Illuminating the Word an Interview with Makoto Fujimura

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Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 Religion Inside this issue Nothstine State Religion and the American Remnant • Deavel It Wasn’t Free Markets That Did It • Gregg Reading History Religiously • Liberty Walker An Epic of Ideas • Liberal Tradition & Abigail Adams • Sirico Our Prodigal Generation

Illuminating the Word An Interview with Makoto Fujimura

A Journal of Religion, Economics, and Culture Editor’s Note

renowned, and he provides stunning morality and virtue in order to sustain imagination and beauty for the text liberty is clearly visible in her many let- that restores the world. ters. John and Abigail Adams wrote over 1,000 letters to each other that For this issue, I contribute a column on are still widely read and studied today. the dangers of state religion. Secular- She wrote to her son John Quincy ism, now thriving as the state religion, Adams saying, “The only sure and per- has the potential to unleash a new kind manent foundation of virtue is religion. of religious persecution in America. Let this important truth be engraven David Deavel reviews Infiltrated: How to upon your heart.” In a 2013 commencement address at Stop the Insiders and Activists Who are In his R&L column, Rev. Robert Sirico Messiah College in Pennsylvania, Makoto Exploiting the Financial Crisis to Control Our addresses the crisis of the many young Fujimura told the graduating class, “We Lives and our Fortunes by Jay Richards. people today leaving their faith. One of are to rise above the darkened realities, Samuel Gregg reviews Missionaries of Re- the positives he cites are the many ex- the confounding problems of our time.” publicanism: A Religious History of the Mex- cellent interns we’ve had pass through A tall order for any age, but one God ican-American War by John C. Pinheiro. has decisively overcome in Jesus Christ. Acton over the years. One of the most Bruce Edward Walker reviews Liberal- Fujimura uses his talent to connect enjoyable aspects of working at Acton ism: The Life of an Idea. The author, beauty with the truth of the Gospel in a is seeing the tremendous impact this Edmund Fawcett, provide a compre- culture that has largely forgotten its organization is having on young peo- hensive overview of the life and rise of religious tradition and history. He ple who cross our path. It’s exciting to political liberalism. makes those things fresh and visible see our reach expanding rapidly again. With works like “Walking on Abigail Adams is profiled for “In the through our materials and program, Water,” and the “Four Holy Gospels,” Liberal Tradition.” Her contribution to especially with our amazing new film Fujimura is illuminating God’s Word to liberty of course is exceptional as a wife “For the Life of the World.” a culture that is mostly inward looking and mother but doesn’t end there. Ad- and mired in the self. His art is world ams’s recognition of the necessity of

Editorial Board Contents

Publisher: Rev. Robert A. Sirico Illuminating the Word Executive Editor: John Couretas Interview with Makoto Fujimura ...... 3 Managing Editor: Ray Nothstine State Religion and the American Remnant Graphics Editor: Peter Ho Ray Nothstine ...... 4 It Wasn’t Free Markets That Did It The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty promotes a free society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. David Paul Deavel ...... 5 Letters and requests should be directed to: Religion & Liberty, Acton Institute, Reading History Religiously 98 E. Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. For archived issues or to Samuel Gregg ...... 7 subscribe, please visit www.acton.org/publicat/randl. An Epic of Ideas The views of the authors expressed in Religion & Liberty are not necessarily Bruce Edward Walker ...... 9 those of the Acton Institute. Acton FAQ ...... 11 © 2014 Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. In the Liberal Tradition Abigail Adams ...... 14 Cover Photo: Makoto Fujimura at the Acton headquarters and in front of his ArtPrize 2014 entry, Rev. Robert A. Sirico ...... Walking on Water – Azurite. Column 15

2 Religion& Liberty Illuminating the Word An Interview with Makoto Fujimura

Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and R&L: You’ve focused a lot of your work and “culture wars” in the late 80s or early 90s, speaker who is recognized worldwide as some- ideas on what you call Culture Care. What he predicted the protracted conflict like we body who promotes a Christian worldview. A does that mean? are seeing today. The nature of discourse Presidential appointee to the National Council right now is flawed. Makoto Fujimura: Culture Care is a vi- on the Arts from 2003-2009, Fujimura served sion to see the culture as an ecosystem as an international advocate for the arts, When I was on the National Council for and to steward rather than to fight over speaking with decision makers and advising the Arts serving with then chairman, Dana culture territories. We need to change the governmental policies on the arts. Gioia, who is a remarkable poet himself metaphor from a culture war mindset to and a business executive, I noticed him Fujimura’s work is exhibited at galleries around culture care. We need to make progress crafting this way of navigating Washing- the world, including Dillon Gallery in New towards changing minds. If you’re con- ton, D.C. He was amazing at working with

York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contempo- servative or liberal,Grand Re - a culture war mindset both sides of the aisle, and he started his rary Museum of Tokyo, Tokyo Na- conversations with those of tional University of Fine Arts Mu- different ideologies by talking seum. He is one of the first artists to about the art and literature paint live on stage at New York they loved. The senators and City’s legendary Carnegie Hall as house members and President part of an ongoing collaboration George W. Bush would end with composer and percussionist up talking about things that Susie Ibarra. really mattered to them and were related to why they Fujimura’s second book, Refrac- were politically active. tions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture, is a collection of es- When Dana was speaking be- says bringing together people of all fore the Senate hearings or backgrounds in a conversation and Fujimura’s Walking on Water - Azurite on display at Acton’s headquarters private luncheons with the during the 2014 Artprize in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich. meditation on culture, art, and First Lady, he would often humanity. In celebration of the 400th Anniver- begin with a Longfellow poem. He also

is detrimental Photo of to your position. You’re sary of the King James Bible, Crossway Pub- always losing; you’re always compromis- borrowed from T. S. Eliot and Eliot’s view lishing commissioned and published The Four ing. It just doesn’t make sense from the of shaping culture. Stressing the emphasis Holy Gospels, featuring Fujimura’s illumina- standpoint of responsible social discourse. of driving humanity and how the Chris- tions of the sacred texts. His latest project, The tian faith is central to that. So Culture Golden Sea, takes its name from a series of paint- It’s essential to talk to both ideological Care comes from that stream and Dana ings by the artist. Fujmura is the recipient of the sides and some people think, “I can’t be- was able to actually implement that as the 2014 Arts and Religion Award given by the lieve I have to defend this sacred position.” chairman of the NEA. American Academy of Religion. He recently spoke For conservatives it could be marriage. For with Acton intern Cait Hilton and managing liberals it could be rights of expression. That was during the height of the culture editor Ray Nothstine. Both sides see their positions eroding. But wars and the beginning of what are seeing when you look at the arguments of James now, which is total polarization and inef- ———————————————————— Davison Hunter, who coined the term fective government, yet he successfully managed to create a coalition of people continued on pg 12

