CHESTERTON HOUSE:
A CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN STUDIES
"daring to discuss the important and the amusing"
NEWSLETTER #28
WINTER 2008
"If God had been a liberal," someone once wrote, "we wouldn't have the Ten Commandments--we'd have the Ten Suggestions." Interestingly, the quote is used both by critics and defenders of Christianity to make very different points. In using the quote for their respective purposes, both groups tend to miss the mark.
The point of the critics is that Christianity (and presumably Judaism) is a restrictive religion, incompatible with the modern ideal of freedom as unrestricted choice. "The truth is, of course," Chesterton wrote with far more insight, "that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden."
That the Ten Commandments are about freedom is evidenced not only by logic but also by their context in the biblical narrative. They were given as a gift to the fledgling nation of Israel upon the Israelites' release from slavery, and are preceded in the narrative by the first redemption song ever documented. The preface to the Decalogue itself, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery," similarly suggests that the commandments are not decontextualized imperatives but rather concrete ways of lovingly responding to God's gracious act of deliverance.
Here, as elsewhere in Scripture, ethical commands are grounded in the redemptive acts of God. As the theologians like to say, the indicative precedes the imperative. Or, more simply, we love God because He first loved us.
Placing the Ten Commandments in their historical context, however, not only protects us from the error of the above-mentioned critic. It also protects us from the equal and opposite error of employing the commandments in the service of mere morality. Defenders of the Decalogue too often fail to grasp that the commandments are part of God's progressive self-disclosure, pointing forward to the new covenant's higher standard, "Be ye perfect." Like Christ's impossibly high and holy standards, the Mosaic law shows us not only how to be good, but also that we can't be good. It is not about providing us with a role model so much as pointing us toward a savior.
The enlargement of the law in the new covenant is illustrated nicely by the repentant murderer in C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce, a fantasy-journey through Heaven and Hell. The murderer, upon encountering an archetypal Pharisee who is pleased with himself but not with his eternal reward, has the task of explaining the subtlety of sin. "Murdering old Jack wasn't the worst thing I did," he admits. "That was the work of a moment and I was half mad when I did it. But I murdered you in my heart, deliberately, for years." The Pharisee, leaning on his own virtue, claims he deserves his rights. "It's not so bad as that," the murderer responds. "I haven't got my rights, or I should not be here. You will not get yours either. You'll get something far better." Indeed, it is knowledge of our neediness that deepens our appreciation of grace.
Needless to say, there is much more that could be said on this central text not only of Scripture but also of all Western Civilization. This year's annual Institute of Biblical Studies, provided by Rev. Dr. Stephen Um of CityLife Church in Boston, is entitled "Gospel Freedom: Ancient Words, Modern Wisdom." His text is the Ten Commandments. On Saturday evening we will be hosting a one-man play of C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce," provided by Philadelphia-area actor Tony Lawton. More details below.
We hope you will join us if you can. Thanks to all for your ongoing prayers and support of the Chesterton House ministry.
Karl E. Johnson
Director
COMING EVENTS
Friday-Sunday, February 8-10
"Gospel Freedom: Ancient Words, Modern Wisdom"
Rev. Dr. Stephen Um, Sr. Pastor, CityLife Church, Boston
Institute of Biblical Studies
Co-sponsored with Bethel Grove Bible Church and New Life Presbyterian Church
Friday, 7:30pm: "Freedom to Live"
Free Public Lecture. Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall.
Saturday, 9:00am - 2:30pm
Bethel Grove Bible Church
Saturday, 7:30pm: "The Great Divorce"
One-man play by Tony Lawton
Women's Community Building
Free & Open to the public
Sunday, 9:00am & 10:45am: "Freedom to Fail"
Bethel Grove Bible Church
Saturday, April 5, 7:00pm
"Title: TBA"
J. Richard Middleton, Author & Professor, Roberts Wesleyan
Graduate Christian Fellowship Roundtable
Location: TBA
Saturday, April 26, 7:00pm
"Science: A Misused Weapon in a Religious War"
Dr. Randy Isaac, Executive Director, American Scientific Affiliation
Graduate Christian Fellowship Roundtable
Big Red Barn
All Chesterton House events are open to the public.
ETHICS & ENVIRONMENT LECTURES ON-LINE
Many Cornell alumni fondly remember Dr. Richard Baer's unusually engaging and provocative course, "Religion, Ethics, and the Environment." Baer, Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources and a Chesterton House board member, taught this popular course for thirty years. Many of you will be pleased to know that a set of these lectures is now preserved and available on Dr. Baer's website. Topics range widely (one might even say wildly) from gardening, caterpillars and the meaning of nature; to Plato, St. Paul, and Wendell Berry; meta-ethics, moral relativism, and radical doubt; Uriah this Hittite, CS Lewis, and theology of ballet; and on and on. Although it is difficult to pick favorites, I especially recommend "The God Who Plays," and "Freedom, Humility, and Love" (which draws upon Iris Murdoch and Stanley Hauerwas). Note also there is a lecture that deals with the theme of the indicative and the imperative. It is a feast of philosophy. Enjoy: https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/~rab12/Religion%2C+Ethics%2C+and+the+Environment
CONFERENCES, CONFERENCES, CONFERENCES
In addition to the Institute of Biblical Studies, there are many other very fine conferences happening around the Northeast over the next several months, including the CCO Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh, where Chesterton House director Karl Johnson will be speaking on Sabbath, the International Arts Movement Conference in NYC, the Q Conference in NYC, and the Ivy League Congress on Faith and Action in New Haven. All of this is to say nothing of the many other conferences in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Oxford, and elsewhere.
Interested in more? Chesterton House maintains a list of upcoming conferences of interest to those concerned about thinking Christianly about culture.
"HEAVEN" NOW ON SALE
Well, not exactly, but you know what we mean. The recording of "Heaven in a Nightclub" is now available for purchase. Sixteen tracks; 90 minutes; $25 dollars. It's VERY good, and all proceeds support the work of the Chesterton House ministry. You can listen to two full minutes of each track at CDbaby.com. Check it out. Buy a copy. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Thanks!
"If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments,
they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments."
G.K. Chesterton