Film roundup

We've been to see several films over the last few weeks.

1917

A powerful WWI film with the appearance of being shot in one take. The cinematography gives the film an immersive feel as you follow two Tommies on a mission to call off an attack on retreating German forces. Intelligence had shown the retreat was a ruse to tempt the Second Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment to launch an attack in which they would have been vastly outnumbered. The Battalion risked being totally wiped out.

Added urgency is give to Lance Corporals Tom Blake and Will Schofield's mission, as Blacke's brother is an officer in the Devonshires. Will they get there in time? The are no flashbacks or fast forwards. The story is told straight, which adds to its power and immediacy. Famous faces pop up in scene stealing officer roles. Look out for Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch.  

Unlike 'Saving Private Ryan', there are no big set piece battle scenes. The brutality of war is shown in muddy trenches, booby trapped bunkers and the bombed out, corpse-strewn landscape of no man's land. There are touches of human kindness. Schofield finds a young woman caring for a baby in a French village overrun by German soldiers, buildings ablaze all around them. The baby needs milk. Providentially, Schofield had filled his water canister with milk discovered at a dairy farm earlier in the day.

The soldiers' longing for the love and comfort of home is a big theme. This becomes an expression spiritual longing when Schofield encounters a Tommy singing the gospel song, 'The Wayfaring Stranger' as his comrades prepare to go over the top.

I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger

Travelling through this world below

There is no sickness, no toil, nor danger

In that bright land to which I go

The supreme value of human life gives the film its compelling urgency. Blake and Schofield risk all to call off the doomed attack.

Little Women

As the wife accompanied me to a war film, I took her to see this. Enjoyed it more than I expected. Well acted, poignant and funny. With some real moments of grace. Like when, at their mother's prompting the sisters give away their lavish Christmas breakfast to a neighboring poor family. When Amy played by Florence Pugh spitefully burns her sister, Jo's (Saoirse Una Ronan) novel manuscript. Laura Dern's Marmee insists, 'forgive your sister'. Jo responds, 'She doesn't deserve it' and refuses. Precisely. But Jo finds it in her heart to forgive Amy anyway and helps care for her when she falls ill after falling into an icy pond. That's grace. Marriage is celebrated in all its romance and enduring value, in sickness and health, for richer and poorer. Tracy Letts is wonderfully grumpy as the shrewd Mr. Dashwood, Jo's publisher. The book on which the film is based is often regarded as an early feminist text, a protest against the restrictions placed on women in a man's world. Jo's writing enables her to earn her own money rather than depending on a man to provide for her. The making of Jo's book sequence at the end of the film is a delightful homage to the lost art of old fashioned printing and book binding. The story is told in narrative flashbacks and fast forwards, which was sometimes rather confusing. At least to me. Left me longing for the simplicity of 1917. But 'Little Women' as a one take first person shooter may not have worked quite so well.

The Personal History of David Copperfield

Love a bit of dramatised Dickens. This looked great from the trailers. The preview highlighted bits were indeed amusing enough. Sequences in between, maybe not so good. Beautifully filmed, though. Monty Pithonesque scene changes. At one point a big hand reaches into the film to relocate the action. I could cope with Dev Patel as an Asian in the title role. A brilliantly engaging portrayal. But other elements of 'colour blind casting' were a tad baffling. Steerforth, played by the lillywhite Aneurin Barnard had Nigerian born Nikki Amuka-Bird as his mum. And she looked old enough to be his big sis. Hugh Lawrie and Tilda Swinton were excellent as eccentric brother and sister double act, Mr. Dick and Betsey Trotwood. Ben Wishaw was suitably creepy and sneaky as Uriah Heep. Peter Capaldi was far too skinny for Mr. Micawber and didn't say, "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." Seemed more like a freeloading sponger than an incurable optimist living beyond his slender means. I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped. I'll have to give it another go when it comes on the telly. Will probably help if I stay awake.   

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 

This film moved me more than I'd expected. 

I grew up watching American imports on TV; Sesame Street, Banana Splits and the Muppet Show. Not as good as Trumpton, or Tiswas, admittedly, but enjoyable enough. Never heard of Fred Rogers, though, and his show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Rogers was a Presbyterian minister who became a children's TV presenter. His shows helped children deal with their emotional responses to the world with all its ups and downs. Rogers is played by Tom Hanks.

Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is a cynical writer for Esquire magazine with a name for reputation destroying profiles of famous figures. Seems he's always out peer beneath the facade to find the worst in people. His editor orders him to write a brief article on Rogers to accompany images of the TV personality taken for the magazine. Vogel protests he doesn't do puff pieces, but the editor insists. 

The film takes the form of Lloyd Vogel featuring as a character on Mister Rogers' show, where the lesson for the day is forgiveness and love. 

Fearing a hatchet job on Rogers, Lloyd's wife Andrea implores her husband not to destroy her childhood. Like many, she grew up watching him on TV. But the writer finds that the closer he gets to Rogers the more he sees that his sincerity and goodness are not TV affectations, but an expression of the man's true personality.  

On meeting Rogers, Vogel discovers he is more interested in finding out about him than the other way around. Rogers probing of Vogel's childhood makes the journo reflect on his broken relationship with his father. Jerry Vogel walked out on his dying wife, leaving Lloyd and his sister to look after their mother. Rogers helps Lloyd to deal with his anger against his dad though forgiveness and reconciliation. 

The TV personality never really stopped being a pastor. Rogers responded personally to letters sent to him by his viewers and took time to meet with sick children and their families. Each night he would read Scripture and pray for a long list of people who needed God's help, Vogel and family included.  

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is superbly acted. In an publicity interview Tom Hanks commented that Rogers, 'lived his gospel'. What a commendation. Hanks touchingly communicates Roger's pastoral goodness. Rhys does a great job in portraying Vogel's character arc, from hardbitten hack to something more human and loving. 

This gentle and reflective film packs a emotional punch, as it forces viewers to reflect on their own childhood hurts and shows the power of forgiveness as a means of resolving old grievances.  

The 400 word 'puff piece' commissioned by Lloyd Vogel's editor became something grander in scale and subject matter. Can You Say...Hero? took pride of place as cover article of the November 1998 edition of Esquire magazine. The Vogel character is based on real life journalist Tom Junod. The article that inspired this film in which Junod meditates on how Mister Rogers helped him understand the meaning of grace can be read here. 

That's a wrap. 

The Fight of Your Life: Facing & Resisting Temptation, by John Stevens

Christian Focus, 2019, 160pp

Evangelists who tell people that if they become a Christian they are in for a trouble free life are just being silly. When you think of following Jesus, the appropriate image isn't one of lolling around in a hammock strung between two palm trees as the sea gently laps against the beach. Think of  manning the ramparts at the battle of Helm's Deep, with Orcs and other nasties bearing down on you. That's more like it. The believer has been enlisted as a soldier of Jesus Christ. Combating sin and resisting temptation is the order of the day. 

Teaching on the Christian life has sometimes swung between extremes of happy go lucky triumphalism and miserable defeatism. The old style Keswick view offered a 'higher life', free of struggles with sin to those who had experienced the 'second blessing'. Reformed writers such as J. C. Ryle and J. I. Packer gave a more sober and realistic account of Christian experience. They tended to view Romans 7:13-25 as the apostle's description of the believer in their attempt to resist the power of sin, 'For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing'. (Romans 7:19). 

