Category Archives: Reflection

Abraham Clark Was Also There – Some Thoughts On July 4th

As Presbyterians, one of our major understandings is that we make decisions better in a group, usually in a deliberative body. All of the members of that body have equal voice and vote and need to be listened to.

While the Continental Congress of 1776 was not an ecclesiastical body, it is interesting to think of it as a similar deliberative body. There were 56 individuals that signed the Declaration of Independence. I know I can’t name more than a handful.

For American Presbyterians, the patron saint of the Declaration is John Witherspoon, the only active clergy member to sign the document. A few other Presbyterians of note might come to mind as well, like Benjamin Rush, Philip Livingston, and Richard Stockton. But by most lists, there were eight other Presbyterians that signed the Declaration of Independence at some point. (For example, George Taylor – another interesting figure – was a new appointment from Pennsylvania and had not taken his seat by July 4th but signed later.) In reading through many of the biographies it is clear that the signers were typically distinguished and public-minded individuals. In the years since a handful gained greater historical prominence.

Abraham Clark (image from the NPS website)

And so, I want to take a moment on this Independence Day weekend to mention Abraham Clark. His is not a name that readily comes to mind when thinking about the signers – at least not to me – but he was also in the room for the process. He was in that same delegation from New Jersey as Witherspoon and Stockton but does not have their historical prominence.

Abraham, and his wife Sarah, were members of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Sarah’s father was a ruling elder in the church and the pastor was the Rev James Caldwell, a notable figure in advocating for Independence and supporting the colonial army. It is certain that Clark when to Philadelphia as an advocate for independence in part from Caldwell’s preaching.

Professionally, Abraham began as a surveyor as he had an aptitude for math. Along the way, he taught himself law so he could help with property disputes. He was noted as the “poor man’s counselor” for his willingness to give free legal advice to those that could not afford it and generally helping out with such cases. He became active in civic affairs serving as the as high sheriff of Essex County as well as the clerk in the colonial legislature. Additional legislative positions followed including election to the Continental Congress.

During the war, Abraham remained in the Congress but two of his sons were officers in the Continental Army and were captured with at least one held on a British prison ship. While Clark did not call attention to their connection to him, it was found out by the British and one son received particularly harsh treatment until diplomatic connections protested the treatment.

He was almost constantly active in the Continental Congress up to his death in 1794, including his participation in starting to construct the new Constitution.

While a faithful Presbyterian, he had limited involvement in church governance and only in the last few years of his life did he serve as a trustee of his church.

Such is the nature of deliberative bodies. Many are there, many contribute, but while many may be prominent at the time, in the years following only a few of the individuals are really remembered. In the most famous painting of the event, John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence in the US Capitol Rotunda, Abraham Clark is there, but barely. He is almost squeezed out by Paine and Hooper.

So on this day that we Americans remember the “Presbyterian Rebellion,” it is also worth remembering that a good deliberative body is made up of individuals, each with their own perspectives, knowledge and skills, each with voice and vote, and each one just as important and of equal worth to the others in the body.

Happy Presbyterian Rebellion Day!

Footnote: Material from William B. Miller, 1958, Presbyterian Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, v 36, n 3, p 139-179.

Remembering The Saints 2020

For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

It is another All Saints Day. As is my custom on this Day, I pause and give thanks – both privately and here on the blog – for those that I knew who were spiritual influences (small or large) for me and who passed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant in the past 12 months.

Recent years have not been easy ones, and a month ago – as I note at the end – this became a very difficult year.

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

This year I remember and give thanks for the lives of:

  • Marge – One of those faithful, quiet workers, seldom out in front but frequently back behind
  • Ruth – A musician, and hard-working mother and wife
  • Jake – A hardworking and creative pastor who is gone far too soon
  • Dane – A talented pastor with a rich legacy and long history. A very close friend of our family who helped officiate three weddings, two infant baptisms (including mine), and a funeral. He ended up in academia and found that a good location for creative ministry.
  • Judy – A delightful and joyful soul who did not let infirmity get in the way of her joy or her small acts of ministry
  • Jane – Maybe the quietest of workers, but one of the most faithful and diligent
  • Ann – She had a very interesting and rich life, and was one of the warmest and most confident believers. She certainly had the gift of hospitality
  • Gerry – One of the quiet workers whose faith showed through in her way of life
  • Pete – A character with a rich life and many stories. His faith was evident in the many conversations I would have with him.
  • Larry – A pastor in many settings who led a rich and faithful life. The cognitive abilities he was painfully deprived of at the end of life have now been restored in his new life with Christ
  • Gordon – Another character who led a rich life and had many stories. His years were filled with community service and a life of church ministry.

