Critique 2013:3 contents

from the editor Quietly 1

Neglected Texts

Discerning life Faithfulness in a Consumerist 2 2013 Issue 3 © Ransom Fellowship 6reflections Society Editor Loneliness Denis Haack by Scott Schuleit Designer Karen Coulter Perkins Board of Directors Steven Garber Director, The Washington Institute, Washington, D.C. Donald Guthrie Professor of Educational Ministries paper and canvas Director of PhD Program in Educational Studies Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Illinois 8The Forbidden Bird Denis and Margie Haack A short story by Scott Schuleit Co-founders, Ransom Fellowship, Minnesota Bonnie Liefer Resource Vice President for Marketing and Communications 11 CCO, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Seeing a Stork Henry Tazelaar A review by Wesley Hill of Chair, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Professor of Pathology Margie Haack’s The Exact Place Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Arizona 14 Contact critique Resource www.RansomFellowship.org Christian America? 1150 West Center, Rochester, MN 55902 [email protected] A review of John Fea’s About critique Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? Critique is part of the work of Ransom Fellowship founded by Denis and Margie Haack in 1982. Together, they have created a ministry that includes lecturing, mentoring, writing, teaching, hospitality, feeding, and encouraging those who want to know more about what it means to be a Christian in the everyday life of the twenty-first century. Except where noted, all articles are by Denis Haack. ReCeive critique Critique is not available by subscription. Rather, interested readers can request to be added to Ransom’s 15 mailing list, which is updated frequently. Donors to Resource Ransom Fellowship, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-deductible ministry, are added to the mailing list automatically unless Nurturing Instead requesting otherwise. of Depleting Everyone on Ransom’s mailing list also receives Notes A review of Resilient Ministry: from Toad Hall, a newsletter by Margie Haack in which she reflects on what it means to be faithful in the ordinary What Pastors Told us about Surviving and routine of daily life and gives news about Ransom’s ministry. and Thriving Copying Policy Feel free to make up to 50 copies of any article that appears in Critique for use with a small group. We only ask that you copy the entire article, note the source, and distribute the copies free of charge. Hearts & Minds Hearts and Minds bookstore donates 10% of your darkened room purchase to Ransom Fellowship if you mention us when 16 placing your order: www.heartsandmindsbooks.com. When Punkers Meet Fatherhood A film review of The Other F Word from the editor: a quiet life

Quietly Neglected Texts

But I’ve never heard a sermon asking Living a quiet life is possible only me to have a quiet life. Or if I have, I’ve for those who actually believe that forgotten it and it’s been lost over time faithfulness in the ordinary things of under an avalanche of one hundred life is the essence of the Christian life. sermons on everything else. If you believe you should do something In 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (ESV), Paul extraordinary for God’s Kingdom urges his hearers “to aspire to live the notion of a quiet existence will be quietly.” And in 2 Thessalonians 3:12 anathema. he encourages them “in the Lord Jesus When the prophet Isaiah described Christ to do their work quietly.” But the coming Messiah he said that he, I’ve never heard a sermon on what he “will not cry or lift up his voice or make means by “quiet” or “quietly.” Or what it heard in the street” (42:2). Unlike he means by “live” or “life.” I’ve heard earthly victorious kings, the Promised many how-to sermons but none on how One would not include a lot of loud activity. And yet, Isaiah insists, he Whenever I reread a beloved book to live quietly, and what it might look like will bring “justice in the earth” to the I discover details I had not noticed in our culture, which is so loud about farthest coastline (42:4). The quiet would before. A description that changes how everything… not mean he was ineffective. I imagine a scene, or a word choice that Paul isn’t just suggesting this to the I wonder what would happen if we is particularly amusing or poignant. Thessalonians. He is urging them to live his followers made it our ambition to And sometimes I miss the details quietly. Wait a second—no, he wants live quiet lives? ■ because I wasn’t expecting them, certain these believers to aspire to live quietly. that some other theme or idea would You could translate these words as “make Source: The God of the Mundane: be presented instead. As Matthew it your ambition to live quietly.” This is Reflections on Ordinary Life for Redmond points out, this happens when no small thing. [pages 33-34] Ordinary People by Matthew B. Redmond Christians read Scripture. (Kalos Press; 2012) In case you are wondering, Redmond My whole life has been churched....I’ve is not making these texts up. And been supported by pews in a multitude of whether you have heard anyone preach cities, and I’ve preached and taught grace on them or not, he is certainly correct in some others. The number of sermons, that the essential message you hear in good and bad, that I’ve heard must most evangelical churches does not tend number on up into the thousands. to be, “make it your ambition to live And my memory is pretty good. quietly.” Calvin says in his commentary that But I have never heard a sermon calling St Paul in this text is trying to correct me to live quietly. the error that causes people to be “noisy Not one. At least that I can remember. bustlers in public.” Instead, he says, I’ve heard heaps of sermons on what I people should be content to fulfill their should watch, listen to, whom I should calling and lead “tranquil” lives. date/marry, and how I should treat them. I’ve heard sermons on sex and alcohol and tobacco. I’ve heard sermons calling me to be bold about sharing the gospel… And I’ve heard sermons about not worrying what other people think when I witness to them…

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 1 Discerning Life: Consumerism