John Stevens rightly sees Romans 7:13-25 not as a snippet of autobiography by Paul the believer, but a description of someone convicted of sin under the law. The believer's experience in relation to sin is better captured in Romans 6 & 8. I think it's only fair to say that Ryle, Packer and others had more to say on the Christian life than is seen in their view of Romans 7. The tradition they represent teaches that the believer may and should successfully combat sin and resist temptation by virtue of their union with Christ and the indwelling presence of the Spirit. You'll certainly find many such a call in Ryle's Holiness and in Jim Packer's writings. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees with Stevens's take on Romans 7 (see his expositions of Romans 6, 7 & 8, Banner of Truth Trust).

A lack of historical perspective is a weakness in this work. Classic treatments of the believer's struggle with sin and temptation are neglected. Other writers tend to be cited to decorative effect, rather than Stevens seriously engaging with their ideas. Reference is made to a saying by Billy Graham culled from Gathered Gold, a book of quotations by John Blanchard. The aphorism is helpful enough, I guess, but the temptation to draw on such a work should have been resisted. 

The emphasis here is on giving fresh attention to the relevant biblical materials and points of practical application. The author is sure footed and insightful when it comes to scriptural exposition and theological reflection. He is pastorally sensitive and yet robust in working through what his teaching means in practice. Some believers feel defeated because they feel tempted to commit certain sins and experience desires for that which is sinful. Christians struggling with same sex attraction are given as a case in point. But, as Stevens argues in an introductory chapter, 'Is Temptation Sin?', we need to make a clear distinction between temptation and sin. See James 1:13-15. Indeed, Jesus was 'in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin'. (Hebrews 4:15).

The believer experiences temptation from within, but they are not now in a position of defeat as was the case before they were in Christ. Their hearts are no more wholly biased towards sin, (Jeremiah 17:9). The Christian has been given a new heart and is a new creation, Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Corinthians 5:17. None the less, Stevens overstates the case when he says, "God's people are no longer tempted because they have fallen corrupt hearts" (p. 46). Our hearts are not yet fully renewed, and as the author points out, the believer is still in the flesh, with a sinful nature. But we only sin when we inflame the 'desires of the flesh' and act on them. The Holy Spirit enables the believer to resist these desires, Galatians 5:16. By the Spirit we must 'put to death the deeds of the body' (Romans 8:13).

Sin is subtle, however, and the workings of the flesh aren't always easy to detect. We are not necessarily aware of the ways in which our desires and deeds are disordered by sin. An element in spiritual growth is an increased sensitivity to sin's inward curve, and with it, renewed contrition, confession and repentance. The Christian life, therefore, is one of ongoing mortification (putting sin to death) and vivification (bringing holiness to life).

Temptations also come from without through the world and the devil. Satan may not personally be behind most of the temptations believers face, but the evil one pulls fallen humanity in sinful directions that are a source of temptation to the Christian. To take one example, the pagan world of the New Testament period was rife with sexual immorality. The contemporary world is often highly sexualised. The Christian is called to faithfulness within marriage, or celibacy for those who are single. The church is under pressure to change its teaching and believers may face sexual temptation, but we must avoid allowing the world to shape us into its mould, Romans 12:2. The same applies to other areas of temptation. While the devil is powerful, we are commanded to resist him, 1 Peter 5:8-9. The Christian soldier must take the 'whole armour of God' that we may stand firm in the evil day of temptation, Ephesians 6:10-18.

And it's not a losing battle. Christ has freed believers from the reign of sin. In him the Christian has died to that which once held us captive. We have been raised to a new life of righteousness that leads to holiness, Romans 6:1-4. The believer is no longer under the law, which demands our obedience and exposes our sin, yet has no power to enable us to do what God commands of us. As Paul teaches, 'you have died to the law through the body of Christ... in order that we may bear fruit for God' (Romans 7:4). The apostle elaborates, 'the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but the Spirit'. (Romans 8:4).

Stevens gives helpful guidance on how to resist temptation. The believer must be watchful, avoid those things that may provoke temptation and trust in the promises of God's word. We need to cultivate a hatred of sin and Satan, and develop a deeper love for the Lord who has saved us by his grace. Resistance of temptation isn't futile because the believer has been united to Christ and is indwelt by the Spirit, 'greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.' (1 John 4:4).

The author is realistic enough to know that for as long as we are in the flesh we will not always resist the pull of temptation. While sin cannot sever the believer's union with Christ, it does affect our communion with him and must therefore be taken seriously. The Christian who has sinned must return to the Lord in repentance and faith, with the assurance that as we confess our sin, he will forgive us and restore us to fellowship with himself. Where patterns of sin are not repented of, but rather persisted in, that may be evidence that a person was never a true believer in the first place.

The fight against temptation and sin will only be over when the Christian is called into the presence of Christ at death, awaiting the resurrection of the body. Believers who are alive when Jesus returns will immediately be transformed into the image of the risen Lord. Then we will be free from both internal and external sources of temptation. Until that day let us, 'fight the good fight', confident that we are, 'more than conquerors through him who loved us' (2 Timothy 4:7, Romans 8:37).

No Christian is exempt from the struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil. All believers will find help here as they seek to resist temptation, drawing on the resources that are ours in Christ. Those endeavouring to lay aside certain 'besetting sins' will benefit from the encouragement and challenge Stevens provides in these pages. Pastors will find this book useful, both in terms of their own spiritual walk and as they seek to equip the flock to engage in the fight of their lives.

* Thanks to John Stevens for sending me a free copy of this book. 

Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland

Little Brown, 2019, 594pp

When Paul arrived in Corinth sometime in the early 50s AD, the apostle was aware of the intellectual pretensions of that great city. The rock stars of the day were not musicians, but orators. Public speakers could command a handsome fee for their highfalutin disquisitions on aspects of philosophy.  'Greeks seek wisdom' (1 Corinthians 1:22). Paul's approach was very different. "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). The apostle's message was scandalous to the Jewish inhabitants of the city and utter folly to the cultured Greeks. Everyone knew that there was nothing more shameful and degrading than crucifixion. The idea that a crucified man was the Son of God and Saviour of the world was utter nonsense. Yet some believed, and a church was gathered in Corinth. The churches Paul planted and the letters he wrote to them changed the course of history.  

Dominion is the story of how this message of "Jesus Christ and him crucified" had a transforming effect on Western culture. As a boy Holland was fascinated by ancient Greek and Roman history. In their overweening power and brutality heroes of that age seemed more like terrifying dinosaurs than mere men. Holland went on to author several bestselling books on the period,  Rubicon,  Persian Fire, and Dynasty  But as he wrote these histories the writer found himself strangely repelled by by the enormities of the great men of Greece and Rome. The Spartans despised weakness and would expose sickly babies. Julius Caesar slaughtered a million Gauls and enslaved a million more to get a name for himself and was duly acclaimed as a hero of Rome. We think, 'not so nice'. 

It dawned on the writer that he had viewed ancient Greece and Rome through Christian spectacles, or at lest through lenses that had been ground into shape by two millennia of Christian history. The Christian faith inverted the values of antiquity. Suffering not slaughtering was heroic, weakness was strength, shame was glory. For at the heart of the Christian faith was 'Jesus Christ and him crucified', the belief that the Son of God took the form of a slave and died for the sins of the world. The cross, which had been a brutal token of Roman power was transformed into a symbol of redemptive love. For Christians this Jesus, risen and ascended, not Caesar was was world's true Lord. Those who suffered with him would also share his glory. This world-upending message brought down the lofty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

Dominion is not a work of theology. Neither is it a conventional church history. Rather, Holland has sought to identify ways in which the Christian faith reconfigured what he calls 'the Western Mind'. Fittingly enough, his account is structured to reflect the Bible's own numeric symbolism, where the numbers three and seven are of special importance. The work is divided into three main parts, Antiquity, Christendom and Modernitas, each part having seven chapters, which, in turn have three sections a piece. The chapters begin with a vignette that sets up the theme about to be explored. While Holland is an admirer of the Christian faith, he doesn't shy away from depicting occasions when believers failed to live up to their best principles. Rightly so. Reading his previous books I'd always enjoyed the author's sweeping, cinematic style and eye for telling (usually gory) detail. I sometimes wondered what it might be like if he turned his hand to Christian history; the origins of the faith and its impact on the world. Well, here goes. 

