Just before the conclusion of the story, North Wind identifies herself to Diamond: "I don't think I am just what you imagine me to be. I have to shape myself various ways to various people. But the heart of me is true. People call me by terrible names and think they know all about me. But they don't. Sometimes they call me Bad Fortune, sometimes Evil Chance, sometimes Ruin--and they have another name for me that they think the most terrible of all." "Another name" is, of course, Death.
Why hasn't MacDonald told the child listener this sooner? Isn't this the central idea of the the story? Yes, considered from an abstract point of view. But there is another understanding that from a spiritual standpoint is much more important: the understanding of the heart. It is this MacDonald wants to instill within the child's thinking. As much as possible, he wants to keep a purely abstract grasp, with all its negative emotional connotations, at bay.
As we have remarked before, he has many Biblical passages in mind, uppermost among them James 1:2: ". . . whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. . . ." and Romans 5:2: ". . . we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. . . ." Like Paul, MacDonald is wanted to shape positively the reader/listeners attitudes toward trials and suffering and linking them closely to hope. The imagination is proving to be a powerful tool for his purposes.
Diamond contrasts with other characters, mainly Nanny and his father, in this regard. Admirable as both are in many characteristics, neither is thinking in terms of hope. Nanny is a plucky little materialist who undergoes extreme difficulty and hardship, but she ridicules faith and hope, and therefore must be taught through severe trial: her illness. Joseph is an honest, hard working man, doing his best to fulfill his role as husband and father, but because he is a grumbler, lacking an active faith and hope, he also must endure trial. His trial comes in the form of Ruby, the horse that Mr. Raymond deposits with him in order to discern what type of man he really is. Raymond's purpose is God-like: "He had met Diamond's father and liked him, but he had decided to test them all before he did anything as good as he would like to do for them" (Chapter 27).
The above passage in which North wind identifies herself is in the context of an extended conversation on the nature and value of dreams, and their relation to our waking life. This is a concern that surfaces often in MacDonald's writings. Diamond's concerns that his dreams have no reality beyond that of his own dreaming mind echo those MacDonald himself has felt. But he consistently comes to the conclusion expressed here by North Wind: "The people who think lies and do lies are very likely to dream lies. But the people who love what is true will surely now and then dream true things. But it depends too on whether the dreams are homegrown, or whether the seed of them is blown over somebody else's garden wall" (306). The validity of one's dreams is directly related to one's spiritual stature before God, and is very much an individual affair. Because Diamond is what he is, she assures him: "I don't think you could dream anything that didn't have something real like it somewhere" (300). But she also reminds him that he couldn't remember the song he heard the angels sing. The final reality of heaven is quite beyond what eye has seen, ear heard, or has entered into the heart of anyone (I Cor. 2:9).
The narrator muses concerning Diamond: "It seemed to me, somehow, as though little Diamond held the secret of life, and that he was himself what he was so ready to consider the lowest living thing--an angel of God with something special to say or do" (287). Clues to the nature of this secret of life lie in the many truths of the heart that are expressed throughout the text. The poem "Where did you come from, baby dear?" offers one: every individual life is a gift from God and expresses--in terms of what it has the potential to become--a thought of God (267, 68). Some of the others are: The only true possession is the possession of love (269). Everyone loves something; life consists in loving rightly (277; shades of Augustine and Dante here!). The greatest wisdom in life is foolishness to all who do no possess it (279). Many others from the text could be added.
The fairy tale is the best vehicle for conveying such truths, truths that are at the same time simple, profound, and so applicable to life at its core. This is why the Inklings all celebrate such stories. Chesterton in Orthodoxy expresses the core idea: "My first and last philosophy, that which I believe in with unbroken certainty, I learnt in the nursery. . . . The things I believed most then, the things I believe most now are the things called fairy tales. They seem to me to be the entirely reasonable things. They are not fantasies: compared with them other things are fantastic. . . . Fairyland is nothing but the sunny country of common sense" ("The Ethics of Elfland")." At the Back of the North Wind" is by any measure an excellent example of such a story.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
At the Back of the North Wind: 4th session
In Chapter 15, Diamond's family find themselves in new living quarters, "the mews." The mews is that area behind the London homes, consisting of an alleyway with adjacent stables and living quarters for the hostlers' families. Here Diamond's father is reduced to the humbler position of London cabman. He is, however, gladdened by the opportunity to buy is beloved horse, Diamond, for use now on the London streets.
That Diamond the boy shares the same name with the horse is emphasized at the very beginning of the story, and their association plays a prominent role in the story throughout. What is the point? In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 6, the black horse--Diamond's color--signifies economic hardship and famine, realities that bear upon the family, but there must be a greater significance then that.
Further imagery teases. Association with either the horse or North Wind occupies a great portion of Diamond's life. He maintains a healthy attitude towards both and is most comfortable when seated on the back of either one or the other. The relationship to each is, however, quite different. North Wind is the mysterious Other to whom obedience, submission, and trust are essential. On the other hand, he must learn to make the horse obedient and submissive to him. He learns to kindly control the horse and care for it, harnessing its energies to fulfill his purposes. In short, he must care for the horse, whereas North Wind takes care of him, and it is crucial to the quality of his life that he maintain a healthy attitude towards each. Were he not to have utter faith in North Wind, or were he to be cruel or neglectful of the horse, his life would be plunged into uncertainty, misery, and gloom.
Just as North Wind signifies the unseen spiritual world, governing events over which we can exercise no human control, Diamond the horse signifies the natural world, of which Diamond the boy is very much a part (hence the identity of names), and which he must learn to steward and properly control for his own betterment. Together, the two encompass all of experience outside of human relationships.
MacDonald's basic point is that both realms are sacramental; that is, they are channels offering grace. How one is related to each determines the nature and quality of one's life. Everything in life is fraught with potential blessing. One's attitudes determine how and to what extent grace is realized. Life means us well; our attitudes are crucial. I think this is one of the reasons Christ had in mind when he remarked: "The eye is the lamp of the body: So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness" (Matt. 6:22, 23). How one sees the world shapes the nature of one's experience in it.
Diamond's exemplary grasp of this truth makes him himself an instrument of sacramental grace: he wants to befriend people and help them. This is why so much of the fairy tale is devoted to Diamond's life on earth after he as visited "the back of the North Wind."
