the proper connection between work
offered up.” The offertory was thus limited to the offering of and worship, between money-making and meeting with God.
bread and wine. Since the tribute offering was specifically associated with the
Offering alms in worship never completely disappeared, ascension offering, the offering of the fruits of our labor
but at the Reformation, offering money became more should be in the “ascension” portion of the service, which
widespread. Thomas Cranmer, following Lutheran liturgies, begins after the confession and absolution, and continues
included a monetary offering before the Supper in both the until the beginning of the Eucharist. We complete our
1549 and 1552 editions of the Anglican Book of Common ascension by offering ourselves and our labor to God in
Prayer. Behind these liturgical shifts was Cranmer’s desire to response to the preached word.
undercut any notion that the offering of the eucharistic When we have offered our labor to God in the offertory,
elements was a sacrifice, an idea that had found support in the He offers a portion of the earth back to us in the bread and
traditional offertory. Rather than dispense with the offertory wine. Thus there is a connection between the offertory and
entirely, Cranmer decided it was better to turn it into a the Eucharist. The Eucharist sets the pattern for the church’s
monetary gift. Given this historical background, it’s not use of all its wealth: As the bread and wine are gathered only
surprising that contemporary church practice is all over the to be distributed for the nourishment of the whole people, so
map. Some biblical reflections will help cut through the haze. the financial gifts are gathered only to be distributed for the
In the Old Testament, offerings for the ministry and common good and common ministry of the church.
ministers of the sanctuary were integral to every act of Tying the offertory to the Eucharist does not cheapen the
worship. “Tribute” offerings (what most Bibles call “grain Eucharist; instead it puts our economic lives in eucharistic
offerings”) accompanied the daily offerings (Num. 28:1–8) perspective. It shows us that Christian economics is eucharis-
and also the individual sacrifices and burnt offerings of the tic economics, that all our economic pursuits should be
people (Num. 15:1–10). Of the grain presented by the infused with thanksgiving and generosity, that all our
worshiper in the tribute offering, only a handful (a “memo- wealth-creation is to be an act of worship.

22 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 SIMILITUDES

Stone Cher ubim

Cherubim
Douglas Wilson about what it was—he was not sure. After the bull, he
thought it was an eagle, and after that, it seemed like a man.
WHEN ANDREW opened his eyes, he was still in a garden, but Andrew looked off to the side so that he would not have to
it did not look like the same one he had been in before. He decide what he was seeing. He was terrified, at least in his legs
looked slowly around and saw he was lying on the grass, next which felt like pillars of stone, but his mind remained calm.
to a low stone table. He did not remember the previous “Thank you,” Andrew said. “What are you?”
nightfall. Rising quickly to his feet, he walked out to the front “I am the guardian of gardens. I have even walked in the
gate to see if the dragon was still there. He knew this did not garden of God.”
make any sense because if it were a different garden, why “Are you a servant of God?” Andrew asked.
would it have the same dragon? But still, he needed to check. “I do not guard my gardens by answering questions. I
There was no dragon. pose them. I ask my questions. Those who answer my riddle
There was a gate, just like before, and a sloping lawn of may enter, and those who do not are therefore given to me.”
grass running out to a boulder-strewn drop off. The same Before he had been inside, and the dragon was out. All he
mountain range he had seen yesterday from the first garden had to do was say no. But now, he was outside and had to do
was still across the deep valley. Andrew walked out to the more than simply make a decision. “What do you do with
edge of the jagged cliff and looked down. The cliff was not those who are given to you?”
straight up and down, but was nevertheless too steep to walk “I devour them.” The creature did not say this as though
down. An expert climber could do something with it, but it were angry, or hungry. It just said it.
Andrew turned away. But just as he did, he noticed some- “And suppose I do not choose to answer your riddle?
thing—a small patch of green far below him. Staring at it, he Suppose I do not play the game?”
finally decided that it was another garden, either the one he “Those who are cowards are given to me as well.”
had come from, or yet a third garden. He turned around and Andrew’s mind was still calm, although he didn’t know
looked up. He was clearly farther down the slope than he had why. “Ask your riddle then.”
been the day before. It looked as though there was a line of The creature threw its head back and in a strange
gardens running down the slope of this enormous cliff. The chanting said the riddle, as though it were a holy thing.
bright orange glow of an approaching daybreak spread along
the sky along the opposing range of mountains. What falls but never breaks?
He turned back and walked slowly toward the gate of the What breaks but never falls?
garden. He was coming up to the garden when a flash of some
quick motion caught his attention. Andrew looked up, Andrew turned and walked back to the edge of the cliff.
startled, and standing in the gate, on four tawny legs was a . . . He had no doubts that the creature could catch him if he
I don’t know what to call it. Andrew told me later that it was tried to climb down. Neither did he doubt that it would
really hard to explain. You could never look at it straight on devour him if he failed at the riddle. What was curious was
and see what kind of animal it was, but it was still clearly an his confidence that the sphinx would abide by the rules he
animal. It flashed past the gate on the inside, and then leapt had propounded. Still Andrew was confident that if he
up on top of the wall on the right side next to the gate. answered correctly, he would be allowed back in the garden—
Andrew looked quickly over to the left side and was surprised which is where he assumed he was supposed to be. The
to see another of the creatures sitting there, silently, as though creature seemed rebellious and evil, without having rebelled
he were waiting. against its own nature, and its nature seemed to need to
“Welcome to my home,” the creature on the right side chance everything on riddling.
said. His voice sounded deep, like black gravel. At first As Andrew stood contemplating these things, and
Andrew thought the creature small, because of how quickly he meditating on the riddle, the sun slowly came up over the
moved past the gate, but now he could see that it was quite great mountains across the way. As a shaft of sunlight crept
large, bigger than a lion. Two enormous wings swept back across the lawn, Andrew suddenly smiled. He turned around
over its haunches, and its legs were more like a lion’s than a and walked back to the cherubim. “What falls more often
bull’s, but they were identical to neither. Even that was a than night, and yet remains whole? What breaks more often
guess, because it was hard to tell—it seemed that the creature than day, and yet never falls?”
was moving at a frightful speed just to remain where it was. It As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Andrew saw
was hard to focus on any part of it, but looking at the head that the creatures were carved statues on either side of the
was particularly difficult. At first, the head looked like a bull, gate. He pushed it open, and walked through.
but it kept changing, or Andrew kept changing his mind

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 23

 CULTURA
CULTURA

Potions
Roy Atwood hepatitis, and venomous snakes. In the nineteenth century many
missionaries didn’t make it off the boat alive once they arrived.
“MAY I MAKE you a potion that will protect you against knife Eventually their replacements began the long journey to the
wounds and bullets?” our new friend asked in polite West Ivory Coast better prepared, traveling with their own coffins as
African French. At first we thought he was joking. He wasn’t. luggage.
Dressed in his finest embroidered native gown, the off- Initially, the officer had generously offered to make us
duty police officer and sometime security guard had come to the a balaphone to bring back to the States, but our stay was too
home of our missionary hosts, Csaba and Lisa Leidenfrost, brief and our luggage, smaller than a coffin, wouldn’t handle
early in the morning to thank us all for visiting him the previous such a large gift. In a world where death and illness are constant
evening at his hut on the other side of the rural village in the companions, the next best gift he could think of was his knife-
remote southwestern corner of Cote d’Ivoire. He offered the stopping, bullet-deflecting potion. Csaba politely responded in
potion as a thank-you gift to show his appreciation for the French that our God, the Triune God of the Bible, was more
honor of our visit to his home. But the powerful than any potion, and He
honor was ours and his music had been would protect us all the days He has
gift enough. Fr ed’s Wor
Wor
ordd Study determined: no more, no less. The
Through one of the In the Greek NT the noun kairos officer jumped up smiling, and shook
Leidenfrost’s Burkinabe workers, Janvier, means a limited time, a short our hands, each in turn, in his massive
we’d heard that the police officer was a season. Examples: “The kairos is grip. He affirmed the truth of what
master of the “balaphone,” a marimba- fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is Csaba had said, even though he still saw
like instrument of hard wooden bars at hand.” “And having completed the world through the fatalistic eyes of
and gourd resonators held together by every temptation, the devil departed an animist.
rough hemp cords. The officer and two from him until a kairou.” In II Tim. We returned to Idaho without
young apprentices had given us an 4:2, Paul uses the related adverb balaphone or potions a few days later,
impromptu concert on their large but modifies the word to give but we soon received news from the
instruments under the thatched emphasis to timeliness: “Proclaim Leidenfrosts that the balaphone man
overhang of his mud hut. Small beams the word, be ready eukairos or had been shot—nine times—shortly
from our flashlights were the only light akairos.” the prefix eu generally after our departure. Apparently the
by which to see the blur of hands and means well, good, rightly; while a village across the road had had several
sticks striking the balaphone in the expresses want or privation (in armed robberies during the previous
darkness. Electricity only recently came English, “un”). Paul is telling month, so the villagers wanted to hire
Timothy (and us) to proclaim the
to the village and many cannot afford him to patrol the area. The night he
word with a sense of urgency, in
the wiring or the bulbs. Beyond the trio, started work someone on the other side
season or out of season, convenient
fifty or more curious villagers looked on of the village emptied his gun in him.
or inconvenient, when we feel like it
from the shadows. At first they’d been and when we don’t feel like it. Nine bullets. Somehow he lived. The
attracted by the white faces of the local Leidenfrosts report that he is doing
missionary family and their American pretty well and the incident is now
guests, but then by the pounding being treated as attempted murder. The
rhythms of the balaphone. Before long many were dancing in gunman is in jail awaiting trial.
the dark on a bare patch of red earth between the huts. Csaba visited our new friend, and found him seated on
The officer, whose name beyond “Balaphone man” we his mat surrounded by family and well wishers, as is the custom
never learned and whose skill on the balaphone was amazing, there. Csaba offered him a gift of a cell phone. It’s such a strange
was a large man with huge hands. He wore seed-pod bracelets world: no running water, no indoor plumbing, no electricity, but
that rattled with each stoke of the balaphone to enhance the cell phone technology in the hands of a maker of potions.
percussive effect of his music. For our benefit, he explained that Balaphone man and his family were so pleased. And so were
the songs told of lazy young men learning the value of work, of Csaba and Lisa for the opportunity to tell them about the real
courtship, and parental concerns for their children. The music Magic, not the kind of potions and sorcery, but the kind which
spoke of village life in West Africa where the span between birth gives sight to the blind, heals the lame, gives hearing to the deaf,
and death is among the shortest on the planet. Life here is short, and raises the dead—even those who were as good as dead from
hot, and difficult. The region has long had the reputation of the wounds of nine bullets.
being “the missionaries’ graveyard,” according to Csaba, because
so few missionaries survived the malaria, yellow fever, cholera,

