Vision
The Self
Luke Hankins reviews three new volumes of poetry, each of which addresses the question of the self from a spiritual perspective (“Which I is I? Three Poetry Collections,” Image, Number 82). Two of the poets seem hopelessly confused about the question, while Scott Cairns makes an earnest attempt to connect his inquiry to Biblical revelation. According to Mr. Hankins – I have not read any of these collections, nor am I likely to – Tarfia Faizullah and Franz Wright lead us through family history and confessionalism to a view of the self as victim and sufferer incapable of connecting with God in anything more than a superficial or, at best, sympathetic manner, while he reads Scott Cairns as pursuing a vision of the self which is fraught with potential for knowing and serving God as long as one adopts the posture of fool and idiot before Him. This does not sound like poetry likely to encourage a fuller and more faith-full approach to knowing oneself as an image-bearer of God. And yet this is an extremely important subject, one to which Christians today should give more attention. As we see ourselves, so we, to a large extent, determine our potential for full and abundant life. We will flourish in line with our self-perception and the expectations, hopes, and efforts that perception encourages. We need the humble posture of fools and idiots, of course, and to try to make sense of our history and experiences; but we also need that view which Paul expressed as believing ourselves of being capable of all things through Christ Who strengthens us.

Disciplines
Peace or War?
Human beings have a tendency to resort to violence to obtain their goals. Bullying, fighting, and going to war are part of the human condition, or so it would seem. But David Barash is not convinced. He cites evidence showing mankind’s bellicose as well as his peaceable nature (“War and Peace: Are Human Beings Naturally Violent and Warlike?” Philosophy Now, November/December 2014). So which is it? Evolutionary theory cannot answer this question unequivocally. Dr. Barash writes, “when it comes to violence and war, evolution’s bequeathal to Homo sapiens is best symbolized by the two-faced Roman God Janus...” Even though a great deal of evidence supports an affirmative answer to this article’s question, Dr. Barash remains “an optimist as well as a believer in the power of human cultural self-direction to espouse not only the desirability of peace but also its feasibility.” Hmmm... “human cultural self-direction”? It all depends, he concludes, on which wolf we feed. The record suggests, in line with Biblical teaching, that the violent wolf will tend to feed on the peaceable one, no matter how hard we try to starve it into submission. Don’t look for the cessation of violence or war any time soon. But don’t give up on peace, either, for it is the defining condition of the Kingdom of God. Evolutionary theory may not be able to account for this situation, but the Christian worldview explains it.

Art and Transformation
What good is art? Most people, I suspect, might answer, “Not much.” Members of the Hobby Craft Shop at the State Prison for Men in Concord, New Hampshire, will beg to differ. As Debbie Hagan reports in the November/December 2014 issue of Art New England (“Made in Prison”), what began as an experiment in improving recidivism has proved to be a resource for personal transformation and social and cultural good in the Granite State. It began when Superior Court Judge Kathleen McGuire asked the Prison Outreach Program and furniture maker Terry Moore to begin a furniture making program in the Hobby Craft Shop of the Prison. Participants have found the program a means for rebuilding their self-images, acquiring new vision, developing and improving their skills, enhancing creativity, and providing a means of support when they are released. In short, art is transforming the lives of criminals and bringing to New Hampshire society and culture a measure of goodness it otherwise would not possess. And not a single inmate who has completed this program, upon being released from prison, has returned. That’s a recidivism rate of 0%. “Art can do much,” Anne Bradstreet insisted in the middle of the 17th century, and apparently she knew whereof she wrote. 

My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings,
And this to mend, alas, no art is able,
‘Cause nature made it so irreparable.

Nor can I, like that fluent sweet tongued Greek,
Who lisped at first, in future times speak plain.
By art he gladly found what he did seek,
A full requital of his striving pain.
Art can do much, but this maxim’s most sure:
A weak or wounded brain admits no cure.

       - Anne Bradstreet, from “The Prologue”

Outcomes
Immigration Policy
I am sympathetic with the intent of the President’s announced policy toward illegal immigrants. However, the implementation is flawed, morally and Constitutionally. We must not encourage people in any area of life to consider that breaking our laws is only a minor thing, since, given enough time and public sympathy, forgiveness and even rewards will be forthcoming. Immigration policy is a matter for the Congress to decide. The President can have his input, but only after lawmakers have spoken. The policy aside, I was struck by the President’s invocation of Scripture to support his decision. He is correct, of course, concerning Scripture’s positive and supportive view toward immigrants and other “strangers” in our midst, as I argued recently in a series of In the Gates columns (beginning here). Are we now to expect the President to make more appeals to Scripture in his attempt to rescue his failed presidency? And if so, will he also take up the Scripture’s case on behalf of the unborn? Don’t hold your breath.