Faithfulness in a Consumerist Society

As Christians we should be grateful But as with all good things, we network of propaganda that sweeps for every aspect of society that allows know that in a fallen world there is me into patterns of consumption that human beings to flourish. Each is always a darker side. We live in the are shaped not by faithfulness but by evidence of the common grace of God. now/not yet of Christ’s lordship, when the demands of the marketplace. The Rain and sunshine continue to bless his kingdom has been inaugurated but solution is not despair nor withdrawal the land and the lives of farmers even if not yet brought to full consummation. nor assimilation, but a willingness to those farmers refuse to acknowledge the Redemption has been secured after the buttress our gratefulness with reflec- Creator’s existence (Matthew 5:45). The Fall, but the final restoration has not tion that helps us discern the shape of goodness of God still helps them flour- yet occurred. So we live in a world that faithfulness as consumers who wish to ish as persons fulfilling their vocation, tends to vandalize the good shalom live as if Christ is really Lord of all. and that is a grace for which we can give of God and spawns systems that align One aspect of our world that in- praise. themselves against God’s kingdom. vites reflection is the fact that as the Common grace is evident in more industrial revolution than in the gifts of nature, and can has unfolded to produce be glimpsed as well in the unfolding so many readily avail- processes of human history and society. able goods, something The industrial revolution, for example, The gap in our economy is called consumerism launched in eighteenth century Europe has subtly grown as a and America, introduced industrial between what we have and what hidden motivation to methods whereby a growing flood of consume in ever increas- products could be made available at a we think we ought to have—and ing quantities. As more reasonable price. The average citizen goods are produced, today in America, Europe, and urban that is a moral problem, not an more consumption centers around the world is able to is needed to keep the purchase a host of items that were economic one. system working. So, mar- unavailable a generation ago—and in keters seek to find new some cases a few years ago. As I type ―Paul Heyne consumers or to induce this, there are products within easy consumers to consume reach of my desk that I use regularly more. Products can have that had not been invented when my obsolescence built into grandfather was alive. I am grateful to them, or they can work be alive at this period in human history, well but go out of style. and the choice presented to me when I Which is why the correct posture for Whatever the details—and they are both go shopping reminds me that the vast the believer is always gratefulness with numerous and ingenious—the result majority of humankind knew nothing discernment. has been a subtle but powerful view of the practical riches I so easily take for St. Paul warns us of three sources of of life that revolves somehow around granted. temptation (Ephesians 2:2-3): the flesh consumption. (If you doubt this, watch (our inner fallen desires), the devil (outer the superb television series, Mad Men.) seduction to sin), and the world (the Please understand: I am not suggest- cultural systems we live in that resist ing that consumption is wrong. Human the rule of God). So I am grateful for beings, by their very nature, consume. the results of the industrial revolution It’s impossible not to consume, and but must beware my insatiable desire to want what I do not need, the whispers that assure me my life will be fuller if I just purchase some gadget, and the

2 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Discerning Life: Consumerism

Faithfulness in a Consumerist Society

even those who drop off the grid still individual organizes his or her particu- The implication of my claim that consume—their patterns of consump- lar life to seek to give it meaning.” This consumerism is a form of life rooted in tion are simply different. I am a con- means that consumerism is not merely a an existential commitment is that it has sumer. But since I am also a Christian, neutral factor in the economic function- the power to override or co-opt conscious ing of the marketplace moral ideals in determining individuals’ but something that helps economic decisions. This accounts for shape human desires, the practical failure of earlier proposals decisions, and souls. to counteract consumerism. If it is an To love anything good, at any My claim is that consumer- existential form of life, consumerism can- ism is an existential stance not be dislodged by rational arguments or cost, is a bargain. in response to the existen- moral exhortations towards moderation, tial threat of meaningless- benevolence, sustainability, or social ―Wendell Berry, Jaber Crow ness. As such, it represents justice that do not address the underlying a flawed working solution existential threat of meaninglessness. If to a religious question that it is rooted in an existential commitment, Christians believe can consumerism can only be overcome finally be answered only by individual conversion to another through Christ. Individuals existential commitment that offers the who live a consumeristic life seek to individual threatened by meaninglessness I want my patterns of consumption to defend themselves against the existential a more adequate ground of meaning. An be shaped by the truth of God’s word threat of meaninglessness by displaying individual cannot desire or choose a life in Creation, Fall, Redemption, and purchases that have meanings as signs that lacks a ground of meaning. Therefore Restoration, not merely the demands of that are intended to procure recognition a change of existential foundations for an a marketplace in a fallen world. from other persons. When successful, individual life must be accomplished by The Merriam-Webster online diction- such recognition temporarily validates means of a discrete transformation. ary defines consumerism as “the theory the subjective value that a person [p. 3-4] that an increasing consumption of places on the meaning of his or her own It would be easy to dismiss goods is economically desirable; also: a individual life.... Rittenhouse’s argument except for the preoccupation with and an inclination fact that we’ve all experienced its reality. toward the buying of consumer goods.” I am a grandparent but it felt good when True enough, but I think this is too young adults mentioned they like my neutral, not quite capturing the reality fedora and wonder where I bought it. that consumerism manages to achieve For a few moments I was noticed by a power that helps to shape our desires, people who help define what’s cool, our view of things, and our lifestyle to and the attention was fun. We might some degree or another. claim we have no bouts of meaningless- In a new work, Shopping for ness but that is doubtless untrue. We Meaningful Lives, author Bruce are finite creatures, as well as Rittenhouse argues that consumer- fallen, and finding a sense ism has tendrils of meaning that extend deeply into human consciousness. His research suggests that, “consumerism is not only a pattern of behavior that characterizes an individ- ual life, but a way in which an