SummerSpring 2014 2005 | Volume | Volume 24 15 | Number | Number 2 1 3 State Religion and the American Remnant By Ray Nothstine Church and State. © Waynerd; istockphoto.com and State. © Waynerd; Church

Secularization and moral relativism are walling it off inside churches and other statement: “I am the way, and the truth, rapidly transforming a nation that once houses of worship so as not to interfere and the life.” Universities, an invention embodied the best ideals of Western free- with cultural relativism – today’s domi- of European Christendom, now demand dom based on a Biblical worldview. And nant state religion. The American framers its persecution. while secularization of society has warned against government compulsion reached new heights in America, we will of religion and set up a republic intent on Those calling for political change in the always have religion and faith as strong protecting its free exercise. However, a country often don’t realize the culture has components. An important question is repaganizing of the West demands that largely passed them by. America has large- how healthy of a role will faith play in the Church be removed as a buffer be- ly been a source for good, prosperity, and the public square and who is given a seat tween the individual and the state. We’ve peace, but its current economic and cul- at the table? come a long way since Martin Luther tural trajectory is one of decline, even if is King, Jr., declared the Church the “con- not yet catastrophic. At the 2014 Evangelical Leadership sum- science of the state.” mit sponsored by the American Enterprise It’s likely that dark days are ahead for Institute, Russell Moore declared: “If we Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia American Christians, but those who are do not have religious liberty, it does not summed up what the future holds when true to their conscience and the Word mean we have a purely secular state, but he wrote in his dissent in the striking may be able to reclaim a more powerful it means we have a more religious state.” down of the Defense of Marriage Act: and magnified witness. Some of the Moore, who was interviewed in the Fall that the court is now saying opposition to methods of the American Civil Rights 2013 issue of Religion & Liberty, explained moral relativism equals “enemies to the Movement serve as a model of dissent that we are headed to “a state that is dic- human race.” During the 1st Century and peaceful disobedience. “One word of tating religious terms.” reign of Nero, the Roman historian Tacitus truth outweighs the world,” declared noted that Christians were persecuted and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. killed for their “hatred against mankind.” The church of the relativistic government “ The American framers That the new state religion is being pushed is proving itself bankrupt. It has largely become bankrupt of protecting the very warned against gov- with missionary zeal is clearly an ominous sign for dissenters. In 2014, the public uni- purpose of government, to protect natu- ernment compulsion versity system of California, which consists ral rights. It’s essential that the Church, of religion and set up a of 23 schools, is banning all InterVaristy which has the answers for what ails the Christian ministries from recognition as a culture, speaks up. The decline of Amer- republic intent on pro- student organization. Other schools are ica and the West has long been predicted tecting the free exer- following California’s lead. The crime of and prophesized but it’s wise to echo the cise of religion.“ the dissenters is creedal Christianity. The Protestant minister J. Vernon McGee, same crime outlawed under paganism and who told his listening audience at the the 20th Century rise of totalitarianism. height of the Red Menace: “It is dark in An ironic twist since many University the world just now – never too dark for Language like “freedom of worship,” only mottos proclaim the motto Veritas, which [a] child of God.” further ghettoizes religious liberty by means “truth,” reflected in Christ’s I am

4 Religion& Liberty It Wasn’t Free Markets That Did It Review by David Paul Deavel

Review of Infiltrated by Jay W. Richards seems to happen anyway), but in order to insurance against the risk of investments. (McGraw Hill Education, 2013) 299 pages; “hand over the consumer finance system One of the benefits of this book is that, $25.00. in America to noble overseers like them- unlike many more technical accounts of selves.” This happened in the case of the the crisis, Richards provides ordinary-lan- Six years have passed since the meltdown mortgage loan industry and continues to guage explanations of how these instru- of markets in 2008. Like many things “we happen in other sectors now, especially ments work along with an account of their all know,” the putative reasons for this the one dealing with small-dollar loans meltdown have now passed into the na- (“payday loans” in the common, though tional consciousness: greedy bankers, imprecise, jargon). The root cause of this deregulation, and an unregulated market crisis was not simple greed but instead an for derivatives, credit default swaps, and unfortunate mix of high ideals and bad other complex financial instruments. Jay economics that led to faulty policy. Richards’ Infiltrated, released in the summer of 2013, is a very handy volume to But what about deregulation and the ex- give to people who are open to hearing an otic financial stuff? Retailers of the con- alternative explanation of the crisis. ventional wisdom who are challenged to identify which deregulation it was that That it needs to be put in the hands of caused all this mess will inevitably bring up those open to its message must be said. the repeal of the depression-era Glass- The dramatic dust jacket and the title are Steagall Act. Richards observes that the both a little too Ann-Coulter-like for giv- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, signed ing to people not already inclined to its into law by President Clinton, only re- sign. © stu99; istockphoto.com Street Wall message. But Richards, a former Acton pealed parts of the former law, allowing, place in the crisis. There is little evidence staffer and current senior fellow at the for instance, financial firms to diversify that institutions failed because of CDSs. Discovery Institute, has penned a book and commercial banks to affiliate with The institutions collapsed because they that will help those who read it explain investment banks. But this deregulation, made a lot of bad investment bets. how the accepted narrative is mistaken. if it had any effect on the crisis, says Rich- ards, “almost surely made the crisis less Moreover, these bad bets were all cen- Richards assigns blame for the meltdown severe. If all of Glass-Steagall had been in tered around the mortgage industry, and, by extension, for the years of eco- place in 2008, JPMorgan Chase (a com- which brings us to the infiltration. Richards’ nomic sluggishness that have followed to, mercial bank) could not have bought Bear account of the home mortgage meltdown as the subtitle has it, “the insiders and Stearns (an investment bank), and Bank goes back to the Community Reinvestment activists who are exploiting the financial of America could not have bought Merrill Act of 1977, designed to encourage more crisis to control our lives and fortunes.” Lynch—purchases that helped to slow the lending to the poor and minorities. The They have “infiltrated” the halls of gov- snowball of panic.” practical effect was to encourage lenders to ernment and even helped expand its un- weaken their standards. This trend was ex- accountable bureaucracy not in order to The same goes with the exotic financial acerbated by the 1992 Federal Housing eliminate competition from the various instruments like the demonized credit Enterprises Financial Safety and Sound- markets in which they work (though this default swaps (CDSs), which are really ness Act, originally proposed as a way to continued on pg 6

Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 5 continued from page 5 provide sensible rules for mortgage loans, Loans in North Carolina. Both did busi- of disrupting merger plans. They were but turned into a quota system mandating ness and influenced policy under the thus a force causing the meltdown. But a certain percentage of loans to low- and aegis of helping the poor. (I would have the CRL lost no esteem since the conven- moderate-income families for Fannie Mae preferred the account of the crash come tional narrative blamed greedy bankers. and Freddie Mac, the two government- first, then an account of how these back- They provided advocacy in the wake of the sponsored entities in the mortgage industry. ground players were involved, but the meltdown in favor of the new Consumer Other government initiatives from players ordering does provide something of the Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and like HUD (Department of Housing and flavor of a whodunit.) the Dodd–Frank law. Urban Development) as well as activism from groups like ACORN were able to pres- Both the Sandlers and Eakes were players Richards summarizes why Dodd-Frank sure lenders into making more subprime in the field of home-loans. The Sandlers exacerbates “too big to fail” by designating loans—“subprime” designating the low were pioneers of adjustable-rate-mortgag- an entire category of such institutions, credit rating of the borrowers as well as es (ARMs) issued with little verification of making likely the disappearance of small the type of loans given. Since Fannie and the lender’s credit-worthiness, meanwhile banks and a repeat of bad investments by Freddie were required to have a certain demonizing others with similar practices. big ones. The result is a financial system in number of these loans on the books, other They sold World Savings at the housing which survival is predicated on govern- lenders were able to off-load them on bubble’s peak for over $24 billion to Wa- ment connections. The CFPB’s authority Fannie and Freddie as well as other sec- chovia, which then suffered immediate is outside of Congressional funding or ondary market actors. At the time of the buyer’s remorse. Wachovia was eventually oversight, and it exercises a power to issue crash, there were 27 mil- cease-and-desist orders lion of these subprime to businesses because of loans, almost half of all anything it designates as mortgage loans, in the “abusive” behavior. system. The sine qua non In the end, Richards ar- for the crash, as Richards gues that real ideological alleges, following Peter fervor is to blame for our Wallison of the American current situation, not Enterprise Institute, was greedy economic master- all of this government minds. People who want policy pushing weaker to make things better lending standards on the will make them worse industry. Playing an ad- without sound economic ditional role in the mess understanding. The cur- was the moral hazard Government bailout. © MCCAIG; istockphoto.com rent drive by Eakes and created by promises to those like-minded is to label all payday Fannie, Freddie, and others that the U. S. sold to Wells Fargo for pennies on the dol- lenders as usurious and force them out of Government would serve as a backstop lar. North Carolinian Eakes made his name most states, despite abundant evidence to institutions “too big to fail.” In other with Self-Help Loans, a credit union that that such lending is a boon to the poor. words, it wasn’t free markets that caused targeted the poor, and with his advocacy Like the high-minded attempts to help the this crash; it was markets jammed up by work to change the way lenders operated. poor get houses, this new drive to save bad incentives, government pressure, Eakes pushed laws to limit fees and prepay- them from “abusive” practices has conse- and scrambled economic indicators. ment penalties in North Carolina, as well as goading the Federal Trade Commission into quences that will only be seen in the The actual accounting for the meltdown suing CitiGroup for some of its practices in long-run. And those consequences, like itself begins with chapter seven. The first this regard. those of the push to help the poor get six chapters are an exciting narrative of home loans even when not feasible, will the many players who were attempting to Because of his activism Eakes was noticed probably not be pretty. drive policy before the crash and still at- by Herb Sandler, who bankrolled Eakes’ David Paul Deavel is associate editor of Logos: tempting to drive it afterward. Richards Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), an A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture focuses on Herb and Marion Sandler of advocacy group that, along with many oth- and contributing editor for Gilbert Magazine. Golden West Financial/World Savings in ers, helped push large lenders into making California and Martin Eakes of Self-Help more subprime loans with the subtle threat