The gospel

In setting out the key elements of the Christian faith Holland doesn't begin with the Gospel accounts, but the writings of the apostle Paul. His letters, were, after all the earliest New Testament documents. For the apostle the crucifixion of Jesus was not an embarrassment to be hushed up, but the fact that he placed literally at the crux of his teaching, 'the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2:20). This was deeply personal, but also of universal significance. As a Jew who was steeped in Old Testament Scriptures, Paul believed that all human beings were made in the image of God. As a Christian he taught that Jesus had died for people of all nations. Through Jesus the God of Israel would become the God of all peoples and all peoples would become one in Christ, (Galatians 3:28).

The teaching of Paul's New Testament letters sent seismic shocks rippling around the world and down the centuries to this present day. Paul explained that the old covenant in which the Ten Commandments were engraved on tablets of stone had gone. Jesus had ushered in a new covenant in which the law was written on the hearts of believers by the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:3. Even non-Christians had the 'works of the law' written on their hearts, giving them a sense of right and wrong, Romans 2:14. Paul helped develop the idea of the conscience as an inbuilt moral arbiter, Romans 2:15. Unlike in Islam Christian's didn't demand a direct divine command for every rule and regulation in society. Man-made rules based on 'the light of nature' would suffice. This helped to pave the way for Church lawyers to develop the concept of natural law and human rights in the Medieval period. Which, in turn helped to pave the way for Western secular states, subject to the rule of human law.

Freedom for the captives 

If all human beings are made in the image of God, each with unique dignity and value and 'in Christ there is neither slave nor free' (Galatians 3:28), that makes the institution of slavery highly problematic. Yet slavery was regarded as a normal part of life in ancient times. It was rife in Greece and Rome. The Church Father Gregory of Nyssa preached against slavery in the strongest terms.  But it wasn't until the 18th century that Christians more widely began to grasp that slavery was an intolerable evil that had to be stamped out.  Did not Christ die the death of a common slave to redeem us from slavery to sin? Quakers and Evangelicals threw themselves into the campaign for the abolition of slavery, championed by William Wilberforce. 

Protestant England persuaded Catholic France to follow suit, arguing not so much from biblical principles as did the Evangelicals, but by appealing to the Roman Catholic idea of 'human rights'. This universalising tendency was extended further as British imperialists sought to pressurise Islamic countries to abolish slavery, this time appealing (with little basis) to Muslim texts. And so the idea of culture-transcending universal human rights, beloved of liberals and neo-conservatives alike was born.

Husbands love your wives 

A Roman nobleman felt himself entitled to have sex with any socially inferior woman (man or child) he pleased. Repeated rape and sexual assault was the lot of female slaves. Christians taught that women as well as men were created in the image of God and that women should therefore be treated with dignity and respect. Men and women were of equal spiritual standing in Christ, for in him there was 'neither male or female' (Galatians 3:28). Men were not to impose themselves on women, but restrain their sexual urges. Sex should only be enjoyed within the confines of marriage. Marriage between a man and woman was intended to be a picture of Christ's love for his bride, the church, Ephesians 5:22-33.

Following on from this, the Puritans of the 17th century insisted that men treat women with the utmost propriety. They took delight in the loving intimacy of marriage, but frowned on sex outside of that context. Christians held family life in high honour and regarded having and bringing up children  to be a noble calling. Weakly infants were to be cherished and cared for, not exposed and left to die. The Medieval noblewoman Elizabeth of Hungary devoted herself to rescuing abandoned babies. Apart from the value attached to women by the Christian faith it is unlikely that the struggle for women's rights would ever have got off the ground.

Reform 

The abolition of slavery and the better treatment of women are but two examples of Christians attempting to reorder the world in line with their faith. Throughout Christian history the church has been swept by reformatio movements, the aim of which was to purify the church of corruption and turn the world upside down. Pope Gregory VII was concerned that the church had come too much under the sway of earthly rulers. He asserted the spiritual power of the church over and against the secular realm. Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV made the mistake of offending Gregory, who promptly excommunicated him, thus absolving the Emperor's subjects of their loyalty. Henry had to head across the Alps to Canossa, groveling for the pope's forgiveness.

Separation between the religious and the secular can be traced back to Augustine. When the Roman Empire fell, people worried that the kingdom of God would fall with it. This prompted Augustine to write The City of God, in which he distinguished between the shifting world of the secularia, of which earthly empires were a part, and religio, devotion to God of which the church was an expression. The separation of church and state in modern democratic societies is a development of this deeply Christian way of viewing the world.

The Reformation was one of the most convulsive reformatio episodes. In this instance, rather than the papacy reforming abuses in the church, the pope himself was charged with presiding over a corrupt and ungodly system. Famously Martin Luther refused to back down at the Diet of Worms, his conscience was bound by the word of God and he would accept no other authority. The church had to be reformed according to the teaching of Scripture. Romish superstitions; indulgences, relics and masses had to go. Paul's gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone was brought to light and proclaimed afresh to the people. The religious life of devotion to God was not now the preserve of priests, monks and nuns. All the Lord's people were priests and were called to serve God faithfully in their daily callings. This had the unintended effect of privitising faith as a purely spiritual matter, leaving little room for religious expression in the secular realm. It also enabled English Protestant empire builders to make a distinction between the Hindu 'religion' of India and disagreeable cultural practices, like widow burning.

Enlightenment 

Drawing upon the Reformation teaching on the witness of the Spirit to the truth of the Bible, Evangelicals in the 18th century would speak of the enlightenment of the Spirit that gave them fresh insight into Scripture. This enlightenment had a transforming effect on their personal lives and led to attempts at reforming society, the abolition of slavery being one example. A line can be traced from Medieval reform movements, to the Reformation, to the Evangelical Revival. But these were attempts to reshape the church and the world in line with the Christian faith. 

In the 18th century others proclaimed a new age of Enlightenment, not because they understood the Bible in a new way, but because they rejected it in favour of science and reason. The object of their reforming zeal was an overmighty church that had to be cut down to size so that people could be set free from oppression and religious superstition. As Holland points out, the irony was that Enlightenment rationalists had bought into the Christian idea of pulling the lofty from their thrones and exalting the lowly. They took that a little too literally in Revolutionary France. Similarly, today's woke lefties with their hierarchy of oppressed victims are, consciously or not, drawing upon a faith that has Jesus 'crucified in weakness' at its heart.

Post-Christianity 

Dominion is a meditation on the transformative effects of Christianity on Western culture. But it also exposes the dangers inherent in 'cultural Christianity', where the moral imperatives of the faith are uncoupled from the theological indicatives of the gospel of Christ. You end up with a selective appropriation of Christian morality that is devoid of spiritual power. The result both for the church and wider society is often disastrous. Holland gives the example of Elizabeth of Hungary in the Middle Ages, who submitted to horrific abuse at the hands of churchman 'Master Conrad' in an attempt to save her soul. Luther would have told her to trust in Christ. Witness also the 'Great Terror' of the French Revolution. Unwittingly #MeToo feminists are busily demanding a return to the old Puritan emphasis on respect for women and male self-restraint. The Puritans, however, would have deprecated woke identity politics with its virtue signalling and self-righteous denunciation of opponents. The old Puritans were too conscious of their own sins and too aware of their need of God's grace for that.