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The last person on the list is my father Lowell “Ozzie” Salyards. He was a Presbyterian’s Presbyterian and his enthusiasm may contribute to this crazy stuff I am doing today. He was a ruling elder, a deacon, and served as a trustee for the church. We had a lot of discussions around church polity and theology. On some matters, we did not agree, but we knew within the framework of the Book of Order and the Confessions where each other stood.

He served in community organizations and supported all of us kids in our various endeavers. Professionally he was an analytical chemist and if you used Kodak slide film he spent years leading company groups perfecting the process to develop it. Spending much of the last month cleaning out his apartment was difficult and made more so by the distraction of a large number of items of Presbyterian history I found that he had been associated with. (I hope to post some of that in the coming months.) But one of his greatest examples to us kids was caring for mother in her decade-long battle with cancer. It truly was “To be thy loving and faithful husband; … In sickness and in health; As long as we both shall live.”

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

As they have joined the mighty cloud of witnesses my life has been enriched by knowing and serving with each one of them. Well done good and faithful servants.

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!


[Editor’s note: In case it has not been obvious from the note above, there have been many demands on my life over the last couple of months. While I regret missing multiple Assembly and Synod meetings in that time, the need to put energies elsewhere has been unavoidable. But Presbyterianism goes on and over the next couple of months I will be working to get caught up on at least some of it. Thank you for your patience.]

Remembering The Saints 2019

For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

As is my custom on All Saints Day, I pause and give thanks – both privately and here on the blog – for those that I know who passed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant the past 12 months.

This year was not an easy one and there are so many names on this list that I deeply miss and their passing to be with the Lord leaves a spot missing on this side of eternity.

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

This year I remember and give thanks for the lives of:

  • Zachary – A faithful pastor who showed care and concern for many in the midst of his own challenges – physical and otherwise.
  • Leon – An icon of the church in this region and a mentor to lots of pastors over many years
  • Ray – One of my family’s oldest and best friends, a gentle spirit and a devoted husband
  • Bob – a faithful and active pastor, always ready to help out
  • Cliff – A character – one of a kind. He was a pillar of our church and a faithful, hard working long-time volunteer and leader there, a dear friend of our family whose decline was frustrating for him and very painful for the rest of us to experience as we walked alongside him.
  • Vera – a Presbyterian’s Presbyterian. Faithful and active ruling elder serving many years as clerk of session. And someone who always seemed to have a smile.
  • Tom – a pastor in so many senses of the word

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

As they have joined the mighty cloud of witnesses my life has been enriched by knowing and serving with each one of them. Well done good and faithful servants.

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformanda Est Secundum Verbum Dei

On this Reformation Day 2019, a word on Semper Reformanda, its history and the tension which the church holds it in.

In some circles, the phrase “Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda est secundum verbum Dei” has taken on a bit of urban legend status. R. Scott Clark, in an article on the Ligonier website, has a nice summary of the historical background and usage of the phrase. He begins with this:

With the possible exception of sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone), none of these [Reformed] slogans has been mangled more often toward greater mischief than ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda (the church reformed, always reforming). According to historian Michael Bush, much of what we think we know about this slogan is probably wrong.

After a brief review of the 16th and 17th-century variants, he says:

The full phrase ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei (the church reformed, always reforming according to the Word of God) is a post-World War II creature. It was given new impetus by the modernist Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968), who used variations of the phrase with some frequency. Mainline (liberal) Presbyterian denominations have sometimes used variations of this phrase in official ways.

One of the points that Dr. Clark makes is that John Calvin and other reformers of his generation did not see the Reformed faith as evolving but as something that could be achieved and set. He says:

When Calvin and the other Reformed writers used the adjective reformed, they did not think that it was a thing that could never actually be accomplished. Late in his life, Calvin remarked to the other pastors in Geneva that things were fairly well constituted, and he exhorted them not to ruin them.

In another Ligonier article, Michael Horton also takes a close look at the phrase. At one point he says:

Our forebears who invoked this phrase had in mind the consolidation of catholic and evangelical Christianity embodied in the Reformed confessions and catechisms. There is a reason that this wing of the Reformation called itself “Reformed.” Unlike the Anabaptists, Reformed churches understood themselves as a continuing branch of the catholic church. At the same time, the Reformed wanted to reform everything “according to the Word of God.” Not only our doctrine but our worship and life must be determined by Scripture and not by human whim or creativity.