6 Religion& Liberty Reading History Religiously Review by Samuel Gregg

Review of Missionaries of Republicanism: A in the North American colonies has been Catholicism was seen as naturally inclined Religious History of the Mexican-American War overwhelming on the side of the Revolu- to despotism. by John C. Piheiro. (Oxford: Oxford Uni- tionary cause, not least because people versity Press, 2014) 256 pages; $45.00. such as Charles Carroll of Carrollton (the One of the many strengths of this book is only Catholic to sign the Declaration of that Pinheiro is very careful to define pre- Among the many regrettable trends in the Independence) saw the Revolution as a cisely what he means by phrases such as academy today is that of reading history unique opportunity to secure religious “anti-Catholic,” “anti-Catholicism,” “Evan- through decidedly secularist lens. By that liberty for themselves in an overwhelm- gelicals,” and “nativism.” He also separates I don’t necessarily mean looking at the ingly Protestant society. By the 1810s, out perennial Protestant-Catholic theologi- past with a hostile view of religion (save however, a number of events aligned cal disputes from those arguments that of the fluffy sort), though that can be part themselves in ways, Pinheiro argues, were more properly concerned with the of the problem. What I have in mind is which mean that “anti-Catholicism antebellum political world of 1830s and the tendency to look at events and social, emerged as integral to Americans’ under- 1840s. Obviously there was some overlap, political, and economic developments in a standing of how best to preserve their but Pinheiro is interested in elucidating religious void. liberties in a more diverse country.” how religious questions interplayed with the Mexican-American war. Without this This is the error that John C. Pinheiro, a One factor was an increase in Catholic im- context, he maintains, it is not possible to widely-respected historian of the ante- migration to the United States. The sec- understand why Irish Catholic deserters bellum United States and professor of ond was the Second Great Awakening (few of whom were American citizens) history and Director of Catholic Studies that swept through Protestant America. from the U.S. Army ended up forming a at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Mich., The third was the further expansion into battalion (the San Patricos—dramatized in addresses and masterfully overcomes in the West by the United States in the wake the 1999 film One Man’s Hero) who would his new book on the Mexican-American of the Louisiana Purchase. Taken together, end up being captured by General Win- War. This war, which resulted in one of Pinheiro suggests, this produced a potent field Scott’s army near Mexico City. But the fastest and most expansive acquisi- mixture of ideas that helped drive the the war’s religious dimension goes be- tions of territory by the United States, growth of the United States throughout yond this particular occurrence. For many tends to be overshadowed by other early North America, but also a sense that cer- Americans in the army, for instance, the American conflicts. Pinheiro’s thesis is tain religious groups—not just Catholics invasion of Mexico was the first time most that much of the language and context of but also Mormons—represented a type of of them had encountered a mass (no pun the Mexican-American War cannot be danger to the ordered liberty embodied by intended) Catholic culture: an encounter understood without appreciation of the the still young American Republic. that resulted in mostly negative reactions. manner in which the war came to be im- mersed in anti-Catholic rhetoric, and This meant that, with regard to the Mexi- Having provided the general context, how Protestantism and Catholicism can-American war, the identity of the Pinheiro takes his readers through the shaped the manner in which Americans United States, according to Pinheiro, was background of anti-Catholicism in the understood their Mexican opponents and one of “all those things that Mexico was United States in the 1830s and 1840s, the why they were fighting them. not: free, Protestant, republican and pros- impact of the Texas Revolution of 1836, perous.” For many Americans, Protestant- the religious dimension of elections held During the Revolutionary War, Catholics ism was the equivalent of freedom, while prior to the war, the role played by reli-

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Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 7 continued from page 7 gion in recruiting soldiers, the manner in which the war played out in U.S. domes- Double-Edged Sword: tic politics, and the effect upon American soldiers of being in Mexico and among The Power of the Word Mexican Catholics. Many American soldiers were, for instance, impressed by Mexican piety. Others were fascinated by Catholic liturgy, though this did not stop Isaiah 40:26 American soldiers from disobeying orders and using churches and shrines as stables, barracks, depots, and hospitals. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of The last chapters consider the way that Protestant leaders (clergy and laity) in them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not America thought about the war and the one of them is missing. way it affected their view of politics and Catholics in the United States. Many Prot- There is comfort in knowing that God counts the stars and calls them each by name. estant leaders, for instance, enveloped the Our little corner of the observable universe only has about 400 billion stars while war in the rhetoric of displays of God’s sovereignty, and saw it as a spur for Prot- some galaxies easily have over 1 trillion. If God can number the hairs on each of estant missionary activities in America and our heads, He has little trouble in remembering the constellations. Mexico alike. Other Protestant pastors, however, were initially opposed to the war Stars instinctively make us to look up towards the sky and to creation. While the because of commitments to peace, but smart phone craze is creating a dynamic in which more and more people are look- found themselves swept away—and, in ing down, ironically, technology at the same time allows us to see deeper and many cases, absorbed by—a type of mil- deeper into space. Thanks to tools like the Hubble Telescope, astronomers are able lennialism that underscored an ascendency of republicanism over decadent forms to estimate that there are between 100 to 200 billion galaxies. of political life and social organization. Given the speck of space we take up, it’s amazing to think how much God is mind- For those interested in the interplay of ful of us and pays such close attention to us. The answer of course to the deep politics and religion within the context of wondering lies in Jesus Christ. American history, Pinheiro’s book sets a new standard for sophistication of analy- Christ was chosen for us before the creation of the world for our sake (1 Peter: sis. His point is not to engage in reviving 1:20). He is the truth that predates creation itself. Revelation proclaims that one and refighting sectarian battles but rather to bring to light and contextualize reli- day the sun will stop shining because Christ will be the only light we need (Rev. gion’s influence, for better and worse, 21:23). That’s pretty amazing to fathom, but everything in creation points to Christ. upon the formation of American political As Creator, Christ upholds the sun, as it merely reflects the glory of His light. And culture. The fact that he writes in an ac- through the incarnation and the work of Christ, He is able to uplift mankind to his cessible way, but without over-simplifying matters, means that the audience for this rightful place in creation. Christ makes the universe truly a man-centered universe book goes far beyond the academy. For through His incarnation. “Humanity and its position in the universe, or its relation anyone interested in the religious history to the universe, has been specified by the Incarnate God and Creator, Jesus Christ,” of the United States and the way this has declares Greek Orthodox theologian George Dragas. impacted America’s relations with its neighbors, this book would be a welcome It’s amazing what has been accomplished in Jesus Christ. When we retire and sleep addition to their library. for the night, it is a rehearsal for our day of resurrection, which is secured by Christ. Samuel Gregg is Research Director of the When He ascended to the Father, He exalted all of humanity. Christ has woven Acton Institute. humanity into His divinity. Knowing Christ personally and trusting in His power is a great assurance as we look out into the heavens and beyond.