More troubling even than 'cultural Christianity' is 'post-Christianity'. Frenchman Marquis de Sade and German Frederich Nietzsche both despised the Christian faith with its bias towards the weak and downtrodden. They favoured the stance of the ancient Greeks and Romans, 'let the weak be crushed and the strong dominate'. Nietzsche pronounced, 'God is dead'. In his place was the 'will to power' that brooked no opposition from Christian scruples. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution put the accent on the 'survival of the fittest' in the natural world. Eugenicists applied the same insight to the human race. Nazi Germany put these 'post-Christian' ideas into practice. The disabled and people regarded as morally degenerate were marked out for elimination to preserve the purity of the Aryan race. Millions of Jews were consigned to the gas chambers. Against this backdrop J. R. R. Tolkien wrote his Lord of the Rings as a warning against man's urge to seek power at all costs, 'One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them'.

The audacity of the cross 

Holland's cinematic sweep of Christian history is full of interest as he zooms in on key characters in the unfolding drama and zooms out again to reveal big themes that recur throughout the book. The cast includes Paul, Augustine, Gregory VII, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, John Calvin and John Lennon. Paul McCartney may have dismissed Christianity as 'goody-goody' stuff, but in singing, 'All You Need Is Love', The Beatles betrayed the their Christian influences. No other faith tells us "God is love", "God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us", and "love is the fulfilling of the law" (1 John 4:8, Romans 5:8, 13:10).

The historian concludes his brilliantly written account on a personal note. He confesses to having a rather fluctuating Christian faith, with perhaps one breakthrough moment. When making a film on Islamic State, Holland was close to an area where the Islamists had crucified their enemies, much as did the Romans. The cross in that context was an instrument of terror, the threat of which cowed people into submission. It was totally devoid of any Christian connotations as a symbol of self-giving love and forgiveness. That seemed to speak to Holland in a deep way, but I sense he's not quite there yet in terms of personal faith in Christ.

As the writer himself says, "To be a Christian is to believe that God became man, and suffered a death as terrible as any mortal has ever suffered. This is why the cross, that ancient instrument of torture, remains what it always has been: the fitting symbol of the Christian revolution. It is the audacity of it - the audacity of finding in a twisted and defeated corpse the glory of the creator of the universe - that serves to explain, more surely than anything else, the sheer strangeness of Christianity, and of the civilisation to which it gave birth'. (p. 524). Which takes us back to the apostle Paul and his determination to make the cross the heart of his message, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." 

Dominion 

Jesus called his followers to be the 'salt of the earth' and the 'light of the world'. By their words and actions believers are meant to make a difference. But Christianity is not ultimately a project of cultural transformation. Its scriptures herald a new Dominion, the kingdom of God. This dominion is different to the kingdoms of this world. It advances not by military or political power, but by the preaching of the cross in the power of God's Spirit. The American edition of Holland's work has on its cover Salvador Dali's painting, Christ the King. It depicts Jesus ruling the world from his cross. His is a kingdom in which the King was crucified in weakness, but now lives by the power of God. Cultural Christianity admires the faith for its benefits, often picking and choosing the bits it likes, while rejecting the rest. But the kingdom of God is not to be selectively admired from outside, but entered as a person is transformed on the inside. As Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus as recorded in the Gospel of John, "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3).

Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland [mini review]

As a child the historian Tom Holland was fascinated by the ancient Romans and Greeks. Holland, who hails from Wiltshire, went on to author several bestselling books on Roman and Greek history, Rubicon, Persian Fire and Dynasty. But the more he got into the ancient world, the more morally repellent he found the ‘heroes’ of that age. It was said that Julius Caesar slaughtered a million Gauls and forced another million into slavery. Rather condemning Caesar as a genocidal war criminal, the citizens of Rome hailed him as a mighty leader whose exploits redounded to the glory of the Empire.

Holland became increasingly aware that his perspective on life was vastly different to that of the old Romans and Greeks. He realised that his idea of what’s right and wrong had been formed by a culture that had been deeply influenced by the Christian faith. In his most recent book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, Holland shows how our commonly accepted moral values were shaped by Christian teachings. We take it as self-evident that all people should be treated with dignity and respect. But that belief didn’t come from nowhere.

The Bible insists that all human beings are made in the image of God and are deserving of love and care from womb to tomb. The value of human life is underlined by the belief that in Jesus our Creator became one of us. He came to suffer and die on the cross that we might be forgiven and be put right with God. “It is the audacity of it”, writes Holland, “the audacity of finding in a twisted and defeated corpse the glory of the creator of the universe”.

We went to hear the author give a talk on Dominion towards the end of last year and I’ve just finished reading the book. It’s a brilliantly written account of the impact of the Christian faith on Western culture and values, covering everything from the Bible to The Beatles, Monasteries to #MeToo. Holland is not a personal believer in Jesus Christ. He calls himself a ‘cultural Christian’. But he recognises that the ‘molten heart’ of the Christian revolution is the cross of Jesus. The message of the cross turned the world upside down, exalting the lowly and humbling the mighty.

For the Romans, crucifixion was a symbol of brute power, ‘this is what you get if you mess with us’.  Since Jesus the cross has an altogether different message, ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ The love of God that streams from the cross changed the course of history and is still transforming lives today.

*Write-up for local publications: White Horse News, Trinity Magazine and News & Views. A full review can now be found here. 

The Reformed Catholicity of Second London Baptist Confession: 'Of Christ the Mediator'

The authors of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689 (LBC) were keen to identify themselves with mainstream Puritan theological orthodoxy. That is why their confession of faith was not a freshly minted expression of their beliefs, but a revision of the Independent's Savoy Declaration of Faith, 1658 (SDF), which was in turn an amended version of the Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith, 1644 (WCF). See this Tabular Comparison of the three confessions. In this post I want to reflect on Chapter 8 of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, 'Of Christ the Mediator', with a nod to the parallel statements in Westminster and Savoy. 

The Westminster Confession was an expression of Reformed Catholicity. The Independents and Baptists followed suit. Careful readers of the three documents will discern traces of earlier creedal formulae. Westminster's doctrine of the Trinity (Chapter 2, compare SDF & LBC) is that of the Nicene Creed; one God in three persons, with each person of the same divine essence. Its doctrine of Christ is that of the Definition of Chalcedon; the incarnate Son is one person with two natures, divine and human (Chapter 8, compare SDF & LBC). The soterological emphasis of the Presbyterian confession and its successors was positively Augustinian, with an emphasis on predestination, the total depravity of humanity in sin and salvation by grace alone. 

So far, so Catholic. But Reformed, not Roman Catholic. All three confessions make it clear that Jesus Christ is the 'only Mediator between God and man' 8:2. This rules out Roman Catholic claims of other mediators such as the pope, the saints, the priesthood, or Mary. The 1689 adds two more paragraphs to further underline the point, drawing on John Calvin's delineation of Christ in his offices of prophet, priest and king, 8:8-9: "This office of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ, who is the prophet, priest, and king of the church of God; and may not be either in whole, or any part thereof, transferred from him to any other. (1 Timothy 2:5), 8:8" See also 8:9, which explains why sinners are in need of Christ in his threefold mediatorial offices. 