And he makes the point that it is not the Reformed faith that necessarily needs to be reformed, but the human implementation of it:

And yet the church is not only Reformed; it is always in need of being reformed. Like our personal sanctification, our corporate faithfulness is always flawed. We don’t need to move beyond the gains of the Reformation, but we do need further reformation. But here is where the last clause kicks in: “always being reformed according to the Word of God.”

The PC(USA) website has an article by Anna Case-Winters which is widely quoted in various other articles, including Michael Horton’s article above and Leo Koffeman’s below. Near the beginning she discusses the early meaning of the phrase like this:

Our Reformed motto, rightly understood, challenges both the conservative and the liberal impulses that characterize our diverse church today. It does not bless either preservation for preservation’s sake or change for change’s sake.

In the 16th-century context the impulse it reflected was neither liberal nor conservative, but radical, in the sense of returning to the “root.” The Reformers believed the church had become corrupt, so change was needed. But it was a change in the interest of preservation and restoration of more authentic faith and life — a church reformed and always to be reformed according to the Word of God.

The cultural assumption of the Reformers’ day was that what is older is better. This is strange to our contemporary ears. We do not share this assumption; if anything, we applaud the new and “innovative.”

Finally, Leo Koffeman, in an academic article, weaves Horton’s and Case-Winter’s article into his where he looks at not only the origin of the phrase but the ecumenical implication and application. He echoes some of what I have mentioned already, but has this particular emphasis:

I repeat my question: is the slogan ecclesia reformata semper reformanda, either in its shortened or in its lengthier form, a helpful slogan when considering the pros and cons, the possibilities and the limitations, of church renewal in the Reformed tradition? It seems to me that it is not, as long as it leaves the question open as to what, in practice, secundum verbum Dei means. It provides a formal criterion. Therefore, the real issue at stake is that of biblical hermeneutics.

In his conclusion he answers with this:

As far as the motto ecclesia reformata semper reformanda points to the possibility of and need for church renewal, it represents a welcome reminder for all churches that take seriously their identity and mandate. But it can easily over-emphasise human action (‘always reforming’) at the expense of the awareness of how the church is an instrument in the hands of the Holy Spirit (‘always being reformed’). Therefore, a focus on the role of the church in the missio Dei and a clear understanding of the need for ecumenical cooperation is pivotal.

So where does that leave us? Stringing this all together we have Dr. Clark’s emphasis on a developed Reformed faith expressed in the historic creeds and confessions of the church, but with the fallen and flawed nature of a church of human maintenance as pointed out by Dr. Horton. It is a radical call for the church to find identity in its roots of scripture according to Dr. Case-Winters, but as an instrument of God through the Holy Spirit as expressed by Dr. Koffeman.

So with that – Happy Reformation Day. And may we all be Reformed and always being reformed as guided by the word of God.

Great Reformers And Personality Tests

I have a bunch of writing projects with deadlines at the moment, so I ended up missing the date for my blog post for Reformation Day. I had planned to go lighter this year since I put a lot of effort into “Reformation Month” last year. So when I heard the conversation I quote below it got me thinking that it would be a good starting point for a “and now for something completely different” Reformation Day post.

It has become a bit of a parlor game in my household at the moment to take enneagram tests and analyze each other using those. I am not a big fan of them but a couple of other family members are. And it is worth mentioning that all this was triggered by our pastor trying to use this with our church session. But that is a post for another day.

Now, if you are not familiar with the enneagram, it is a system for classifying your personality categorizing root motivations based on nine different types and relationships between the types includes how people can act in a variety of dynamic situations. In its use in spiritual formation it is intended for guiding personal growth and transformation. (For more info you can investigate some of the sites I link to in this post.) [The paragraph above was updated based on input from an experienced source.]

One family member mentioned a comment made on the podcast Typology that he correctly thought would interest me. While a typical episode of this podcast drives me crazy, it was an interesting historical remark that was made. In Episode 15 the guest, Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and one of the U.S. authorities on the enneagram, comments on Martin Luther (starting at the 18:52 mark):

“I’m never sure if Martin Luther, since we’re about to celebrate him, if he was a One or an Eight. What do you think?  Have you ever analyzed Luther?”

The host, Ian Cron, replies (slightly cleaned-up):

“I think arguably an Eight given what I would call his guilt-free delight in the world – the beer drinking, the excess, the sin boldly. You know, that kind of energy.”

Fr. Rohr then continues:

“Ya, and that’s what undid him. You know, I did a conference right before I turned 70 with the Lutherans in Switzerland and the title of the conference was “Was Luther a Mystic?” And the consensus among these Lutheran theologians was – I wouldn’t have dared said it – they said he started as one. He clearly had some early Christ experiences. But then in the second half of his life, his anger so controlled him that he became a dualistic thinker himself. That was their analysis. It’s unfortunate. And of course, we Catholics have to take the blame for that because we painted him into a corner where he had to defend himself. And you paint an Eight into a corner and they come out with claws bared.