24 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 RECIPIO

Potter ’s Magic
otter’s
Ben Merkle This is where the book becomes dangerous. Magic is
anything but pedantic. Magic is a brief glimpse of the
AN AMUSED DJ on a local classic rock station reported on a otherworldly, the transcendent. It, in some small part, pictures
pastor in New Mexico who had organized a Harry Potter the Incarnation, the moment when the Light of Light walked
book burning. Apparently the pastor had claimed that the among us. As Tolkien put it, “It is magic of a particuliar
books taught children to do magic. How accurate the DJ mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices
was being in his representation of the event is probably of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso: if
questionable, but the existence of the event points out how there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must never be
typical it is for evangelicals to grab the entirely wrong end of made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken
the stick. The DJ rushed to Potter’s defense, pointing out that seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away” (“On Fairy
the books were fun and that they didn’t teach children to do Tales,” p. 114). But this is exactly what the magic in Potter
magic, but rather they taught kids to read. However, the DJ’s tends towards.
defense points out from the start that Potter is not a signifi- Potter’s magic is a magic for materialists. It is a magic
cant threat. If the only power the book has is that of fighting that comes from nowhere and leads to nowhere. It attempts to
illiteracy in the public schools, then what reason do we have make magic a neutral category that can be approached
to worry about it? It must be impotent. The book must be a however one wishes. Everyone gets a degree from the same
fun read, but little more. school and does with it whatever he or she deems fit. But the
Of course, nothing is that simple. magic itself is impersonal. Sure there is a hero and an arch-
To say that Harry Potter wasn’t written under the villain. But they both draw from the same neutral force. And
inspiration of demonic powers (the way “Hotel California” it would seem that this impersonal force could probably care
was) is not the same thing as saying that there is no danger in less whether either of them existed, let alone which one of
reading it. The book has some wonderfully developed them was to win.
characters and several clever twists. But to grant this doesn’t This is one of the things that Tolkien did well. His
mean that the reader doesn’t need to approach the book with magic is always personal. The Forest of Lothlorien feels the
a discerning eye. And this should be nothing new. Readers of way it does, because it is under the power of Lady Galadriel.
Henty books and the Elsie Dinsmore series need just as much Mordor feels the way it does because it is under the power of
discernment (and sometimes more) to weed out all of the Sauron. One can’t use magic in Middle Earth without
silliness. immediately orienting oneself to cosmic powers. Every spell is
To attempt to dismiss the Potter books merely because biased. It comes from somewhere and leads to some ultimate
they contain the category of “magic” is about as thick-headed purpose. Although Tolkien is never quite explicit in the text,
as dismissing Moby Dick because it contains the category of he is always deliberately describing a Christian world, created
“ocean.” Of all people, Christians ought to know that magic by the Christian God.
is every bit as real as the ocean and therefore ought to be So Potter’s harmlessness is really its biggest flaw. But this
featured in books as prominently as the ocean. The mere is no different than most books that Christians allow their
existence of a reference to magic in a book ought not to children to thoughtlessly read. How many authors write as if
demand our condemnation. The problem is not with the trees are neutral? How many parents let their children go on
existence of the category. The problem is what is said about reading stories about porcupines that presuppose the myth of
that category. Does Moby Dick tell the truth about the ocean? neutrality? How often do we watch the ocean and miss the
Does Harry Potter tell the truth about magic? cosmic implications?
Most of the defenders of the Potter books attempt to Consequently, Harry Potter doesn’t need to be burned,
defend them by arguing that they are more or less “harmless.” unless of course we are going to burn the bulk of our
And this is where the real problem with the book comes in. literature collections. He’s a fine read for a Christian, so long
For the most part, the book is harmless. Not only that, but, as we pity all the things that the book is missing.
for the most part, the magic is harmless. The magic of Potter
is frequently a cheap mimicry of modern technology. Little
magicians covet the latest model of flying broom (the
Nimbus 2000), eat Jelly Beans that taste like ear wax, and
agonize over their homework for courses like Levitation 101.
In the Potter books, an encounter with magic is not an
encounter with the transcendent, but merely a mimicry of the
pedantic.

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 25

 DOCTRINE 101

Helicopter Salvation
Patch Blakey As for the ungodly reaching out for God, Wisdom said,
“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my
SOME CHRISTIANS view salvation in terms analogous to a hand, and no man regarded” (Prov.1:24). Paul quoting Isaiah,
helicopter rescue. I recently heard one Christian gentleman said, “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched
make such a comparison. The unsaved sinner was pictured as forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people”
a man hanging by a branch on the side of a cliff, about to fall (Rom.10:21). Rather than reaching out for God’s deliverance,
to his death when a helicopter arrives with a rope dangling the godless will cry out instead for their own destruction,
down for him to grab and be rescued. “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich
Such an illustration presumes that the man being rescued men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
has all of his wits about him, that he recognizes the danger, bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and
and that he is aware of the help offered. But, does this analogy in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and
agree with the biblical description of our spiritual state? Of rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
course it is difficult to depict an accurate illustration which on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev. 6:15–
adequately describes our spiritual situation, but is there a 16).
similar picture that possibly presents a better analogy of our In fact, those without God in the world cannot even
spiritual condition than the one above? recognize spiritual truth to be able to respond to it. “But the
The Apostle Paul described our spiritual condition as natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for
being dead in our sins, “And you hath he quickened, who were they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). “Even when we were because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). And
dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ, (by even if they could recognize it, they still wouldn’t receive it,
grace ye are saved)” (Eph. 2:5). How well can a dead man “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
know what is going on around him? He can’t see, he can’t subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).
hear, he can’t cry out for help, and he can’t reach and grab any So we see that those who are spiritually dead are no more
aid that is proffered. He has no knowledge of his situation or capable in and of themselves of responding to God’s mercy
condition. How then would a man be described if he were through the gospel than a dead man can respond to an offer
spiritually dead? for aid. They are both as detached from the reality that
The Apostle John wrote, “But he that hateth his brother is surrounds them as is possible.
in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not The fallacy committed by many Christians is to think that
whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes” because a man is physically alive, then he must be spiritually
(1 John 2:11). Also, “He hath blinded their eyes, and alive to some degree as well. But what if we were to reverse the
hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, situation and say that a physically dead man needed to call
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I upon the Lord to be saved? We would all get a hoot out of
should heal them” (John 12:40). Man’s spiritual eyes are such a preposterous idea. Yet biblically, this is a close
blinded so that he cannot see spiritual truth. comparison to the spiritual condition of the unregenerate.
With regard to hearing, Scripture says, “And it shall come With the Scriptures in mind, a better analogy using the
to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall idea of a helicopter rescue would be to have the man lying
be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:23). Also, dead at the bottom of the cliff, and then have the helicopter
“According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of fly down, pick him up, and revive him, apart from any action
slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they on his own. This would demonstrate the biblical teaching that
should not hear” (Rom. 11:8). Hence we know that the salvation is a work of God alone, and leave no room for
ungodly cannot hear spiritual truth. man’s persistent pride. Anything less would be to suspend the
How about the ability of the spiritually dead to call upon truth and fly in the face of Scripture.
the Lord? Isaiah wrote, “For your hands are defiled with
blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken
lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for
justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and
speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity”
(Isa.59:3–4). And the Apostle Paul said of sinners, “Their
throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used
deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is
full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom.3:13–14).