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 3 of significance in our franticly chang- underappreciated at work, only to pur- The result of the consumer revolution is ing world is an ongoing process that chase something that colleagues have fourfold: first, a decisive shift from needs has both ups and downs. I feel deeply mentioned over lunch, and suddenly to desires and an explosive intensifica- secure as a Christian, but admit that I you are the center of attention. The en- tion of desire (“taking the waiting out of saw my hat—and myself—in a new light tire process might even have occurred at wanting,” as the early ad for the credit as it was noticed and commented on. an unconscious level. Still, it occurred. card said); second, a strong reinforcement I suspect I am not alone in this. Whether we realize it or not, con- of vanity and envy, as advertising makes Perhaps you’ve experienced feeling sumerism touches on issues of charac- luxuries into necessities and invites each ter, inspires personal person into a lifelong comparison with feelings of significance others; third, a vast extension of choices, and meaning, and helps not only in terms of products but also shape our understanding of lifestyles and possible futures; and Rats and roaches live by of human flourishing. fourth, of course, an astonishing accumu- As such it is an ideology lation of excess, junk and debt. competition under the laws of and should be seen as Do Americans not have the right to such. Thus, Christian consume what they produce as a result supply and demand; it is the faithfulness in a con- of their greater ingenuity and entre- sumerist society will preneurship? Yes, of course, but if all privilege of human beings to live need to be discerning the developed and rapidly developing about this rival gospel, countries did the same, the earth could no under the laws of justice and and demonstrate a way longer afford or sustain the consumption, of life that is free from its and the inequities between the rich and mercy. demands and values. the poor would be even starker than they ―Wendell Berry Christian thinker and are now. [p. 157-158] sociologist Os Guinness provides us with another Far more could be said, but these avenue of insight in explorations of consumerism, though A Free People’s Suicide. incomplete, give us a rich set of ideas Here he comes at the that cry out for open-minded discern- issue by concisely identifying the heart ment. ■ of the consumer revolution in a way Sources: that intersects with our daily lives in tangible ways: Merriam-Webster online dictionary (www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ Nothing symbolizes the magic power of consumerism) the consumer revolution better than the birth of the credit card, introduced by the Shopping for Meaningful Lives: The Bank of America in California in 1958 Religious Motive of Consumerism by as the grand fulfillment of three Ds: debt, Bruce P. Rittenhouse (Eugene Oregon: desire and democracy. What the credit Cascade Books, 2013) card has done is transform our modern A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable assessment of value. Value is no longer Freedom and the American Future by Os estimated by the ingenuity and sweat of Guinness (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity the labor taken to produce something, but Press; 2012) by the degree of satisfaction it promises its purchaser.

4 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Questions for reflection and discussion 1. Do you find that Christians are generally eager and willing to civilly discuss issues of economics, the market and consumer- ism? Why do you think this is? 2. Rittenhouse’s definition of consumerism identifies it as a “rival gospel,” a form of idolatry. Like the pagan idolatries that surrounded the Old Testament people of God, this one too seems to work at times. Just as the gods of the Israelite’s enemies seemed to give them military victories (which is why they placed the captured treasures of the Temple in the house of their gods—see, for example 1 Samuel 5:1-2 and Daniel 1:1-3), so the values of consumerism can help us feel more meaningful after a purchase. How does this give us insight into the existence and working of idolatry in our postmodern world? 3. If you are willing, identify a time in which a purchase gave you a deepened sense of significance and meaning (even if momentary). How have you noticed the quest for significance reflected in advertising? 4. guinness claims that the credit card has tended to “transform our modern assessment of value.” To what extent is your estimation of a good’s value found in “the degree of satisfaction it promises” you as the purchaser? To what extent do you find this problematic? Theoretically, would it be better to instead see something’s value as in “the ingenuity and sweat of the labor taken to produce” it? Why or why not? Are they mutually exclusive? 5. Guinness claims there are four results of the consumer revolution. To what extent do you see these four in our world? To what extent do you see them in yourself? 6. would you agree that Americans have the right to consume whatever they produce? Why or why not? 7. To what extent is being able to afford something an adequate justification for purchasing or owning it? What ethical issues are involved in this issue? 8. Much of the time, discussions of this topic tend to dissolve into political debates about economic agendas of the left and the right. Why is this? Should it be this way among Christians? Why or why not? What would need to change to allow the conversation to continue? 9. Some would argue that two of the potential effects mentioned by Guinness—a greater accumulation of junk and excess, and starker inequities between rich and poor—are merely a factor of normal economic exchange and need not be of great concern. How would you respond? 10. Some would argue that the possibility “the earth could no longer afford or sustain the consumption” in the future is something that should be left to the market. Any attempt to legislate or regulate such things must be resisted as ineffective, misguided and perhaps a step on the road to socialism or at least greater control by the State. How would you respond? 11. What ideas and values found in Scripture and taught in historic orthodox Christianity are relevant to these questions? How can we arrive at helpful answers without lapsing into a form of legalism or elitism?