My guess would be Luther was probably an Eight.”

He then goes on to more briefly comment on John Calvin:

“Calvin maybe more a One.”

So what is the consensus out there for Luther and Calvin? Based on a web search Luther is more likely to be classified a One than an Eight with The Change Works, Enneagram Central, Saturate, Enneagram Explorations, and Typology Central favoring that type. And interestingly John Calvin frequently appears on most of those same lists of Ones.

So what are the characteristics of a One? Well, one of the things about the enneagram is that from the way it was introduced and has evolved there is no one central authority for the descriptions, although there is pretty much a consensus. People seem to like the Enneagram Institute, so here is a snippet of their description of a Type One. Type One is, appropriately, the Reformer (in their classification – different sources use different labels). They are “The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic.”

Ones are conscientious and ethical, with a strong sense of right and wrong. They are teachers, crusaders, and advocates for change: always striving to improve things, but afraid of making a mistake. Well-organized, orderly, and fastidious, they try to maintain high standards, but can slip into being critical and perfectionistic. They typically have problems with resentment and impatience. At their Best: wise, discerning, realistic, and noble. Can be morally heroic.

For comparison, a Type Eight is the Challenger. They are “The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational.”

Eights are self-confident, strong, and assertive. Protective, resourceful, straight-talking, and decisive, but can also be ego-centric and domineering. Eights feel they must control their environment, especially people, sometimes becoming confrontational and intimidating. Eights typically have problems with their tempers and with allowing themselves to be vulnerable. At their Best: self- mastering, they use their strength to improve others’ lives, becoming heroic, magnanimous, and inspiring.

Making a choice is left as an exercise for the reader. If it helps, the Enneagram Institute has a page on distinguishing Ones and Eights. As they say in there “Ones try to convert those who resist them: Eights try to power through them.”

So what about that other great personality metric, the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator. For Luther, he regularly appears on lists of famous people who were INTJ, including one from Personality Club, and another from IDR Labs.

The consensus opinion on John Calvin was that he was also an INTJ, with a Christianity Today article, and an essay on Calvin by Timothy George that put him as that type. And in looking at this, I found an interesting article on how the Meyers-Briggs basic outlook varies with how John Calvin would frame the question in his Institutes.

So in fact, the purpose of the personality assessments is to know ourselves better. And this question is part of the first chapter of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion that addresses “The Knowledge of God and of Ourselves Mutually Connected.” So the final word today goes to Calvin and the last line from that chapter…

But though the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves are bound together by a mutual tie, due arrangement requires that we treat of the former in the first place, and then descend to the latter.

A Presbyterian Influence On The American Experiment

On this Fourth of July much of American Presbyterianism recalls the 12 Presbyterians who eventually signed the document remembered on this day, and particularly the Rev. John Witherspoon, the only ordained clergy to sign.

While Witherspoon was ordained in the Church of Scotland, that alone was not his ticket into the Continental Congress. In 1768 he had been induced to leave Scotland and become the President and head professor at a small Presbyterian college, the College of New Jersey. In 1896 it changed its name to Princeton University. Witherspoon did much to raise the status and visibility of the institution to what was expected of an top-tier institution of higher learning. William Bennett wrote in a book chapter:

Princeton built on this foundation with solid bricks. The school’s leaders intended to produce students able to think for themselves, and those leaders had strong ideas about the curriculum best suited to the task. First-year studies… were classical: “reading the Greek and Latin languages, especially Horace, Cicero’s Orations, the Greek Testament, Lucian’s Dialogues, and Xenophon’s Cyropaedia.” Second-year students continued with Greek and Latin, especially Homer and Longinus, and started upon the modern “sciences, geography, rhetoric, logic, and mathematics.” The junior year centered about ethics, metaphysics, and history, as well as mathematics and science. Seniors found themselves “entirely employed in reviews and composition, improving parts of the Latin and Greek classics, parts of the Hebrew Bible, and all the arts and sciences.” This final undergraduate year became its own school of public discussion; students appeared on stage before their peers, giving speeches and participating in debates over the best of past and contemporary thought.