The Savoy and 1689 set Christ's person and work in the context of the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son in eternity, 8:1 (compare). This doctrine was in an early stage of its development at the time of the Westminster Assembly, hence its omission from WCF. One feature of the LBC is the addition of biblical wording to its chapter on Christ the Mediator, which gives the confession more of a salvation-historical perspective. Especially paragraph 8:2 (compare). 

The confessions make it clear that it was "The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God" who took upon himself man's nature, "being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary" (8:2). The incarnation did not involve the Son becoming any less divine. Rather, "two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man." This language closely reflects that of the Definition of Chalcedon. 

Section 8:7 of the three confessions is a statement on the 'communion of attributes' in the incarnate Son. This does not mean a transfer of properties from one nature to the other in the person of Jesus. His divine nature did not shrink to be enclosed in time and space when Christ took human nature. His human nature did not expand to transcend time and space when Christ was glorified. Any such constructions would fall foul of Chalcedonian orthodoxy. In Reformed theology the 'communion of attributes' is a hermenutical tool that helps readers of Scripture understand how the Bible can speak of the 'Lord of glory' being crucified (1 Corinthians 2:8), or how the risen Jesus is said to 'fill all in all' (Ephesians 1:32). The divine nature of Christ was not crucified. Nether did the human body of Jesus become omnipresent at his ascension. The confessions explain, "Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature." (8:7). This insight equips us to read Scripture's witness to Christ's person and work with appropriate theological awareness. 

Together with Westminster and Savoy the 1689 tells us why God became man in Jesus, "This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake, which that he might discharge he was made under the law, and did perfectly fulfill it, and underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered, being made sin and a curse for us" (8:4, see also 8:5). Christ's death atoned for the sins of the people of God both prior to and since his redeeming work was accomplished (8:6). Having died for the people the Father had given him, "on the third day he arose from the dead with the same body in which he suffered, with which he also ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father making intercession, and shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the world." (8:4). 

One distinctive feature of the 1689 is the emphasis it lays on the believer's triple union with Christ the Mediator. Together with Westminster and Savoy the 1689 confesses that Jesus was united to his people before the foundation of the world. The Father "did from all eternity give a people to be his [the Son's] seed and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified." (8:1). The Lord was further united with his people "when he took upon himself man's nature" (8:2). It was because he shared their nature that the Son was able redeem his people by the sacrifice of himself, satisfying the justice of God on their behalf (8:5). Then the 1689 makes explicit reference to the believer's union with Christ in relation to the application of redemption, "To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same, making intercession for them; uniting them to himself by his Spirit" [emphasis added]. Westminster and Savoy speak of Christ "effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey" at this point (compare 8:8). 

Giving careful attention to the Second London Baptist Confession's chapter 'On Christ the Mediator' will enable us to proclaim the wonder of God incarnate with biblical accuracy in the light of the creedal heritage of the Catholic Church. The Reformed aspect of Reformed Catholicty gives added clarity to the work the incarnate Son carried out on behalf of his people. He who was one with God as second person of the Trinity became one with us as man to redeem us by his own blood. Christ unites his people to himself by his Spirit that we may enjoy the rich benefits of his saving work.

'O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord'. 

Christmas songs

Whether we like them or not, Christmas songs are pretty much inescapable at this time of year. The top three seasonal songs in the UK are 1. Fairytale Of New York, 2. All I Want For Christmas Is You and 3. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. According to Google, anyway. You might have other ideas for your festive favourites. I think it’s fair to say that the songs listed are of the secular variety. They have little to do with birth of Jesus Christ. If that’s what you’re after,  Classic FM’s annual poll to discover the nation’s favourite carol reveals all: 1. O Holy Night, 2. Silent Night and 3. In The Bleak Midwinter. Again, your preferences may differ. In my opinion Hark! The Herald Angels Sing was robbed in not making it into the top three.

The very first Christmas song wasn’t by Bing Crosby, or even Cliff Richards. It had a more heavenly origin. According to the account of Jesus’ birth in the Gospel of Luke, the angel of the Lord had been sent to tell some shepherds that the long-awaited Saviour of the World had been born. This was his message: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” Suddenly, a heavenly host of angels appeared in the night sky. We hear them sing,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”

Shepherds in the ancient world were the last ones on whom God’s favour rested. At least that’s what people thought. Shepherds had a reputation for dishonesty and their work kept them away from worship in the temple at Jerusalem. Yet the angles sing of God’s undeserved favour towards sinners, his grace. That’s what the message of Christmas is all about; God’s grace towards human beings revealed in the birth of Jesus Christ. We can have peace with God because Jesus was born into our world, lived a perfect human life and died for our sins upon the Cross.  That is good news for you and me.

In a recent book, The Madness of Crowds, Douglas Murray issues a warning to a society that is breaking loose from its Christian moorings. Without Christianity there is no Christ, and without Christ there is no forgiveness. “We have created a world in which forgiveness has become almost impossible”, writes Murray. Witness the angry arguments on social media and personal rifts in real life. Convinced of our own righteousness we are quick to pounce, but slow to pardon.

That is why we need to listen afresh to the very first Christmas song, a song that speaks of grace, forgiveness and peace through Jesus Christ. All to the glory of God.

Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the new-born King!

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled."

See our website for info on Carol Services at Providence Baptist Church, Dilton Marsh, Westbury and Ebenezer Baptist Church, West Lavington.

* Written for local publications, Trinity Magazine, News & Views and White Horse News. 

The Trinity: order, persons, nature and will

*

The incarnate Christ has two wills. Each proper to his divine and human natures. If will were a property of persons, he would only have one will, for Christ is not two persons, but one person with two natures. 

Since will is a property of nature, the three persons of the Trinity share one will, as they share one nature. It is therefore inappropriate to speak of the Son eternally submitting to the Father's will.

The Son together with the Father and the Holy Spirit is the electing God. The Son is also the Elect One, appointed by the Trinity as Mediator between God and humanity. Plus the Son is the One in whom God's people were elected for salvation before the foundation of the world.

As God is one and each person indwells the other, the external actions of the Trinity are undivided. All three persons were fully involved in the work of redemption, while only the Son became incarnate, suffered, died for our sins, rose again and ascended into heaven.

It was singularly appropriate that the Son rather than the Father, or the Spirit became man. The Son is the image of the invisible God, while human beings are made in the image of God. The Word is the eternal Son of God, while Adam is the created son of God.

There is, however, no order of being, or division of will in the one God. Concerning his deity the Son is of the same essence as the Father. Concerning his person he is of the Father. The persons are not interchangeable. Each possesses unique characteristics. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. 

The economic Trinity does not exhaust the ontological Trinity, but 'God for us' truly communicates 'God in himself'. Otherwise we are left with a hidden and unknowable deity. It was reflective of the order of persons in the Trinity that the Father sent the Son into the world and that the Spirit proceeds to us from the Father through the Son. 

Herman Bavink says as much, having made the point that in the economy of redemption,  'The Father came without being sent, the Son came having been sent by the Father, and the Holy Spirit came because he was sent by both the Father and the Son.' The theologian then posits,

But this "being sent" in time is a reflection of the imminent relations of the three persons in the divine being and is grounded in generation and spiration. The incarnation of the Word has its archetype in the generation of the Son, and the outpouring of the Spirit is a weak analogy of the procession from the Father and the Son. The church fathers, accordingly, derived the eternal and imminent relations existing between the persons from the relations that were manifest before the human eye in time. (Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation Volume 2, Baker Academic, 2006, p. 320-321). 

What got me thinking on this was dipping into 'The Son Who Learned Obedience' by Glenn Butner. Only £7.59 on Kindle. The generous sample includes the intro and a good chunk of Chaper 1.