26 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 INC ARNA
INCARNA TUS
ARNATUS

Knowing is Stor
Storyy
Douglas Jones hand. And you can’t get any more objective, true, and
beautiful than the Triune God. We needn’t fear time.
GRADUATE PHILOSOPHY seminars are often library quiet, with Stories live and move and have their being in time. Just
whispered disagreements over domesticated ideas. I remember like our experience, a narrative connects events, particulars,
one where a mild conflict between two skinny British students and points in a causal sequence, one thing produces another in
turned oddly loud. The prof encouraged the discussion, and a story; events grow organically. A logical list has no sense of
pretty soon one of them was standing and shouting from the time and growth; it seeks to move by timeless connections—
chalkboard, drawing. The other then joined him, yelling at the so unnatural to our basic mode of life. That’s part of the
top of his voice, scribbling contrary diagrams with thick lines. answer as to why we can remember narratives so much better
They were in each other’s faces, all red, all over a thin Saul than discrete logical points in a lecture.
Kripke implication. Finally the prof’s laughter filled the room. Though we didn’t need artificial-intelligence theorists to
“This is too great!” he said. “If only we could get a picture of point out what is so clearly assumed in Scripture, it is
this in the philosophy prospectus—a real philosophy fist interesting to hear the likes of Roger Schank explain that
fight!” “humans are not really set up to understand logic.”3 After
That event stands out over everything else in the class decades of picturing human and computer intelligence as
because it was a dramatic little narrative, a story. I only wish logical problem solving, Schank now urges us to see knowing
more of that class had been in narrative form. Outside of and intelligence as characterized by stories. He uses the notion
most classrooms and sermons, we almost always talk in story. of scripts to explain part of how knowing uses stories: “A
Just listen around. We tell stories to explain, bond, defend, script is a set of expectations about what will happen next in a
entertain, and sin. well-understood situation. . . . They serve to tell us how to act
Whether they are simple and mundane narratives about without our being aware that we are using them . . . You don’t
what happened to us at the gas station or multi-layered epic have to figure out every time you enter a restaurant how to
novels, stories are characterized by particular details and convince someone to feed you. All you really have to know is
events embedded in time. Where more logical, mathematical the restaurant script and your part in that script.”4 New
modes most often seek to rise above such time and detail, experiences of the same type get bundled together, and the
stories relish in them. Jerome Bruner contends that “a good script adjusts over time as we mature and learn new angles.
story and a well-formed argument are different natural kinds. Though we each have thousands of personal scripts from the
They differ radically in their procedures for verification.”1 mundane to the odd, they needn’t be exactly the same; just
The story mode “strives to put its timeless miracles into the similar enough for an overlap of understanding. In the end,
particulars of experience, and to locate the experience in time Schank suggests that “knowledge is experiences and stories,
and place,” whereas the logical/scientific mode “seeks to and intelligence is the apt use of experience and the creation
transcend the particular by higher and higher reaching for and telling of stories.”5
abstraction, and in the end disclaims in principle any explana- Scripture itself assumes that stories are central to our
tory value at all where the particular is concerned.”2 A daily epistemology. As Eugene Peterson notes, “Story is the
Christian-take on knowing doesn’t disdain everything general primary way in which the revelation of God is given to us.
or abstract, but we would seek to find such kinds and patterns The Holy Spirit’s literary genre of choice is story. Story isn’t
grounded in the created order itself. This appreciation for a simple or naive form of speech from which we graduate to
time and particulars, instead of the desire to escape them, lies the more sophisticated ‘higher’ languages of philosophy and
at the heart of narrative thinking (and poetic knowledge in mathematics. . . . The biblical story comprises other literary
general). That’s why our modern drive to count as knowledge forms—sermons and genealogies, prayers and letters, poems
only those things that can be put into timeless lists of truths, and proverbs—but story carries them all.”6
like so many Presbyterian sermons, is so odd. It’s so unlike Earlier installments in this poetic-knowledge primer
human life. God has set us amid constant rhythms of time— pointed to the centrality of image and imagination within
weather, celestial, bodily, social, and more. We live in knowledge. In one sense, a story is an image stretched and
constant time, designed time. This sort of talk frightens us in projected through time.
our day because so many radical nominalists in postmodern This, too, is reflected in the Incarnation. Christ, the
garb invoke time to try to undo objective reality. But in a Image came in time, and His image isn’t static; it extends
biblical perspective, time is not some impersonal, autonomous through history and church by the Holy Spirit.
box dictating its own course. Time is the pace of change, and
the Holy Spirit is He who shapes change throughout the
created order. He is not time, but change is sculpted by His

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 27

 POETICS

Lord of the Rings

Lord
Douglas Wilson Latin, but that was almost too easy for Tolkien, and in one
debate when taking the role of Greek Ambassador to the
J.R.R. TOLKIEN had an objection, which he shared with C.S. Senate he spoke entirely in Greek. On another occasion he
Lewis, to those people who tried to understand works of astonished his schoolfellows when, in the character of a
literature as mere extension of the author’s biography. While barbarian envoy, he broke into fluent Gothic; and on a third
this is reasonable, we cannot simply dismiss the outline of occasion he spoke in Anglo-Saxon.”
someone’s life as irrelevant to the work they do. An author is Tolkien married Edith just before he shipped out to fight
more than a simple pipeline or conduit for inspirations from in the First World War. The war is significant in understand-
the Beyond. How Tolkien lived his life, what his worldview ing Tolkien for various reasons, but one of the great ones is
was, what influenced him, are all relevant in seeking to what Tolkien saw as the Mordor of modernity. Tolkien never
understand this wonderful work of literature. forgot what he called the “animal horror” of trench warfare.
Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892, the son of an The modern age clanks, grinds, and devours.
English banker, in the town of Bloemfontein. His father died After the war, Tolkien got his first academic position at
in South Africa when Tolkien was four years old—while his Leeds. He helped put the English department there on the
mother was visiting England with him and his brother. After map. But when a position opened at Oxford in 1925, a
this, he, his mother, and brother remained in England. Earlier professorship of Anglo-Saxon, Tolkien applied for it and was
in Africa, when he was first beginning to walk, he was bitten accepted. It was at Oxford that he met C.S. Lewis. The two
by a tarantula and ran terrified to a nurse who sucked out the men were wary of one another at first. Lewis wrote in his
poison. He said this left him with no particular fear of journal, “No harm in him: only needs a smack or so.”
spiders, but perhaps it left him with a peculiar awareness of England had no mythology, unlike the Scandinavian
them. It ought to have. Biographical details do make a nations, and unlike the Mediterranean nations. Tolkien’s
difference. Tolkien and his brother were once chased out of a avowed aim was to write one. But “inventing” for him was
field by a farmer they called the “Black Ogre,” who was more a matter of “finding out.” “Is all this true?” he was once
displeased at their picking of his mushrooms. A nearby asked. “One hopes,” he replied. According to Tolkien, the
inventor of cotton-wool dressing was named Dr. Gamgee, and writer does not bring things into existence; he finds. When he
so cotton wool was called gamgee. finds, he assembles. But as a sub-creator, under God, he never
Tolkien grew up without a father, but under the influence creates ex nihilo.
of a gracious, cultivated mother. The small family was not Without a doubt, Lewis was Tolkien’s closest friend over
wealthy, but his mother knew Latin, French, and German, and the course of his lifetime. When they met, neither was a
was artistic in her gifts. Tolkien, as we all know by now, was stranger to the world of close emotional and intellectual
brilliant, and had the kind of upbringing which could friendship, but at the same time, they were particularly suited
frequently leave him alone with his own thoughts—including to one another. Because of this, we can learn a great deal
in his case, invented languages. He loved the sounds of words. about each from the other. The friendship began in earnest in
In 1900, his mother was received into the Roman 1927 when Tolkien recruited Lewis into the Coalbiters, a
Catholic Church. This caused great tension in her family, and group he established so that the members could learn
Tolkien blamed her early death on the treatment she received. Icelandic.
He considered her a martyr, and this helps explain his whole- Lewis, though brilliant, was still a generalist. Tolkien,
hearted devotion to the Roman Church. Personal loyalties are though a lover of the forest, was a scholar close enough to see
not always a matter of rational calculus. the trees. Lewis was not a perfectionist, and Tolkien was. As
At school, Tolkien developed a friendship with Christo- Lewis put it in a comment on how Tolkien reacted to
pher Wiseman, a son of a Methodist minister. They were criticism of his writing—“Either he begins the whole work
both gifted in Latin and Greek, and were both what we over again from the beginning or he takes no notice at all”
Americans call jocks; they were fierce rugby players. Tolkien (Tolkien, p. 161).
made his acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon—a language which These differences are notable in their production. Lewis
combines in a strange way the familial and the remote, both could simply crank it out. Tolkien’s production was painstak-
characteristics of Tolkien’s writing. ingly slow—The Lord of the Rings being produced over many
He met Edith Bratt at this time, his future wife. They years. As is evident in his letters, Tolkien agonized over
were separated for three years before Tolkien could pursue his making sure that the phases of the moon were not contradic-
interest. He was her Beren; she was his Luthien, an identifica- tory in the chronologies. Lewis would sit down, lick his
tion which Tolkien had inscribed on their tombstones. pencil, and Io! Triumphum!
Let one anecdote suffice for this time in his life. “There Their shared love of myth was at the foundation of their
was a custom at King Edward’s of holding a debate entirely in friendship. It was also the basis of Lewis’ conversion to the