But beyond the book learning there was moral thought. Bennett continues:

Princeton’s curriculum was not unusual; its rigor was the rule rather than the exception for the colleges of colonial America. But the school’s administration understood that education does not end with a student’s reading list. They realized that an institution committed to the importance of ideas cannot long afford to neglect the moral difference between good ideas and bad ones. And since free institutions of learning draw their life’s blood from a distinct and precious set of good ideas-democratic ideas-Princeton’s leaders refused to stand neutral before the principles of liberty and justice at a time when contemporary politics decided the future of those principles as a part of our heritage. The school’s pedagogy was not “value-free.” Princeton did its best to instill in its charges a love for ideas, and in particular a love for the ideas that would soon buttress the modern world’s first republican government.

It was into this environment that James Madison entered in 1769, having advanced to the second year by examination on the first year topics. Madison would fulfill the undergraduate curriculum in three years and stick around as a tutor and graduate student under Witherspoon an additional two years.

As noted above, Witherspoon’s curriculum, and make no mistake about it but he controlled the school’s instruction, not only had the grounding in the classics but was not neutral on moral thought. As James Commiff writes in his paper “The Enlightenment and American Political Thought: A Study of the Origins of Madison’s Federalist Number 10“:

Witherspoon’s central philosophical concern was to reconcile revelation with the knowledge discoverable by human reason. This he accomplished by maintaining that revelation stands above reason but not in contradiction to it; therefore, the central doctrines of Calvinism do not violate reason but rather supplement it. There is, then, nothing in worldly wisdom that constitutes a danger to true belief, and one may study secular topics without fear of being misled into religious error. This blending of faith and reason allowed Witherspoon to both defend religion against its rationalistic and deistic critics and to admit whatever seemed of value in Enlightenment philosophy into the course of study at Princeton.

Much more is written about Witherspoon’s methods, and the citizens those methods produced, but one indication is the makeup of the Constitutional Convention. In his paper “Common sense deliberative practice: John Witherspoon, James Madison, and the U.S. constitution,” Terence S. Morrow writes:

James Madison was not the only Witherspoon-trained participant in the Constitution’s creation. The Constitutional Convention “must have looked like a reunion of Princetonians” from Witherspoon’s classes (Wills 19). Nine Princeton graduates, six of whom studied under Witherspoon, were among the fifty-five delegates. Their training in Scottish Common Sense-Ciceronian humanism is evident. ‘Trained in law and religion, these are some of the men who would identify with and protect the values of society as they saw them, who would take it upon themselves as a right and a duty to adjudicate social and moral issues. They would speak of literature, politics, society, and man with a common-sense clarity derived in large part from the Scots they had studied” (Martin 7). But it is James Madison, whose greatest public accomplishments occurred during the Constitutional formulation and ratification, who takes pride of place among these Witherspoon graduates.

It is helpful to know that Madison was raised in an active Anglican home. The Anglican Church was the established church of Virginia and a young James Madison had experienced the state, with the backing of the church, persecuting and driving out groups of Baptists that gathered in his county. As a youth he was tutored by a Presbyterian minister and many consider this a strong influence on his decision to go to the College of New Jersey.

While my purpose here is not to dissect Madison’s religious beliefs, but to suggest the Presbyterian influence on his body of work as a whole, interesting comments are made by two writers. First, Morrow makes these observations about different viewpoints during the ratification process. [Any analysis about how this played out in American politics is left as an exercise for the reader.]

Whereas John Witherspoon and James Madison promoted a federalist model of representation and deliberation in which delegates exercised prudential rationality independent of their constituents’ control, Patrick Henry argued for the antifederalist vision of a more democratic, local-minded mode of representation. For Henry, as for Madison and the federalists, human nature was innately corrupt. The latter, however, believed that the Constitutional plan’s qualification requirements for office and the electoral process would issue forth sufficient numbers of representatives who would exhibit the hallmarks of Common Sense-Ciceronian deliberation. The antifederalists shared little of this federalist faith. Henry articulated this pessimism during Virginia’s ratification convention in June, 1788 as he argued that the national representatives would be prone to pursue “their personal interests, their ambition and avarice.” Members of Congress would not be “superiour to the frailties of human nature. However cautious you may be in the selection of your Representatives, it will be dangerous to trust them with such unbounded powers.” Henry thus pointedly rejected Madison’s reliance upon the “possible virtue” of the representatives, for prudence, reason, and experience revealed the federalists’ contention to be chimerical.