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 5 ReFLECTIONS

Loneliness an essay by Scott Schuleit

Opening the door and walking out that there has been a serious decline into the warm night, I step out onto the in the desire and capacity for people to suburban streets of my neighborhood, engage in even this kind of a common, their grainy texture partially lit by hazy meager relationship, a circumstance pools of radiance cast by slightly buzz- symptomatic of deeper issues in our ing arc lights. It was a nice, long walk lonely, broken society. Perhaps we live ntriethats I craved, w desiring the turbulence in what might be regarded as among the sa of my thoughts to bee sifted and fall into loneliest societies to have ever existed. a their proper places. Ther solitude of the Tilting my head upwards,d I look up e quiet night world offered ane atmosphere p aat thes stars,s at shimmeringe specks scat- l conducive towards reflection and relax- tered throughout the dark immensities p ation, and thus, with purpose, I move of space. We live in a gorgeous world, out into its richness. y but it’s also a fallen world and as long I walk pastl homesit with curtained as we live in it, loneliness, in varying p windows aglowi with the spell of electric degrees, will afflict us. o luminescence,iv wherein onea might find As a Christian, I would think that lite ceyes mesmerized, flickering with im- my experience of loneliness would differ ages, intoxicated by colorfulc diversions. from that of a non-Christian because The streets were virtually empty, God—by his grace—has reconciled me except for an occasional passerby,q often to himself. The non-Christian either has a neighbor walking their dog. With one no hope or hopes in that which cannot u save (for only Christ can save), and neighbor, pleasantries were passed, a s token acknowledgment to the fact that aoften, if not always, can sense the ereality a light brotherhood existed between us, of hisi separation,n his estrangementc from induced by the simple reality that we God. In light tof this,a perhapsn the unre- lived in close proximity to one another. generate man feels a more intense sense If it were not for this circumstance, of loneliness than that of a Christian; perhaps only a single indifferent glance having said that, I’ve known Christians, would have transpired between us. including myself, who have experienced c Beneath the surface of our greetings, seasons of severe loneliness. Besides n a k there seemed to reside a resistance one’s state before God, many variables,e no to move beyond mere acquaintance. including neuro-chemical imbalances,k w t And perhaps this was appropriate, for genetics, personality, upbringing, l n it is impossible to truly know a large and circumstances, could beo named edg e number of people throughout one’s as factors holding profoundt influence m life. The polite civility of fostering regarding the experience, in kind and various acquaintances in our lives has intensity, of loneliness. its necessary place and purposes. With My eyes move from the stars to the regards to this, it would seem obvious road that I walk, a posture I sometimes find myself in when deep in thought. My pastor, who lives in the same neigh- borhood, has, with affectionate humor, made mention of this fact. From somewhere out in the vast vacancies of night, disturbing my thoughts, the single sharp cry of some

6 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship nocturnal creature reaches my ears, realm of self-pity. moon is described here. There may have echoing faintly before dissipating, gone. Moving around my block, I pass been a time, perhaps as a child, when The phenomenon of an echo, by its very by homes, here and there, occupied by you were happier, felt more at home, nature, sounds lonely because it needs a friends from church. (A large number but now at times feel lonely. I don’t hollow space, room to resonate, and the of people in our neighborhood attend know your situation, whether or not you voice it sends is the answer it receives. the same church.) A couple of them, struggle strenuously with loneliness, ntries w With regard to my particular situa- both talented writers, I would regard as but I do know that the present state of sa e tion, when I’m lonely, it often feels kind close friends. A brief sound of casual, earth isn’t meant to be our home. There a r d of like hunger, which is actually a hearty laughter emerges from a window was a time when mankind was at home e e passe form of pain, only deeper than a mere glowing in orange-yellow relief against in this world, a particular garden comes l physical craving. It really does feel like the dark silhouette of a home. to mind, and for Christians, there will p that. There’s a kind of hollowness to Some of us might think that friend- be a time when we will be at home on loneliness, an inner crying out like the ship or marriage will banish loneliness, earth again. ■ rumbling of an empty stomach. but in reality, even if one is a Christian, Copyright © 2013 Scott Schuleit For most of us there is a capacity the loneliness will probably, to some a and desire for community, a hunger to degree, persist; it may even occur at a Scott Schuleitreceived the love others and be loved in return, to deeper level than before. One thinks MA in Christianity and c be known, respected, appreciated and of the loneliness of Christ. Despite culture from Knox involved within a community; there’s his perfect intimacy with the Father, Theological Seminary. He is q also a desire to profoundly love and Christ must have felt while he walked the youth ministry leader at give of oneself, to unite with another in on earth deeply lonely at times. He was Lake Worth Christian u marriage, to know one particular person misunderstood, maligned, mocked and Reformed Church and an adjunct instructor s at South Florida Bible College. He enjoys the a e deeply, intimately. When this desire is rejected; even his closest friends de- i c not fulfilled or the experience of it bro- serted him when he needed them. Even arts, theology, good conversation, and n spending time with his dear wife Christina. tan ken in some way, sometimes loneliness the Father, though not failing him, in can be the result, and even depression. some real sense forsook him at the point I think there’s also a kind of fear in of his greatest need—at the very mo- loneliness, born out of doubt, hopeless- ment when his suffering and loneliness cness, or at least the slow erosion of hope seemed to have reached its apex. We n a in one’sk mind. Buried fears often rise to indeed have a savior who can sympa- e the surfacen amidsto times of loneliness. thize with our limitations, our frailties, k Certain hopes and painsw repressed our weakness, our pain, our loneliness,t under protective layers breakl through, the various difficultiesn associated with o giving voice to their existence. edlivingg in a dark, fallen,e fractured world. t Also, there’s a subtle warping of Againstm a vast, starry backdrop,y the perspective that loneliness can engen- shadow-touched moon is out tonight, e der, emotionally casting the world in adrift in a sea of darkness, glowing in a bleak hues and gray colors of despair. If profound isolation, cold and alone. rn continuously indulged in, it will become Most of us, to some extent, have ing more and more difficult to discern probably felt during moments and between truth and fantasy. Perhaps different times in our lives the way the this kind of situation could be more accurately described as when loneliness moves over, at least partially, into the