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray, Review Part 2

Audible edition 

In Part 1 we looked at what Murray has to say on 'Gay' and 'Women'. Now we come to Race, Trans and some concluding thoughts.

Race 

Martin Luther King looked forward to the time when people would be judged on the content of their character, rather than the colour of their skin. In many ways the preacher's vision has been realised. The civil rights for which King agitated have been granted. Racial discrimination is outlawed. Racism is despised by most people in society. A person's moral charterer is the thing, not their skin colour. Perversely, woke identity politics is in danger of turning King's dictum on its head. Kayne West was denounced as 'not black' when he came out in support of Donald Trump. You see, black isn't just pigment, it's politics. Left wing politics, that is. 

Anti-racist campaigners tweet about how they hate white people and call for an end of 'white privilege'. Derogatory epithets such as 'Gammon' can be thrown at whites and they just have to suck it up. Meanwhile, should a white person inadvertently use the wrong ethnic minority label, they immediately find themselves accused of racism. In a radio interview the actor Bennedict Cumberbatch said it was a pity that 'coloured people' from Britian had to head to the States to find suitable acting roles. Cue massive outrage from the Twitter mob and a grovelling apology from Cumberbatch. 'People of colour', OK. 'Coloured people', not OK. And he was speaking in support of black and Asian actors.

Woke anti-racism has become toxic on American University campuses. Evergreen State University used to have a day when students of colour could absent themselves so their presence would be missed and valued contribution to the learning community underlined. Then the rule changed to say that white people were not welcome to attend their studies for a day. Professor of Evolutionary Biology Bret Weinstein objected to this. Students went on the rampage, outraged at the academic's 'racism'. When the President of the University tried to reason with students, they insisted that he did not raise his hands when speaking, which they took to be a 'mirco-agression', even as they mobbed him and swore at him. In the aftermath Weinstein and his wife were forced out of their jobs. 

The trouble is, as Murray points out, 'We all live on campus now'. Some insist that objectivity is a product of the white man's Enlightenment. 'We Don't need no facts', they say, 'truth is racist.' After all, identity politics lets people choose to be whatever they want, irrespective of the facts. If a person can choose to be of a different gender to their birth sex, why can't someone opt to be of a different race? Anti-racism campaigner Rachel Dolzeal identified as a black woman, despite having white parents and no African heritage. Who are we to disagree? Rapper Kayne West isn't black, but right-on Rachel is. Even race is now a matter of 'software' rather than 'hardware'. 

Black actors can play Henry V to great acclaim. Fair enough. But when a non-Latina actress was cast to play Maria in a production of West Side Story, such was the outrage she had to withdraw from the role. It seems our culture wants to be both colour blind and colour obsessed. How's that supposed to work? Wearing fancy dress can lead to death threats for the 'crime' of cultural appropriation. Jamie Oliver fell foul of the woke brigade with his Jamacan jerk rice recipe. 'Not OK.' But men 'appropriating' womanhood and insisting on using female-only spaces is perfectly fine and good. 

The great irony is that anti-racism has itself become racist. People are no longer judged on the basis of their character as in the sight of God, but on the grounds of their outward appearance in the eyes of men. White is bad, black is good. The Christian faith provides a welcome antidote to racism by insisting that all people are made in the image of God, all people are morally broken sinners, and that Christ came to redeem all peoples, Colossians 3:11, Revelation 7:9-10. 

Trans 

Finally Douglas Murray turns his attention to the most touchy and controversial subject of all, trans. The issue here does not concern people who were born 'intersex', with both male and female genitalia. Trans advocates have little time for that. They expend their energy insisting that people may be born in the wrong body and that it is possible to put that right with hormone treatment and surgery. Anyone, even a child, who thinks that they may have been born in the wrong body must be affirmed as such and set on a pathway that will ultimately lead to lifelong dependence on medication and painful surgery. It is said that to question this assumption is to run the risk that a person suffering from gender dysphoria will take their own lives. Attempts at discovering the underlying cause of a person's gender dysphoria are discouraged, as akin to gay conversion therapy.

Referrals to the UK's only Gender Identity Development Service have skyrocketed in the last decade. Trans advocates argue that children with gender dysphoria should be placed on puberty blockers as a matter of course in preparation for hormone treatment and surgery. Although it is the case that 90% of children with gender dysphoria reconcile themselves to their birth sex if they are allowed to progress through puberty. Adults with gender identity issues are only pointed in one direction, towards changing sex.

Murray thinks this may be appropriate in some cases as with the writer James Morris who, following sex change surgery become Jan Morris. But in other cases, people who have 'changed sex' go on to regret their decision and attempt to revert to their birth sex. As the writer reflects, human beings are not made of Lego and the effects of hormone treatment and radical surgery cannot easily be undone. Undone at all if a woman has had her breasts removed, or a man his penis. Murray mentions the case of a man who was given female hormone treatment and then had second thoughts. After two years the treatment could have left him infertile. He stopped before the deadline only after researching his condition online. The hormones affected the man's emotional state and even after ceasing treatment he was left with breast tissue that may require surgery to remove.

People with gender dysphoria may have deep seated psychological problems that changing sex does little to address. Suicide rates among trans people do not necessarily decrease once they have transitioned. In 2013 Nathan Verhelst was voluntarily euthanised in Belgium. She was born a girl with the name Nancy. As an adult Verhelst submitted to three operations in an attempt to change sex. Belonging to a family with three older brothers, Nancy felt rejected by her parents, who, it seems, wanted yet another son. After looking at herself in the mirror post-surgery, Verhelst felt aversion for her new body. Changing sex only worsened Verhelst's physiological state and so she applied to be put to death in a Brussels hospital. Chilling.

Yet this kind of tragic event has not given advocates of trans ideology pause for thought. School children are being taught that it is possible for girls to become boys and visa versa. Boys are informed that they can have periods too, not just girls. Bewildered children are told they can choose from up to 100 gender identity options. Tomboyish girls question whether they are 'really' boys. Boys who do not conform to boyish stereotypes ask whether they are 'really' girls.  Trans groups like Mermaids actively encourage the worst kind of gender stereotyping. Meanwhile parents stage protests at school gates over LGBT education. 

Here we encounter intersectional thinking at its most extreme. It seems that trans trumps both gay and women on the scale of oppressed victimhood. Some people with gender dysphoria issues are same sex attracted. In their case being encouraged to change sex could be seen as form of conversion therapy which aims at altering their bodies, rather than their minds. Feminists are outraged that men who identify as women are given access to female only spaces such as toilets and changing rooms. 'Trans women' have begun to dominate some female sports. The gay rights group, Stonewall has split over the tans issue. Some ex-members have set up the LGB Alliance which disagrees with Stonewall's uncritical championing of trans ideology. 

As Suzanne Moore, Julie Bindell and even Germane Greer have found, suggesting men can't become women simply on their say so is to attract accusations of 'transphobia'. TERFs 'Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists' the lot of them. Even insisting on the dictionary definition of woman is to court controversy. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull paid for an advertising billboard to be erected carrying the words, "woman, wʊmən, noun, adult human female". The message was denounced as 'dangerous' and, inevitably, 'transphobic'. After all, 'transwomen are women' too. It seems that George Orwell was right when he said, 'In an age of universal deceit to tell the truth is a revolutionary act.' 