In essence, Patrick Henry countered Madison’s invocation of rationality born of education and extensive knowledge with a pastoral version of communal sense. According to Henry, for Madison to hope that representatives’ “genius, intelligence, and integrity” would ensure the passage of laws that protect individual rights, states’ interests, and the country’s security, violated the prevailing presumption of man’s proclivity towards vice. Early in Virginia’s ratification convention, Henry chastised Madison and the other federalists for supposing that elected officials would be honest. The Constitution, by transmitting unlimited powers to Congress, exacerbated the dangers attendant upon Madison’s “hope.” Henry continued that it would be “distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad,” for in every instance in which such faith was rested in the representatives, liberty was lost. “Did we not know of the fallibility of human nature, we might rely on the present structure of this Government.—We might depend that the rules of propriety, and the general interest of the Union would be observed. But the depraved nature of man is well known. He has a natural biass (sic) towards his own interest, which will prevail over every consideration, unless it is checked.”

Maybe what is most striking to our modern ear in this extended passage is the comment at the beginning that both sides considered human nature to be “innately corrupt.” The disagreement is over how best to construct a political system that brought out the best in people and allowed for checks and balances to allow for the nation to be best governed under these circumstances.

As a side note, reflections on the Presbyterian form of government can be seen in this debate as well.

Two articles I read take a close look at James Madison’s religious views – Ralph Ketcham’s “James Madison and Religion – A New Hypothesis,” and  Joseph Loconte’s “Faith and the Founding: The Influence of Religion on the Politics of James Madison.” From this we can probably sum everything up succinctly, including this post, with the line from Garry Will’s biography of Madison:

“Madison’s views on religious freedom are the inspiration for all that was best in his later political though.”

Looking Back, Look Forward

I like the association of the month of January, even if not universally accepted, that invokes the ancient Roman god Janus. Janus has two faces, one looking forward and one looking back, a fitting start to a new year. (And on a side note, Janus is also interesting in that his mythology is wrapped up in Roman history and is one of the few, maybe the only, Roman deity that was not imported from the Greeks or involved an emperor being promoted. See that first link for more. But I digress.)

So in that spirit, I wanted to wrap up the Christmas season – yes, today is the 12th Day of Christmas if you have not been counting – with a bit of a look back and look forward from a personal perspective.

Looking back, it has been a tiring year for me: I finished up of some significant volunteer duties, there have been more hacked computers to deal with at work, and as I noted in the Giving Thanks For The Saints post, we walked with my uncle through the valley of the shadow and continue to wrap up some of his affairs. There was also some significant excitement and blessings as welcomed this cute little one – our first grandchild – into the family.


In short, it was a demanding and spiritual draining year in some respects and exciting and promising year in others. In the grand scheme of things all years are like that to some degree, although this year seemed more so. And one of the bottom lines was that with so much going on I regretfully did not contribute to this blog as much as I would have liked. But life happens, some things need to be done and some things remain as partially written drafts. And in all that happened this year we felt God’s presence with us.

On the other hand we are also looking ahead expectantly as we pass into a new (Gregorian) year. I don’t do resolutions as such but try to plan goals and ways to meet them into the year. One of these, depending on what life throws at me, is to get back to blogging more and I hope my process to do that works out. There is the potential for a lot of exciting developments in this coming year and I will share some of those as the year goes along. However, one specifically related to this blog is my plan to cover the Church of Scotland General Assembly live in Edinburgh this year. And while I am at it I hope to visit the other Assemblies meeting there at the same time. Stay tuned for more on that as it gets closer.

Looking back, we give thanks for God’s provision and the blessings we have. Looking forward, we pray for what is to come and that we may know God’s constant companionship with us in whatever this life brings.

And so on this day I wish all of you, as appropriate, a merry 12th Day of Christmas and Twelfth Night, Epiphany Eve/Epiphany, and Eastern Christmas.

And of course, a Happy New Year!

The World Is A Messy Place

As we settle down after Christmas dinner on this Lord’s Day I share with you a few thoughts from the last 24 hours. It was a period filled with worship at three different churches with three different styles and about as many theological perspectives. (Full disclosure: the pictures of the three churches below were all taken well before the service began.) Needless to say – considering the season – I heard the second chapter of Luke read three times.

One of the things that has always struck me about Luke’s writing is the historical details. His mention of specific figures outside of Israel lends an authenticity that was certainly intended by the author to give his audience some context for the events he narrates. In this part of the story he gives us the references to Caesar Augustus and Governor Quirinius.

But with the repeated readings I got a bit distracted and a couple of the Greek words in Luke 2:1 caught my attention so I got sidetracked into word studies. The first is the word for enrolled or registered – apographo. A technical term related to the census that conveys the official nature of it. As an interesting side-light, that word is used in only one place out side of Luke’s narrative and that is in Hebrews 12:23 where it speaks of the firstborn being registered with the assembly/church in Zion.

The second Greek word is oikoumene which is translated something like “the inhabited world.” The simple lexicon I had with me conveys the reference to the earlier Greek-speaking world and then the Roman world. The sense certainly seems to be to those considered civilized as opposed to the barbarians or to put it another way – us versus them.