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 7 Paper and canvas

b The Forbidden I R D a short story by Scott Schuleit

8 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Far beneath the gaze of perfect “Slow down,” shouted Aaron. Evelyn smiled and reached for his clouds drifting through a peerless twi- With more than a hint of victory hand, which he tenderly took as they light sky, there ran two children down flushing her face she slowed to a walk talked about their dreams and all the a winding forest path. They leaped and and together they continued through fun they would have this summer darted amidst shadows and spots of the forest. The trail grew narrow, playing about the garden, exploring the copper sunlight, breathing the cool mint twisting about until it hugged the side stream and running about the forest… air, relishing the musky scents as they of a stream where it grew difficult to After a while, Aaron noticed his listened to the wind and the soft rush- tread upon due to its slanting towards air-rifle and seeing that the light was ing sounds of leaves beating their wings the water and the snaking of roots over fading, made haste to practice his shoot- like a million emerald butterflies. its surface. With their nimble feet they ing skills. Little round bronze pellets The sun was falling asleep, dipping managed to make it through and onto went threading through the air, ticking low to sink into a bed of earth, to dream a strip of forested land that extended off of trees and slapping off leaves and for a while before waking with livid out and parallel to the forest for some plunking into chosen areas of water, all fire in its veins to warm a drowsy earth. distance before ending in a lush grove. followed with applause from Evelyn. With its retreat, the shimmering of The little island held a few bushes After shooting for several minutes, golden fire, which rested on the western with berries growing in thick, rich Aaron noticed something moving side of every tree trunk and leaf, began clusters, ripe and red. Wildflowers nearby in a tree just across the stream. to dissipate and move back into the air painted the ground, one of which It was a bird, and not only was it a bird, where light was gathered in a great Aaron plucked and gave to her as they but it appeared to be a rare one, this blush of lavender, orange and magenta sat down beneath a tree to observe the seemed evident in light of its bright red against a dusty blue face of sky. beautiful sights surrounding them. wings and royal gold and green breast. The children moved through the While they talked and gazed, the soft It was resting in a majestic fruit-bearing gathering darkness, releasing all of singing sounds of night creatures began tree. The bird itself appeared as a bright their pent up energy with screams and to awaken in the air. globe of some exotic fruit. shouts and laughter that went echo- “This is my favorite place in the “Look,” he cried. ing down through the pristine forest. whole world,” remarked Evelyn with “What?” Evelyn moved swiftly, passing Aaron her lilting, melodic voice. “There,” he said, pointing a finger. with a burst of speed, her black ponytail “It’s mine too,” replied Aaron. “Oh look at that,” she said, “it’s beau- bouncing behind her, sapphire eyes “It reminds me of a garden, our own tiful,” while staring with amazement. flashing excited innocence as she turned private garden which no one knows The bird ruffled its feathers and then for a brief peek behind her shoulder. about.” turned its head towards the stream Aaron was running against a vast Aaron thought about her words for that reflected the shadows and the suns backdrop of forest, smiling with his a moment then declared, “It’s our secret receding light. air-rifle in hand, pumping his arms to place.” Aaron raised his gun, trying to place catch up. The forest grew dense about the bird in its sights. them, crowding in with a sweet suffoca- “What are you doing?” tion, an atmosphere lent kinder with the “I’m going to shoot the bird.” spice of ferns wafting in the air and the “No, don’t do that.” smattering of fiery red and deep violet “Why not?” he said, lifting his eyes wildflowers brushed at the base of great from the gun. oak trees. “Because your father told you to never shoot a creature.”

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 9 “But all my friends shoot birds, and pierced its eye, sending it fluttering thunderheads. The storm seemed so can you imagine their faces when they down to the earth and spinning in sudden to him, he hadn’t even noticed it see this one!” the dust, its shrill cries shattering the coming on. Amidst a bellowing volley “Please don’t do it, Aaron.” darkening air. It flopped about for a few of thunder, an angry streak of lightning Aaron thought about it for a moment, more seconds, before it lay silent with flashed in the air, and the ripping sound looking out over the snakelike winding one glassy eye gazing into the heavens. that followed seemed to tear the earth of the stream. He then peered down into Aaron felt a flush of dark pleasure fill asunder. The dark clouds burst, and a his soul. Evelyn stood heavy rain began to fall, and in an at- in shock with trembling tempt to escape its wrath, he ran to hide legs and wide eyes himself among the trees. ■ before bursting into deep Copyright © 2013 Scott Schuleit sobs that shuddered the I don’t need a friend who whole of her form. Scott Schuleitreceived the “How could you,” M.A. in Christianity and changes when I change and who she cried, barely making Culture from Knox the words come out, and Theological Seminary. He is nods when I nod; my shadow with that she darted the youth ministry leader at into the woods as a deep Lake Worth Christian does that much better. rumbling reverberated Reformed Church and an adjunct instructor ―Plutarch through the air. at South Florida Bible College. He enjoys the “Evelyn—wait,” he arts, theology, good conversation, and cried. spending time with his dear wife Christina. “Evelyn, I’m sorry,” he shouted into the for- est, but she was gone. A whirling wind began to rush through the trees. its dark whispering flow and immedi- He looked over at the bird and then ately an image came to his mind; it was at his hands holding the air rifle, and a vision of himself holding up the bright with a violent toss he threw the rifle into bird before the amazed eyes of his the stream. His mind jumped with im- friends. He raised the rifle and sighted ages of the bird and then of Evelyn and it. It would be a difficult shot, but he then of his father. He looked up into the could do it; he could shoot better than sky, its twilight now obscured by roiling any of his friends, he thought to himself. “Aaron—stop.” The bird was in his sights. “Aaron—please.” He hesitated for a moment, and then the image of his friends came again. She reached for the gun just before it spit out a shiny copper pellet. The bird glanced his way just as the pellet