28 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 POETICS

Christian faith. One night Tolkien and Hugo Dyson had a power-seeking magic did the same. Frictionless technology
lengthy talk with Lewis in which they showed him that was not really magic, not science, but rather art. Authority and
“myth” need not be equated with “false.” As a result of this dominion in the world through art was noble, and domina-
talk, Lewis came to see that the story of Christ was true myth. tion through machinery and raw power was ignoble.
But this introduced an important difference between the men. The whole point of magic is the manipulation of matter
Lewis rapidly became an apologist for the Christian faith, but in order to acquire power, which is the lust that makes
he did so as a Protestant. Lewis had been brought up an magicians and other assorted alchemists do what they do. But
Ulster Protestant—his nurse had once warned him against the world of The Lord of the Rings is the reverse of this—if
stepping in a puddle full of “wee, nastie popes.” As Lewis anything, the good guys represent a photo-negative of this
grew and matured in his Christian life, he grew increasingly kind of magic. The ring of power is the ultimate symbol of
committed to the Protestant faith. What had been his default magic in the traditional sense, and the whole point of the
position became a matter of deep conviction. Tolkien later book is to destroy it, resisting all temptations to use it.
said, “He would become again a Northern Ireland Protestant” Some Christians are troubled by the apparent absence of
(Tolkien, p. 168). God. Part of the problem that Tolkien had with the
Let’s turn to Tolkien’s great work, The Lord of the Rings. Arthurian stories is that they were explicitly set within the
Tolkien argued in multiple places that while all of life has Christian era, and this made the “remoteness” which he
allegorical elements, his story was by no means formal wanted for dramatic reasons impossible. The long-ago-ness and
allegory. Such distinctions were very important to both far-away-ness would not have been long enough ago, or far
Tolkien and Lewis. The Pilgrim’s Regress by Lewis is allegory. The enough away. But God was not excluded because of any
Great Divorce is symbolism. But The Lord of the Rings and the embarrassment. At the ultimate level in the mythology (in the
Narnia stories are subcreated and mythopoeic realms, not Silmarillion), God necessarily fills the place that only He can
allegory. fill—and His name is Illuvatar. He is the only Creator. And
However, the mythopoeic themes of The Lord of the Rings, this is why, as one said, that God is nowhere mentioned in The
although not allegorical, did involve certain key meanings. In Lord of the Rings, but everywhere present—although Faramir
developing this world, Tolkien attributed it to linguistics, his does say grace once.
passionate love for growing things, and “the deep response to Mankind is represented in a realistic and complex way,
legends (for lack of a better word) that have what I would call and clearly bears the imago Dei. Recall that Elves “represent
the North-western temper and temperature” (Letters, p. 212). really Men with greatly enhanced aesthetic and creative
In other words, we have a world made up of words, life, and faculties, great beauty and longer life, and nobility—the Elder
northern nobility. The combination was and is potent. Lewis Children” (Letters, p. 176.). They are biologically one with
put it this way: “Here are beauties which pierce like swords or men, which is why they can and do intermarry with men. And
burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart” this means that Orcs are corruptions of Elves (Letters, pp. 178,
(“On Stories”). 191, 287), representations of man’s potential for sin. Tolkien
With this said, what connections can we make within the goes so far as to say that many men “to be met today” are as
story? “Elves and Men are represented as biologically akin in horribly corrupted as the Orcs are (p. 190). The hobbits are
this ‘history’, because Elves are certain aspects of Men and also men. “The Hobbits are, of course, really meant to be a
their talents and desires, incarnated in my little world . . .” branch of the specifically human race” (Letters, p. 158). This is
(Letters, p. 189.). In short, Tolkien saw them as the incarna- why they can dwell with the Big Folk at Bree. For Tolkien,
tion of nobility—beauty, sorrow, wisdom, authority. They they represent the sturdy heroism of ordinary men. The only
represent “beauty and grace of life and artifact” (Letters, p. 85). “children” of middle earth who are not men in some way are
They are a representation of a part of human nature (p. 149). the dwarves.
If “I were pressed to rationalize, I should say that they No virtue (or fault) is ever found in a transitive verb. We
represent really Men with greatly enhanced aesthetic and do not know if someone is virtuous simply because they
creative faculties, greater beauty and longer life, and nobility” “love.” What do they love? Or that they are wicked if they
(Letters, p. 176). “hate.” What do they hate? When literature like The Lord of the
Another important theme in Tolkien’s work is the Rings is criticized, it is often attacked for being “escapist.”
relationship between art and machinery. A very interesting This means we should ask a question. What is being escaped
contrast is found here. True magic for him was not a matter from? As Tolkien once put it, the people who are so concerned
of wizards who “chirp and mutter,” to use Isaiah’s taunt. about escapism do have a name—we call them jailers.
According to Tolkien, Gandalf was an angelic being, one of
the lesser Valar, not a wizard in our sense. For Tolkien, the
machinery that clanks and smokes was always wicked. And

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 29

 HISTORIA

Northumbrian Time Reckoning

Reckoning
Chris Schlect Florence? The answer to these questions may have something
to do with the fact that the idea of “Renaissance” was
“IN THE year of Rome 798 the Emperor Claudius, fourth formulated by scholars who were enamored with the attain-
after Augustus, wishing to prove that he was a benefactor to ments of the modern world, but who did not want to give
the State, sought to make war everywhere and to gain victories credit for these attainments to the gospel-permeated “Age of
on every hand. So he made an expedition to Britain…. He Faith,” that “Dark Age” that lasted a millennium beyond the
brought this war to an end in the fourth year of his reign, that fall of Rome.
is in the year of our Lord 46.” We all name time, but such naming is not worldview-
neutral. Consider our timelines. As good sons of modernity,
Writing from the hinterlands of the known world, Bede we make politics the baseline into which everything else must
explained how the gospel transformed his remote land. He relate in order to make chronological sense out of it. For
wrote early in the eighth century. Or the sixteenth century, if example, we tell the story of England in terms of Alfred the
we reckon time as the Romans did. Bede’s scheme of time- Great, William the Conqueror, Henry II, Richard the
reckoning had been devised in 532 by Dionysius Exiguus. Or Lionhearted, Magna Carta, Richard III, Wars of the Roses,
should we say that Dionysius developed his scheme in 1284 Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, James I, George III, Queen Victoria,
the year of Rome? Or in 1307 the year of the Olympiad? Or Winston Churchill, and so on. Now imagine an alternative
1260 years before the French Republic? In Bede’s day— way of telling England’s story, in terms of the Church—even
whatever year it was—years were named from the founding Archbishops of Canterbury. In 597 Augustine effectually
of Rome, or the regnal year of an important Caesar. It was preached to the King of Kent, bringing orthodoxy to the
Bede’s stature that influenced the Christian West to reckon island. Cuthbert (740–760) and Dunstan (960–988) were
time as Dionysius Exiguus had—in terms of Jesus Christ, the great men of their ages, and led revivals of learning and
Lord of time and Lord of history. piety. It was Robert of Jumieges (1051) who promised the
How we label time affects how we think about time. English throne to William, Duke of Normandy. And as king,
Because Jews and secularists understand this better than many William appointed Lanfranc of Bec to the see of Canterbury
of us Christians, they reportedly live in the year 2002 C.E. (1070–1093); it was Lanfranc who sowed the good seeds of
(“common era”), rather than in 2002 anno Domini. They know independence from the crown. Lanfranc’s pupil and successor,
that names matter. And like all naming, naming time is a value- Anselm (1093–1114), challenged royal meddling in the
laden assertion about reality. Church, explained the procession of the Holy Spirit better
We see this in the problematic name “Renaissance.” In than any Westerner during the East-West Schism, and whose
anno domini 1860 the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt nominalism and covenant gospel are high-water marks in
published The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Since then we doctrine and philosophy. Thomas Becket (1162–74) was
have grown accustomed to gathering out of chronological martyred for his courage against royal encroachments upon
space one clump of time, setting it apart from the rest, and the Church, and Chaucer sent his pilgrims to Becket’s shrine.
calling it “Renaissance.” So we impute a sharp contrast Stephen Langton (1207–29) helped the barons with Magna
between “Renaissance” and the time that came before it, Carta, and undermined Pope Innocent III’s attempt to nullify
which was not Renaissance. (One accidental result was the it. Thomas Cranmer (1533–59) advanced the Reformation
invention of the “Middle Ages.”) Is “Renaissance” a name that still persists among Presbyterians and evangelical
that faithfully represents chronological reality? Consider: Anglicans. Cranmer was succeeded by a scholarly giant in an
Why is there so wide a variety of proposals about when the age of learned men, Matthew Parker (1559–76); for his
“Renaissance” began or ended? And if “Renaissance” denotes preservation of manuscripts we are still thankful. And in spite
a change from the Middle Ages, then why do so many of himself, William Laud (1633–60) inspired the
historians now speak of a “Northumbrian Renaissance” in Westminster Assembly. Would that the name Anselm were as
Bede’s England of the mid-700s, a “Carolingian Renaissance” familiar as William the Conqueror, or that we knew Becket as
at the turn of the ninth century, and a widespread “Twelfth- well as Richard III! When we tell England’s story through her
century Renaissance”? Why do we find in Petrarch and Dante archbishops, we notice the political trends we are used to
and Boccaccio, whose achievements are indeed remarkable, seeing, but we also see the more profound trends that the
such continuity with what preceded them? Why do most modern storyteller tends to obscure.
historians trace the rise of the modern state back to the Bede thought deeply about history, and about the little
eleventh and twelfth centuries? Why do economic historians things that make all the difference in it, like our names for
see a “Commercial Revolution” beginning at around 950, time. For him, England’s story was one of gospel advance
which led to a Genoese named Columbus and the Medici of against paganism, spanning years. The years of the Lord.