Now I should be clear that I am working off my small lexicon and I look forward to exploring these words more with my more extensive ones. But for the moment I think this is enough to convey what struck me this weekend.

The idea is that Jesus was born into a messy world, in a small province of a big empire ruled from a city far away, with a governor to represent the rulers and a local king (admittedly Herod is mentioned mostly in Matthew and not Luke) who only retains power by the permission of the occupying rulers but has enough latitude to wield that power in horrific ways among the local population. The terms discussed above suggest official control, taxation and a sense of who is controlled, maybe even welcome, and who are the outsiders and not being controlled. Furthermore, we know from archaeology and hints later in the Gospels that there are multiple factions within the region that cooperate with the occupying forces to various extents to keep hold of power. And factions who want to get rid of the foreign powers by various levels of violence and terrorism. Yes, into this messy world God became incarnate in the form of a new born baby.

Why at that time we can not be certain – that is a matter for God’s sovereignty. But at this time, in this world we still have a lot of messy situations. Some of these situations are in places mentioned in the second chapter of Luke. Some of them are where others of us live. Some are messy in the sense of physical violence, some political turmoil, some racial discord, some due to corrupt institutions… the list goes on. The world is still a messy place, and we would be hard pressed to say if it is any more or less messy than the one Jesus was born into.

And yet, into our mess the Word is still with us. Born once in human form and subject to the social, economic and political forces of his time he overcame them not by force or political power as the world expected but by his spiritual and divine power exercised in the context of a messy world.

And so we find ourselves in a similar situation this Christmas: Much pain and hurt, much political uncertainty and frustration, much economic unevenness, and much social tension. And yet, the message of Christmas is that God was and is with us, gave his life for us and will come again.

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus

 

Presbyterian Presidents

While it was very tempting today to riff on Chesterton (“Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.”) or Psalm 20 (“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”) I decided on a different path. Instead, we have the potential for another self-identified Presbyterian to be elected the head of the executive branch of the U.S. government so I thought I would take a brief look at other Presbyterians in that position.

There are a number of lists of the religious affiliations of Presidents, including Wikipedia, Pew Research Center, and Adherents.com. From these lists, it is clear that the largest single group is the presidents who were Episcopalian with about eleven total. This is closely followed by the ten-ish Presbyterians. And coming to a fixed number is a bit challenging because of switching in their lifetimes.

But some presidents were life-long Presbyterians and easily identifiable with that denomination. These include:

  • Andrew Jackson, raised and self-identified as one his whole life, although he technically did not join a church until after he was president.
  • James Buchanan, raised and educated (Dickinson College) in a reflection of his Scots-Irish Presbyterian roots, but like Jackson did not officially join until later in life.
  • Grover Cleveland, a son of the manse but with age is reported to have become less devout
  • Benjamin Harrison, a lifelong and active Presbyterian. More on him a but further below.
  • Woodrow Wilson, a son of the manse often held up as a model of Presbyterian presidents. However, being politically and academically active during the fundamentalist/modernist debates, he came down on the modernist side at a time when the PCUSA was still dominated by the conservatives.

Two presidents became notable Presbyterians later in life:

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose upbringing and earlier life included family participation with the River Brethren sect of the Mennonites and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In his presidential years and especially in retirement at Gettysburg Presbyterian Church he was an active member.
  • Ronald Reagan, was raised in his mother’s Disciples of Christ church but after moving to southern California was associated with Bel-Air Presbyterian Church much of his adult life.

And three presidents drifted towards the Methodists:

  • James Knox Polk, whose middle name Knox reflects his mother’s Scottish roots and descent from John Knox’s brother. While raised Presbyterian, later in life he would identify with the Methodist church, although he would regularly attend Presbyterian services with his wife.
  • Ulysses S Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, I am lumping together as, at least according to Adherents.com, their paths are about the same. While accounts are not entirely consistent they both may have had Presbyterian connections early in their lives but they were not the most religiously active later and generally were more visible with their wives’ Methodist traditions.

It is worth noting that Abraham Lincoln, while not an adherent to a religious institution, did regularly attend Presbyterian services with his more devout wife Mary.

Another interesting note is that Jame Madison, while never identifying as a Presbyterian, was a student of that great colonial-era Presbyterian scholar and theologian, John Witherspoon, at the College of New Jersey.

And speaking of the College of New Jersey, it is probably worth mentioning that the son and namesake of clergyman and second president of that institution, Aaron Burr, Sr., was a vice-president of the U.S., but these days is better known for a particular incident.