8 Religion& Liberty An Epic of Ideas By Bruce Edward Walker

Review of Liberalism: The Life of an Idea by The above might explain why a similar order of human progress among Edmund Fawcett (Princeton University book on liberalism hasn’t been attempted civic equals without recourse to Press, 2014) 468 pages; $35.00. before Edmund Fawcett’s Liberalism: The undue power…. Liberalism on this Life of an Idea. Since its inception more telling has an outlook, and ‘liberal’ Russell Kirk published The Conservative than 200 years ago, liberalism has wit- means someone who shares that Mind in 1953, which provided the history nessed more twists and turns than a outlook with a degree of enthusi- of modern conservative thought from Irish roller coaster catapulted onto gelatin rails asm and commitment. None of that statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke positioned over the San Andreas Fault. defines ‘liberalism.’ to George Santayana. Later updated to in- Pinning the myriad strands of liberalism clude T. S. Eliot, Kirk’s study was a long to any fixed system of thought, then, is And this: overdue examination of conservatism’s impossible. All that’s left is tracing liberal Liberals hoped for ethical order history; first principles; prominent and DNA from Wilhelm von Humboldt and without appeal to divine authority, less-so great thinkers; theoretical, theo- Benjamin Constant to Friedrich Hayek established tradition or parochial sophical and philosophical underpinnings; and Karl Popper, and Fawcett performs custom. They hoped for social order and practice. When it was published, The this delicate genetic task magnificently– without legally fixed hierarchies or Conservative Mind served as a tonic for the albeit with some reservations. tidal wave of post-World War II liberal- privileged classes. They hoped for an ism threatening to render conservatism a Fawcett, a former Economist reporter, economic order free of crown or state historical footnote. stresses the European branding of liberal- interference, monopoly privileges, ism rather than employing the word as and local obstacles to national mar- By its very nature, the principles of conser- the more recent epithet applied to pro- kets. They hoped for an international vatism evolve slowly if, indeed, at all. Kirk gressivism. This approach grants him order where trade prevailed over eventually devised his 10 Conservative wide berth to examine many who would war and treaty over force. They Principles for his 1993 Politics of Prudence not be considered “liberal” by current hoped last for a political order with- based on his examination of the record, political U.S. standards. Fawcett identi- out absolute authorities or undivid- but in truth they could’ve been written at fies liberal antecedents in Renaissance ed powers that all citizens might any time after the French Revolution. Kirk Europe “through the Church doctors to understand and accept under lawful prefaced these principles with the caveat: the ancient Greeks and Romans.” Com- arrangements honoring and foster- “Being neither a religion nor an ideology, pare Kirk’s caveat with that written by ing those other hopes. the body of opinion termed conservatism Fawcett: “Liberalism had no accredited Those operating under this rubric, writes possesses no Holy Writ and no Das Kapital doctrinalists, no Congregation for the Fawcett, abjured utopianism both tempo- to provide dogmata.” And this: “there ex- Propagation of the Faith, no Marx-Engels ral and eternal. Man’s laws, wisely written ists no Model Conservative, and conserva- Standard Edition.” While confessing lib- and enforced with a healthy dollop of tism is the negation of ideology: it is a state eralism is indefinable, Fawcett forces luck, would result in a degree of peace and of mind, a type of character, a way of look- himself to land his definition in a some- prosperity. He confesses this approach in- ing at the civil social order.” Yet, Kirk’s what overgrown meadow: mind ably discerns a distinct plumb line volved tremendous trial and error, and the from Burke to Eliot. Liberalism as I take it here was a experiment caromed “politically from search for an ethically acceptable overconfidence to undue disappointment

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Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 9 continued from page 9 and intellectually from horizonless univer- advocates,” in Fawcett’s words, less supple den – who convinced English Christians salism to worldy-wise damage limitation.” than Guizot’s beliefs in “representative that wages are fixed by supply and demand government by consent on a narrow, prop- and free trade is virtuous: “In his maiden The advent of fascism and communism in erty-based franchise and in a constitutional speech to parliament in 1841, he argued the 20th century cast liberalism in favorable division of powers under a monarch who movingly that relieving hardship in factory relief, and the fall of the former in 1945 and reigned but did not rule”? Fawcett asserts a towns by lowering tariffs was an obligation the latter in 1989 seemingly assured liberal- few pages later: for any good Christian.” ism’s ascendency to a permanent perch in the West thereafter. However, competition To schematize, conservatives re- One difference Fawcett recognizes between from newly invigorated conservatism and a vered traditional or established 19th century liberals and those of the 20th host of other -isms stemmed the tide of power. Authority was to be obeyed century and today is an emphasis on char- liberalism. Additionally, as noted by Faw- and orders followed without ques- acter. As late as 1873, John Stuart Mill cett, liberalism unmoored itself from its tion. To the conservative mind, the hoped to nudge the needle of liberalism centrist beginnings by divorcing itself from very idea of limited power or di- forward by emphasizing a “change of char- its more right-leaning component. It even- vided sovereignty involved a con- acter … in the uncultivated herd who now tually came to embrace obsessive secular- fusion. For sovereignty was no compose the labouring masses, and in the ism, moral relativism and other violations more or less than supreme power immense majority of their employers.” of Natural Law it previously endorsed unac- of command without having to Mills was joined in this goal by British knowledged in its search for, in Burke’s answer ‘why.’ Samuel Smiles and the American Unitarian words, ordered liberty. The result was even preacher William Emery Channing. more government, state-enforced coercion By this description, it’s clear Burke – in and exponential growth of social programs Fawcett’s view – rests on the liberal con- As for recognizing the dual roles played by on both sides of the Atlantic. tinuum rather than the starting point for morality and religion in maintaining or- modern conservatism where Kirk (more dered liberty in free societies, William In the beginning, so to speak, it was much convincingly, in this writer’s opinion) Gladstone might’ve been liberalism’s last different. The genesis of liberalism, Fawcett placed him. It would seem Kirk trumps gasp. But, as last gasps go, Gladstone’s ef- asserts, sprang from the pens of Constant Fawcett as well in characterizing Alexis de forts resonate as a breath of fresh air for and Humboldt. According to the author, Tocqueville, particularly when it applies to Western democracies increasingly puffing the former declared representative democ- religion. Fawcett writes that Tocqueville themselves up as secular entities: racy a tradeoff in which “citizens gave up believed religion “absurd on the whole, but direct power over their lives; the state com- – another echo of Constant – he took some Gladstone found religion and pol- pensated them by letting them alone.” unquestioned faith or other as necessary to itics hard to pull apart. A tolerant Constant also championed the freedom of serve as society’s ethical glue. Since it was nation could not impose faith or an individual to pursue whatever their familiar and available, Roman Catholicism, morals. Yet politics without moral respective talents afforded. France’s Fran- Tocqueville believed, met that purpose vision was for Gladstone unintel- cois Guizot soon enters liberalism’s early well.” Rather than present examples of ligible, as was morals without re- mosaic in his opposition to absolute where Kirk and the subject in question ligion. His vision combined the power, described by Fawcett as “despo- upend Fawcett’s conclusion, I instead direct egalitarian dicta of the Sermon on tism or tyranny. Such unchecked power readers to Chapter VI of The Conservative the Mount with a Homeric devo- could be, and often was, arbitrary, unre- Mind and the writings of Tocqueville. tion to unflinching and, when sponsive, and oppressive” rather than needed, ruthless nobility. The no- “enlightened, beneficial, and benign.” Where Fawcett shines, however, it’s with tion his faith might not be the Klieg light intensity. Without losing the faith of all humankind was for- Fawcett is unclear, however, on a distinc- strands of his narrative in a tangle of eign to him, and he remained tion he draws but does not define between names, dates, philosophies, historical unshaken in that characteristical- Burke and Guizot – admittedly a fitting events and influences, the author corrals ly liberal mix of Enlightenment topic for a book-length thesis or disserta- each thread into one compelling compen- and Christian universalism…. tion. How is Burke’s Reflections on the French dium of diverse characters and schools of Gladstone’s ideal of a virtuous Revolution, in which he “stressed the perils thought from Germany, France, Great Brit- liberal commonwealth was a of abandoning established custom and dis- ain and the United States. Readers adher- Christian state, not imposed by regarding the wisdom of tradition without ing to the principles advocated by the law but arisen in spirit, and peo- adequately netting those perils against the Acton Institute will be thrilled to read pled by latter-day Hectors. benefits of change for the sagacity of its about 19th century politician Richard Cob-

