Month: August 2011

Veritas history students will take our Summer 2011 History & Heritage Quiz in class
this Friday, September 2. Faculty and families will receive the bright yellow hard copy of
the test in their folders the week after. It will subsequently be posted on our website.
What follows is commentary on this weekʼs Almanac readings. Please note that this is
the 12th-and-final installment of Summer H&H for this year.

August 23 — “The Poet”
The New England transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a noteworthy lecture
by this title in New York City in the summer of 1842, a talk that inspired a young Walt
Whitman to write his acclaimed Leaves of Grass (1855)? Emerson called for a uniquely
American artistry to celebrate everyday life in the U.S. with its small farms, factorytowns,
and railroads. Whitman, who heard Emerson speak that day, later claimed his
creative juices had been “simmering” until Emerson brought them “to a boil.”

August 25 — Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770)
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) called him “the marvelous boy;” other English literary
giants couldnʼt help but laud his astonishing ability to craft poetry, essays, journal
accounts, and stories. Chatterton claimed to be merely translating the works of
medieval monks from “brittle old manuscripts,” but that seemed fanciful to many.

Like many child prodigies of our day, too much success too early, along with severe
character flaws, proved his undoing.

Some words from the sketch that you should be able to define include scrivener,
elegies, eclogues, neophyte, precocious, profligately, unimpeachable. (Do not
merely consult a dictionary, but try to use the clues yielded by the context.)

Hereʼs a sentence worthy of careful attention: “Though most of the medieval academics
of the day questioned the authenticity of the manuscripts, the undeniable beauty and
stunning maturity of the pastoral eclogues made them doubt that a neophyte like
Chatterton could have manufactured such an elaborate ruse much less have written
such magnificent literature.”

Lastly, students of history should note when the teen prodigy lived: Chatterton passed
from this world (1770) just before the struggle of the American colonies for
independence from Great Britain heated up.

August 30 — Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826): Americaʼs Farmer
Jefferson, in Baltimore during his vice-presidential term (1797–1801), finds thereʼs no
room for him in the inn and proves his personal connection to everyday people and
everyday work (“democratic solidarity”).

As Americaʼs foremost agrarian theorist, Jefferson believed the land was the chief
material asset, and proper care of it the chief virtue, of a people. His words on this
matter bear repeating: “Widespread distribution and careful stewardship over property
is the most tangible attribute of liberty. The faith of a people, the vision of a people, the
destiny of a people may be divined by its corporate concern for the soil.”

Perhaps it behooves us today to consider the contrast between, and the relative
importance of, “corporate concern for the soil” and corporate concern for money.
Whereas the former nudges us closer to nature and a more enduring bond with our
geographic place in the world, our community and our neighbors, the latter typically
does not. With money, as they say, itʼs easy come and easy go. The earthʼs a bit
harder to move and take with us when we seek greener pastures.

For Jefferson, as with all thoughtful agrarians, the land not only belongs to us (under
Godʼs rule and ordination, of course), but we belong to the land. If there is some truth to
this, and the ancient Israelites would probably concur with it, then what lies beneath our
feet is our vital physical and “tangible” link to one another and across generations.

Suffice it to say that any spiritual link we have with each other (and with our ancestors
and descendants) is much harder to preserve without a solid and stable material one.

August 30 — The “Apostle to the Indians”
Highlighted in this entry are the remarkable achievements of John Eliot (1604–1690), a
Puritan clergyman who migrated from England to Massachusetts Bay in 1631 (part of
the “Great Migration”). Eliot, teacher of the church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, for
nearly 60 years (1632–1690), made strenuous efforts to reach the Algonquin Indians
with the gospel. His translations of the Old and New Testaments into the language of
the Algonquins formed the first printed Bible in North America.