30 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 MEANDER

Chonklit Cake
Douglas Wilson to be the Truth? We would do the same thing we did the first
time—crucify Him.
A NEW PUBLISHING outfit down southeast of here, way past
Idaho Falls, called Reformed University Press, (how’s this for •••
a sentence?), has released a good book on the priority that
Christians should give to the Church. Entitled The Enduring If your tastes in music are truly eclectic, let me recommend an
Community, and written by Brian Habig and Les Newsom, it is album of contemporary artists doing covers of old Hank
addressed primarily to college-aged kids whose natural Williams songs. The album is named Timeless, and the price of
inclination is to neglect their duties as church members. The the CD is worth the experience of hearing Sheryl Crowe
book does an outstanding job of anticipating objections to yodel. Which she does well.
“church” and answering them in a way helpful to such folks.
Ordering information can be obtained from RUP, 618 •••
Briarwood Drive, Suite A, Jackson, Mississippi 39211.
Theodore Beza was born in 1519 and died in 1605. He was a
••• friend and associate of John Calvin at Geneva. He was trained
for the law (like Calvin) but preferred literature. Because he
We have a regular temptation to sacrifice one portion of our adhered faithfully to the doctrines of grace recovered in the
required obedience for the sake of another. Fathers neglect Reformation, he is consistently characterized as a narrow,
their families so that they can stay at work to all hours to tight-lipped theological engineer. But in reality he was one of
provide for them. Mothers deal sharply and impatiently with the most urbane men of Europe. He was one of that century’s
their children over a messy room, because a messy room is not great poets, and before his open embrace of the Reformation
honoring to God—as though Mother’s irritation were not in 1548, he published a volume of erotic Latin poetry which
equally messy. Children obey one command from their established his literary reputation. Before this is dismissed as a
parents when they were given three, and they defend them- youthful indiscretion, it should be noted that he had it
selves with what they did do. But we must never forget that republished again near the end of his life in Geneva, in 1597.
partial or selective obedience is disobedience. Saul killed some We need many more men like Beza today. While we certainly
of the Amalekites, but that is not what he was told to do. To need a recovery of the great truths of the Reformation, we
obey is better than sacrifice. need them in a certain way. We most emphatically do not
Instead of setting obedience against sin, we set obedience need a resurgence of pietistic Calvinism.
against obedience. We profess with our mouths that we honor
God, but actually in our hearts we are simply making room •••
for our preferred sins.
I have profited greatly from Pat Buchanan’s latest book, The
••• Death of the West. For anyone who can do math, the book
presents a clear-headed and frightening prospect ahead of us.
The push is already on. In the aftermath of the September 11 The population bomb, it turns out, is the kind that implodes. A
tragedy, and in the wake of the impressive American military long generation of a narcisstic use of contraception and ready
action in Afghanistan, we are hearing different voices calling abortion has decimated us. The peoples of European descent
for a domestic intolerance of every form of “intolerance.” are steadily committing sexual suicide. In 1960, we were one
Conservative Christians will find themselves under increasing fourth of the world. In 2000, we were one sixth. In 2050 we
pressure to deny the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. We will be will be one tenth, and we will be the oldest tenth.
allowed to keep a tiny jesus, but not permitted to affirm that A number of years ago, Credenda did an issue we called
He is King of kings and Lord of lords. Any claim to unique- “Bad Moon Rising” on the coming crack-up of the U.S. For
ness on behalf of the Christian faith will be called (as it has a number of reasons, we have no reason to change our tune.
already been called) an American form of Talibanism. The Right on schedule.
reasoning goes this way: the thing which made these Muslim
fanatics so dangerous is not that they believed a lie (as we
would hold), but rather that they thought they knew the
truth. To these folks, truth is clearly the enemy. Truth is the
adversary. Truth flies planes into skyscrapers.
What would our nation do if a man came to us, claiming

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 31

 EX LIBRIS

Some Books
Woelke Leithart morally, they present a relativistic worldview. The message is
that the ends justify the means. Abanes is right: Harry and his
Harry Potter and the Bible pals break lots of rules without suffering the consequences.
Richard Abanes, (Horizon: 2001) But while he addresses this aspect well, he fails to point out
that a mature reader should have as much problem with
THE HYPE has died down somewhat, but don’t expect the Harry’s worldview as with Homer’s. The ancient view of
reprieve to last long. Before too many more months have honor and warfare is not one we would want to emulate or
passed, the Harry Potter publicity machine will have begun its praise, yet we continue to read them nonetheless. Don’t get
work. The next book is coming. Should that scare us or please me wrong; I don’t want to say J.K. Rowling is another
us? Richard Abanes votes for the former. Homer. But though both paradigms are wrong, Christians
It was perhaps inevitable that what are arguably the most seem more willing to throw out the newer.
popular children’s books of all time would generate contro- Lastly, Abanes takes issue with the rising level of language
versy. As the latest in a series of books examining how in the books and the way they are gradually becoming more
Christians should react to the Potter phenomenon, Richard adult in content. Like the former two problems, I would agree
Abanes’ book Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace behind the that this is a concern, but only if the books are being read by
Magick offers a critique of the books by J.K. Rowling. young children. Only discerning minds should read them, just
For the uninitiated, Harry Potter is a young wizard who like many other good books. It takes discernment to read that
attends a boarding school at Hogwarts’ School of Witchcraft sort of material.
and Wizardry in Northern England. He and his friends, in Personally, I have read and enjoyed all four of the Harry
between classes about potions, divination, and spell-casting, Potter books, and I plan to read the fifth upon its publication.
manage to save the school from some unspeakable evil just They’re not great literature–I agree with Roger Sutton, editor
about every year, in every book. of The Horn Book, a seventy-five-year-old children’s literary
Abanes’ book goes through and outlines, in detail, the digest, that as literature, the Potter books are “critically
action in each of the books. He lists the objectionable items insignificant” and “nothing to get excited about.” [Roger
in each book, and then questions their suitability for children. Sutton, quoted in Elizabeth Mehren, “Wild About Harry,”
He has three main objections against the books. First, they Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2000, available online at
treat magick (the word refers to the occult, different from the www.latimes.com] They’re not even great fantasy. But they’re
sleight-of-hand sort of magic) and sorcery as worthy pursuits, still fun to read.
things which the Bible expressly condemns. Second, Harry There’s a lot of good in Harry Potter and the Bible. Richard
and his friends constantly (indeed, every few chapters) break Abanes has written an excellent critique of the series, one
the rules of the school. Everything turns out all right in the which I will turn to if I’m curious about whether a particular
end, but this is after the lying, cheating, and sneaking out at spell is grounded in fact. He also offers a decent analysis of
night have already occurred and been forgiven with no the works of Lewis and Tolkien. I also agree that young
destructive consequences. Third, Abanes dislikes the way that children shouldn’t read the Harry Potter books unless they’re
cursing (i.e., profanity, not spells) is used, though infre- old and mature enough to handle it. But I failed to find one
quently, as the books become more and more adult in reason why a mature Christian shouldn’t read them, and enjoy
content, containing violence and, Abanes argues, sexuality. them.
Abanes is right in his first criticism. The Potter books do
treat sorcery and witchcraft as worthy pursuits. And if a child The Death of The West
is going to read these books and seriously decide to become a Patrick J. Buchanan, (Dunne: 2001)
witch, then the child shouldn’t be reading these books. But
this is an issue not of the book but of the maturity of the Our nation is doomed. That, at least, is the thesis of Pat
reader. If a child is not mature enough to realize that witch- Buchanan’s latest book, The Death of the West: How Dying
craft is an empty worldview with no hope of salvation, then Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and
he is not old enough to read Harry Potter. Abanes makes this Civilization. In fifty years, the United States will no longer be a
point quite well. To any discerning and mature reader, superpower, and nations now considered “Third World” will
however, the Potter books offer no temptation in this regard. have taken over the central makeup of the world.
Indeed, they offer about as much information about witch- Buchanan sites four reasons for this change: “the first is a
craft as Lewis or Tolkien. Anyone with a propensity toward dying population.” According to the statistics he cites, every
sorcery could be just as easily led astray by misusing those country in Europe, with the exception of Muslim Albania, has
works. a birthrate too low to maintain current population levels. In
Abanes’ second problem with Rowling’s books is that, Russia, the average number of children per family is so low

32 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 EX LIBRIS

that there will be more than 40 million fewer Russians in using the other team’s guns will not get us anywhere, even if
2050. The average number of children in the United King- we win. The answer to saving our culture is to turn to God
dom is a mere 1.66 per family, a number which Buchanan and beg forgiveness for our sins. No matter how many
claims will not sustain them much longer. America’s Euro- boycotts, no matter how many good people we send to
pean population is also in decline. Washington, as long as God is against us, no one is for us.
The next reason “is the mass immigration of people of Perhaps in fifty years the West will be dead. But unless
different colors, creeds, and cultures, changing the character of our nation and culture undergo a massive revival and reforma-
the West forever.” While the populations of Europe and tion, no one will miss it.
America decline, the population of countries like India,
China, Iran, and Egypt are exploding. These people need The Mysterious Island
somewhere to go, and America and Europe will not be able to Jules Verne, (Modern Library: 2001)
resist them. The number of illegal aliens in the United States
alone, Buchanan claims, is equal to the populations of Rhode The great European languages all have their tales of men
Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut combined. In fifty cast-away on deserted islands. English has Robinson Crusoe.
years, the West will be overrun by the rest of the world. German has Wyss’ Swiss Family Robinson. And in 1874, French
“The third [reason] is the rise to dominance of an anti- received her addition to the canon with The Mysterious Island,
Western culture in the West, deeply hostile to its religions, written by the father of science fiction, Jules Verne. Most of
traditions, and morality, which has already sundered the us know Verne as the author of such adventure stories as
West.” This includes the recent attack on such historical Around the World in 80 Days or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but
symbols as the Confederate flag, the rewriting of textbooks few know him as the author of such works as From Earth to the
without key historical events, and the slave-reparations debate Moon. Sadly, and undeservedly, The Mysterious Island has fallen
(in the latter case, Buchanan makes the interesting point that into the generally unknown.
the West did not start slavery, but it did end it). Buchanan Unlike most castaway novels, the five men in Verne’s tale
also credits what he calls “the revolution” with the demise of are blown off their course in a balloon, rather than a ship.
traditional values in the West and the downturn of Christian- They have escaped from being held prisoner in Richmond,
ity. This, too, will be instrumental in the fall of the West. His Virginia, by the Confederate Army toward the close of the
fourth reason is “the breakup of nations and the defection of War in 1865. Though intending a quick journey across
ruling elites to a world government whose rise entails the end enemy lines, they are blown thousands of miles until landing
of nations.” In this, Buchanan has institutions such as the in the South Pacific. With nothing but the clothes on their
United Nations, the European Union, and NATO in mind. backs, the five men are forced to live off the land. As they
He sees these and their consolidation of governmental powers explore, they realize there is more to the island than meets the
in one location as a threat to the freedom of Christendom. eye (hence the title).
Buchanan packs a great deal of information into his 300- As the first major desert-island survuval novel written
page book, and the numbers he has are irrefutable. Even after the publication of Origin of Species and Rousseau’s “noble
allowing a margin of error merely delays the effects another savage” ideal, Verne does an admirable job of steering clear of
twenty-five years. But wanting to avoid Malthusian predic- any evolutionary tendencies, an easy analogy to make when
tion, there is another reason to be wary of The Death of the West: writing such a book. In addition, though the book is not as
Christianity. Although a Roman Catholic, Buchanan does not explicitly spiritual as Robinson Crusoe or The Swiss Family
take into account that with the fall of the pantheistic Western Robinson, it is certainly not anti-God as was the recent movie
governments, Christians, and not Third World Muslims, Cast Away, and the characters frequently give thanks to the
Hindus, and Buddhists, will be in the position to take Almighty for their provision.
command. Although some may take issue with what they see as a deus
Another problem with the book is Buchanan’s solution to ex machina, it is important to note that there are very few ways
the problem; it is largely political. To boost populations, he to end a desert-island tale, none of which involve anything
recommends tax incentives for having more children. To fix but the use of such a device. It comes with the territory.
the immigration problem, he proposes strict regulation of All in all, The Mysterious Island is very well written and
borders. To fix the world government problem, he suggests enjoyable to read. As a bonus, it is thoroughly suitable to
political opposition. To fix our governmental system, he being read to children, though certainly not at one sitting.
wishes to restructure the Supreme Court. And to fight the
culture war, he calls for boycotts, referenda, and “countering
hate crimes with truth.” This is not the way to fix our
country. Much like the Ring in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings,

