News: The Good and the Bad

Almost every class we have, I get a new giggle from my Littles. These past few days have been no exception, as we've color-coded and labelled sentence structures, simultaneously learning whatever tidbits about Martin Luther's life I can convey without prepositional phrases or too many adjectives. Upon being informed that they have a test tomorrow, Zachary and Madeline (hereafter called "The Wise Ones") asked for me to print off a couple practice sheets for them. Forgoing our reformer theme (because I couldn't think of new facts right away), I hastily typed out a couple pages and went about my merry way. On the way upstairs this evening, however, I spotted Maddy's practice page:

The good news is: some amount of information from her sentence analyses is getting through. The bad news is: it's all getting dreadfully tangled up with Jane Austen & Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

The Heroes Among Us - Part I

Heroism. It is praised, sung, recounted, aspired to, and even worshiped, but how do you define the heroic?

Having grown up as children of this age, most of us would identify a hero as one who risked and sacrificed much - most notably his life - for the well-being of others. It's a definition deeply rooted in the Christian concept of love (John 15:13) and firmly fastened, even in non-believing American culture, by the weight of tradition - tradition that gave birth to our country as the founding fathers signed their death warrants to stand for the better future of coming generations. Of course, heroism as we know it today didn't begin with Declaration of Independence any more than the shifting definitions of our culture are original to the 21st century. Powerful deity-claimers, adept warriors, chivalrous nobles - all have, at some point in history, asserted this title. From whence have these claimants come, and have we begun, once again, to accept their less-than-worthy definitions?

In his fascinating study, The Book That Made Your World, Vishal Mangalwadi identifies three main phases of conceptual heroism: the classical hero, the medieval hero, and the modern hero. Classically, Mangalwadi observes, the Greco-Roman world lauded whoever held the greatest power. Requiring absolutely no moral guidelines or conscience, the "heroes" of this era (Alexander the Great, the Caesars, etc) were evil, self-absorbed, oppressive murders, able to claim deity and the right to be worshiped merely by virtue of their power. Evidence of this warped definition is further seen in the Greek mythologies, whose gods were good or evil as they liked (mostly the latter) and immoral, yet worshiped for the power they held. The classical era was a hopeless time for heroes.

Medieval heroism improved little upon the classical definition, the church's ornamental modifications failing still to address the heart issues of self-denial and elitist, upper-class superiority complexes. In exchange for power-hungry dictators, knights were the worshiped idols of the day. Exhibiting vast ability with a wide range of weapons, these "heroes" were those who could kill the best, and often did so with little regard of friend or foe until the Catholic church began to intervene. It was not enough, insisted the church, to be a nobleman who was good with the sword; thus the words "chivalry," "honor," "bravery," and "loyalty," began to embellish the peoples' definitions. Yet, in the end, these heroes were still the powerful upper class: those able to cut down opposition and threats one moment and turn to awe and flatter with words and courtly graces the next. The medieval era was a dignifying and adorning time of the classical hero.

Then, suddenly, unsuspectingly, all the swirling facades of gallantry and heroism were cast aside as one truly heroic man stood before the culmination of all past professions of heroism. Mangalwadi points to Roland Bainton's Here I Stand as the most succinct representation of the moment:

"The scene lends itself to a dramatic portrayal. Here was Charles, heir of a long line of Catholic sovereigns - of Maximilian the romantic, of Ferdinand the Catholic, of Isabella the orthodox - scion of the house of Hapsburg, lord of Austria, Burgundy, the Low Countries, Spain and Naples, Holy Roman Emperor, ruling over a vaster domain than any save Charlemagne, symbol of the medieval unities, incarnation of a glorious if vanishing heritage; and here before him a simple monk, a miner's son, with nothing to sustain him save his own faith in the Word of God. Here the past and the future were met."

 Martin Luther, a lowly monk of no prominent family, with no merit save his faith in God and iron-will resolve to stand by the Scriptures, confronted head-on hundreds of years of heroic claims and proved them all wrong. He was the real hero of the moment, and the people, reformers, and ages to follow him would recognize and rally to this "new" depiction of heroism: one who stands for what is right, and for the rights of others, even at risk of his own life. The era of the modern hero, marked by Luther, was a time of imitating Christ's heroism.

to be continued...

{Hello all! I missed last week's post! (I claim illness.) To make up for this sorry omission, there will be two posts this week, the next one being on Thursday. :) }
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The Day I Celebrate

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 The early Celts called it "Samhain". Marking their New Year as beginning on November 1st, the various clans also celebrated the eve of their "end of summer and beginning of fall", much like we do for our New Year's Eve. But as is to be expected in a culture that knows not the true God, the eve was marked with deep superstitions; fear of spirits and magic lay thickly in the air, spurring the the ungodly ones to build great bonfires, wear hideous costumes, and perform mass sacrifices in hopes of securing protection from their gods against the ghosts who were believed to roam the earth that night.

Why would I celebrate that?

Later, the Romans came, and with them, eventually, Christianity. Christianity which was soon defined and dictated to by Catholicism. In an effort to maintain the celebration while dispelling the superstitions, the Catholic church moved the observation of "All Saints Day" - in which all religious people were to pray to the saints and martyrs of old, as well as pray for the souls of those still tormented in purgatory - from May 13th to November 1st. However, as often happened when the church attempted to overcome the pagan with the "good" (though I hardly classify praying to and for dead people as "good"), the superstitions of the old were combined with the rituals of the new. Add in a dose of the Roman "feast of the dead," and you have "All Hallow's Eve". Or, "Halloween".

Why would I celebrate that?

Fast-forward 750 years. The Catholic church is in the midst of a money-hungry, power-grasping craze. Those at the top rule the masses by suppression of the truth - by fear. They bully the nobility and puppet rulers with decrees, threats, and the blind support of their ignorant, Kool Aid followers. Like a lone candle in a moldering basement, one monk stands; not to defy his authorities - though in the end he is forced to -, not to overthrow the church - though his goal of purifying was distorted to appear so -, but to assure and make clear the road of salvation to a people who had hitherto lived in deep fear and darkness. On the 31st of October, 1517, Marin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of his church, protesting the clerical abuses and the Pope-sanctioned preaching that indulgences were equal or superior to genuine repentance. A small sampling:

36. Any Christian whatsoever, who is truly repentant, enjoys plenary remission from penalty and guilt, and this is given him without letters of indulgence.

52. It is vain to rely on salvation by letters of indulgence, even if the commissary, or indeed the pope himself, were to pledge his own soul for their validity.

53. Those are enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid the word of God to be preached at all in some churches, in order that indulgences may be preached in others.

54. The word of God suffers injury if, in the same sermon, an equal or longer time is devoted to indulgences than to that word.

55. The pope cannot help taking the view that if indulgences (very small matters) are celebrated by one bell, one pageant, or one ceremony, the gospel (a very great matter) should be preached to the accompaniment of a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.　

94. Christians should be exhorted to be zealous to follow Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hells.

95.And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through a false assurance of peace.The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

If you've ever read all of the 95 Theses (and I hope you have!) you know that Martin was still very Catholic, and supported certain doctrines which one would be hard-pressed to find in Scripture. Yet, in his valuing of God's opinion above man's, in his willingness and diligence to search out the Scriptures and know truly the assurance of salvation, in his bravery to stand tall and declare truths to those who did not - who could not - know, Martin Luther was used of God to plant a seed which soon sprouted and grew to be called "The Reformation".

And that, my dear friends, is something to celebrate. Happy Reformation Day!

Souces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ninety-Five_Theses
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/95theses.htm