Being either a man or a woman is a matter of unalterable biological hardware. God made his human image-bearers male and female and blessed their union with reproductive ability (Genesis 1:27). Denial of the reality of biological sex is unscientific and intellectually dishonest. Our sex is written into every cell in the body. Altering someone's outward bodily appearance so that they resemble the opposite sex does not turn them into the opposite sex. Some want to have it both ways. In a recent case a 'transman' who gave birth took legal action to be identified as the child's father on their birth certificate. Thankfully, the courts insisted that giving birth is for mothers. 

It would be far better if poor souls suffering from gender dysphoria were helped to reconcile their minds with their bodies, rather than the other way around. At the very least this issue calls for careful thought and a cautious approach, rather than rushing people in the direction of irreversible medical intervention. A growing number of distraught 'detransitioners' would agree. 

Interludes 

Murray slots three interludes between the main chapters of the book. In The Marxist Foundations he highlights the link between Marxism and identity politics. Marxists used to rate victimhood on the basis of class, the rich oppressing the poor. Marx-inspired identity politics adds sexuality, sex, race and trans to the mix. Intersectionality establishes a hierarchy of victimhood with the aim of overthrowing oppressive structures. Down with heteronormativity/the patriarchy/white privilege, etc. Once oppressive structures have been torn down, a more equal and harmonious society will follow. That's the theory anyway. In practice identity politics thrives on division and fostering grievances. Witness the white hating racism of anti-racist campaigners and gender ideologues tearing into feminists (sometimes all too literally). 

Social media doesn't help matters. In The Impact of Tech the author reflects on the ways in which social media is changing society. The space between private conversation between trusted friends and public discourse is being eroded. Our thoughts are shared directly with the world via Facebook and Twitter. Should society's rapidly changing mores shift, a person may find themselves on 'wrong side of history'. Social media has spawned 'offence archaeology'. Words hastily posted years ago can, once discovered, be used to  condemn someone without mercy. In the resulting Twitter pile on, insistent calls are made that the poster be sacked from their job, or hounded out of public life. Especially if the offending person is known to have conservative views. What happened to Toby Young is a case in point. No allowance is made for the fact that the person in question's objectionable views may have changed over time, or that they might be entitled to their opinion. The woke accuse, but never acquit. Former US President Barack Obama recently warned young people against, 'call out culture'. No one is pure, he cautioned. Virtue signalling on social media is no substitute for doing good in the world.  

The final interlude On Forgiveness points to a better way of handling the fact that we live in a fallen world in which people often get things wrong. The self-righteous victim mentality of identity politics allows for no offence to be forgiven, or forgotten. As Murray points out, with the demise of the Christian faith, 'we have created a world in which forgiveness has become almost impossible'. He continues,

The consensus for centuries was that only God could forgive the ultimate sins.  But on a day-to-day level the Christian tradition, among others, also stressed the desirability – if not the necessity – of forgiveness. Even to the point of infinite forgiveness. As one of the consequences of the death of God, Fredrich Nietzche foresaw that people could find themselves stuck in cycles of Christian theology with no way out, Specifically that people would inherit the concepts of guilt, sin and shame but would be without the means of redemption which the Christian religion offered. 

The vengeful god of woke religion shows no grace and offers no pardon. But there is a way out. The Christian faith offers a vision of humanity in which all people are created equal in the image of God. All should therefore be treated with dignity and respect. But we are broken creatures. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Each of us needs forgiveness from God and others. Infinite forgiveness is available because Jesus died for our sins. The Apostle Paul could write, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). The forgiven must forgive, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32). 

Douglas Murray has expertly exposed the madness of identity politics. His account is well-researched and brilliantly written. The author's approach in taking on the 'hot button ' issues of Gay, Women, Race and Trans is refreshingly courageous and compassionate. The Madness of Crowds is a timely warning to a society that is breaking loose from its Christian moorings and hurtling towards a post-truth world of competing victimhood. A world in which God is dead and forgiveness impossible. There is an alternative:

Seek the Lord while he may be found;

   call upon him while he is near;

 let the wicked forsake his way,

    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

(Isaiah 55:6-7)

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray, Review Part 1

Audible edition

In his previous title, The StrangeDeath of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, the author linked the immigration crisis with the decline of Christianity in Western Europe. The continent was Christian enough to be fueled by a guilt-driven sense of responsibility towards the afflicted, yet not quite Christian enough to believe in the possibility of forgiveness for past wrongs. The large scale rejection of Christianity in Western Europe led to a loss of cultural identity, which made it difficult to integrate the mass of people who flooded into the continent in the first two decades of the new millennium. In his latest work, Murray returns to the theme of the loss of faith in the West. 

...we have been living through a period of more than a quarter of a century in which all our grand narratives have collapsed. One by one the narratives we had were refuted, became unpopular to defend or impossible to sustain. The explanations for our existence that used to be provided by religion went first, falling away from the nineteenth century onwards. Then over the last century the secular hopes held out by all political ideologies began to follow in religion’s wake.

The resulting vacuum is being filled by the new religion of identity politics. If faith-based narratives aimed at unifying humanity as 'one people under God', identity politics works by entrenching fragmentation by creating hierarchies of oppressed victims. Social justice will only be achieved when the privileged majority owns up to its undeserved perks and stops kicking the downtrodden. 'Intersectionality' provides the heuristics for victim ranking. If you're a gay black woman with genderfluid tendencies, you've more or less come up trumps. If your're a straight white bloke with no intention of ever becoming a woman, forget it. 

Not one to shy away from controversy Murray bravely takes on the four most sensitive hot button issues as far as woke social justice campaigners are concerned: Gay, Women, Race, and Trans. The four main chapters are interspersed with interludes on The Marxist Foundations, The Impact of Tech, and On Forgiveness. Murray's approach is fair minded, well informed and questioning of received orthodoxies. Received all of 5 minutes ago that is, but to reject the new bien pensant creed is to find oneself on the 'wrong side of history'. And who wants to be consigned forever to the 1980s? 

I downloaded the audiobook edition as an Audibe introductory free offer. Accessing the book in that format has the advantage of listening to Douglas Murray read it to you, which he does very well. Hearing Jordan Peterson read his 12 Rules for Life in his slightly whiny American drawl wasn't anywhere near as engaging. Murray's tones are more varied, with shades of gentle irony, knowing mockery and on occasion poignant sadness. The writer doesn't use bad language himself, but cites examples people using swear words in anger, so be warned. The downside for writing up a review of an audiobook is that you can't go back to the text to check things. Plus, the notes I made while listening were a bit patchy. We (me and the Mrs) listened to the second half of the Trans chapter and the Conclusion on Saturday. At the time I was driving back from Devon trough heavy rain, which didn't exactly lend itself to note taking. Anyway, with the aid of a Kindle sample and a bit of Googling, here are some thoughts on The Madness of Crowds. 

Gay

In 2013 David Cameron's Conservative-led Government passed the Same Sex Marriage Act, enabling gay couples to get married just like their heterosexual peers. As a backbench Conservative MP Nicky Morgan voted against the legislation. A couple of years later as Education Secretary she issued a warning that opposition to 'gay marriage' could denote extremist tendencies. The quest for the respectability of marriage for same sex couples was a triumph of 'gay' over 'queer'. Gays craved acceptance, while queers wanted to subvert society with the aim of smashing heteronormativity. 

Gay adoption of heterosexual institutions was subversive enough. Marriage was traditionally defined as a lifelong, exclusive relationship between a man and a woman. A non-consummated heterosexual marriage is null and void, adultery is grounds for divorce. These strictures do not apply in the case of same sex marriage. Murray mentions without naming a well known gay couple whose marriage is of the decidedly open sort. Apparently, such an arrangement is not altogether exceptional. Criticism of same sex marriage, however, or even of gay couples having children is pretty much beyond the pale nowadays. When Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black announced they were having a baby, someone dared to ask how that was possible, given the stubborn necessities of reproduction. Was it right that the mother of their child was being written out of the story? Cue outrage and allegations of 'homophobia'. For saying it takes a man and a woman to make a baby. 