Morality
According to Nina Strohminger, human beings are first of all moral creatures (“The self is moral,” Aeon, 17 November 2014). Research shows that our self-identities and relational preferences are, in the first instance, based on moral convictions. Moreover, those moral convictions line up curiously well with the kind of moral character commended by Scripture. Dr. Strohminger discusses this interesting idea in terms of the soul, even though she appears to deny the existence of such a spiritual entity. The soul, she writes, “describes a person’s moral sensibility”. Psychologists and others use the term, “soul,” as a matter of convenience: “souls are a useful construct, one we can make sense of in fiction and fantasy, and as a shorthand for describing everyday experience. The soul is an indestructible wisp of ether, present from birth and surviving our bodies after death. And each soul is one of a kind and unreplicable: it bestows upon us our unique identity. Souls are, in short, a placeholder notion for the self.” Without borrowing this concept from religion, certain psychologists would find it difficult to discuss their research. Their use of the term argues strongly for the reality it represents. According to Dr. Strohminger, the moral essence – the soul – is the primary identity-conferring aspect of every person: “Recent studies by the philosopher Shaun Nichols at the University of Arizona and myself support the view that the identity-conferring part of a person is his moral capacities.” That is, “the single most important mental trait in judging self-identity is one’s deeply held moral convictions. We are not only concerned with moral character when constructing an identity for others, but when doing so for ourselves.” If we want to improve as persons we must concentrate on our moral capacities: “when we dig deep, beneath our memory traces and career ambitions and favourite authors and small talk, we find a constellation of moral capacities. This is what we should cultivate and burnish, if we want people to know who we really are.” The outcomes to nurture from any worldview are, first of all, moral, and only secondarily social or cultural. So it matters greatly which vision of morality guides us and what disciplines we engage in pursuit of that vision.

http://aeon.co/magazine/philosophy/why-moral-character-is-the-key-to-personal-identity/?utm_source=Aeon+newsletter&utm_campaign=ebe4cce9cb-Daily_newsletter_17_November_201411_15_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-ebe4cce9cb-68631581

Coffee in Vermont
Who would think that Vermont (population 650,000) would be a world center for promoting coffee-drinking? But it’s true. Not only is the Green Mountain State home to world famous Keurig Green Mountain Inc. – which, according to Mother Jones (March 19, 2014) last year produced 8.5 billion K-cups of coffee (“enough to wrap around the equator 10.5 times”) and has as its goal to have “a Keurig system on every counter” – but it also hosts a variety of specialty coffee roasters, some of whom are profiled in the Winter 2014-2015 issue of Vermont Life. It seems unlikely that these small entrepreneurs, captivated by visions of better coffee, should be able to make a go of it in Vermont. But they are, and this is testimony to the power of vision to concentrate effort and produce results with potential for worldwide impact.

A Song for Thanksgiving
Looking for something new to sing around the dinner table this thanksgiving? Something to recapture the early spirit and mood of this our beloved country? May I suggest William Billings’ “Chester,” a song written in 1778 to celebrate the victory of “youth” and “beardless boys” over the tyrant Britain, and to encourage perseverance and faith in the revolutionary cause? New Englanders saw the gracious and sovereign hand of God in the creation of this great nation, and they sang their praises to God with gusto. Here is one of my favorite recordings of “Chester.” The words are below: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=--XA2OtAPnk

Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And Slav’ry clank her galling chains,
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New England’s God forever reigns.

Howe and Burgoyne and Clinton too,
With Prescot and Cornwallis join’d,
Together plot our Overthrow,
In one Infernal league combin’d.

When God inspir’d us for the fight,
Their ranks were broke, their lines were forc’d,
Their ships were Shatter’d in our sight,
Or swiftly driven from our Coast.

The Foe comes on with haughty Stride;
Our troops advance with martial noise,
Their Vet’rans flee before our Youth,
And Gen’rals yield to beardless Boys.

What grateful Off’ring shall we bring?
What shall we render to the Lord?
Loud Halleluiahs let us Sing,
And praise his name on ev’ry Chord.

Envoi
Wear Smooth My Rungs
         ...fri arthu ar chath... Dallán Forgaill

Wear smooth my rungs by many hands and feet,
O Lord. Let many by my rungs ascend,
Your walls to mount, Your glorious face to greet.

And let me find each clambering burden sweet.
Let no complaint arise when I must bend:
wear smooth my rungs by many hands and feet

(complaining thus would not at all be meet
for one created for this very end,
Your walls to mount, Your glorious face to greet).

Some will begin to climb, but then retreat,
yet let me be to all a faithful friend.
Wear smooth my rungs by many hands and feet,

and let no failing on my part defeat
the hopes of those who by my way intend
Your walls to mount, Your glorious face to greet.

Set me on solid ground, let me extend
above Your highest parapets! And then,
wear smooth my rungs by many hands and feet,
who, sheltered in Your walls, Your face shall greet.

T. M. Moore