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 33

 C AVE OF ADULL AM
ADULLAM

Mutterings
Pogo Throckmorton A Helpful Reader
An encouraging reader sent along a submission for the
Pumpkin Liturgy Cave—it was a sermon outline from a modern evangelical
We got this flyer, like what gets sent through the mails, church. One of those TULIP sermons.
and it promotes holiday paraphenalia for the promotion of T—Total Dependency (of man upon God for
piety. One of the items for sale was a bookmark that had salvation and realized purpose).
“The Pumpkin Prayer” to help the liturgically inept with U—Unconditional Love (with which the Creator
their pumpkin carvings. “Dear God, As I carve my pump- longs for all mankind).
kin help me say this prayer.” Cut the top of the pumpkin: “Open L—Limited Availability (for saving love is solely
my mind so I can learn about You.” Clean out the inside: found in Christ and in this life).
“Take away all my sin and forgive me for the bad things I I—Invitational Grace (extending “the day of God’s
do.” And lots more. favor” to “whosoever will”).
And then count the seeds and ask yourself if these are also inside P—Personal Security (in the forgiveness and peace
your head, causing all the trouble. promised to all who believe).
But there is a bright side. If modern evangelicalism starts adopting
the use of the tulip, the Reformed can drop it—and high time—and we
A Day of Prophecheesy can look forward to future theological developments around this theme.
Dr. Tim LaHaye and Dr. Ed Hindson spoke at Thomas T is for Total Theological Naivete. U is for Ugliness in Liturgy. L is
Road Baptist Church on February 2, and it was slated as for Limited Liability, because all the trained counselors on staff are
“A Day of Prophecy.” The topics addressed were “Bible insured. I is for me. And P is for Popsicle Stand, which seems to fit in
Prophecy and the War on Terrorism,” “Is the Antichrist somehow.
Alive Today?” and other recycled hits.
Our dispensational future-meister brethren have created a
completely new approach to this subject. In Deuteronomy 18, a prophet Figures
was to be rejected if he got anything wrong. In today’s eschatofrenzy, a According to The American Enterprise, a magazine of some
prophecy expert can only maintain his credentials by getting everything note, the Thorupgaarden Nursing Home in Copenhagen,
wrong. Denmark “now offers its elderly residents erotic magazines,
pornography on a videochannel, and the services of
prostitutes.”
Gnomeland Thorupgaarden?
Thomas Kinkade, master of the eerie glow, has really done
it now. Kinkade, known in some circles as the Painter of
BlightR, manages to get his name and work to adhere to Over There and Otiose
anything with a reasonably flat surface. He licenses The Guardian of London reported that eleven British
collector plates, La-Z-Boy recliners, wallpaper, mugs, you secondary schools turned down the gift of a library of
know the deal. But now he has authorized the development classic books worth 3,000 pounds because they were “too
of “The Village, a Thomas Kinkade Community,” where difficult” for the students. Herodotus for example, accord-
homes modeled after his gingerbread style, will start in the ing to one teacher, was “far too boring.” The texts were
$400,000 range. As Kinkade put it, “We are every bit as rejected because they had “too much text, dull covers and
ambitious as the people who developed the Martha Stewart too few bright visual images.”
brand 10 years ago.” Forget the lack of bright images. What about the lack of bright
The only real difference is that Martha Stewart, for all her faults, teachers?
has some aesthetic sense.

Sah . . . moking
Waiting on the Red Letter Edition Montgomery County Council in Maryland approved a
Everybody knows about it, but we have not commented on measure making it illegal for people to smoke in their own
it in this space before—The Prayer of Jabez is available now homes if the smoke in any way escapes from their property
in leather binding. and somebody complains, which someone is sure to do in a
Isn’t that like putting a baloney sandwich under glass? state full of such whiners.
Somebody needs to go through the Maryland state song again and
find that line about the despot’s heel.

34 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 ESCHATON
ESCHATON

Amillennial Histor
Historyy
Jack Van Deventer mony of history. The name is new indeed, but the view to
which it is applied is as old as Christianity.”11 Adams, with
SEVERAL YEARS ago I came across an article on the Web by similar hyperbole, wrote, “Augustine strongly advocated
Kim Riddlebarger that, among other things, touched on the amillennialism, and it was the exclusive view of all the
history of amillennialism. What struck me was Riddlebarger’s Reformers.”12 Since several amillennialists claim Augustine
difficulty in tracing amillennialism’s history. That was odd, I as one of theirs, it’s important to quote R. Bradley Jones
thought, since amillennialists often claim their position traces refutation of his amillennial colleagues: “Some writers speak
back to the early church. Why would it be that difficult? of Augustine as an Amillennialist. This is hardly accurate. He
Indeed, after checking several church history books at the can more correctly be classified as a Postmillennialist.”13
university library, I found a noticeable absence between Moreover, Bahnsen’s historical survey of leading reformers
“Allegorization” and “Anabaptist.” Amillennialism is demonstrates the amillennial claims above to be groundless;
nowhere to be found. Riddlebarger wrote, “[T]he term rather the reformers were predominantly postmillennial.14
amillennialism, as we will see, was not used in the nineteenth J. Marcellus Kik believed amillennialism began with the
century, and the origin of the term is shrouded in mystery. writings of Geerhardus Vos who wrote extensively on
Accordingly, Gaffin asks the poignant question in this regard, eschatology from 1911 to 1930 and later. Kik wrote, “It was
‘Who coined the term amillennial?’”1 Gaffin continues, not till the advent of Geerhardus Vos that the amil position
“What prompted the invention of the word amillennial?”2 was introduced. I am personally sorry that the remarkable
Since the word postmillennial was already in common use before talents of Vos were diverted from the historic Princeton
the word amillennial, it’s safe to assume that amillennialism position.”15 Kik lamented that the postmillennial heritage of
represented a departure from postmillennialism. And, it was a Princeton, represented by theological greats such as Archibald
recent departure. Alexander, Joseph A. Alexander, Charles Hodge, A.A. Hodge,
Amillennialists agree that the term amillennialism is of and B.B. Warfield, had eroded. Vos’ doctrines were a
recent origin.3 Strimple wrote, “The term amillennialism has departure from postmillennialism such that the new theologi-
been widely current since sometime in the 1930s, although cal perspective warranted a new term for identifying it. The
when it was first used remains a mystery.”4 O.T. Allis terms anti-millennialism and non-millennialism were used
referenced a 1943 article by amillennialist Albertus Pieters until the word amillennialism eventually stuck.
stating that Abraham Kuyper coined the term. (Kuyper died Returning to Gaffin’s question regarding the invention of
in 1920.) Allis was unsure whether or not Pieter’s claim was the word amillennial, one is left wondering what prompted the
true.5 Peiter’s 1937 book was less specific, “Recently, those development of the doctrine behind the invention. Clearly
who take this view have begun to call themselves, or to be pessimism had permeated the Church from 1880 to 1920.
called ‘amillennialists.’”6 No attribution to Kuyper was made Premillennial pessimism with its emphasis on Armageddon,
and it remained unclear who originated the term, Antichrist, ruin, and rapture had become the buzz of the day.
amillennialists or their opponents. Postmillennialism was viewed as unrealistic given the
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) had no increased apostasy, liberalism, wars, etc. that were viewed by
reference for the word amillennialism in its 1915 and 1929/ many as the signs of the nearness of Christ’s coming. Having
1930 editions. However, a premillennial document in 1915 become convinced of history’s downward spiral, yet having
made reference to postmillennialists and “anti- rejected dispensationalism as unbiblical, presbyterian, and
millennialists.”7 A 1921 pamphlet entitled Non-millennialism Reformed people were in need of their own theological
vs. Pre-Millennialism stated that “Post-millennialists [were] rationale for pessimism. Not wanting to be left behind, they
rapidly changing to Non-millennialists,” where the non- apparently believed they needed a theological basis for
millennialist position was certainly the doctrine that would abandoning their traditional postmillennial doctrines of
later be called amillennialism.8 Erickson wrote that large gospel success, historical optimism, and conversion of the
numbers of postmillennialists changed their positions to nations to Christ. The amillennial solution was to reassign the
amillennialism.9 This shift was large enough to prompt a biblical victory passages to the heavenly or spiritual realm.
book by dispensationalist Charles Feinberg called The kingdom of God was allegorized, spiritualized, and
Premillennialism or Amillennialism? in 1936. This is the earliest use explained away as other-worldly, another spiritual dimension,
of the term I’ve found so far.10 a land beyond time and beyond our grasp. The prophecies of
Amillennialist Louis Berkhof was defensive when the doom and destruction, of course, were retained and applied to
position’s historicity was questioned. He wrote (apparently in the earthly realm. In other words, keep the curses, discard the
1938 or earlier), “Some Premillenarians have spoken of blessings. Although a younger doctrine than dispensation-
Amillennialism as a new view and as one of the most recent alism, amillennialism met the same need and fit the mood of
novelties, but this is certainly not in accord with the testi- the day.