10 Religion& Liberty Acton Fawcett writes that Gladstone focused on FAQ the benefits wrought by the Industrial Revolution – all the while recognizing – as did Charles Dickens – members of the Why is ‘For The Life of the World’ such a Victorian society in which he lived were slipping through the cracks. valuable and popular film for expanding our The twentieth century was a marked audience at Acton? change from modern liberalism’s inaugu- ral century. Progressivism gained a toe- hold through such publications as The “For the Life of the World: Letter to the Exiles,” a film series produced by New Republic. The magazine featured a the Acton Institute, is receiving a lot of attention for its crisp and entertain- trio of far-left liberals – Herbert Croly, ing visuals as well as rich content. Andy Crouch, the executive editor of Walter Lippman and Walter Weyl – who Christianity Today said, “‘For the Life of the World’ is the best treatment of impatiently crusaded for a greater role of faith & culture ever put on a screen. Just outstanding.” I’m delighted that government to alleviate poverty, income we succeeded in creating something so strong theologically as well as so disparity and a host of progressive bug- thoroughly entertaining. bears. Croly, Fawcett writes, believed the “nation needed vigorous direction from Our most important mission at Acton is to introduce a free and virtuous Washington if it was to promote science, society to new audiences worldwide. We have done that with a number of efficiency, personal fulfillment and social recent projects including PovertyCure and Poverty Inc. As an organization, we justice.” Muckrakers such as Upton Sin- clair added fuel to the fire, and liberalism have never been better equipped to reach people. began its slide into the soft socialism wit- “For the Life of the World,” a seven-part series, seeks to examine the bigger nessed in much of Europe today, and picture of Christianity’s role in culture, society, and the world. Often think growing tendencies in the United States. As a nonobjective observer and chroni- tanks and free-market organizations are really good at telling like-minded cler, Fawcett seems unbothered by the individuals and organizations what they want to hear but sometimes fail at expansion of governments into the lives casting a vision to draw people to our ideas. “For the Life of the World” of their governed. In fact, he leaves unex- specifically calls people to move beyond the self and to something greater plained an off-the-cuff remark referring to than this world. “the rotten compromises of Philadelphia” in a discussion of the post-World War II The series powerfully depicts the deeper meaning of the resources God government established in West Germany. gives us for a holistic understanding of economy. “For the Life of the World” stresses the virtue side of the equation when it comes to economy. Despite the sometimes maddening editorial Perhaps, more importantly, the film tells an entertaining and compelling asides offered by the author, there’s much story, and it completely moves away from the model of lecturing to those to recommend Liberalism: The Life of an Idea. who may not agree with us. It is truly a media and missions model for what Fawcett may be a bit of a liberal ideologue, but his encyclopedic grasp of the history we need to be doing in the free-market and renewing culture movement. and ideas of the last two and a half centu- Christians, especially those in business and the private sector, still compart- ries, and the changes wrought by two mentalize too much of their faith life. A lot of young people are aimless or world wars, the Cold War and a Great Depression make for a dizzying yet concise adrift when it comes to understanding truth and the need for a properly epic of ideas. oriented society that promotes human flourishing. “For the Life of the World” amazingly does powerfully reintroduce rich and timeless ideas to new Bruce Edward Walker, a Michigan-based writer, audiences. That it’s an amazing and entertaining story guarantees its success. writes frequently on the arts and other topics for the Acton Institute.