Let me return to Benjamin Harrison and his Presbyterian faith. While Wilson is held up as the Presbyterian scholar and academic, I enjoyed finding out more about Harrison and in the humble, day-to-day faith associated with the Calvinists he may be a better representative for what it means to be an active member of the church. For an interesting read on his faith there is an article by William C. Ringenberg, “Benjamin Harrison: The Religious Thought and Practice of a Presbyterian President.” While his grandfather, President William Henry Harrison, is typically counted as a nominal Episcopalian, it was his grandmother, a strong Presbyterian, who helped raise him and left her mark. Upon graduation from college he considered a career in the ministry and while widely acknowledged as having the gift of oratory, his innate interpersonal skills were lacking and pastoral work would have been more challenging. He chose law, and politics, instead.

Throughout his life he was active in the local church, serving as a ruling elder, Sunday school instructor and other positions. Maybe the most telling statement in that article about his church activity is this:

A long-time usher, Ben passed the collection plate on both the last Sunday before going to Washington for his inauguaration [sic] and the first Sunday after he left office

Need I say more?

So as the first polls are about to close, will we have another self-identified Presbyterian become president? The experts say no, but it ain’t over until the voters have their say. We shall see.

Stay tuned
Postscript:

Reading through some of this stuff, it seemed to me that another interesting path to chase down could be Presbyterians who served as U.S. Secretary of State including such interesting political and Presbyterian names as William Jennings Bryan, John Foster Dulles and Condoleezza Rice. But I will leave that for another day.

“Forever Wild”

With a title like that you could be excused for thinking I was writing a summary piece about one, or multiple, general assemblies. No, this is a bit of a departure from the typical style for my July Fourth reflection, but please bear with me.

As I began thinking about the piece for this year my mind drifted towards the centennial of the National Park Service. In case you did not know, it turns 100 on August 25th. In a patriotic spirit it has recently gained the popular title “America’s Best Idea.” That comment alone, made by Wallace Stegner in 1983, should be patriotic enough to end the post here and go watch the parade. The complete quote is “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.”

But this thought was not unique to Stegner. Franklin Roosevelt said “There is nothing so American as our national parks…. The fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us.”

Or as the first director of the Park Service, Stephen Mather, said

“The parks do not belong to one state or to one section…. The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has a vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona.”

“Who will gainsay that the parks contain the highest potentialities of national pride, national contentment, and national health? A visit inspires love of country; begets contentment; engenders pride of possession; contains the antidote for national restlessness…. He is a better citizen with a keener appreciation of the privilege of living here who has toured the national parks.”

(Quotes from an NPS web page of quotes)

It is sounding very Presbyterian to me actually – the availability to all and the participation of all for the greater good – but it would make sense as one of the early advocates for wild space, John Muir, was born in Scotland and exposed to Presbyterianism there. His very religious father had an early Presbyterian affiliation before drifting through a variety of leanings and activities that had ties to the Restoration movement, specifically the Campbellites. But I digress.

As regular readers know, I have a great love of the outdoors, for the recreational opportunities and inherent beauty. But on a higher level for their spiritual connection as much as for their democratizing influence. And while the area around the Yosemite is one of my favorite areas, the earliest area that was a “thin place” for me was the Adirondacks of New York.

100_4297In case you are not familiar with the Adirondack Park it might help to know that it comprises one-third of all the land area of the state – over 6 million acres and growing – making it the largest state park in the country. That makes it larger than any national park in the contiguous United States. It is larger than Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Canyon and the Great Smokies National Parks combined. Of that area in the park, 2.6 million acres are Forest Preserve owned by the state – still an amount making it larger than any national park besides some Alaska parks and Death Valley.

100_4347But what makes the area truly unique from a public land stewardship point of view is the foresight that the leaders of the state had regarding the land. As more land was clear-cut for lumber the forest preserve was created in 1885 and the Park in 1892. In 1894 New York wrote a new state constitution and included this clause:

The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.

This was part of the constitution ratified by the citizens of New York and is known to many as the “Forever Wild” paragraph. Twenty times the voters have approved exceptions or land deals allowing sale or use of certain lands for reasonable causes from expanding a municipal cemetery to building two ski areas. But on this holiday it is notable that this must be done by an action of the citizens.

Over the years I have found a number of areas that are for me thin places. But still, for a variety of reasons there is none as thin as the New York State Forest Preserve. And I am looking forward to a return visit later this summer.

And on this Independence Day, I give thanks for civic-minded leaders and citizens that have the energy and foresight to create, maintain, care for and preserve public lands for the benefit of all.

100_4425