Early on in the story, when North Wind and Diamond observe the beleaguered Nanny sweeping her London street crossing, Diamond wants her to be helped, and when North Wind tells him she cannot, but he could, he leaves her to befriend Nanny himself. Why cannot North Wind help Nanny? She is a tough-spirited little girl with a good heart, and is living in the most deplorable of conditions. But she lacks the proper attitude towards the unseen spiritual world; she lacks faith. When Diamond tries to tell her of his experiences, she dismisses them utterly as foolishness.
North Wind asks Diamond, "Do you think if you don't see it happen then nothing is being done?" In the course of the story, Nanny takes seriously ill. Diamond and Mr. Raymond, who also is ready and eager to help those in need, get her into a children's hospital where, through their instrumentality and Nanny's dream (which is sent by North Wind), she is set on a course that issues in a much more satisfactory life.
MacDonald also teases reader by using red imagery. In the hospital, Nanny is given a ruby ring whose color fascinates her and triggers her dream, a dream which has an intriguing quantity of red imagery in it. The dream takes her through disobedience to repentance and initiates her into a different course in life, one in which she is taken into Diamond's home and is trained by his mother. Red is also the color of Ruby, the horse that through Mr. Raymond is given to Diamond's father as a test of his integrity. The red horse in Revelation Chapter 6 signifies misery, strife, and war. In MacDonald's thinking all such has a great potential for grace. Mr. Raymond announces the principle in his fairy story "Little Daylight": "I never knew of any interference by a wicked fairy that did not turn out to be a good thing in the end."
The child who is receiving MacDonald's story is learning that people in adversity need the help of other more fortunate people. But in every aspect of life, attitudes of love and concern are essential.
That Diamond the boy shares the same name with the horse is emphasized at the very beginning of the story, and their association plays a prominent role in the story throughout. What is the point? In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 6, the black horse--Diamond's color--signifies economic hardship and famine, realities that bear upon the family, but there must be a greater significance then that.
Further imagery teases. Association with either the horse or North Wind occupies a great portion of Diamond's life. He maintains a healthy attitude towards both and is most comfortable when seated on the back of either one or the other. The relationship to each is, however, quite different. North Wind is the mysterious Other to whom obedience, submission, and trust are essential. On the other hand, he must learn to make the horse obedient and submissive to him. He learns to kindly control the horse and care for it, harnessing its energies to fulfill his purposes. In short, he must care for the horse, whereas North Wind takes care of him, and it is crucial to the quality of his life that he maintain a healthy attitude towards each. Were he not to have utter faith in North Wind, or were he to be cruel or neglectful of the horse, his life would be plunged into uncertainty, misery, and gloom.
Just as North Wind signifies the unseen spiritual world, governing events over which we can exercise no human control, Diamond the horse signifies the natural world, of which Diamond the boy is very much a part (hence the identity of names), and which he must learn to steward and properly control for his own betterment. Together, the two encompass all of experience outside of human relationships.
MacDonald's basic point is that both realms are sacramental; that is, they are channels offering grace. How one is related to each determines the nature and quality of one's life. Everything in life is fraught with potential blessing. One's attitudes determine how and to what extent grace is realized. Life means us well; our attitudes are crucial. I think this is one of the reasons Christ had in mind when he remarked: "The eye is the lamp of the body: So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness" (Matt. 6:22, 23). How one sees the world shapes the nature of one's experience in it.
Diamond's exemplary grasp of this truth makes him himself an instrument of sacramental grace: he wants to befriend people and help them. This is why so much of the fairy tale is devoted to Diamond's life on earth after he as visited "the back of the North Wind."
Early on in the story, when North Wind and Diamond observe the beleaguered Nanny sweeping her London street crossing, Diamond wants her to be helped, and when North Wind tells him she cannot, but he could, he leaves her to befriend Nanny himself. Why cannot North Wind help Nanny? She is a tough-spirited little girl with a good heart, and is living in the most deplorable of conditions. But she lacks the proper attitude towards the unseen spiritual world; she lacks faith. When Diamond tries to tell her of his experiences, she dismisses them utterly as foolishness.
North Wind asks Diamond, "Do you think if you don't see it happen then nothing is being done?" In the course of the story, Nanny takes seriously ill. Diamond and Mr. Raymond, who also is ready and eager to help those in need, get her into a children's hospital where, through their instrumentality and Nanny's dream (which is sent by North Wind), she is set on a course that issues in a much more satisfactory life.
MacDonald also teases reader by using red imagery. In the hospital, Nanny is given a ruby ring whose color fascinates her and triggers her dream, a dream which has an intriguing quantity of red imagery in it. The dream takes her through disobedience to repentance and initiates her into a different course in life, one in which she is taken into Diamond's home and is trained by his mother. Red is also the color of Ruby, the horse that through Mr. Raymond is given to Diamond's father as a test of his integrity. The red horse in Revelation Chapter 6 signifies misery, strife, and war. In MacDonald's thinking all such has a great potential for grace. Mr. Raymond announces the principle in his fairy story "Little Daylight": "I never knew of any interference by a wicked fairy that did not turn out to be a good thing in the end."
The child who is receiving MacDonald's story is learning that people in adversity need the help of other more fortunate people. But in every aspect of life, attitudes of love and concern are essential.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
At the Back of the North Wind.3rd
At the end of Chapter 8, after Diamond has awakened from his adventures in the cathedral, he goes out into the Coleman's garden to see the effects of the storm during which North Wind sank a ship, and he sees that a tree has fallen, smashing the summerhouse. A kindly clergyman is surveying the damages and, seeing Diamond, remarks to him that he wished we all lived at the back of the north wind. His interest piqued, Diamond asks where that is, to which the clergyman responds, "in the hyperborean regions. The hyperboreans of Greek mythology were a people reputed to live in an unidentified country in the far north, a people renowned as pious and divinely favored, adherents to the cult of Apollo.
In Chapter 9, when Diamond is again with North Wind, he asks to be taken to her back, she responds that would be very difficult for her since she is herself nobody there, i.e., there is no adversity of any kind whatsoever in heaven. She adds: "You'll be very glad some day to be nobody yourself. But you can't understand that now, and you'd better not try. If you do, you'll probably start imagining some outrageous nonsense and make yourself miserable about it" (86, 87).