Veritas history students, we will take the Summer 2011 History & Heritage Quiz during the first week of school on Friday, September 2.
Do not worry about getting a bad grade; grades will only count if you do well (and they
will count rather handsomely). Our quizzes are about developing cultural memory,
awareness, and thoughtfulness. That’s what matters, so pay careful attention to the
content of each question as you read through the test.
We trust you have kept up with the weekly Almanac biographical sketches (just 2
pages per week) and the summer H&H installments by email or the Veritas blog
(there will be 12 in all). It would be a good idea to print these installments, if you haven’t
already done so, and bring them to class for the first day of school (Monday, August 29).
Our set-up preliminaries complete, we now resume our summer lessons.
August 16 — Rufus King (1755-1827)
One of the youngest of the American Founders at the Constitutional Convention (he was
just 32 in 1787), known for his forceful eloquence in oratory and competence in the law,
particularly maritime and commercial relations. He represented Massachusetts for the
first half of his career (including the Founding era) and New York for the second half. A
High Federalist (an advocate for the U.S. Constitution) and a Unionist, there was still a
good measure of regional and parochial spirit in the man. A strong union was best, in
King’s mind, mostly because he thought it best for New England and the Northeast. He
thought secession was a legitimate option for the states, he threatened it a couple of
times himself, and once recommended it to Virginia’s John Taylor of Caroline (Taylor did
not think the moment was ripe for that option).

Even King’s fierce opposition to slavery seemed to be less about the moral injustice of
the practice than about regional power politics (mounting a challenge to what he
perceived as an ascendant and domineering South). King, by the way, was born in the
district of Maine (part of Massachusetts at the time), the son of a slaveholder. He
owned slaves himself until 1812.
August 18 — Carlyle and Wordsworth in 1840
A verbally sophisticated and enjoyable sketch about men of letters having breakfast (not
readily adaptable to questions and answers). Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was a
brilliant Scottish essayist and historian whose work on the French Revolution
established his reputation for wisdom in cultural criticism. William Wordsworth
(1770-1850) was England’s poet laureate from 1843 to his death.
We’ll quote one of Carlyle’s marvelous descriptions of the elderly Wordsworth as he
appeared to the learned Scot that sunny summer morning (make sure you get the
meaning of taciturn, hopefully from context): “You would have said he was a usually
taciturn man; glad to unlock himself to audience sympathetic and intelligent, when such
offered itself.”

There was one somewhat sour note in Carlyle’s account. After noting how Wordsworth
reveled in “the wells of English undefiled,” he complained about his being “stone dumb
as to the deeper rules and wells of Eternal Truth and Harmony, which you were to try
and set forth by said undefiled wells of English or what other speech you had.”

We can thank Mr. Carlyle for here reminding us of something we all know intuitively:
when it comes to rhetoric (speaking & writing), what we say matters more than how we
say it. Better to be true than merely eloquent or elegant.

Subsidiarity — (from Thomas Fleming’s The Morality of Everyday Life)
This term summarizes the substance of Roman Catholic criticism of both nationalism
and internationalism, ideologies that followed in the wake of the French Revolution?
Formulated by popes, including Leo XIII and Pius XI, in the late 1800s and early 1900s,
the Church’s teaching warned against larger jurisdictions swallowing up the functions of
smaller ones when the latter are indeed capable of performing them. Other names for
the concept include decentralization and federalism.

Students & friends, please note that this is our tenth installment of Summer History &
Heritage for 2011. If you missed any of them by email, you can find them on the Veritas
website blog (all 10 of them).

This week we continue our study of the August Christian Almanac biographical sketches
with a little commentary on some intriguing figures.

August 4 — King Oswald of Northumbria
Here we have a remarkable sketch on the intersection of pagan and Christian belief in
early-medieval (Anglo-Saxon) Britain, roughly covering the period AD 600-1100.
Northumbria is the ancient name for northeast England and southeast Scotland; many
believe it was 1 of 7 major kingdoms of the period (a heptarchy).

Reading of the heroic Oswald, the devout St. Aiden, and the influential monastery on
the isle of Lindisfarne reminded me a comment by author Ray Olson in his review of a
brilliant new anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry (The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon
Poems in Translation edited by Greg Delanty and Michael Matto). Olson writes:
“Altogether, these heroic monologues, Bible paraphrases, riddles, battle accounts,
saints’ lives, prayers, religious allegories, moral exempla, and white-magical charms
depict a society full of necessary violence that has decided–quite recently, it seems–to
trust in the salvation of Jesus Christ.” Delanty and Matto (an Irish poet and an American
literary scholar) deny that Anglo-Saxon writings, supposedly taken up later and revised
by Christian monks, show us a pagan society (the conventional view of today’s
universities). Rather, they boldly assert that “Christianity is the sea Anglo-Saxon poetry
swims in.” Olson’s fine review entitled Anglo-Saxon Reality appears in the August 2011
issue of Chronicles magazine.

