We were privileged to have Randy Maddox of Duke Divinity School here at IWU today for our Spring Religion colloquium. Ken Collins was here a few weeks ago for the Cox Holiness lectures, so we've feasted on Wesley scholars this semester.
But Maddox wasn't here to talk about holiness. Rather he spoke about Wesley and care for the world. Steve Conrad, a biology professor, responded.
Much of his presentation (which I think he just gave at WTS as well) had to do with the misperception that Judeo-Christian views have been the primary culprit behind negative attitudes and actions toward the environment. He showed that Christians in about five different disciplines have shown that this is not the case at all. For example, he argued that it was Frances Bacon in the 1500's who first interpreted the phrase "subdue" the earth in terms of domination, with industrialization therefore being very biblical...
I think almost all of us learned something about Wesley we didn't know. Wesley believed that in the eschaton all the beings of the world moved up the scale of being. So animals would be able to speak in heaven. We will become like the angels. Maddox's point was that it was very Wesleyan to take into account not just issues of the environment that affect humans but that God grace was on all, including the animal kingdom.
Some interesting side conversations were had. He seemed to differ somewhat with Mark Noll's precise sense of evangelical history and saw Don Dayton as the best push back on that score. I introduced the issue with my sense that Wesleyans didn't really start calling themselves evangelicals until the 50's (in other words, that we "became" neo-evangelicals but had not been engaged at all in the rhetoric of fundamentalism prior to that time).
Then Drury shared something about the Pilgrim Holiness Church I had never heard before. The leaders got down and prayed in the 50's about a controversial figure called Billy Graham, whether to identify or distinguish themselves from him. They decided to side with him. And thus the Pilgrim Holiness Church might be said to have become "evangelical." Of course it was also in the 1950's that Stephen Paine, clearly a neo-evangelical, introduced the word inerrant into the Wesleyan Methodist vocabulary.
Another point of difference between Maddox and Noll was on the topic of when science and faith really divorced in "faith-full" American Christianity (I'm refusing to use the word evangelical here). Noll dates it after the Civil War. Maddox thinks it is after WW1. My question was when science and faith will rejoin. He thought it was beginning to happen.
Another observation drawn had to do with the respective trajectories of Maddox and Ken Collins. Collins started out Catholic and so apparently emphasizes the Wesley the Protestant more. Collins is more of a historical theologian and so aims at appropriating Wesley as Wesley. Maddox started out Nazarene and so is more comfortable emphasizing the more "catholic" dimensions of Wesley, and as a constructive theologian is interested in appropriating Wesley for the church universal.
These are great days for IWU's intellect. I think its heart has always been good.
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9 comments:
Twas very stimulating indeed. Good to get theologically grounded amidst the wave of green media coverage (which is, of course, interspersed with the normal BUY MORE commercials - ha!).
His boldest statement to me was the "we need to lower our standard of living" piece. Though this should be old hat to Christians.
FYI - here is the link to that Upland farm I was talking about: http://www.vicm.org/victoryacres.html
Yes, one of the take aways from Maddox certainly included an anti-consumerism message, less is better, think when you are building a house or buying a car. Amid a later discussion of some of the apocalyptic economic signs in America today, he mentioned Malthus--the workings of the world have a way of downsizing us by force if we don't do it voluntarily.
If the truck industry collapses because of gas prices, someone said, we will find local agriculture rising up to fill local gaps (just like in the old days :-)
Thanks for the link on the farm.
Did anyone record the talk today? I would really like to hear it.
I don't think so, although it's possible. After Steve Horst made a snide remark, I mentioned that I was glad they weren't recording it. :-)
But I have the URL for a web version of his paper. I'll post it here tomorrow when I'm in the office.
Ken -
The question is: could we fill in the gaps quickly with new (old) industries, or would it be very be bumpy? Either way, the economists win as long as prices distribute the goods, right? It's just that "market inefficiencies" might include, um, humans, like certain populations in Marion - populations that doesn't have the comfort of executive desks and full-time employment. That is natural selection though - in economics as well as biology.
Who actually knows how to farm anyway? Perhaps 2% of the population now, of which 1.99% is the industrial model. Life gets interesting when diesel is $4.19/gal (Hoosier truckers are protesting by driving around the statehouse... burning expensive fuel). Ok, I'm done now...
I'm glad you enjoyed Dr. Maddox's visit. He's a wonderful scholar and tremendous man of God. I was intrigued by Drury's story of the Wesleyans and Billy Graham in the 50's. That is absolutely fascinating to me. I wonder when it was in the 50's because if it's early enough, Graham still was quite the fundamentalist at that time. If the Pilgrim's were debating over the issue that much, it would be more proof to your theory that Wesleyans represent a type of Neo-Evangelical.
I'm currently toying with the idea that Graham actually became the first "modern" evangelical (neo-evangelical) but according to Drury's story, the Wesleyans might have beat him to the punch. Imagine that, we were at the forefront of something good again. Abolitionism, check. Neo-Evangelicalism, check. What's next?
The general board was in session when the Graham phenomenon broke in the news... my father was present and told it this way:
We came into the board with newspapers telling the story and had to have an opinion... the decision was made when we determined this was a move of God and we all knelt and prayed for this new young preacher.
Here's the link to Randy Maddox's WTS paper: John Wesley's Precedent for Theological Engagement with the Natural Sciences".
Kevin, you tell me any word and I show you how it comes from Greek... or the Wesleyans, as the case may be :-)
I think Ockenga called for the start of a "neo-evangelical" movement in the late 40's, right?
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