MacDonald captures here a truth that is at the very heart of Christianity. It suggests the central paradigm of Christian experience, and the nature of God himself, for agape love is completely self giving. Christian conversion begins with a choosing of Christ over the self. Christ states this truth many times in such statements as "he that would gain his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will gain it to life everlasting," and "if any one would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Being "nobody someday" depicts Christian maturity--which all Christians strive towards in this life but no one completely attains. It will be fully realized only in the afterlife.
It is important to grasp this truth. Most people have an ongoing inner quarrel within themselves, regretting or criticizing what they did over against their sense of what they should have done. The contemporary poet Dana Gioia has a provocative poem that captures an aspect of this inner unrest, which begins: "Just before noon I often hear a voice, / Cool and insistent, whispering in my head. / It is the better man I might have been, / Who chronicles the life I've never lead. / He cannot understand what grim mistake / Granted me life but left him still unborn. / He views his wayward brother with regret / And hardly bothers to disguise his scorn . . . ."
But such struggle is not the Christian ideal. Rather, it is to do one's best to forget about oneself: to be rid of self-concern altogether. The self is to be denied and forsaken. Attitudes of Christian love focus one's attention upon the desires of God and the needs of others, together with a willingness to do what is within one's power to do to meet those expectations and needs. One's best efforts are always inadequate, but the successful Christian life consists of that glad, on-going consciousness of God's presence in one's life, confession of one's shortcomings, claiming forgiveness, and gladly renewing one's efforts. His yoke is intended to be easy, his burden light. I think this is a part of what Christ had in mind when, in the Sermon on the Mount, he counsels: "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. . . . But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness . . . . Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt. 6:25, 33, 34).
After a difficult and strenuous journey, Diamond arrives at the threshold of the afterlife. While he is ill and in a deep dream or coma, North Wind puts him on a yacht and maneuvers it to sail into the wind. He momentarily loses her company, than finds her "sitting on her doorstep," and is told he must walk through her to enter into the land at her back. Some adversity--illness, accident, or whatever--precedes everyone's entry.
At the beginning of Chapter 10 the narrator announces his difficulty in describing Diamond's experiences there, for Diamond not only could not recall much about them, but also found extreme difficulty in describing anything he could recall. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him" (I Cor 2:9). One thinks of Paul's inability to describe any of his experience of being caught up into the "third heaven" (II Cor. 12). He said he heard inexpressible things, things which no man is permitted to tell. That he describes his experience in the third person--"I knew a man," he says--suggests the complete change of one's nature that must take place before a person can know the full joy of heaven. "When we see Him, we shall be like Him. . . " John remarks in I John 3. We shall all be changed, Paul assures us. When Christ spoke of the afterlife, he focused attention upon God, not on any descriptions, for oneness with God is the requisite and essential condition.
Diamond does have some vague recollections. He remembers a river there, and one may recall Psa. 46:4: "There is a river which makes glad the city of God." That a little daughter whom the gardener lost will one day return suggests the coming Resurrection, as does the fact that those whom Diamond met "looked as though they were waiting to be gladder some day." However, they are able to climb a certain tree and from that vantage point observe those whom they love on earth. MacDonald is echoing here Heb. 12:1: having recalled the great heroes of the faith who have gone before, the writer remarks: since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. . . ." But Diamond doesn't care to return, because he feels as though he has never left it, and he wants to help those on earth whom he loves. This deep sense within him of the certainty of Christian hope and the crowning delight of its fulfillment is that which explains his motivations for his preternatural behavior in the ongoing episodes of the tale.
Having returned, Diamond learns that the ship North Wind sank was Mr. Coleman's, who is not such into economic woes. MacDonald muses: "It is a hard thing for a rich man to become poor, but it is an awful thing for him to become dishonest, and some kinds of business speculation lead a man deep into dishonesty before he realizes what he is doing. Poverty will not make a man worthless--he may be worth much more when he is poor than he was when he was rich; but dishonesty goes a long way toward making a man of no value at all" (Chapter 12). Economic poverty is a much more fertile soil that economic riches for the growing of spiritual fruit. MacDonald illustrates this principle throughout his writings.
The suggestion contained in the title of the story has now been fulfilled, but the story itself is but one-third over. What are MacDonald's intentions? They are, I think, twofold. He wants to develop the very important principle that a good grasp of Christian hope offers primary motivation for a person actively working in the world to effect good. He also wants to dismiss any notion that, in a world permeated and controlled by God's providence, a person may simply be a passive observer of God's working his will. The great truth is that Christian hope clearly grasped enables one to be a sacramental channel of grace to needy people in a world of spiritual poverty. God bestows upon willing people the great privilege of His working through them to accomplish His will.
So the child who is listening to this story being told receives a model of excellent behavior. One cannot but think by comparison of the dearth of proper models for young people in our culture today. Why so few? The primary reason is that our thoroughly materialistic society no longer believes--as MacDonald's Victorian did--in any transcendent spiritual reality, let alone Christian truth. So Diamond's selflessness seems ridiculous to most. The degenerative state of all the arts in today's culture, with the type of values most often commended, offers abundant evidence.
In Chapter 9, when Diamond is again with North Wind, he asks to be taken to her back, she responds that would be very difficult for her since she is herself nobody there, i.e., there is no adversity of any kind whatsoever in heaven. She adds: "You'll be very glad some day to be nobody yourself. But you can't understand that now, and you'd better not try. If you do, you'll probably start imagining some outrageous nonsense and make yourself miserable about it" (86, 87).
MacDonald captures here a truth that is at the very heart of Christianity. It suggests the central paradigm of Christian experience, and the nature of God himself, for agape love is completely self giving. Christian conversion begins with a choosing of Christ over the self. Christ states this truth many times in such statements as "he that would gain his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will gain it to life everlasting," and "if any one would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Being "nobody someday" depicts Christian maturity--which all Christians strive towards in this life but no one completely attains. It will be fully realized only in the afterlife.
It is important to grasp this truth. Most people have an ongoing inner quarrel within themselves, regretting or criticizing what they did over against their sense of what they should have done. The contemporary poet Dana Gioia has a provocative poem that captures an aspect of this inner unrest, which begins: "Just before noon I often hear a voice, / Cool and insistent, whispering in my head. / It is the better man I might have been, / Who chronicles the life I've never lead. / He cannot understand what grim mistake / Granted me life but left him still unborn. / He views his wayward brother with regret / And hardly bothers to disguise his scorn . . . ."