(p.s. Did you notice that Oswald, once he secured Northumbria, visited the villages to
confirm his subjects in the Christian faith and to free slaves by turning them into monks?
Now if only Honest Abe and his generation had thought of an idea like that!)

From Modern Times: An Athlete and a Writer
With respect to the 20th-century, its political oppression, and world wars, I trust you
noted in the reading the remarkable fourfold triumph of Ohio State’s Jesse Owens in
Berlin (1936), and the heartbreaking arrest in Amsterdam (1944) and subsequent
concentration camp death of young Jewish diarist Anne Frank.

August 9 — Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204)
The highly educated lady of the 12th-century (1100s) was a force to be reckoned with in
public affairs, the queen-by-marriage of two kingdoms (France & England) and mother
of two kings (Richard the Lion-hearted and the infamous John).
If asked what acts of Eleanor’s were most pronounced in the reading, your answer
should call attention, I would hope, to her competence in teaching her sons and her
efforts to put Richard on the English throne and keep him there. She actually governed
the realm as Richard’s regent while he was away on the Third Crusade.

August 11 — Augustus Toplady (1740-1778)
18th-century Anglican clergyman and author of beloved hymn “Rock of Ages.” He didn’t
shy away from controversy, the author observing that Toplady was “best known for his
polemical and dogmatic works.” The reference here is to doctrinal dispute largely in
defense of the Calvinistic understanding of the Christian gospel. In other words, he
sought to prove that orthodox Calvinism was not only true to the Bible, but also the
historic creed of the Church of England. Many in the new Methodist camp of that era
took issue with both affirmations, opting instead for what was called an Arminian view of
salvation (named after Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius who died in 1609). The French
theologian John Calvin’s years, by the way, were 1509-1564.

Both Calvinists and Arminians affirm that only those who truly believe, who trust in
Christ for salvation from their sins, will inherit eternal life. Both agree that when man
chooses to believe or not believe he does so freely and under no external compulsion.
Their differences are rather complex but boil down to this:

Whereas Calvinists believe the decisive factor in salvation is what God wills and does
(whomever He has chosen from eternity past to save, out of His own good pleasure, He
will indeed save), Arminians believe that factor is man’s consent and cooperation. In his
free will man is able always, say the latter, to either embrace or spurn God’s gracious
overtures. The outcome depends, ultimately, on man’s choices in the Arminian scheme.

Both historic schools of faith have labored to derive their doctrine from the Bible, which
they affirm is the authoritative Word of God. Our own judgments on such a profound
question, to the extent we form them, should be a product of humility, care, study,
prayer, and heeding the instruction we receive in our churches.

Lastly, we would not be wise to dismiss this as a mere academic quarrel reserved for
professorial types. The conclusions we come to, the beliefs we adopt, have profound
implications for our understanding of both the depth of our sin and the graciousness of
God’s grace. We must not separate, because the Bible doesn’t, our doctrine from our
practice, our thinking from our living, or our theology from our praise (doxology).

Students & friends, we continue our look at the Almanac biographical sketches with
some commentary on Abraham Lincoln. Keep in mind that we are now observing, or
supposed to be observing, the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the great war of
1861-1865, still the watershed event in our history.

August 2 — Ironies of the Lincoln Legacy
Could it be said, as the author suggested, that Lincoln, in order to save democracy and
the political self-determination of peoples, struck a blow to both (at least as they existed
in the American South)? One might also say the same about Lincolnʼs handling of the
U.S. Constitution. He appeared to skirt its requirements on several occasions, always
citing war necessities and always intending the salvation of that venerable document.
For example, Lincoln as commander-in-chief launched a military invasion of seceded
states (a new independent confederation?) without Congressional approval. He acted
unilaterally to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, incarcerated hundreds of war critics
without trial, and shut down opposition newspapers and journals. (Just wondering how
George W. would have fared had he tried something like that.) The question this raises
for us, and itʼs highly debatable, is about means and ends. Assuming for now that the
ends were legitimate, were the means appropriate and just?

