Christianity and Cynicism: Nonconformity, Dissent, and Defacing the Coin

Historians have long debated the relationship between the Cynics and early Christianity. There are some striking similarities to be found in the lives of the Cynics who emerged in the context of Classical Greece, a few hundred years before Christ - so much so, that some believe Christ may have been influenced by them.

The likeness is superficial. The Cynics rested their thought on a different epistemological basis and their ethics were also different - and yet similar enough at times to generate a lot of discussion. For those wishing to make direct comparisons or find some trace of lineage, it's a dead end. That said, the similarities can be striking and nevertheless generate some interesting reflection. The Cynics raise issues in terms of ethics and society that the Church can benefit from. And this is not something new or something that emerged in this era of comparative religious studies.

The Church in Dark Ages - A Call to Dissent and Nonconformity (IV)

What are the options? To be frank, there aren't many. We can look to the Confessionalist churches within the Reformed, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions. This is a viable option in some cases and in terms of week to week worship these offer much better opportunities - but they are not without their problems. Their ecclesiologies are often unbiblical. Many Reformed are actually just Evangelicals. There are real problems with Lutheran and Anglican worship but I find them preferable to Evangelical pop-culture worship and piety.

A Different Sort of Non-Aligned Movement

When trying to explain how a First Reformation and non-resistance view might operate in today's world and how we might bear witness with regard to events, culture, and geopolitics - and yet not be part of it, I was reminded of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War.

Historical Cycles: The Post-Napoleonic Context of Adolphe Monod, Reveil, and Some Contemporary Analogies (IV)

The story of Monod is in some ways inspiring – in other respects he is something of a disappointment. The men of Reveil are closer to our times and thus they lack the mystique that some further back in history are able to generate. That said, Monod's story is worth considering and reflecting on. But his context has to be understood and it always strikes me how there are both parallels and huge differences with the American and British context. Indeed in many ways it's a key moment where the three cultural and ecclesiastical sections sharply diverge – America and the Continent being the most extreme in terms of difference with Britain moving along its own track that today has brought it to the same place as the Continent. For Americans this should serve as a stark warning – perhaps a harbinger of what is to come.

Historical Cycles: The Post-Napoleonic Context of Adolphe Monod, Reveil, and Some Contemporary Analogies (I)

I recently finished Constance Walker's small biography on Adolphe Monod (1802-1856) which I would recommend to anyone interested in nineteenth century conservative Protestantism on the European continent – of which there is not a great deal. This is why figures like Monod stand out.

Postmillennial Clash: American Theonomy and British Whig-Revivalism

Having recently worked through Crawford Gribben's 2021 Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest, I was struck by many things but I have repeatedly revisited his reporting on the exchanges between American Theonomy and British outlets like the Banner of Truth. Later as Theonomy would emerge onto a larger stage it would be met with no small degree of hostility from within theologically conservative and Reformed circles in Britain. I don't believe Gribben sufficiently explored this and yet I think the episode to be rather instructive.

Texas, Florida, and Anti-Sodomy Laws: Some Theological Dangers and Warnings

Many Evangelicals will undoubtedly celebrate the recent legislative moves in Texas and Florida and both governors (one Catholic and one Evangelical) are certainly viewed as allies or even champions in the Christian Right's culture wars.

Evangelicalism and A Hidden Life (2019)

The title of the movie is taken from George Elliot. In Middlemarch she writes:

"The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

Though Evans (Elliot) was an infidel, the quote as it stands is true and worthy of reflection. We might modify it a bit and rather than think in terms of the 'growing good of the world', instead we can ponder the testimony that will be revealed in heaven itself. Hebrews 11 tells us that the 'winners' in terms of the Kingdom are those who wandered about destitute, living in caves and other lonely places, suffering torture and even death. In the world's eyes they were losers but as Christians we don't see these things or reckon them as the world does.

New Testament Christianity, Homeschooling and the Collapse of French Pluralism

https://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/8340/evangelicals-react-to-frances-plans-to-fight-islamist-separatism

I am certain that attitudes have changed in Europe since I spent considerable time there in the 1990's. At that time homeschooling was novel and while it was becoming popular in the United States, such expressions of individualism and counter-culture were not popular in Europe – even among Christians.

Dissent Before the Gregorian Reform and the Placement of Celtic Christianity

Recovering the First Reformation - Toward a Proto-Protestant Narrative of Church History (V)

The growing apostasy at work in the post-Constantinian period was challenged and it seems clear there was a lasting testimony of extra-Roman and anti-Roman resistance well into the Dark Ages. A dissenting geographic belt (deemed heretical by Rome) would appear cutting across the Pyrenees through Southern France and across the Alps into Northern Italy. With Switzerland serving as a knot, another branch roughly followed the course of the Rhine through Germany and the Low Countries.  

Coronavirus: Ecclesiastical Developments

I can say without qualification that I have been grieved by the mainstream Church's response to this outbreak. As I've talked about in other pieces, I believe the Church (broadly speaking) has been too quick to bow to the state and its dictates, its declaration that the assembly of the Church is something less than an 'essential service'.

I am grieved because Church leaders have handed over the authority of definition to the state but again this in some respects isn't all that surprising. It's the culmination of a long trajectory of compromise and capitulation.

The Dynamics and Ethics of Lawbreaking (Part 2)

Someday, will I operate my business 'under the table' because the laws have become impossible to comply with? I hope not but if it comes down to eating, then I might. If it's a matter of having enough money for my $100,000 house, my retirement account, or the ability to drive my SUV, then I won't. And no fear, since I don't have any of these things, such questions are moot and there's no temptation either.

Inbox: Daniel and the Beastly Magistrate

I was asked a question regarding Daniel serving in government. Clearly Daniel was willing to serve (as a slave) in the governments of Babylon and Persia and yet stood his ground regarding overt idolatry. If he refused to worship idols, why didn't he refuse to work for the Beast power? If (as I argue) working for the state was and is truly the wrong thing for a believer to do, why didn't Daniel refuse service altogether just as he and his friends refused to bow down to the king?

And obviously by implication the question suggests that my Christians should not participate in government argument may be flawed.

Historical Lessons not Learned: British Nonconformity, Classical Liberalism and a Cycle of Self-Destruction (Part 2)

For almost two centuries large factions of Protestants have championed Classical Liberalism and now like a Golem or Frankenstein monster turning on its creator, the system is effectively at war with social and religious nonconformity. By conflation, Classical Liberalism has eroded Christian thought and Liberalism's failures have driven society in a communitarian direction, even while retaining many liberal concepts and forms. As a consequence Christians, who often held to communitarian positions themselves are left imperiled and confused and their large-scale social projects in the post-Enlightenment period have turned into something of a nightmare.

Historical Lessons not Learned: British Nonconformity, Classical Liberalism and a Cycle of Self-Destruction (Part 1)

Scotland made international news with its Named Person programme in 2014. This programme would effectively assign a social worker to every child so that the state would be involved in that child's life from infancy. Parents, privacy advocates and others were horrified at this attempt of gross intrusion by the state as well as the potential for abuses and in principle the loss of parental power and autonomy.

There was resistance and the act was partially blocked in 2016, though Edinburgh is still trying to implement it. Recently there was a scandal as a video emerged of local authorities encouraging teachers to override parental consent regarding collected personal information about children and their families. In other words the state is keeping files on everyone and teachers are being effectively trained to disregard parental concerns and objections. They know best of course. For obvious reasons Christians and others are alarmed.