Kris Alan Mauren Executive Director

Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 11 Fujimura interview continued from page 3 who care about culture, and he moved real. Until a singer-songwriter writes a this invitation was to the feast. I wanted to the needle a little bit toward consensus. song that everybody’s singing, including contribute to an understanding of uphold- your enemy, the movement doesn’t take ing and beholding the Word of God as the How does an artist today help a society that is off. Historically that’s true of any kind of word of the feast. That is a great privilege. striving for truth? movement, and so in that sense, what I would come out of my studio kind of We have to connect truth, goodness, and the artist brings actually taps into the staggering because I had spent a day medi- beauty. Truth without beauty ends up as a dream that we might have about a move- tating on one word and trying all I could do black and white frame and is very dog- ment. Truth often works that way. It’s to compress that reality. matic. Beauty without goodness will be- important that artists can read an audi- The folks at Crossway Publishing were so comes sterilized and has no impact. And ence and tap into a pivotal event and wonderful to work with because they so beauty and truth have to work together bring a greater meaning and expression took care of the details. One page went and goodness holds everything together to what is unfolding. through six color corrections. They didn’t in a way that allows for a community to So if God is the ultimate artist, in your work of the complain; they knew that it was impor- understand itself and an artist to be able to Four Holy Gospels, what were the challenges of tant. I was trying to do justice to the Word function in a particular setting as someone depicting the Gospels through art? as it is written to us. How do we worship who can speak the through that? So truth. It’s impor- when I talk about tant for an artist to visual theology, expose things we I’m not talking don’t normally about replacing talk about in the the Word of God public square. but finding a way Look at the great to visualize it. writers–from Walt In the Golden Sea Whitman to Emily video, you explain Dickinson and that every theme from F. Scott and technique that Fitzgerald to Er- you’ve tried to cap- nest Hemming- ture is captured. way–they all do Could you elaborate that, they’re kind on that? of exposing some dissonance in cul- I was working on ture, but, at the the Four Holy same time, their Gospels, and I just writing allows The cover for Fujimura’s first retrospective monograph entitled Golden Sea. needed to work them to create this on something else authentic place. And so art is a great way The challenge is getting out of the way because it was so intense and I ended up to see truth and beauty. It’s a conduit. It and illuminating the Word without adding stretching the canvas. I didn’t intend for it allows you a particular position and anything to it. So I first looked at discover- to be anything but a backdrop and I standing so truth does not become dog- ing what is the function of an artist. And started putting layers and layers on it. I matic, but it becomes incarnated into our then I knew, even devoid of images, the was working on the Four Holy Gospels whole life. I speak to these issues in my Bible is a visual text. The artist is designing for a year and a half, so throughout that upcoming book about culture care. but illuminating the Word so that it is time I was just working on the background. And so there’s at least 80 days on I was on a panel with Jesse Jackson once readable and beautiful. I was trying to listen there by the time I realized what it was, and he looked straight at me, and he said, to the Spirit, using my slice of expression to and my son came in to film for Crossway “If you want to start a movement of any illuminate the Word. It’s a fellowship with and he asked, “Dad, what is this paint- kind, civil rights included, you have to the Spirit to go deeper. That is a spiritual ing?” And I said, “I don’t know, it’s just have artists.” You can talk about injustice, challenge and discipline. something I’m doing.” And he said, “This oppression, and truth all day, but it’s not I felt so unworthy doing this. And yet is everything you’ve done.” And I stepped until Marvin Gaye starts singing and jazz what kept on coming back to me was that back and I was like that’s quite a state- musicians start playing, that it becomes

12 Religion& Liberty ment. And then my gallery owner, Val- But this azurite comes from the top of the turing reality, and expressing something erie, came the next week and she said the mines that is retrieved by hand, similar to that only I could do. Even before I was a same thing. So I thought, “This is amaz- using dynamite in order to get copper Christian, I knew that it was a gift because ing!” I guess I didn’t realize maybe that’s faster. So the azurite that I use for that when I am tapped into that reality, some- why it was so good because by virtue of painting is very rare. My pigment shop thing goes through me. I couldn’t explain letting this be something of leisure, I was finds these somehow. So in a way, this is a it. It was like magic and it created this out of the way completely. The work collaboration with the Japanese people. deeper love, and so I cultivated that, and began to just take over. But intuitively here I am, thirty years later, a successful I realized that’s exactly the kind of expres- that’s what you want to see happen when artist that was just trying to be faithful to sion that I wanted to do to honor the you’re creating or writing, that’s what that small slice of expression. victims of 9/11 and other disasters. I happened with this painting. And when I showed it in New York to help my gallery It’s a journey toward focusing on who you recover from Hurricane Sandy. And then are, what you’re created to do, and who “ The cross is critical for it went to Yale for mini-retrospective you’re not. Sometimes failure is more im- there. I’ve shown it in various places. I portant than success. A lot of times we the believer to under- believe this piece is meaningful to those think that artists look for success but as stand and grasp art, and who have experienced great challenges. Eliot says in Four Quartets, that “love would the art of life.“ How does sharing in Christ’s suffering carry an artist to something greater? looked at it, I laughed, and I knew they Christ Himself is an artist. God is the Great were right. There’s something to this that Artist and Christ is the embodiment of I’ve always wanted to do and I never felt humanity and divinity, fully human, fully like it was the right time and I was using divine, fully artist. William Blake said, a kind of silk and paper that’s no longer “Jesus was the only artist who ever lived.” available, so it’s something that I can I agree with that. I think His artistry was never do again in the same way. I can about salvation, but it doesn’t end there, it work in a series and create other pieces, begins there. His artistry not only brings us but that particular piece is absolutely to a redeemed humanity and reconciled unique to that time and the ecosystem of nature, but also to a new world and new art that is endangered and disappearing. Heaven. Christ completely changes the So there is a little bit of sadness to it be- structure of the material universe that cause there is a finality that can’t ever be we know today. That’s the grand work of replicated with another piece. an artist.

And did you create ‘Walking on Water’ with Artists really understand that there’s suf- the intent of entering it into the Grand Rapids fering involved, there’s sacrifice, and there’s Art Prize? discipline that we need to develop. We don’t expect people to get it. We almost No. It was strictly a response to the earth- expect everything that we create will be quake and Tsunami in Japan. After 9/11, I misunderstood. Often there is a feeling that worked for a decade dealing with fire. And people will take advantage of us and hijack now I had to deal with water and imagina- our writings, our paintings, or our music. tively try to work through this question, That’s okay because Jesus walked a path of “Can you walk on water?” I was trying to isolation and was misunderstood yet ful- answer that given the reality of the circum- filled His mission. Artists can see that stance and devastation in Japan. clearly when we follow Christ. We don’t The Golden Sea video captures the process have to have a bestseller or even praise be love of the wrong thing.” We are often of this, so your readers can watch the pro- from people. It’s enough that we have our not ready for the very thing we crave. At cess of the creation of the painting. And I conviction, given by the Spirit to inhabit a the same time, Jesus shows the way, and used a similar azurite that was given to me unique niche. he experienced suffering to give us a new by a pigment shop owner in Japan. She’s I call it my small slice of expression be- image, a new definition of success. The cross in the film and she has recently saved a cause when I was in art school in Japan is critical for the believer to understand and particular type of azurite that has a certain for graduate school, there were a lot of grasp art, and the art of life. kind of impurity in them, so its fractions people more gifted than I was. But I had are a little different than the pure azurite. this one particular way of painting, cap-

Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 13 In the Liberal Tradition

Abigail Adams [1744 – 1818]

How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambi- During a time when women did not have large roles in tion, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the politics, Abigail was appointed to the Massachusetts Colony public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking. General Court in 1775. Adams was the first First Lady to ever hold a political position in the newly formed country. In the precarious time of the American Revolution, mem- She also handled many of the investments for the family bers of the Continental Congress left their wives and chil- and her competency of markets and land value increased dren in order to establish a new American country. the financial security and wealth of her family. While During this time John and Abigail John was away, she managed the family farm at Brain- Adams begin writing letters tree, where it was profitable under her guidance. to each other that by the end of their lives totaled As a minister’s daughter, Abigail grew up in a de- more than 1,100. Abigail voutly religious family and she stayed close to her served as a confidante and faith throughout her life. Frequently, she would advisor to the first vice presi- reference God in her letters to various political dent and second president of individuals in America encouraging them to put the United States. their faith in the Lord. She stated in one letter to John, “The God of Israel is he that giveth Abigail was born in colonial Mas- strength and power unto his people. Trust in sachusetts in 1744 to a Congrega- him at all times ye people pour out your tionalist minister and his wife. hearts before him. God is refuge for us.” Adams was never able to receive a formal education due to her poor Abigail Adams served as a defining woman health, however, she became self-edu- of not only her generation, but of all the generations to Wikimedia Commons cated by reading Shakespeare and John Abigail Adams. come after her. She displayed a new understanding of the Milton while at home. Using this knowledge, she became role of women in American politics and served as one of the known as one of the greatest letter writers of her time. Dur- most influential women ever as the wife of one president ing their long separations, Abigail used her letters to John and the mother of another. Throughout her life, she advo- to advocate for the equal protection under law for all peo- cated for greater education for women. She was a voice for ple. Abigail wrote to John telling him, “I am more and more the abolition of slavery noting, “I have sometimes been convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that ready to think that the passion for liberty cannot be equally power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, strong in the breasts of those who have been accustomed to and, like the grave, cries, “Give, give!”’ She added in her deprive their fellow creatures of theirs.” letter to her husband in 1775, “You tell me of degrees of After the publication of her letters in 1848, she is the first perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, wife of a president to have a book published. In a letter to and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admi- her son John Quincy Adams, Abigail wrote, “The only sure ration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.” and permanent foundation of virtue is religion. Let this Knowing that power can corrupt, Abigail believed that in- important truth be engraven upon your heart.” dividuals should not be left in power for too long due to the temptation of avarice and falling into scandal.

14 Religion& Liberty Rev. Robert A. Sirico

Our Prodigal Generation Abigail Adams [1744 – 1818] As a pastor, parents often share who lead mission trips, Bible studies, youth groups. These with me the grief they have when young men and women bring a vitality and sense of hope a child of theirs leaves the faith. I to the church as a whole. We must continue to do more to won’t bore you with statistics, but reach out to young people in a culture that seems to almost suffice it to say that many young literally drag them away from the faith, but there is hope. adults today seem to leave their faith behind, shedding it as if it Many believe that faith and reason cannot co-exist, and were one more remnant of childhood to be boxed up and that is why many young adults struggle with the faith. stored in Mom and Dad’s attic. They want reason and intellect; they want things to make sense. They do not want to settle for “it’s the way we’ve I know a woman who understands this heartache. While always done things” or “it’s tradition.” They hunger for a she was a woman of great faith, her husband was not. He full, well-reasoned, sound explanation for why they was violent and abusive. The woman tried to raise her should believe. three children well, but in such an atmosphere, it was difficult. And yet, two of her three children became exem- The young man I spoke of above is, of course, St. Augus- plary Christians. Her other child, a son, was a brilliant tine. He is one of the greatest intellects of the church, yet young man who thought faith had no place in a reasonably nearly drove his mother to the brink by his wild ways. He lived life. All the woman could do was pray. brought to the faith his intellect and reason; he did not leave them at the door of the church when he was re- And pray she did, for years. She watched her son make ceived into the faith. He knew that reason and faith could terrible decisions: alcohol, sexual licentiousness, mistress- not only co-exist; they must co-exist. Our God is a God of es, fathering a child out-of-wedlock. She grieved, but she reason, of pattern and method, of prudence and sense. prayed. In the end, it was her son’s reason, intellect and Any faith that tries to divorce God from His very nature hunger for truth that led him to belief. It came at great cost holds no truth. to both him and his mother, but her faith did not waver even as she watched her son throw away the beliefs she Every summer at the Acton Institute, our office hums with had instilled in him as a child. the excitement of interns. They truly are among the best and brightest. They come from across the world, with Today, we see the “Millennials” doing much the same. various talents, an eagerness to learn and serve, and in Many claim they are “spiritual but not religious,” others most cases, a deep faith. I can say the same about the say they believe but don’t “get anything” out of organized many young people who make great sacrifices to attend religion. I have to say I understand these young people. I Acton University. I hope that their time with Acton helps was a prodigal son myself, looking for truth in all the them grow in both intellect and faith. wrong places. Christians must be a reasonable people. We must be a joy- I wish to encourage any parents who find themselves in this ful people. We must be a faithful people. We serve a God situation. In the Catholic Church, we see the enormous re- who is all this and more. sponse from young people at World Youth Days. Pastors from other faith traditions tell me about the young adults Rev. Sirico is president and co-founder of the Acton Institute.

Spring 2014 | Volume 24 | Number 2 15 We had you at ‘oikonomia’, didn’t we.

Our seven-part ﬁ lm series, FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD, examines God’s surprisingly wonderful “economy of all things” — from LOVE to WONDER to EXILE. And it’s done in a way that’s totally irresistible. Just like that word ‘oikonomia’. sE ThE RaIR A LeTRsToTH ExIS.O/Gt