10 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Resource: The Exact Place Seeing a Stork: Margie Haack’s Childhood in Northern Minnesota a review by Wesley Hill

The memoirist Isak Dinesen recounts a story she heard from a child when she lived in Africa. One night a man is startled awake by a strange noise. He gets out of bed to investigate and encounters all sorts of trouble. Mishap after mishap befalls him—ditches intrude on his path, stones cause him to trip, a dam leaks, and other obstacles make his way crooked. As the child told Dinesen the story of the man’s nighttime journey, she mapped the man’s progress by drawing lines in the dirt. Slowly, as the story concluded, Dineson found that the map of the man’s path was in the shape of a stork. The apparently random circuit the man traveled wasn’t as random as he supposed. And Dinesen draws comfort from that: “The tight place, the dark pit in which I am now lying, of what bird is it the talon? When the design of my life is completed, shall I, shall other people see a stork?” This story came to mind as I read and find him, though he is not far from Margie Haack’s memoir The Exact each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27). Place, the narrative of her childhood in Anyone who thinks that such a three-room house with no running a trust in divine Providence could water in a small town in northern never produce a rip-roarin’ good yarn, Minnesota. Like Dinesen’s nighttime however, had better think again. There’s wanderer, Margie’s growing up years no heavy-handed theologizing here, were filled with unexpected turns no morose, ponderous platitudes about and obstacles. And yet, also like the the intricacies of God’s ways. Rather, man in Dinesen’s story, Margie finds it’s as though Margie’s faith in divine herself confessing, in the words of Amy watchfulness frees her to express the Carmichael, “when my spirit was over- humorous and hilarious in ways that whelmed within me, thou knewest my might otherwise elude her. This nar- path.” The “thou” there is a reference rative reads more like Garrison Keillor to God, since, at the end of her book, than David Brainerd. It lilts and sashays Margie makes clear that its title is a from anecdote to anecdote, like an eager confession of faith. God knew her wind- storyteller regaling her hearers around ing trail and had an end in view: “He the campfire. Part-Leif Enger, part-Laura determined the times set for mankind Ingalls Wilder, it’s the sort of book you’d and the exact places where they should hand with equal confidence to your live. God did this so that men would eight-year-old niece or your eighty-year- seek him and perhaps reach out for him old grandfather.

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 11 There are stories here, for instance, It suddenly occurred to me that bring- mean papering over unresolved pain or of Margie’s learning to fish. When she ing [Thunder, the family horse] into the easily assimilating that pain into some caught her first northern walleyed pike, house might offer some new diversion…. overarching scheme of divine sover- reeling in the wet line handful by hand- Although the floor proved hazardous as eignty that dispenses with contradiction ful after throwing down her quivering he slipped on the smooth linoleum, he and confusion. rod, she struggled “to hold the fish up to merely regained his balance and contin- This attention to pain—mingled my chin, and still, his tail dragged the ued his inspection of this new space. We together with so much joy and good ground.” In addition to spunk, there’s already knew he loved people food. He humor—allows Margie her deepest also mischief: Feigning sickness to ate anything he could persuade us to give insights into her family and their neigh- avoid going to school, Margie grabs the up: watermelon, cake, cookies. He’d never bors. “[N]one [of us] are one-dimension- thermometer her mother put into her tried Mom’s dill pickles so we got them al, cartoon villains,” she concludes. mouth and holds it up to the lamp on out of the refrigerator to see if he liked “[W]e, all of us, carry traces of God’s her bed stand. “When [Mom] returned, I them. To our delight, he crunched down divine image, however faint they might watched through half-closed eyes as she half a jar of cucumbers and left a huge be.” Remarkably, those sentences are checked it. A puzzled expression came puddle of drool on the floor before we led about her stepfather. Acknowledging over her face as her eyes move to the top him back outside. the ways he wounded her becomes, of the glass column. The mercury had In the midst of all this happiness, mysteriously, the means by which she traveled to the end and burst.” There’s though, is heartache. It would have been comes to see the ways he himself was in suspense—when a creepy neighbor easy in a book like this to tell folksy, need of mercy, of grace. comes to visit while Margie and her nostalgic stories of rural life and never I picture Margie reading this book siblings are home alone, whispering bother to mention the ways in which, aloud, drawing, like Dinesen’s African their fear to one another, huddled under as the Argentinian proverb has it, “a friend, a line after each chapter closes. the bed, and when Margie’s younger small town is a vast hell.” But Margie By the end of the night, the lines have brother is kicked by a horse and lands doesn’t do that. Visible throughout her assembled to form a stork in the dirt unconscious in the dirt, blood trick- narrative, like an embedded splinter by the back porch. At first you might ling out of his mouth. And, not least, working its way to the surface, is her fixate on the lovely feathers, and then there’s sensuous, infectious, wide-eyed painful relationship with her stepfather you notice the threatening curve of the delight—over finding a patch of morel (her biological father died just before talons. And then, last of all, you think, mushrooms, over hearing the falsetto of she was born). “I knew him as Dad,” The picture wouldn’t be true without both. loons (“It is filled with such mournful she writes, “but he never became my And then you smile, and sigh. ■ beauty that, for a moment, your heart father.” And she never discerned the Copyright © 2013 Wesley Hill dreads and involuntarily thinks of reason for his disapproval—was it Book reviewed: The Exact Place: A eternity”), over the baking and eating of jealousy? insecurity? bitterness?—but pies, and much else. Memoir by Margie L. Haack (Kalos Press; it became a defining feature of her child- 2012) 226 pages + recipes. And all of that is nothing compared hood. “Over the years,” she says, “the to her equestrian adventures: knowledge of his dislike slowly crept in Wesley Hill is assistant like the northern twilight.” Readers of professor of biblical studies The Exact Place will find encouragement at Trinity School for in Margie’s trust in divine Providence, Ministry in Ambridge, Pa. but they’ll also be reminded that tracing He is the author of Washed the ways of the divine Author doesn’t and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality (Zondervan, 2010).