But such struggle is not the Christian ideal. Rather, it is to do one's best to forget about oneself: to be rid of self-concern altogether. The self is to be denied and forsaken. Attitudes of Christian love focus one's attention upon the desires of God and the needs of others, together with a willingness to do what is within one's power to do to meet those expectations and needs. One's best efforts are always inadequate, but the successful Christian life consists of that glad, on-going consciousness of God's presence in one's life, confession of one's shortcomings, claiming forgiveness, and gladly renewing one's efforts. His yoke is intended to be easy, his burden light. I think this is a part of what Christ had in mind when, in the Sermon on the Mount, he counsels: "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. . . . But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness . . . . Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt. 6:25, 33, 34).
After a difficult and strenuous journey, Diamond arrives at the threshold of the afterlife. While he is ill and in a deep dream or coma, North Wind puts him on a yacht and maneuvers it to sail into the wind. He momentarily loses her company, than finds her "sitting on her doorstep," and is told he must walk through her to enter into the land at her back. Some adversity--illness, accident, or whatever--precedes everyone's entry.
At the beginning of Chapter 10 the narrator announces his difficulty in describing Diamond's experiences there, for Diamond not only could not recall much about them, but also found extreme difficulty in describing anything he could recall. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him" (I Cor 2:9). One thinks of Paul's inability to describe any of his experience of being caught up into the "third heaven" (II Cor. 12). He said he heard inexpressible things, things which no man is permitted to tell. That he describes his experience in the third person--"I knew a man," he says--suggests the complete change of one's nature that must take place before a person can know the full joy of heaven. "When we see Him, we shall be like Him. . . " John remarks in I John 3. We shall all be changed, Paul assures us. When Christ spoke of the afterlife, he focused attention upon God, not on any descriptions, for oneness with God is the requisite and essential condition.
Diamond does have some vague recollections. He remembers a river there, and one may recall Psa. 46:4: "There is a river which makes glad the city of God." That a little daughter whom the gardener lost will one day return suggests the coming Resurrection, as does the fact that those whom Diamond met "looked as though they were waiting to be gladder some day." However, they are able to climb a certain tree and from that vantage point observe those whom they love on earth. MacDonald is echoing here Heb. 12:1: having recalled the great heroes of the faith who have gone before, the writer remarks: since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. . . ." But Diamond doesn't care to return, because he feels as though he has never left it, and he wants to help those on earth whom he loves. This deep sense within him of the certainty of Christian hope and the crowning delight of its fulfillment is that which explains his motivations for his preternatural behavior in the ongoing episodes of the tale.
Having returned, Diamond learns that the ship North Wind sank was Mr. Coleman's, who is not such into economic woes. MacDonald muses: "It is a hard thing for a rich man to become poor, but it is an awful thing for him to become dishonest, and some kinds of business speculation lead a man deep into dishonesty before he realizes what he is doing. Poverty will not make a man worthless--he may be worth much more when he is poor than he was when he was rich; but dishonesty goes a long way toward making a man of no value at all" (Chapter 12). Economic poverty is a much more fertile soil that economic riches for the growing of spiritual fruit. MacDonald illustrates this principle throughout his writings.
The suggestion contained in the title of the story has now been fulfilled, but the story itself is but one-third over. What are MacDonald's intentions? They are, I think, twofold. He wants to develop the very important principle that a good grasp of Christian hope offers primary motivation for a person actively working in the world to effect good. He also wants to dismiss any notion that, in a world permeated and controlled by God's providence, a person may simply be a passive observer of God's working his will. The great truth is that Christian hope clearly grasped enables one to be a sacramental channel of grace to needy people in a world of spiritual poverty. God bestows upon willing people the great privilege of His working through them to accomplish His will.
So the child who is listening to this story being told receives a model of excellent behavior. One cannot but think by comparison of the dearth of proper models for young people in our culture today. Why so few? The primary reason is that our thoroughly materialistic society no longer believes--as MacDonald's Victorian did--in any transcendent spiritual reality, let alone Christian truth. So Diamond's selflessness seems ridiculous to most. The degenerative state of all the arts in today's culture, with the type of values most often commended, offers abundant evidence.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
At the Back of the North Wind.2nd
The text contains a number of subtle references to Scripture. For the concept of North Wind herself, MacDonald must have had Job 30:22 - 23 in mind: "You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all living" (NIV). These images are especially relevant to today's reading.
At the beginning of Chapter 4, North Wind tells Diamond, ". . . I'm afraid you might not be able to keep hold of me, and if I dropped you, I don't know what would happen; so I've made a place for you in my hair." Like most children, Diamond likes to feel ensconced in a small, cozy place, and he is delighted with the nest she weaves for him.
In Chapter 5, when she next takes him on a nocturnal journey, she startles Diamond into disbelief by announcing to him that tonight she must sink a ship. Incredulous, because he is confident she cannot be cruel, he wonders what will happen to those passengers who will be drowned. She assures him that he is right: she "can do nothing cruel, although I often do what looks cruel to those who don't know what I'm really doing." She only takes them to the back of the north wind, a place into which she cannot go (there will be no adversities whatsoever in heaven), and therefore about which she knows nothing. She differs in this regard from the great-great grandmother of the Curdie stories by having limited knowledge. "I get blind and deaf when I try to see my back," she says; "I only pay attention to my work."
Much is being suggested throughout this episode. MacDonald is indeed undertaking a difficult subject, but if he is to succeed in fully establishing in a child's mind a Biblical attitude towards all adversity, suffering, and death itself, he has little choice. The artistic deftness with which he accomplishes his task cannot but evoke much admiration.
He is endeavoring to honor the mystery of God's working in his world, a mystery that must remain as such until that time foreshadowed in Rev. 15:3 - 4, when the wrath of God has been complete and angels intone: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Until that time one is to rest in the confidence that God can do nothing unjust.
In Chapter 6, when she is taking him out upon the night she is to arouse the ship-sinking storm, Diamond persists in voicing his dismay that sinking a ship is "not like you." She reminds him that the North Wind he knows is good, and since there cannot be "two mes," "the other me you don't know must be as kind as the me you do know." Diamond's submissive response is theologically nuanced: "I love you, and you must love me, or else why would I have started loving you? How could you know how to put on such a beautiful face if you did not love me and the rest? No. You may sink as many ships as you like . . . ."