“Things to be Done” Volume 14 /2 35

 FOOTNOTES

Quotations in Order of Appearance

Order
Verbatim
Verbatim: Postmillennialism, 1996.
1. Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (New York: http://www.alliancenet.org/pub/articles/riddlebarger.princeton.html
Scholastic, 1997). 2. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., “Theonomy and Eschatology: Reflections on
2. Tolkien, J.R.R., The Hobbit (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966). Postmillennialism,” in William S. Barker and W. Robert Godfrey, eds.,
Theonomy: A Reformed Critique (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,
Tohu
Tohu: 1990), pp. 199–201, p. 198, 200.
1. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, chap. 4; Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the 3. G.L. Murray, Millennial Studies, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House,
Wardrobe, somewhere; Lewis, That Hideous Strength, chap. 9; Tolkien, The 1948) p. 87. Jay E. Adams, The Time is at Hand (Greenville, South Carolina: A
Fellowship of the Ring, bk. II, chap. 7. Press, 1987), p. 7. Russell Bradley Jones, What, Where, and When is the
2. Further Reading (Just for kicks) Millennium? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1975), p. 10.
Frazer, Sir James G., The Golden Bough, chap. 3, 4 4. Robert B. Strimple, “Amillennialism,” in Darrell L. Bock, ed., Three
Mauss, Marcel (Robert Brain, trans), A General Theory of Magic. Views of the Millennium and Beyond (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,
Russell, Jeffrey, A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans. 1999), pp. 83–129, p. 83.
Kieckhefer, Richard, Magic in the Middle Ages. 5. Oswald T. Allis, Prophecy and the Church, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey:
Meyer, Marvin, and Smith, Richard, eds. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1945), p. 286.
Texts of Ritual Power. 6. Albertus Pieters, The Lamb, The Woman and The Dragon (Grand Rapids:
Chesterton, G. K., Orthodoxy, chap 4. Zondervan Publishing House, 1937), p. 326.
7. Timothy P. Weber, Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming (Grand
Stauron
Stauron: Rapids: Academie Books, 1983), p. 32.
1. Deut. 18: 10–14. See also Lev. 19:31, 20:6, 27; 2 Kings 21:6, 23:24; 8. C.E. Putnam, Non-Millennialism vs. Pre-Millennialism, Which Harmonizes the
2 Chron. 33:6; Isaiah 8:19, 19:3; Galatians 5:19–21; Rev. 21:8. Word? (Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1921), p 3.
2. Ezek. 16:25–26, 23:19–21. Reading in an interlinear version will be 9. Erickson, Contemporary Options in Eschatology, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
an eye-opener. Book House, 1977), p.76.
3. Deut. 7:25 10. Though the term amillennialism is new, it’s clear that many who hold
4. Lev. 17:7; 2 Chron. 11:15, 33:6; Ps. 106:36-38; I Cor. 10:19–20; the position don’t like the term for it. Here is some commentary about the
Acts 16:16. term amillennialism by those who subscribe to that position. Jones says the term
5. See the next chapter, I Cor. 9. “is of recent origin and is unfortunate and is often misunderstood.” Adams
6. Tolkien, A Celebration. ed. Joseph Pearce. p. 124, 138. London: Harper called it an “unhappy term” that causes “unfortunate misunderstandings” and
Collins. 1999. proposed the phrase “realized millennialism” as an alternative. Hoekema
7. Ibid. p. 140. Remarks quoted in footnote 6 from The Inklings: C.S. agreed “the term amillennialism is not a very happy one” but thought Adams
Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their Friends. p. 144. alternate terminology “clumsy.” Cox said it was an “unfortunate term.”
8. Greydanus, Steven D. “Harry Potter vs. Gandalf: An in-depth analysis Pieters: “The word is not well compounded, as it uses a Greek prefix for a
of the literary use of magic in the works of J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Latin word, but it is the term now in use, and we cannot help it.” Given the
C.S.Lewis.” (2001). <http://decentfilms.com/commentary/ disdain that amillennialists have for the term amillennialism, one has to
magic.html> 4 Dec. 2001. Greydanus, although writing as a Roman Catholic, wonder if the term was coined by their premillennial opponents.
here provides useful insight into seven hedges employed by Lewis and 11. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
Tolkien (pp. 7–8). Rowling saw no such need for hedges (p. 8). 1941), p. 708. Capitalization and italics appear as in the original. Berkhof’s
9. Ibid. p. 6–8. work was printed in August 1938.
10. O’Brien, Michael D., A Landscape With Dragons. San Francisco: 12. Adams, The Time is at Hand, p. 7.
Ignatius, 1998. O’Brien’s book does not directly address the Potter series, but 13. Jones, What, Where, and When is the Millennium? p. 11.
it provides very useful perspectives for analyzing Tolkien and Lewis’ works 14. Greg L. Bahnsen, Victory in Jesus, The Bright Hope of Postmillennialism
and especially those of recent non-Christian fantasy writers. The reader is (edited by Robert R. Booth; Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press, 1999),
cautioned, however, that O’Brien, like Greydanus, at times clearly writes from p. 115.
a Roman Catholic theology. 15. J. Marcellus Kik, An Eschatology of Victory (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian
11. I Cor. 2:2 and Reformed Publishing Company, 1971), p. 6.

Poimen
Poimen:
1. Archibald Alexander, the founding professor of Princeton Seminary,
Thoughts on Religious Experience (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1844,
1987), p. xviii.

Incarnatus
Incarnatus:
1. Jerome Bruner, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1986), 11.
2. Ibid., 13.
3. Schank, Roger, Tell Me A Story: Narrative and Intelligence (Evanston, IL:
Northwestern Univ. Press, 1990), 15.
4. Ibid., 7,8.
5. Ibid., 16.
6. Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall: Reflections on the Life of David (San
Francisco: Harper Collins, 1997), 3.

Eschaton
Eschaton:
1. Kim Riddlebarger, Princeton & the Millennium, A Study of American

36 “Things to be Believed” Volume 14 /2

 PICTURA

Call Me Nergal
Nergal
Ben Merkle ardly placed the Summer Berry with the Golden Honey that her
mind was not on her work.
IT HAD BEEN the most unusual season that Sara had ever seen. After several weeks of tortuous anticipation, Team Babylon
First, the registration form had arrived. The other sixteen teams arrived. However their arrival brought more questions than
merely dropped off their registration forms themselves. This answers. They showed up a week before the tournament in a
was customary since all of them lived within walking distance rented van, and immediately reserved a lane for themselves for
of the bowling alley. But a curious registration form arrived by the entire week as well as the most expensive room that the
mail the day of the deadline. Not only was the method of Motel 6 had to offer. The four of them spent the entire week
delivery out of the ordinary, but the strangeness of the letter bowling from noon to closing. Their practice sessions were a
itself immediately attracted Sarah’s attention as she carried the spectacle that drew the attention of the entire town. Dressed in
bundle of envelopes back to the alley from the post office. Both linen tunics reaching to their sandaled feet, with long hair,
the postage mark and the return address were printed in some elaborate turbans, and always smelling heavily of spice and oil,
strange and illegible foreign script. And, if that wasn’t already Team Babylon brought out the strangest blend of animosity and
enough to arouse the entire league’s attention, the fifteen dollar hero-worship in the citizens of Edgartown.
registration fee was paid, with neither cash nor check, but rather For Sarah it was as if that sense of wanderlust that had
a small tarnished silver coin shaped in the outline of a zigorat, been slowly growing inside of her had suddenly come into
covered in that same illegible script. They registered under the bloom. No longer could she put on airs of indifference. Deep
cryptic name, “Team Babylon.” spoke to deep. Everything about Team Babylon seemed to sing
Sarah knew that this summer was to be a crossroads in her of a world that Sarah had always dreamt of, but never spoken
life. It had been three years since she had finished high school. about. Sarah was not alone in her admiration. Many of the
All of the classmates that went on to college had fairly well cut locals felt an unexplicable kinship to Team Babylon. The
off their ties to the hometown. At first they had come home for strangers had such an aura of the unknown, the foreign and
the summers and holidays and everyone had pretended that exotic, sophisticated and metropolitan.
nothing had changed. But they had all slowly lost their rural On the third day after they had arrived, most of the town
roots. Roots that had once been a badge of honor. Sarah, bitter crowded into the alley to watch the team practice. Initially, Sarah
at first, had finally admitted that she didn’t blame them. Rather had joined the crowd, elbowing her way through the thronging
she envied them. But for her, all roads seemed to lead back to mass to where her slight five-two frame could observe the four
Edgartown, Nebraska. Not even her upcoming graduation from Babylonians. But after the first hour she began to feel rather
beauty school seemed to offer any hope of a ticket out of town. ashamed of herself. To be twenty years old and still susceptible
She had been in the midst of rolling her plight over in her to this sort of idol worship was embarrassing. She pushed her
mind when she picked up the mail that day. The postmark way back through the crowd and slipped out a side door.
caught her eye immediately. With all those strange figures Out in the fresh evening air of the summer she tried to
stamped all over it looked like the trunk of a world traveller. collect her thoughts. She lit a cigarette and drew deeply. Just
This was the sort of thing that might fall out of J. Peterman’s then another figure emerged from the same side door. It was
coat pocket. Oh, to have visited just one of the stops that this Nergal-Sharezer, by far the quietest of the Babylonians. He
letter had made. She held it close to her nose and drank deeply began walking towards her.
of those wild scents. Finally handing it over to the Manager of “Could I get a light?” he asked.
the alley took all the strength she could muster. Sarah didn’t bother trying to find words. She held out her
It had been quite a while since the town’s bowling commu- lighter. He took it and nodded appreciatively. Sarah studied
nity had drawn attention from the oustide world. Not since closely every line of his face lit by the glow of the flame. It was
Bobby Gibbson had risen from their midst had the humble a youthful face, bright-eyed and round. As he handed back the
people of Edgartown had any real contact with the bowling lighter she noticed that he wasn’t much taller than herself. Was
community at large. But here was proof that the world still that why he was so quiet around the other Babylonians? Did
looked to Edgartown as a proving grounds for bowling greats. they intimidate him with their size? Sarah forced herself to
By the evening of the deadline, the whole town was aflame with strike up a conversation.
the news of the newcomers. The next morning at beauty school “You’ve got good lift,” she hazarded.
Sarah was bombarded with questions. She dismissed them all A smile rose over his face. He had the sort of smile that
with what she hoped looked like mild indifference. As the other demanded every square inch of face participate. But he quickly
students argued about the odds of the newcomers being married bowed his head, as if embarrassed by his rambunctious smile.
or single, Sarah busied herself sorting the dye kits by color. But “Thanks,” he whispered.
any close observer would have noticed by the way she haphaz- “Really,” Sarah began again. “You’ve got the most graceful