12 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship It is only when one loves life and the earth so much that without them everything seems to be over that one may believe in the resurrection and a new world. ―Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Resource Hearts and Minds bookstore is a well-stocked haven for serious, reflec- tive readers. When ordering resources, mention Ransom Fellowship and they will contribute 10 per cent of the total back to us. ■ Resource: Hearts and Minds bookstore, www.heartsandmindsbooks.com

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 13 resource: Christian America? We the People

One of the reasons I am a Christian are serious about considering how is the conviction that since all truth is the history of the American founding God’s truth, I need never fear pursuing era might help them to become more truth. I may not know what conclusion informed citizens in the present” [p. xv]. the evidence leads to, but I need not be Was America Founded as a Christian afraid of what it will reveal. I may be Nation? opens with a chapter on what asked questions for which I have no thinking historically looks like. Fea is answer and must take time to explore, concerned, he says, “to get Christians but I do not need to hesitate to say, I to see the danger of cherry-picking don’t know, but I’ll try to find out. I from the past as a means of promoting may even discover that the facts, when a political or cultural agenda in the fully explored, shatter assumptions present.” He follows this Introduction that I’ve lovingly held for a long time on historical thinking with four chap- and that once shattered, require me ters on the long history of the idea that to rethink a whole set of values and the U. S. is a “Christian nation.” Then beliefs. The reconsideration might six chapters explore to what extent the be painful (I never enjoy admitting Revolution was a “Christian event.” I was wrong), but my understand- Then, before a final brief Conclusion, ing that my Lord is truth incarnate the book includes chapters on specific (John 14:6) provides sufficient reason to founders: George Washington, John It is difficult to get Americans to keep pursuing truth wherever it might Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin agree on how Christian America was at lead. This basic conviction of orthodox Franklin, John Witherspoon, John Jay, its founding. It’s not just that Christians historic Christianity applies to truth in and Samuel Adams. disagree on this with secularists; every sphere of life, because Christ is Fea is a good storyteller, a careful Christians disagree with one another Lord of all—including the question of historian, and a scholar who loves the about it as well. Specific lines from just how Christian America was at its truth too much to indulge in simplistic the Declaration of Independence, the founding. answers. Was America Founded as a Constitution, and letters and pamphlets So, it is my pleasure to commend to Christian Nation? taught me a great deal, written by early thinkers and leaders are you, Was America Founded as a Christian revealed wrong ideas I must eschew, all used as evidence of one conclusion or Nation? by John Fea. A carefully re- and reminded me that human history another. The diaries of various founders searched book by a professional histo- is always far richer than we imagine. and the stories of their lives and the con- rian, the book is accessible to lay readers It also made me realize once again that tent of their speeches are also part of the who are interested in finding a truthful the American experiment with freedom argument. And so the debates continue answer to the question in the title. Fea is is both precious and fragile—and that with no end in sight and little promise Associate Professor of American History this fragility is threatened when citizens that resolution is possible. An added dif- and Chair of the History Department at prefer slogans to truth. ■ ficulty is the lack of civility—my sense is Messiah College (Grantham, PA). “This Book recommended: Was America that many of the debaters are not really book,” Fea writes in a Preface, “should Founded as a Christian Nation? by John searching for the truth but are rather be viewed as a historical primer for Fea (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox seeking to score political points. students, churchgoers, and anyone who Press; 2011) 246 pp. + notes + index. wants to make sense of the American past and its relationship to Christianity. I hope it might be read and discussed in schools and congregations where people

14 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship resource: Nurturing Instead of Depleting The Church Must Not Consume Its Own

in God’s image, drawing on their life Resilient Ministry focuses on five and presence with no regard to how themes that are essential factors im- draining my demands might be. I’ve pinging on the life, time, energy, and been willing to use them, to call upon flourishing of pastors: spiritual forma- them to perform regardless of their tion, self-care, emotional and cultural circumstances because it is in their job intelligence, marriage and family, and description. I have made unspoken as- leadership and management. Each is sumptions about their time and energy carefully defined and rooted in wise that immediately becomes a weight biblical reflection, with practical sug- on their ability to choose what they gestions given that churches can use to should do. I’ve wondered why they bring needed grace into the lives and weren’t at the meeting I called (never ministry of pastoral leaders. This book imagining other meetings might be is accessible to both church leaders and of higher priority) and not honored lay Christians, and is must-reading for their times of rest (since my issues every believer who is willing to faith- are always important enough to fully care for the pastors God has called warrant an interruption). I’ve been to shepherd them. One of the book’s quick to say something positive about strengths is the stories and quotes from something they have done but far more pastors who participated in the seven- rarely have inquired about whether they years of research. They not only make One of the most striking metaphors have adequate opportunity to rest, to the ideas comes alive, they remind us in all of Holy Scripture describes the learn, to be refreshed, to be away, to be that all who minister the word and sworn enemy of our souls. St Peter alone. sacraments are human beings who need likens the devil to a “roaring lion” Here is the essence of the issue: the the grace of the gospel just like the rest constantly on the prowl, “looking for demands on the church in the twenty- of us do. ■ someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). It is first century will suck pastor/teachers an apt description, and should bring to Book recommended: Resilient Ministry: dry unless very intentional and practi- What Pastors Told us about Surviving mind the horror of unseen, encircling cal steps are taken to assure it doesn’t beasts that stalk their prey in the dark- and Thriving by Bob Burns, Tasha D. happen. Few churches are taking such Chapman and Donald C. Guthrie (Downers est hours between midnight and dawn. steps and fewer still know what steps to There is another danger we face, Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press; 2013) 264 take. Thankfully, help is now available. pages + appendices + notes. just as fearsome but since it involves The authors of Resilient Ministry a very slow death it often goes largely undertook a seven-year study to answer unnoticed. Here we are sucked dry from a single question: “What does it take for within, so appreciated for our gifts and pastors not only to survive but to thrive so surrounded by need that we simply in fruitful ministry over the long haul?” use ourselves up in an insatiable attempt All three authors are educators who are to do what needs to be done. passionately committed to the church; If we have eyes to see, this broken two teach at Covenant Theological world is awash with emptied-out hu- Seminary and the third is at Trinity man beings, burnt out by being used up. Evangelical Divinity School. They And sadly, far too many are leaders that are friends who I respect deeply, who have been consumed by the demands have used their gifts well in doing this and expectations of the church. important work. I am not pointing fingers here. I have at times misused people made

