England, C.S. Lewis, and the Sad Fulfillment of the Abolition of Man

Our family is enjoying a mini-sabbatical of sorts in Cambridge, England, where I am enjoying the wonderful opportunity to study at Tyndale House, see old friends, make new friends, and enjoy some time in the U.K.  Having enjoyed a wonderful sabbatical here in 2010, it is a joy to be back.

Sadly, within a few days of our arrival, there were riots in the Tottenham area of London.  We prayed for the situation in church, and now similar riots--including various violent acts, looting, etc., have broken out in numerous places in England.  Even here in Cambridge, it appears that a gang of people had gathered one evening and were headed to the Grafton Centre (a shopping mall/area) in Cambridge, before police intercepted the effort and apprended (at least some) of the apparently would-be looters/rioters.

The last time we were here (spring 2010), there was talk about Britain being "broken"--and this talk came from, if I remember correctly, the Conservative party here, and its leader (now Prime Minister) David Cameron.  I have no doubt that Britain--like virtually any modern nation-state--is "broken".  As a limited-government kind of American, I have my differences with the statist and welfare-state system of any modern nation-state who chooses that economic/social/political path (the UK or otherwise).  The welfare-state virtually must--by definition--produce an entitlement mentality, and as wonderful as the UK is, it is nigh impossible to avoid an entitlement mentality when one is told repeatedly that shelter, food, drink, education, health-care, employment, etc., are all "rights" that one is entitled do.

But I suppose that the "brokenness" of the UK--as well as the "brokenness" of the modern world more generally--runs deeper than simply a false view of entitlement.  I keep waiting for folks to turn to C.S. Lewis' classic work, The Abolition of Man. To my mind The Abolition of Man was one of Lewis' most prescient works, and its radical nature may still not be appreciated.  Lewis was concerned about the power of one generation to shape the next generation, and the way in which one generation could--even if this was not their explicit goal--"abolish" man over time.  That is, through something as seemingly inoccuous as a grammar textbook, one generation could so shape future generations, that future generations would--in a sense--abolish themselves.

Lewis' The Abolition of Man were the Riddell Memorial Lectures (University of Durham) originally published in 1943, and subtitled, "Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools".  Lewis begins the lectures by contending that even something as (seemingly) inoccuous as a grammar book can lead to great harm.  Lewis takes a passage from The Green Book (Lewis' made-up title for an actual grammar book) where the authors (subtly) say that "This is sublime" actually means "I have sublime feelings."  That is, when one says "This is sublime [i.e., beautiful, majestic], one is actually saying, "I have sublime [i.e., beautiful, majestic] feelings."  Thus, what we think are statements about something outside us are really simply expessions of our feelings.  Lewis is making any number of points, including: (1) A grammar book is making what it seems to be a self-evident point (i.e., a statement about something else is simply an expression of personal feelings); (2) such "self-evident" statements get lodged in the heart, soul, and mind of the reader (since they are simply reading a grammar book--not a, philosphical or theological or moral treatise), and will end up shaping a person's ultimate convictions in ways the reader may never ultimately grasp or comprehend.

Thus, the readers of The Green Book are subtly shaped such that they come to think that statements about things outside of one's self are simply expressions of one's feelings.  Lewis teases out such philosophical influences and argues that eventually this person--or later generations influenced by such a vision of reality--will come to doubt that there is any sort of moral reality or moral law that is true and real (and not simply an expression of one's feelings) and that impinges--rightfully--upon one's self.  In short, a "throw away" line from a students' grammar book may just (because of the insidious philosophical premise embedded in such a "throw away" line) lead to the denial of any sort of ultimate moral reality, and therefore lead to the eventual "abolition of man".

Other twentieth-century figures lamented that fact that modern man seemed to have a "suicidal impulse" (Richard Weaver), or that modern man seemed to have a "death wish" (Malcolm Muggeridge).  That is, modern man--adrift from ultimate moral and theological convictions and moorings--seemed to be bent on destroying himself.

Lewis ends the first lecture (of three) of The Abolition of Man with a lament.  His final words in this essay are worth quoting at length:

And all the time--such is the tragi-comedy of our situation--we continue to clamour for these very qualities we are rendering impossible.  You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self- sacrifice, or 'creativity'.  In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function.  We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise.  We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.  We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

One cannot tell generation after generation that they have right to food, shelter, education, health-care, employment, a vacation, etc., and then be surprised when folks "entitle" themselves to other people's property. But more fundamentally, a culture--the UK or otherwise--cannot generation after generation laugh at honour and virtue and then be surprised that a culture has produced people who have no interest in honor or virtue.  The most foundational question is not, "what caused these riots?", but rather, "why are there not more riots?"  That is, a culture that systematically and repeatedly and thoroughly laughs at virtue and honor should not be surprised when they look up to see traitors in their midst.  We cannot make "men without chests" and then be surprised to see them face-to-face.  May God help the UK, and all of us.

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Published: 15 August 2011 15 August 2011

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Recovering the Liberal Arts--Article in The City

The City is a fairly new journal being published by Houston Baptist University, under the capable leadership of Ben Domenech.  It is a forthright publication which I read regularly.  And at present you can subscribe for free at www.hbu.edu/thecity.  I was honored that in the most recent edition the inimitable Lou Markos wrote a friendly review of my recent book, The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life. Thanks Lou.  I had the privilege of writing a short essay on the liberal arts--particularly on the possible recovery of the liberal arts, and their relationship to the Christian gospel.  You can look at the entire issue, the Summer 2011 issue, on line here.  I hope you enjoy the issue!