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approach I’ve ever seen. And your lift is unbelievably smooth.” audience. He seemed to have switched from bowling to ballet as
“Thanks,” he repeated. he crossed the floor. But suddenly, as he reached the foot fault-
It was going well, so Sarah pressed on. “My name is Sarah.” line, the ballet exploded from grace to amazing power, as his
She extended her hand. “I work at the alley part-time. You can arm whipped down, rocketing the bowl forward. The ball
let me know if you need anything, more chalk or something.” crossed the lane diagonally and reached the right gutter two
“I’m Nergal. Nergal-Sharezer. But everybody calls me thirds of the way down, where the powerful spin held it,
Nergal,” he replied while shaking her hand. teetering on the brink of the gutter. At the last second, the spin
“Hey, if you want someone to show you around town or pulled the ball slightly back onto the lane where it launched the
something let me know. Ya know, I’d be happy to give you the ten pin into the seven. The crowd errupted with cheers, and a
tour.” She was getting more daring than she had ever been in her silenced Hammurabi found his seat.
entire life. However Nergal, rather than returning to his seat,
“That’d be cool,” said Nergal. “But I’d have began elbowing his way through the crowd and
to ask Hammurabi.” made for the back door. Sarah followed as
“Is he kind of the boss?” inconspicuously as possible. She found him out
“Yah. But he’d probably let me out back, where they had first met. He smiled when
sometime. How do I get a hold of you?” he saw her emerge.
“I’ll be around, but I could give you my “Hey, I was just looking for a pay phone to
number.” call you,” he said.
“Yah, yah. That’d be cool.” He seemed to “Really.”
be as new at this sort of conversation as she “Yah, Hammurabi said I could go out for a
was. He fumbled in his pocket and brought bit tomorrow night. If you’re still free you
out a scrap of paper and a complimentary know.”
half pencil, then handed them both to Sarah. “That’d be great. Should I pick you up?”
She scribbled quickly and returned his goods “Yah. I don’t think Hammurabi would let
with a smile. He smiled a bit sheepishly. me use the van. Could you get me at seven?”
“Well, I gotta go.” After the details were established, Nergal
“Okay. Well, give me a call whenever.” quickly excused himself, explaining that if he
“Yah, yah. That’d be cool.” And with that wanted to get out, he would need to stay on
he dropped his cigarette butt, turned, and Hammurabi’s good side.
slipped back into the alley. The next evening found Sarah in an
The next day found Sarah once again emotional malestrom. Had she put herself too
elbowing her way through the growing mass of far forward? Was she moving too fast? But all of
Team Babylon’s fans. This time she felt she had a her fears were relieved when Nergal climbed into
bit more justification. She wasn’t just a random fan. She was an the car. He was dressed casual—a faded denim shirt,
aquaintance. The crowd was larger today. Wild stories fed by untucked, Khaki cargo pants, and and a well-worn pair of
unrestrained speculation had stirred the collective curiosity of hiking boots. His hair was still damp from the shower. And
the town. despite the slight fragrance of the shampoo, there was no trace
Nergal was chalking up and waiting for his ball to return. of cologne. Sarah was relieved with this discovery. Everything
Apparently, he had just left a seven-ten split, which had sent about his attire testified to the category of the evening. It was
Hammurabi into a wild tyrade. Hammurabi’s face had turned a casual. “We’re just casual,” she told herself again and again. “It’s
bright crimson, set off nicely by his white turban. He was not a date. We’re just hanging out. I’m showing him around
screaming, inches from Nergal’s face, what the entire audience town.” She checked for cologne again with a subtle sniff in his
took for a stream of obsenities, in a tone which not even the direction. Nothing. She smiled her approval at him. It was so
language barrier could mask. Nergal stood, unmoved, focusing nice of him to not force anything on her.
on the two remaining pins, as Hammurabi’s spittle misted his Sarah could not have imagined the evening going smoother.
face. After retrieving his ball, he stood on his mark where he Nergal quickly broke out of his timid shell and the two were
seemed to drop into a deep trance. A silence fell over the crowd, soon engrossed in one another’s conversation. Sarah took Nergal
which only Hammurabi failed to observe. His screams only to the diner, the ice cream shop, the park, and many other local
intensified as Nergal began his approach. But despite landmarks. They talked about bowling mostly at first. Then
Hammurabi’s screams, the movement of Nergal’s approach conversation to their childhoods, careers, dreams, and more. It
brought the deepest sensation of peace across the entire seemed like before the evening had begun it was time to take

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Nergal back to his hotel where they said good-bye with the “Persians.” His voice hardly made any noise, but after seeing the
warmth and conviction of deep friends. sillouette of the hand on the wall above, Hammurabi quickly
The next morning the sun rose on an Edgartown boiling grasped the significance. Turning white, Hammurabi fell back in
over in excitement at the prospect of the coming tournament. his seat, rolled his eyes to the heavens and went limp. Rabmag
By noon the alley was full of various bowling team members and Evil-Marduk both gave a similar performance when Nergal
and their spectators. Sarah finally saw Nergal waving to attract mouthed the word “Persians” to them.
her attention and motioning to a seat down on the floor by Before Sarah knew what was happening, the Babylonians
himself. She pushed through the crowd and slipped into the seat, had begun gathering their things and making their way to the
just in time to see Hammurabi mark up for his first frame. door. The fickle crowd had already abandoned the Babylonians
The tournament lasted the better part of the afternoon. and had formed up around the Carpet Factory team where the
The presence of the Babylonians raised the competition to a victorious Persians were signing wristbraces and throwing
new level. But despite the improved performance of the locals, chalkbags to the crowd. Nergal cast several pleading glances over
Team Babylon held a steady lead throughout. Nergal was his shoulder at Sarah, as Hammurabi hurried his team to the
bowling a nearly flawless game. Even Hammurabi seemed to be exit. But Sarah was still immobilized, unable to grasp what was
relaxing. He had only had one real outburst of wrath and that happening. Before she was able to find words or the strength to
hadn’t even been directed at his teammates, but rather at the move, the four Babylonians were passing through the door into
waitress who forgot to hold the onions on Hammurabi’s the parking lot.
chilidog. By the end of the sixth frame, members of Team Sarah finally woke from her stupor and began pushing her
Babylon had begun to give autographs in between frames. way through the crowd, trying to make her way to the exit. But
Rabmag had even thrown his chalkbag into the surrounding by the time she reached the door, the rental van was already
crowd of fans. As the tournament was winding down, Nergal leaving the parking lot. The hotel was a mile and a quarter walk
mentioned to Sarah that he would be free that evening if she from the bowling alley, which Sarah began at a brisk pace.
was able to slip away, and the two began debating whether Fifteen minutes later found Sarah reaching the motel—five
Mexican or Chinese sounded best. minutes too late. The Babylonians had packed and checked out
Then it happened. It took some time before Sarah in seconds flat, explained the pimple-faced boy at the desk. He
understood that a change had come over the crowd. It came like assured her that they had left no clues as to where they were
a shift in the tide, slow and gradual, but steady and unstoppable. headed.
It began with several glances in the other direction—anxious, She sat down on the curb outside the hotel, resting her
uneasy, darting glances. Then a slow murmur began to grow. head in her hands. She was no longer just a beautician, but
Finally, a chorus of gasps burst out across the alley. Sarah, another victim of the Persian conquest.
oblivious to the shift until now, finally turned to see what was
happening. As soon as she saw it, she added her own horrified
alto to the growing symphony of terror. Three lanes down she
saw it. Above the lane, on the white screen, floated a hand
gripping a short pencil, scribbling on the wall three lanes down
a message of judgment and doom. From the tip of the pencil
streamed a series of menacing Xs. Strike after strike. Every
member of the team had turkeyed in the tenth.
“Who is that?” whispered Nergal to Sarah.
“That’s the Cyrus Carpet Factory team,” she whispered
back. “I didn’t know they could bowl. They just moved here last
fall.”
“Where are they from?”
“They’re Arabs or something. I only talked to them once. I
think they said that they were from Iran.”
Nergal reeled. His whole spirit fell. “Persians,” he muttered
in a horrifed voice, as if he was revealing the identity of the
Beast.
Hammurabi turned to him. “What is the matter Nergal?
Why are you shaking?”
Nergal motioned toward the Cyrus Carpet Factory score.

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