When, at the beginning of Chapter 7, Diamond asks North Wind how she can stand sinking a ship, she responds that she is "always hearing . . . the sound of a far-off song" that "tells me everything is right, that it is coming to swallow up all cries," to the extent of swallowing up all the fear and pain of those to be drowned, so that they will sing it themselves.
For biblical justification for this theological position, MacDonald would not doubt point to such passages as Isaiah 45:6b,7: "I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things;" and Amos 3:6: "Does disaster befall a city, unless the Lord has done it?" He is confident that nothing happens that is not motivated by his love and shaped by his justice, and that when the mystery of God's purposes is ultimately revealed, all nations shall worship Him, as stated in Rev. 15:3, 4 quoted above.
One cannot but recall Jeremiah's affirmation in Lamentations 3:19ff: "The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is you faithfulness. . . . Although he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone."
A person cannot, of course, expect that MacDonald would erect a complete theological treatise in a children's story, but one cannot but admire the artistic deftness with which he does treat the subject.
If the reader wants a more complete examination of this very challenging issue, advancing a carefully thought through and theologically provocative handling of the subject, one is advised to consult David Bentley Hart's, The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami?
To avoid Diamond's witnessing the sinking, North Wind deposits him in a cathedral while she executes her mission. When he finds himself on a narrow ledge high up in the dome and cannot feel North Wind's presence, he panics, then suddenly finds himself in North Wind's arms. Questioned as to why she left him, she replies "Because I wanted you to walk alone." She does not want to pamper a coward. "I wasn't brave by myself," he muse, "It was the wind that blew in my face that made me brave." "You had to be taught what courage was. And you couldn't know what it was without feeling it: therefore, courage was given you. . . . a beginning is the greatest thing of all. To try to be brave is to be brave."
Again, the truths here are powerful: Diamond's being made strong by North Wind's blowing in his face suggests the fact that experiencing adversities in a Christian spirit does serve to strengthen a person; and every person who would be virtuous must exercise courage to perform the virtue. One cannot name a Christian virtue that does not require moral courage to realize.When Diamond, dreaming in the cathedral, overhears two apostles complaining about the church having to perform acts of charity, he is certain they could not be true apostles, but sextons and vergers (gravediggers and janitors). Throughout his career MacDonald had a lover's quarrel, so to speak, with much that he saw as false in the established church, and he does not hesitate to instill in a child's mind that, while there is much that is beautiful in the church, there is also that which is inconsistent with a true Christian spirit.
At the beginning of Chapter 4, North Wind tells Diamond, ". . . I'm afraid you might not be able to keep hold of me, and if I dropped you, I don't know what would happen; so I've made a place for you in my hair." Like most children, Diamond likes to feel ensconced in a small, cozy place, and he is delighted with the nest she weaves for him.
In Chapter 5, when she next takes him on a nocturnal journey, she startles Diamond into disbelief by announcing to him that tonight she must sink a ship. Incredulous, because he is confident she cannot be cruel, he wonders what will happen to those passengers who will be drowned. She assures him that he is right: she "can do nothing cruel, although I often do what looks cruel to those who don't know what I'm really doing." She only takes them to the back of the north wind, a place into which she cannot go (there will be no adversities whatsoever in heaven), and therefore about which she knows nothing. She differs in this regard from the great-great grandmother of the Curdie stories by having limited knowledge. "I get blind and deaf when I try to see my back," she says; "I only pay attention to my work."
Much is being suggested throughout this episode. MacDonald is indeed undertaking a difficult subject, but if he is to succeed in fully establishing in a child's mind a Biblical attitude towards all adversity, suffering, and death itself, he has little choice. The artistic deftness with which he accomplishes his task cannot but evoke much admiration.
He is endeavoring to honor the mystery of God's working in his world, a mystery that must remain as such until that time foreshadowed in Rev. 15:3 - 4, when the wrath of God has been complete and angels intone: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Until that time one is to rest in the confidence that God can do nothing unjust.
In Chapter 6, when she is taking him out upon the night she is to arouse the ship-sinking storm, Diamond persists in voicing his dismay that sinking a ship is "not like you." She reminds him that the North Wind he knows is good, and since there cannot be "two mes," "the other me you don't know must be as kind as the me you do know." Diamond's submissive response is theologically nuanced: "I love you, and you must love me, or else why would I have started loving you? How could you know how to put on such a beautiful face if you did not love me and the rest? No. You may sink as many ships as you like . . . ."
When, at the beginning of Chapter 7, Diamond asks North Wind how she can stand sinking a ship, she responds that she is "always hearing . . . the sound of a far-off song" that "tells me everything is right, that it is coming to swallow up all cries," to the extent of swallowing up all the fear and pain of those to be drowned, so that they will sing it themselves.
For biblical justification for this theological position, MacDonald would not doubt point to such passages as Isaiah 45:6b,7: "I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things;" and Amos 3:6: "Does disaster befall a city, unless the Lord has done it?" He is confident that nothing happens that is not motivated by his love and shaped by his justice, and that when the mystery of God's purposes is ultimately revealed, all nations shall worship Him, as stated in Rev. 15:3, 4 quoted above.
One cannot but recall Jeremiah's affirmation in Lamentations 3:19ff: "The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is you faithfulness. . . . Although he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone."
A person cannot, of course, expect that MacDonald would erect a complete theological treatise in a children's story, but one cannot but admire the artistic deftness with which he does treat the subject.
If the reader wants a more complete examination of this very challenging issue, advancing a carefully thought through and theologically provocative handling of the subject, one is advised to consult David Bentley Hart's, The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami?
To avoid Diamond's witnessing the sinking, North Wind deposits him in a cathedral while she executes her mission. When he finds himself on a narrow ledge high up in the dome and cannot feel North Wind's presence, he panics, then suddenly finds himself in North Wind's arms. Questioned as to why she left him, she replies "Because I wanted you to walk alone." She does not want to pamper a coward. "I wasn't brave by myself," he muse, "It was the wind that blew in my face that made me brave." "You had to be taught what courage was. And you couldn't know what it was without feeling it: therefore, courage was given you. . . . a beginning is the greatest thing of all. To try to be brave is to be brave."
