Vision
What the Hell?
Sin and hell have pretty much dropped out of the message of contemporary evangelicalism. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing, according to Meghan O’Gieblyn. Writing in The Guardian, Ms. O’Gieblyn recounts her own turning away from the faith over the question of hell – what and why it is (“How do you sell God in the 21st century? More heaven, less hell,” 26 November 2014). On the one hand, she considers that talk about suffering and hellfire forever is anachronistic and no longer relevant – which is why, she explains, most evangelical preachers have abandoned such talk. On the other hand, she agrees that each of us is sinful and thus harbors a bit of hell on earth in our own lives. Such beliefs can help to keep us humble and seeking ways to improve the world. She writes, “Like so many formerly oppositional institutions, the church is now becoming a symptom of the culture rather than an antidote to it, giving us one less place to turn for a sober counter-narrative to the simplistic story of moral progress that stretches from Silicon Valley to Madison Avenue. Hell may be an elastic concept, as varied as the thousands of malevolencies it has described throughout history, but it remains our most resilient metaphor for the evil both around and within us. True compassion is possible not because we are ignorant that life can be hell, but because we know that it can be.” The author may consider the teaching of Scripture to be allegorical and adjustable according to the needs of the times. But her view of hell as merely personal and pragmatic, while it may assuage her apostate conscience, cannot truly represent the teaching of Scripture and the Church.  http://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/nov/26/-sp-my-life-in-hell

Image of God
As important as our vision of the eternal disposition of all things is our understanding of our human essence. Who are we? What kind of being is a human? According to the Scriptures, we are image-bearers of God. But what does this mean? A good place to begin in answering these questions is with John W. Wright’s review of five books on the image of God in the Fall 2014 issue of Christian Scholar’s Review (“Human Dignity and the Image of God – A Review Essay”). His analysis helps us to understand the importance of this topic, theologically, personally, socially, and historically. We are made in the image of God but also unto it, unto our being formed into the likeness of Christ, Who is the image of God. Our identity, freedom, dignity, and common humanity are bound up in Christ and His work for and in us. Who we are is thus grounded in, defined by, and realized in the divine Trinity, especially as this can be known through the Person and work of Christ: “Human nature always lies ahead of and behind us in the fullness of the image of God, Jesus Christ.” We realize our purpose and fullness as human beings as we strive toward more complete formation in Him: “Human dignity and freedom come as we live from the image of God, through the image of God, and to the image of God as made visible in Jesus Christ.” Attaining this vision requires disciplines focused on seeing Jesus – daily reading of the gospels, meditation on Him exalted, contemplating His upholding presence throughout creation, singing and praise and the Supper of the Lord, and prayerfully seeking His imminent return.

The Poor
A Christian vision of the good society accepts that there will always be poor people among us, and that our duty is to love and care for them according to the teaching of God’s Word. (I have written briefly on this topic in my In the Gates column.) From the beginning Americans have struggled to sort out their understanding of the poor and of the responsibility for their care on the part of those who are not poor. Writers from various periods of American history have undertaken to address this issue, both to inform their fellow Americans and to shape attitudes and actions toward the poor – not always in positive or realistic ways. Writing in the Fall 2014 issue of The Hedgehog Review, John Marsh provides an overview of that history (“Continental Divide”). He comes down on the side of a realist approach, which endeavors to present the plight of the poor in a factual and personal manner, with a view to informing readers and moving them to actions of generosity and charity. He is persuaded that literature – both non-fiction and fiction – can help to keep the plight of the poor before the mind of the public, and shape a vision of the good society which, while it will not eradicate poverty, may at least sustain charitable and dignified efforts to address it. Such writing could be, and, indeed, is, a valuable resource for Christians as we work to sustain various efforts to meet the needs of the poor who will be with us always. 

Disciplines
Can Poetry Matter?
This the question poet Dana Gioia explored in his book by that title. His conclusion was to affirm the question, while at the same time lamenting the fact that poetry had become captive to an elite class writing only for itself in themes and forms unappealing to or inaccessible by the vast bulk of readers. Jaswinder Bolina seconds those observations in his first-hand account of being part of that elite (“The Writing Class,” Poetry Foundation, November 12, 2014 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/249164). Bolina contends that poetry has become the slave of academia and only knows how to speak the language of the ivory tower. Meanwhile, masses hungry for verse go looking to hip-hop and rap for their poetry fixes. Of contemporary poets he writes, “if nobody comes along to challenge our language and its embedded frames of reference, the result is that ours becomes a private conversation continually reaffirming our existing perspectives.” This is where poetry today resides. In spite of hundreds of presses publishing poetry books and thousands of journals posting and printing poetry daily, weekly, and monthly, poetry is for most contemporary readers a dead art. And poets have only themselves to blame. The allure of academia, with its opportunities for publication, money, and stardom, has made most poets captive to a culture most Americans not only cannot access but actually despise. Poetry can change the world, Mr. Bolina insists, but it must do so by “the plodding, unending effort of many to alter line by line, phrase by phrase, word by word the way we describe ourselves and everything around us.” We need more poets committed to this calling, not to fulfill their own need for self-importance, but to bring the beauty and power of verse back to the lives of everyday people. 