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Published: 30 July 2011 30 July 2011

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The Gospel and the Mind Section at the 2011 Southern Festival Books

Greetings folks.  I am happy to share that at the upcoming Southern Festival of Books (October 14-16, 2011) in Nashville, Tennessee, there will be a panel/section devoted to my book The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life.  This is a first for me, and I am looking forward to it.  I believe there will be a review/critique or two or three, and then I will share a few words about the book, and respond to the other folks.  The event web site is here.  I will be speaking about the book at 2:00 pm, Sunday, October 16, in the Capitol Library.   

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Published: 13 July 2011 13 July 2011

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Colin Gunton and the Failure of Augustine--Book Published

Greetings to you from Tennessee (and a hot Tennessee summer!).  I hope this note finds all well with you.

I am writing to share about a recent publication.  I am pleased to share that Wipf and Stock has recently published my dissertation: Colin Gunton and the Failure of Augustine: The Theology of Colin Gunton in Light of Augustine.  Lewis Ayres was kind enough to write the Foreword (thanks Lewis!). Wipf and Stock has been a joy to work with, and I am very pleased with the final product.  A number of you have been supporters and cheerleaders over the years.  Thank you!

The book is available through . . .

· the Wipf and Stock web site

· Amazon

Here is a synopsis of the book:

Colin Gunton argued that Augustine bequeathed to the West a theological tradition with serious deficiencies.  According to Gunton, Augustine’s particular construal of the doctrine of God led to fundamental errors and problems in (1) grasping the relationship between creation and redemption, and in (2) rightfully construing a truly Christian ontology.  A closer reading of Augustine challenges Gunton’s understanding.

I appreciate the support and endorsements from the following folks:

“The late Colin Gunton was an ardent and influential critic of Augustine's Trinitarian theology.  His work was influential on many in the English speaking theological community.  Brad Green's book offers the most sustained critique currently available of Gunton's work and should be read by anyone who has been swayed by Gunton's presentation.  But more than this, Green's work also makes available a very different Augustine.  Building on the work of a growing body of scholarship Green reveals to the theological community a vision of Augustine that will help us to think again about this most important of the Church Fathers in the west.”

Lewis Ayres, University of Durham

“Dr. Green is an accomplished scholar with a deep knowledge of Augustine and other church fathers. His proposed reply to the line recently taken by Colin Gunton and others is necessary and timely.  Professor Gunton overplayed his hand and distorted Augustine's perspectives in various ways, which Dr. Green aims to elucidate. There is a growing secondary literature which takes Gunton at face value on this subject and it is essential to refute it before it becomes a new orthodoxy. Dr. Green's proposal is therefore most welcome.”

Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School and Latimer Trust

“Brad Green offers a persuasive reading of Augustine that corrects misapprehensions found, not just in the work of Colin Gunton, but much more widely across contemporary theology. He also shows us how Augustine, rightly understood, can be recovered as a positive resource for contemporary theology. The book is not merely corrective, however: the reader will discover a perceptive and sympathetic reading of Gunton's own thought that gives us insight into a significant contemporary figure. This book will open up ancient and modern theology, and how they should be related. These are important matters, and I hope it will be widely read.”

Stephen Holmes, University of St. Andrews

“Over the past few decades, Trinitarian theology has risen from the post-Enlightenment deluge in which it seemed to have sunk, and few have played as crucial a role in that development as the late Colin Gunton.  Theologians and church leaders alike found in Gunton's work not only a rich theology of God but also the framework for a Trinitarian ontology, aesthetics, science, and cultural analysis - a Trinitarian theology useful in ways that Kant would never have dreamed.  At the foundation of Gunton's work was the claim that Augustine early on steered Western theology into a reef, leaving contemporary theologians to gather the wreckage and rebuild.  Through an appreciative yet critical examination of Gunton's project, and an equally cogent treatment of Augustine, Brad Green has gently corrected Gunton's reading of Augustine, showing that the Bishop of Hippo left Western theology far more seaworthy than Gunton believed.  In the process, Green strengthens Gunton's case against modernity by providing some Augustinian equipment.  This is theology of a high caliber—judicious, clear, convincing, and, above all, serviceable to the church as it navigates the roiling seas of modernity and postmodernity.”

Peter Leithart, New St. Andrews College

“Brad Green set out to vindicate Colin Gunton's revolutionary critique of Augustine—namely, that he is a proto-Unitarian who imports the ancient Greek emphasis on the One into his own doctrine of the Trinity. Instead Green came to see, in ways that others have not, that Gunton is quite wrongheaded in tracing our modern and post-modern ills to an alleged monergism in Augustine. Far from failing to emphasize the communal character of the Trinity—allegedly denying the insights of the Cappadocians in this matter—Augustine has a robust doctrine of the three Persons as dwelling in utterly self-offering community. In his carefully-argued and lucidly-written dissertation, Green shows that Augustine's trinitarian communalism—especially as it engaged ancient pagan culture—offers the real antidote to the perilous individualism that is the chief legacy of the Enlightenment.

Ralph Wood, Baylor University

I hope you and yours have a great summer!

Blessings to you,

Brad

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Published: 11 July 2011 11 July 2011

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