Again, the truths here are powerful: Diamond's being made strong by North Wind's blowing in his face suggests the fact that experiencing adversities in a Christian spirit does serve to strengthen a person; and every person who would be virtuous must exercise courage to perform the virtue. One cannot name a Christian virtue that does not require moral courage to realize.When Diamond, dreaming in the cathedral, overhears two apostles complaining about the church having to perform acts of charity, he is certain they could not be true apostles, but sextons and vergers (gravediggers and janitors). Throughout his career MacDonald had a lover's quarrel, so to speak, with much that he saw as false in the established church, and he does not hesitate to instill in a child's mind that, while there is much that is beautiful in the church, there is also that which is inconsistent with a true Christian spirit.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
At the Back of the North Wind.1st
George MacDonald: At the Back of the North Wind. First Session
MacDonald is undertaking an astounding task in this famous myth: he is purposing to instill within a child's mind a fully Biblical set of attitudes towards all trials and adversities in life, including death.
But first, some introductory remarks: I do recommend the recently published Anamchara edition. A remarkable number of variations do occur in the older texts; this one cautiously updates the language, removing diction that strikes the contemporary reader as curious, while very faithfully maintaining--in fact, I think strengthening--the mythic impact of the text.
The work is splendidly mythic. By that I mean that the images stretch the imagination to glimpse eternal truths, truths that are larger than the rational mind is able fully to express.
These are truths of the heart, not simply of the head. Truths of the head--by that I mean the sort of doctrinal truths that are presented in the great creeds of the Church--are of course of vital importance. But it is tragically possible to have a precise grasp of doctrinal realities in the head but not allow them residence in the heart.
Truths of the heart are simple, they are readily held or rejected, and they are available to all peoples. They alone matter; they define a person. As a person thinks in his heart, so is he. An exhaustive concordance of Scripture will contain multiple columns of references to the heart, whereas there are only a comparative few references to the mind as such.
One other introductory remark: Any worthwhile children's story is a story for adults as well. C. S. Lewis vehemently denies--in his essays on writing for children--that he set out to write for children. He insists that he wrote the Narnia stories as he did because he could say in a children's story what he could not say nearly so well in any other form. It is an enticing challenge to consider as you read precisely what MacDonald is able to say in At the Back of the North Wind that he could only have said in the precise form he chose.
It is necessary, in order fully to appreciate a children's story, that the adult reader try to recreate a child's mentality, and receive the narration and the images as a person did, say, at five or six years of age. I can remember an uncle telling me when I was that age, "If you want to catch a bird, the best way to do it is to put salt on his tail." At the time I thought that no doubt was reliable advice. It is that sort of innocence and credulity one should try to maintain as one reads. The story is not a puzzle to be solved; it is a tale to be received by a fully open and committed imagination. Let the mythic truths sneak in, as it were, quietly, through the back door.
Now to the text itself. As I remarked above, MacDonald is undertaking in this story to instill within a child's mind a fully Biblical set of attitudes towards all adversities in life, from the small aggravations all the way to death itself. It is consistently the case with MacDonald that he had Biblical truths solidly in mind as he wrote. Those that pertain to this tale are startling. James, for instance, begins his book by advising: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete. . . (1:2-4, NIV). Paul writes: ". . . we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint . . . ." (Rom. 5:3-5, NIV). Peter says something very similar in his first epistle, as does the writer of the Book of Hebrews. Anyone who seriously tries to implement these admonitions in daily life faces a challenging task. How does one instill such truths in the mind of a child? To contemplate that is to come into a fuller appreciation of MacDonald's undertaking.
Diamond has many lessons to learn, most all of which orchestrate the archetypal fact that in all of life appearances mask an underlying reality, a Reality that is gloriously benign. A trusting relation to North Wind is the basic requirement for Diamond coming into a knowledge of that reality: "You will be much the better for it. Just believe what I say, and do as I tell you" (12). When she reminds him at their first meeting that "knowing a person's name isn't the same as knowing a person's real self" (13), she is initiating the appearance/reality theme: a person's outward appearance is one thing, the nature of the "real self" within is quite another.
At the end of Chapter One North Wind gives the implications of the theme she wants to instill in Diamond: the appearances of her activities may be ugly, but they are necessary for her basic aim: to make "ugly things beautiful." She counsels: ". . . my hand will never change in yours if you hold on tight. If you hold on, you will know who I am even if you look at me and I look like something awful instead of like the North Wind." A great deal of theological truth is contained in this simple statement. One may think of Heb. 12:11: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
North Wind bids Diamond follow him, but when he obeys by going outside into Coleman's garden, he cannot find her. Deeply disappointed, he retreats, feeling she has not kept her word. But later he is told she really was there--in the breeze that gently moved the primroses. He must learn that North Wind comes in many forms, some quite mild. If a mild adversity can accomplish its purpose, there is no need for a stronger one. But he does discover that by far the wisest response when a wind is blowing is to keep it at one's back (20). The image suggests the wisdom of submissively responding to whatever life offers--"rolling with the blow"--rather than rebelling against and resisting that which is beyond one's control.
But Diamond is strongly tempted to dismiss these initial nocturnal encounters with North Wind as only dreams; that is, they have no reality in the material world of everyday life. North Wind, however, keeps coming to him, and, as he does what she tells him to, his confidence in her reality steadily grows.
Each succeeding visit North Wind makes reinforces in Diamond's mind the necessity for absolute trust in the face of the most dire appearances, confident that they have a good purpose. In Chapter 3, she tells him she has "unpleasant work tonight," and takes him with her as she appears as a wolf to a nurse who is mistreating a child, terrifying her and causing her to fall. Frightened himself when he hears the sound of the nurse falling, Diamond suspects North Wind of cruelty: "I hope you haven'st eaten a baby," he seriously remarks, to which she replies: "No, I didn't eat a baby. You wouldn't have had to ask that silly question if you hadn't let go of me."
Chapter 3 closes with MacDonald affirming a principle that recurs often in his writings: People are incapable of seeing more good that their natures allow them to see. North Wind explains that the nurse saw her as a wolf because of her evil nature: "The woman wouldn't have seen me either if she had been good. . . . Why should you see things that you wouldn't understand? Good people see good things: bad people, bad things. . . . I had to make myself look like a bad thing before she could see me." The Biblical principle MacDonald has in mind is given in Psalms 18, 25, 26. "With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal; with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless; with the pure thou dost show thyself pure; and with the crooked thou dost show thyself perverse."
