Category Archives: Culture, Society, and Politics

Mark Noll: The Atonement Points Us to Morally Complex Stories

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> Since the atonement involves tremendous complexity and great mystery, **the best narratives will not be simplistic** (like movies were resolution comes through a car chase or gunfight). Neither will the best narratives be Manichean (where the good guys are all good and the bad guys are all bad). Nor will they be simply heroic (where protagonists triumph over obstacles through reliance on their own inner resources) or simply nihilistic (where the point is to enact the futility of human existence as in novels of Thomas Hardy like *Jude the Obscure* and *Tess of the D’Urbervilles*). Rather, **the best narratives will be morally complex**, as in fact the enduring tragedies, comedies, and novels — like *Oedipus Rex*, *King Lear*, *Paradise Lost*, and *Crime and Punishment* — regularly are. Such morally complex narratives are most satisfying because, in terms of atonement theology, **they are most true to life**.

Mark Noll, [Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0802866379/?tag=mikehickcom-20), p. 71. Emphasis added.

The Complicated Tragedy of Columbus Day

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I have torn feelings about Columbus Day. The “Columbian exchange” (Europe’s encounter with the New World) was a humanitarian catastrophe greater than any other in history. Charles C. Mann’s 1491 woke me up to this several years ago. As many as 90% – 90%! – of North and South Americans died from smallpox and other infectious diseases. Whole civilizations collapsed. This vacuum set the state for the tragic sins of slavery and anti-Indian oppression.

However, how much of this can be personally blamed on Columbus? He had no idea that Native Americans had no immunity to smallpox – no one even knew what caused smallpox. War was perhaps inevitable when the empires of Europe encountered the empires of America, but Americans did pretty well defending their territory until disease overcame them. Haven’t you ever wondered why it took 130 years for Europeans to begin settling North America after Columbus’ initial encounter? World history would have been very different if the New World had not been ravaged by epidemics.

Is there a way to mourn the tragic loss of pre-Columbian America without assigning personal blame to Columbus?

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Andy Crouch on Steve Jobs, The Secular Prophet

Mr. Jobs’s final leave of absence was announced this year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And, as it happened, Mr. Jobs died on the same day as one of Dr. King’s companions, the Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth, one of the last living co-founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. King, too, had had a close encounter with his own mortality when he was stabbed by a mentally ill woman at a book signing in 1958. He told that story a decade later to a rally on the night of April 3, 1968, and then turned, with unsettling foresight, to the possibility of his own early death. His words, at the beginning, could easily have been a part of Steve Jobs’s commencement address:

“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now.”

But here Dr. King, the civic and religious leader, turned a corner that Mr. Jobs never did. “I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything, I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

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Singing the praises of science fiction

My new post at ThinkChristian.

Earlier this summer, NPR asked listeners to select the top 100science fiction and fantasy novels of all time.

By some chance, the final list began and ended with the two most acclaimed Christian novelists of the twentieth century. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy came in at No. 1, while C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy rounded out the list at No. 100.

Read the whole thing and join the conversation.

The News at Regent College: September 11 & 18, 2001

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The second issue of the 2001-02 Regent College Et Cetera, dated September 18, 2001.

Ten years ago today, I began my year-long run as editor of the Et Cetera, the official student “newspaper” of Regent College. I put “newspaper” in quotes because it’s not like most student newspapers around the country. Regent College is a fairly small, fairly tight-knit community of theology students, and our newspaper (when I was there) consisted mostly of run-of-the-mill announcements and anything-but-run-of-the-mill theological essays.

The first issue under my tenure was dated September 11, 2001. Obviously, I had no idea what would happen on that day, as you can see for yourself:

Regent College Et Cetera – Sept 11 2001 (PDF, 1.2 MB)

As I wrote a few years ago, I learned about the terrorist attacks just as I arrived on campus. A week of reflection, prayer, and mourning led to our second issue, which included liturgical readings, poetry of mourning, a cover essay by Mark Filiatreau, and a column by my assistant editor Leland Ferguson, but also a surprising number of “ordinary” items: an invitation to discuss the movie Contact, a warning about theft on campus, logistical announcements for the annual retreat:

Regent College Et Cetera – Sept 18 2001 (PDF, 888 KB)

Over the rest of that semester, our community debated the meaning of 9/11, the appropriate responses to violence, anger, and mourning, and any number of political and theological issues related to the attacks. In these first two issues of that year, you can get a sense for how the Regent community operates.

P.S. I’m fairly certain that I don’t have permission to post the contents of these two issues online, but I hope no one minds. If you’re one of the writers and you’d like me to take your article offline, just let me know.