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 15 Darkened Room: the other f word WHEN PUNKERS MEET is no longer a novel phenomenon and, like most things in our consumerist society, has gone mainstream. It is a musical phenomenon born, I think, out of frustra- tion with the insignificance of life, a revolt against order imposed but never convincingly explained or justified, a desperate desire to feel alive in a society that seems in- creasingly designed to make one feel numb. Like a primal scream, punk rock provided space for young people to feel they are not alone when they feel lost in the cos- mos—if the lyrics seem anarchic and the music angry, it is because they were meant to be.

16 Critique 2013:3 A magazine of Ransom Fellowship for reflection and discussion 1. What was your first impression of The Other F Word? Why do you think you reacted the way you did? 2. What has been your personal relationship to punk rock? If you do not particularly like it, do you get it? 3. Some Christians or social conserva- tives would find this documentary offensive because of its frequent use of the other F word. How would you FATHERHOOD respond? Others would be dismis- sive of the film saying that such men are probably not going to be good In 1988, when the movement was fathers in any case. How would you first growing on the fringes of popular respond? culture, a band named Pennywise was formed in Hermosa Beach, Calif. On 4. Identify some specific ways their 1991 album, Pennywise, they sang that your ideas and values have “Rules:” been changed or challenged or transformed not by something in I’ve come to realize that Scripture but by something of God’s life is but a game common grace. and it doesn’t matter how you score but how you play 5. What, if anything, did you find most and although the masses play poignant in the film? What did you the host make all the rules find most surprising? the only rules you should live by... 6. How would you define “common rules made up by you grace”? To what extent is God’s the only rules you should live by common grace a significant part of In case anyone missed the point, they your view of life and reality? What made things even more explicit on their Scripture texts help us understand 2001 CD, The Land of the Free? A song it? that seemed to strike a chord in many of 7. If you are a parent (especially a their fans, the simple title screamed into father), describe the way(s) this the microphone by could experience changed your life, your be understood even by those who found to find a sufficient solution. It is right values, and your outlook. most punk rock indecipherable: “Fuck to give voice to a generation for which Authority.” fragmentation has been made norma- 8. If you are single or childless, what Then something happened to tive, and for which meaninglessness is did you see and hear in The Other F Lindberg—and to Art Alexakis (of endemic. Simply throwing off authority Word that helps you better compre- Everclear), and Lars Frederiksen (of is insufficient, however, because the hend the meaning and significance Rancid), and Ron Reyes (of Black Flag), problem is deeper than that, running of fatherhood? and (of ) through all hearts, whether of the op- 9. It seems significant that many of the and a number of other punk rockers. pressor or the oppressed. What’s needed punk musicians interviewed in the What happened is that they became an instead is a freedom so luminously tran- film came from badly broken homes. authority figure. They became fathers— scendent that all the dark forces of hurt What are the ripple effects that you the “other F-word”—that suddenly made and dehumanization wither before it. see in the lives of friends who have life look and feel very different. Now In becoming fathers, these musicians deep wounds from their childhood? they had responsibility for children happened upon a strange truth. This that could be lovingly fulfilled only if truth was known by the ancients but is they exercised authority. Their story as rarely demonstrated, even by those who fathers, complete with interviews and claim to believe in it. The truth is that scenes with their families, is told in a when the authority figure truly loves us documentary named The Other F Word unto death, we find their word to be not (2011). restrictive but freeing. As a Christian I would argue that I recommend The Other F Word to the punk movement is only partially you. Some will find it raw; I find it an mistaken. It is right in asserting that eloquent testimony to God’s common something is wrong, but it has failed grace. ■

A magazine of Ransom Fellowship Critique 2013:3 3 Film Credits: The Other F Word Directed and written by: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins Featuring, as themselves: Tony Adolescent, Art Alexakis, Rob Chaos, Joe Escalante, , Fat Mike, Flea, Lars Frederiksen, , , , Tony Hawk, , Mark Hoppus, Jim Lindberg, Mike McDermott, Tim McIlrath, Mark Mothersbaugh, Duane Peters, Joe Sib, Ron Reyes, Rick Thorne Director of Photography: Geoffrey Franklin USA, 2011; 98 minutes Not rated