MacDonald is undertaking an astounding task in this famous myth: he is purposing to instill within a child's mind a fully Biblical set of attitudes towards all trials and adversities in life, including death.
But first, some introductory remarks: I do recommend the recently published Anamchara edition. A remarkable number of variations do occur in the older texts; this one cautiously updates the language, removing diction that strikes the contemporary reader as curious, while very faithfully maintaining--in fact, I think strengthening--the mythic impact of the text.
The work is splendidly mythic. By that I mean that the images stretch the imagination to glimpse eternal truths, truths that are larger than the rational mind is able fully to express.
These are truths of the heart, not simply of the head. Truths of the head--by that I mean the sort of doctrinal truths that are presented in the great creeds of the Church--are of course of vital importance. But it is tragically possible to have a precise grasp of doctrinal realities in the head but not allow them residence in the heart.
Truths of the heart are simple, they are readily held or rejected, and they are available to all peoples. They alone matter; they define a person. As a person thinks in his heart, so is he. An exhaustive concordance of Scripture will contain multiple columns of references to the heart, whereas there are only a comparative few references to the mind as such.
One other introductory remark: Any worthwhile children's story is a story for adults as well. C. S. Lewis vehemently denies--in his essays on writing for children--that he set out to write for children. He insists that he wrote the Narnia stories as he did because he could say in a children's story what he could not say nearly so well in any other form. It is an enticing challenge to consider as you read precisely what MacDonald is able to say in At the Back of the North Wind that he could only have said in the precise form he chose.
It is necessary, in order fully to appreciate a children's story, that the adult reader try to recreate a child's mentality, and receive the narration and the images as a person did, say, at five or six years of age. I can remember an uncle telling me when I was that age, "If you want to catch a bird, the best way to do it is to put salt on his tail." At the time I thought that no doubt was reliable advice. It is that sort of innocence and credulity one should try to maintain as one reads. The story is not a puzzle to be solved; it is a tale to be received by a fully open and committed imagination. Let the mythic truths sneak in, as it were, quietly, through the back door.
Now to the text itself. As I remarked above, MacDonald is undertaking in this story to instill within a child's mind a fully Biblical set of attitudes towards all adversities in life, from the small aggravations all the way to death itself. It is consistently the case with MacDonald that he had Biblical truths solidly in mind as he wrote. Those that pertain to this tale are startling. James, for instance, begins his book by advising: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete. . . (1:2-4, NIV). Paul writes: ". . . we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint . . . ." (Rom. 5:3-5, NIV). Peter says something very similar in his first epistle, as does the writer of the Book of Hebrews. Anyone who seriously tries to implement these admonitions in daily life faces a challenging task. How does one instill such truths in the mind of a child? To contemplate that is to come into a fuller appreciation of MacDonald's undertaking.
Diamond has many lessons to learn, most all of which orchestrate the archetypal fact that in all of life appearances mask an underlying reality, a Reality that is gloriously benign. A trusting relation to North Wind is the basic requirement for Diamond coming into a knowledge of that reality: "You will be much the better for it. Just believe what I say, and do as I tell you" (12). When she reminds him at their first meeting that "knowing a person's name isn't the same as knowing a person's real self" (13), she is initiating the appearance/reality theme: a person's outward appearance is one thing, the nature of the "real self" within is quite another.
At the end of Chapter One North Wind gives the implications of the theme she wants to instill in Diamond: the appearances of her activities may be ugly, but they are necessary for her basic aim: to make "ugly things beautiful." She counsels: ". . . my hand will never change in yours if you hold on tight. If you hold on, you will know who I am even if you look at me and I look like something awful instead of like the North Wind." A great deal of theological truth is contained in this simple statement. One may think of Heb. 12:11: For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
North Wind bids Diamond follow him, but when he obeys by going outside into Coleman's garden, he cannot find her. Deeply disappointed, he retreats, feeling she has not kept her word. But later he is told she really was there--in the breeze that gently moved the primroses. He must learn that North Wind comes in many forms, some quite mild. If a mild adversity can accomplish its purpose, there is no need for a stronger one. But he does discover that by far the wisest response when a wind is blowing is to keep it at one's back (20). The image suggests the wisdom of submissively responding to whatever life offers--"rolling with the blow"--rather than rebelling against and resisting that which is beyond one's control.
But Diamond is strongly tempted to dismiss these initial nocturnal encounters with North Wind as only dreams; that is, they have no reality in the material world of everyday life. North Wind, however, keeps coming to him, and, as he does what she tells him to, his confidence in her reality steadily grows.
Each succeeding visit North Wind makes reinforces in Diamond's mind the necessity for absolute trust in the face of the most dire appearances, confident that they have a good purpose. In Chapter 3, she tells him she has "unpleasant work tonight," and takes him with her as she appears as a wolf to a nurse who is mistreating a child, terrifying her and causing her to fall. Frightened himself when he hears the sound of the nurse falling, Diamond suspects North Wind of cruelty: "I hope you haven'st eaten a baby," he seriously remarks, to which she replies: "No, I didn't eat a baby. You wouldn't have had to ask that silly question if you hadn't let go of me."
Chapter 3 closes with MacDonald affirming a principle that recurs often in his writings: People are incapable of seeing more good that their natures allow them to see. North Wind explains that the nurse saw her as a wolf because of her evil nature: "The woman wouldn't have seen me either if she had been good. . . . Why should you see things that you wouldn't understand? Good people see good things: bad people, bad things. . . . I had to make myself look like a bad thing before she could see me." The Biblical principle MacDonald has in mind is given in Psalms 18, 25, 26. "With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal; with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless; with the pure thou dost show thyself pure; and with the crooked thou dost show thyself perverse."
Monday, August 13, 2012
READING AT THE WADE
ROLLAND HEIN, LEADER
FALL 2012
SYLLABUS
TIME AND PLACE: Saturdays, 10 - 11 a.m., meeting room, The Marion E. Wade Center, corner of Washington and Lincoln, Wheaton, IL.
TEXTS: C. S. Lewis. The Magician’s Nephew; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. HarperCollins.