In Search of Big Ideas
We sometimes ask, “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?” Perhaps we should also ask, “Why should science have all the good ideas?” We have become so accustomed to innovation being linked to science and technology, that we don’t expect world-changing ideas to come from any other source. The ten big ideas and breakthroughs in science and technology, explained in the December 2014 issue of Scientific American, are indeed impressive. Some really excellent work is being done in cell research, energy technologies, and other fields that holds great promise for bettering human life. But science is not the only way of knowing. Should we not expect other fields of endeavor to generate ideas and breakthroughs that might be equally valuable? What, for example, about theology and religion? Theologians and religious thinkers apparently haven’t had a truly “big idea” in, I don’t know, centuries? Is it because we don’t expect to have such ideas? Or don’t seek them? Or don’t know how to translate theological truth into big ideas to improve the world’s shalom? And what about the arts? What about literature and poetry? Do these not have the potential for changing the world? Most people, I suspect, would find such a notion naive or Pollyannish. But think: The Federalist Papers, The Communist Manifesto, Origin of the Species, The Gulag Archipelago, or even The Divine Comedy. Until we begin expecting more in the way of world-changing innovations and ideas from disciplines other than science and technology, we’re not likely to get them. 

Art and Ideas
Emrys Westacott asks, “how does one decide if a work of art countenances something?” (“The Moral Countenance of Art,” Philosophy Now, December 2014) We can consider the artist’s intentions, he suggests, either as stated or inferred. However, works of art may go beyond what the artist intended, or, at least, may strike the audience as doing so. We can look at the effects of the work, its impact on viewers or readers. But responses are always mixed. Further, we should consider the form in which the work is presented. Does the work of art depict reality, or is it a fiction or fantasy? “Form” in other words “counts as much as content.” All such considerations must be weighed together in seeking to assess what a work of art does or does not countenance. But that art – in all its forms – presents moral ideas or notions about truth and untruth is not in question. Art traffics in ideas as much as in beauty or entertainment, and it is important to understand how artists get their message across. Art serves to reflect our times, our culture, and ourselves. We should perhaps pay more attention to the ideas and values art – in all its forms – is reflecting to and of us. At the same time, we should make good use of the arts to present and argue for the views and values we, as a believing community, are willing to countenance.

Outcomes
Language
Humans are, among all creatures, uniquely suited for language. But this is a social and not a biological achievement. As Vyvyian Evans explains in a December 4, 2014, posting at Aeon, our brains and vocal organs are ready for speech, but speaking is not an instinct. We learn to speak by hearing others speak (”Real talk,” http://aeon.co/magazine/culture/there-is-no-language-instinct/). Moreover, speech is so important that no single area of the brain is devoted to it: “As it happens, cognitive neuroscience research from the past two decades or so has begun to lift the veil on where language is processed in the brain. The short answer is that it is everywhere. Once upon a time, a region known as Broca’s area was believed to be the brain’s language centre. We now know that it doesn’t exclusively deal with language – it’s involved in a raft of other, non-linguistic motor behaviours. And other aspects of linguistic knowledge and processing are implicated almost everywhere in the brain. While the human brain does exhibit specialisation for processing different genres of information, such as vision, there appears not to be a dedicated spot specialised just for language.” Human beings are made for words, for language and communication of a verbal sort. Just what we might expect as image-bearers of God who are made to be transformed into the image of His Word/Son. Developing our skills in language and all kinds of verbal communications would seem therefore to be not only a unique privilege but a high calling and a crucial spiritual responsibility. Or do we need a better reason to read, appreciate, and write poetry?

Envoi
Raisin D’être 

What is this little poem of mine?
A cast of words  and meter, line
and rhyme; a thought, a soaring hope,
me clinging to life-saving rope;
a gesture made to no one, to
the world, to anybody who,
deep in his soul, aspires to more.
These simple lines in feet of four
and strict end-line agreement may
not change the world or save the day;
they won’t be read or memorized
by kids in school (how I despised
those exercises!). These few words
will huddle here, I guess, like birds
perched on a wire, which, just because
they’re ordinary, few will pause
to contemplate how beautiful
they are just being there. The pull
or push of something in my soul
demands that I mark up my scroll
from time to time with musings such
as this. It’s how I get in touch
with my divinity, and nod
with thanks to the eternal God
for things like rhythm, sound, delight,
and simple words to think and write.

T. M. Moore