A big question when it comes to 'gay' is whether same sex attraction is a biologically-based hardware issue, or a matter of software, rooted in background factors. Possibly even a choice. If hardware, people can't help it, if software, maybe they can. Agitation for gay rights was very much based on the hardware model, although there is little evidence for a biological 'cause' of homosexuality. Indeed, as Murray points out, sexual desire is not always stable and unchanging. There are cases of happily married heterosexuals falling for someone of the same sex. That is often taken as someone discovering their previously suppressed 'true gay self'. The same does not necessarily apply when a gay person suddenly finds themselves attracted to someone of the opposite sex. Douglas Murray is a gay man. He can hardly be charged with 'homophobia' in raising such questions. 

The writer gives attention to the difference between heterosexual and homosexual approaches to sex. Murray draws on a spat over sex between the Greek gods Zeus and his wife, Hera. Zeus alleged that women enjoy sex more than men. Hera was having none of it. The argument was settled by Teiresias, who had lived both as a man and a woman. Something to do with interrupting snakes in the act of mating, apparently. Teiresias confirmed that sex was more pleasurable for women. 

Yet as men and women are sexually differentiated, but uniquely compatible, men cannot know what sex is like for women or visa versa. The same is not true when it comes to homosexual sex. Murray cites the work of Daniel Mendelsohn, The Elusive Embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity. According to Mendelsohn in straight sex the woman is the man's destination, while in gay encounters, the man "falls through their partner back into themselves again and again". The one flesh union of man and woman in marriage is an expression of self-giving love, rather than a means of self-gratification. Which is why heterosexual marriage is a picture of the union between Christ and his bride, the church, Ephesians 5:22-33. 

The Gay Rights movement has largely achieved its aims. Murray welcomes the fact that society is now much more tolerant of gays and lesbians. But tolerance is a two way street. Advocates for what used to be an oppressed minority have now become a force that demands unquestioning submission. Parents must accept the exposure of their children to LGBT relationships education without demur. Woe betide a business that fails to hoist the rainbow flag during Pride Week. The newly opened branch of American fast food chain Chick-Fil-A was told that its lease would not be renewed in a Reading shopping centre. Why? Because Chick-Fil-A had donated money in the US to Christian organisations opposed to gay marriage. Protesters demanded that the popular restaurant be closed and the owners of the Oracle Shopping Centre caved. (See Murray on this in The Spectator). The once persecuted have now become persecuting 'social justice warriors'. As Murray points out, however, homosexuality "is an unstable component on which to base an individual identity and a hideously unstable way to try and base any form of group identity." The splintering of Stonewall over the the trans issue, leading to the emergence of the rival LBG Alliance is testimony enough to that. More on trans later. 

Women

The whole battle of the sexes thing was given fresh impetus by the #MeToo campaign. It started with female actors alleging powerful male film directors had made unwanted sexual advances towards them. It spread from there to the whole of the Western world, affecting all areas of life, especially the workplace. It seems a bit rich that such a campaign originated in Hollywood. The film world has long made its bucks by objectifying women and female actors have often become stars by being so objectified. 

Murray exposes the contradictions inherent in the #MeToo reconfiguration of male/female relationships. It seems that women can be as sexually provocative as they like, shaking their booty and exhorting men to, 'Look at her butt' (N. Minaj). But if men respond to the come on, they are in danger of being exposed as pervy sexual predators. Women have become highly sexualised, yet untouchable. No wonder men are confused as to what the opposite sex wants. Just recently in the UK a rather gauche young man was convicted of sexual assault for touching a woman's arm (here). 

In the early 20th century first wave feminists demanded votes for women. In the 1960s second wavers agitated for equal pay and an end to discrimination against women. Both 'waves' achieved their ends. A third wave crashed against the shore in 1990s in which feminists embraced intersectionality. 'Smash the women oppressing Partiarchy' was the cry. Women were located higher up on the scale of righteous victimhood, depending on whether they also belonged to an ethnic minority, or were gay. The fourth wave is described by Murray is 'feminism with apps'. The slightest and most inadvertent semblance of sexism is guaranteed to provoke an enraged social media 'pile on'. Witness what happened to the Nobel prize winning scientist Tim Hunt when he made a lame joke about women getting all weepy in the labs. 

Just at the moment when women in the West have more or less achieved their equality goals, the rhetoric of male oppression and female victimhood is being ramped up beyond reason. Some feminists seem to think its OK to express their hatred of the male of the species, denouncing 'toxic masculinity'. 'Kill all men' and 'Men are trash', they cry. Meanwhile if the Patriarchy is conspiring to skew society in favour of men, its not doing a very good job of it. Men are more likely than women to commit suicide. They do most of the dirty and dangerous jobs in society. Homelessness among men is a far bigger problem than it is with women.

Murray highlights some of the contradictions in feminist ideology. When women in the workplace are asked to name what they find most objectionable about men they list things like confidence and the willingness to make their voices be heard in high powered meetings. When women are asked which qualities they aspire to embrace for themselves, they list the very same things. Bad in men, good in women, obviously. Feminism is driven by the idea that men and women are equal and alike, yet women are somehow better. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas recently suggested that as men were making such a hash of Brexit, that an all women cabinet should be set up to sort things out. Only to come a cropper when all the women she suggested were discovered to be white. 

Sex is the ultimate hardware issue, as men and women have obvious biological differences. Indeed first and second wave feminism was about ensuring that women weren't discriminated against on grounds of their biology.  Indeed it is not right that women should be refused jobs just because they might become pregnant and then want to devote time to caring for their children. In trans ideology, however, sex is not fixed. People can be 'genderfluid', or even identify with a gender that differs from their sex at birth. Biological hardware can be altered to enable men to become women, or the other way around. Men who identify as women 'are women' and are therefore entitled to access women only spaces such as toilets and changing rooms. 'Trans women' with all the advantages of male strength can play women's sports, even contact sports like rugby. To object when biological males begin to dominate female sports is 'transphobic'. A triumph of subjective 'software' over objective 'hardware'. And so intersectionality is in danger of undoing the achievements of earlier feminist movements. Draft guidance from the EHRC on the Equality Act and Schools advised that trans girls (i.e. boys who identify as girls) should be allowed to use girls' changing rooms. Girls who object will have to be found somewhere else to get changed. 

The Christian faith offers a different account of the relationship between men and women. The Bible teaches that God created human beings in his image as male and female, Genesis 1:27. Men and women are different by design, and yet are equal in status. The differences between men and women are rooted in biology, not culturally conditioned 'gender roles'. One of the things that made Christianity attractive to women in the ancient world was that the church held marriage in honour and denounced the sexual exploitation of women. Single women were also accorded a valued role in the life of the church. The biblical emphasis is on male/female compatibility, rather than competition. The shrill self-righteousness that insists women are better than men is chastened by the understanding that 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God'. (Romans 3:23). The male tendency to dominate and control women is counteracted by the model of Christ who loved his bride, the church  and gave himself for her (Ephesians 5:25). In Christ men and women, different as they are, can become one, 'there is neither... male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. (Galatians 3:28). 

Anyway, that's enough for now. We'll take a look at what Murray has to say on Race & Trans, and reflect on the message of the book as a whole in Part 2.