George MacDonald. At the Back of the North Wind. Anamchara Books: Harding.
Note: Books are available at the Wheaton College Bookstore at 20% discount with coupon
DESCRIPTION: Considered by many as George MacDonald’s most successful mythic tale, At the Back of the North Wind is the story of the nocturnal adventures of the child Diamond, a London cabman’s son who--in dreams occurring during periods of illness--is visited by the beautiful and mysteriously supernatural North Wind. She takes him with her, sheltered amidst her long and lovely hair, as she performs providential errands, some of which excite Diamond’s dismay. But to be at North Wind’s back is to be in tune with the nature of things, to see and know that God in his loving purposes oversees the creation of both prosperity and adversity in people’s lives (Isa 45:7) , that “although he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love, for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone” (Lam. 3:32, 33). The story offers provocative insights into the purposes of God’s working in His world.
The books for which C. S. Lewis is most well-known by the larger public today are the set for young people, The Chronicles of Narnia. We will be reading the first two in the series.
READINGS:
Sept. 8: At the Back of the North Wind, Chapters 1 - 4
15: Chapters 5 - 9
22: 10 - 19
29: 20 - 30
Oct. 6: 31 - end
13: The Magician’s Nephew, Chapters 1 - 5
20: 6 - 11
27: 12 - end
Nov. 3: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Chapters 1 - 6
10: 7 - 12
17: 13 - end
Classics at the Wade: Fall 2012 Syllabus
CLASSICS AT THE WADE
ROLLAND HEIN, LEADER
FALL 2012
www.drhein.blogspot.com
630-443-6807
SYLLABUS
TIME AND LOCATION: Wednesday afternoons, 2:00 - 3:00, Lecture room at the Wade Center, corner of Washington and Lincoln Streets, Wheaton, Il.
TEXTS: Michael D. O’Brien: Father Elijah. Ignatius.
Rebecca Skloot: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Broadway.
Richard Foster, et. al.: 25 Books Every Christian Should Read. HarperOne.
DESCRIPTION: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the incredible but true story of how so many of the amazing strides of medical science in the last fifty years derived from cells taken from the tissue of Henrietta Lacks, a poverty-stricken black tobacco farmer, without her knowledge or consent. Rebecca Skloot deftly recounts both the discoveries of medical science and also the devastating effects on the Lacks children as they try to understand the nature of what has happened to their mother’s cells. Pondering the story raises many pertinent issues concerning race, medical ethics, and individual rights.
Father Elijah is a gripping apocalyptic novel detailing the life and experiences of David Schafer who as a Jewish child narrowly escapes the Holocaust, in which his entire family is killed, and eventually converts to Christianity. He becomes a Roman Catholic priest and, with an interest in archaeology, takes residence upon Mt. Carmel, from which he is summoned by the Vatican and commissioned to penetrate stealthily into the inner circles of a powerful political figure who has all the markings of the Anti-Christ. O’Brien shows a remarkable mastery of Scriptural prophecy and incorporates into an excellently constructed tale many essential aspects of spiritual truth.
25 Books Every Christian Should Read is an extremely helpful introduction to 25 great classics of the Christian tradition, including such essential works as Augustine’s Confessions and G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. The text includes helpful summaries, excerpts, and study questions.
READINGS:
Sept. 5: Introduction.
12: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Part One
19: Part Two
26: Part Three
Oct. 3: 25 Books Every Christian Should Read. On the Incarnation. St. Athanasius.
10: Father Elijah: Chapters 1 - 4 (p. 84)
17: Chapters 5 - 7 (p. 159)
24: Chapters 8 - 9 (p. 237)
31: Chapters 10 - 12 (p. 316)
Nov. 7: 25 Books: Confessions. St. Augustine.
14: Father Elijah. Chapters 13 - 15 (p. 390)
21: Chapters 16 - 18 (p. 492)
28: Chapters 19 - 22 (p. 596).
Thursday, August 9, 2012
As I See It
The Christian lives in two zones of being, the temporal and the eternal, and the mature Christian life consists in making the former serve the later. This makes for a compelling duality in one's consciousness, something an unbeliever does not experience. The inner prayer, "Lord, what would you have me to do?" is the best response for each decision we confront.
Scripture gives us many reminders of this reality. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 3:20); we are to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col 3:2); we look not to the the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (II Cor. 4:18).
Scripture gives us many reminders of this reality. Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 3:20); we are to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Col 3:2); we look not to the the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (II Cor. 4:18).
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Log on for Life Syllabus
Here's the new syllabus for the Log-on-for-Life series, held in the Fellowship Hall of Christ Church of Oakbrook, 31st and York, 10 - 11a.m., beginning July 12.
TEXT: George MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind. Anamchara Books.
DESCRIPTION: We will be reading discussing together what is perhaps George MacDonald’s most successful mythic tale, the children’s story At the Back of the North Wind. It is the story of the nocturnal adventures of the child Diamond, a London cabman’s son who, in dreams occurring during periods of illness, is visited by the beautiful and mysteriously supernatural North Wind. She takes him with her, sheltered amidst her long and lovely hair, as she performs providential errands, some of which excite Diamond’s dismay. But to be at North Wind’s back is to be in tune with the nature of things, to see and know that God in his loving purposes oversees the creation of both prosperity and adversity in people’s lives (Isa 45:7), and that “although he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love, for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone” (Lam. 3:32, 33).
Beyond the charm of the story itself is the manner in which it instills within readers’ minds solidly Christian attitudes of faith, trust, and joy in the face of life’s inevitable realities of adversity and death. It is a story for children, but adults find deep fascination in contemplating the manner in which MacDonald affirms and makes attractive Biblically commended positive responses to events which cause unbelieving minds so much dismay. One’s spiritual life cannot but be greatly enriched by a careful consideration of this text.
To appreciate the quality of MacDonald’s mythic art, read the story first imaginatively, not simply intellectually, as though the text were a puzzle to be solved. Put yourself in the place of a child and consider how a child would react. Allow the truths embedded in the narrative to quietly “come in the back door” of the mind, so to speak, before contemplating them.
READINGS:
July 12: Introduction; Chapter 1.
19: Chapters 2 - 8
26: Chapters 9 - 16
August 2: Chapters 17 -24
9: Chapters 25 - 29
16: Chapters 30 - end.
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