Mastersʼ Lincoln — (based on Clyde Wilsonʼs April 2011 article in Chronicles)
Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950), the Illinois poet and author of the Spoon River
Anthology (1915), penned a biography of the iconic 16th-President entitled Lincoln: The
Man (1931). In it he took a dim view of his fellow Illinoisan, even of his soaring political
rhetoric in speeches like The Gettysburg Address (1863). Mastersʼ view is a minority
report to be sure, especially in the North, but there have always been some potent
voices critical of Lincoln — of his character, his policies, and his vision of America — even
north of the Mason-Dixon line. For the most part the critics have been summarily
dismissed by the gatekeepers of respectable opinion in this country, and Masters was
probably the harshest of those critics (and perhaps an embittered one as well).

Whatever the merits or demerits of his biography, his critique of the Gettysburg Address
in that book is worth pondering. Masters believed that Lincoln, in that speech, “carefully
avoided one half of the American story” and proved “unable to deal realistically with the
history of his country.” Thus, the oration “remains a prose poem, but in the inferior
sense that one must not inquire into its truth. One must read it apart from the facts. . .”

What Lincoln really gave us at Gettysburg, said Masters, was “that refusal of the truth
which is written all over the American character and its expressions.”

Thatʼs a “hard saying,” maybe even an offensive one, and it cries out for some
explanation. What in the world is the poet talking about?

Leaving aside the fact that no “new nation,” including one “conceived in liberty” and
inspired by a great “proposition,” was forged in 1776, the speech and the political career
of Lincoln reveal that rock of the republic, as he understood it, consisted in the equal
rights of individuals and the democratic expression of such rights in sacred (and mass)
political entities like The People, The Nation, or The Union. Itʼs not that we canʼt find
such themes in early American political thought, but it seems dangerously reductionistic
to stress them at the expense of everything else. Above all, at the expense of the actual
history of America up to the Civil War.

What about the chartered colonies and their almost seamless transition to states with
their own constitutions and representative bodies? What about local and regional
customs? Communal authority? The various structures of society (beginning with the
family) that mediate relations between citizens and their governments? What about the
Christian religion and its scriptural authority?

These were, and in a gravely weakened state still are, American realities. Historically,
theyʼve served to define, temper, moderate, and in some cases, counterbalance those
broader, more abstract political themes mentioned above.

Lincolnʼs worldview, however, takes little account of such things. His rhetoric is
unquestionably brilliant, but he gives his generation, as Masters says, a half-portrait of
America, and itʼs not the better or stronger half.

This school of thought, then, sees Lincoln, not as savior of the old Union and the old
liberty, but as father and founder of new ones. (Did he not speak of “a new birth of
freedom” at Gettysburg?) It should come as no surprise, however, that succeeding
years have shown that neither the rights of individuals nor the jurisdiction of the nationstate have effectual bounds any longer.

As many of you know, this teacher often finds the case put forth by Lincolnʼs critics
persuasive. The mainstream view, however, says Abe saved the Union, freed the
slaves, and remains Americaʼs greatest spokesman for liberty, virtue, and prosperity.

(Our fine textbook author for the coming school year, William Bennett, sides with the
mainstream; his America volumes are subtitled “The Last Best Hope,” a descriptive
phrase he took from Lincoln.)

Students, please recall that our summer test will include questions from our last 4
History & Heritage quizzes (Summer 2010 through Spring 2011). Many of you have the copies in your possession, or you can access the quizzes on the Veritas website.

The August Almanac readings are as follows: August 2 & 4 — 9 & 11 — 16 & 18 — 23 &
25 — & 30. Below, some thoughts on this weekʼs content.

July 26 — William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
This English parliamentarian and philanthropist led a forty-year battle to outlaw
slavery in the British Empire before achieving legislative victory as he lay dying in 1833?
His affirmation of evangelical Christianity in the 1780s provoked a reassessment of his
political ambitions, but after seeking counsel, including that of converted slave trader
John Newton, he resolved to promote social reform from his governmental platform. His
fellow evangelical reformers lived in Clapham and were called the Clapham Sect.

July 28 — Le Morte dʼArthur (The Death of Arthur)
Your turn to write the question: we have here a prose epic consisting of 8 romances on
the exploits of King Arthur, derived chiefly from French sources and translated into
skillful English by Thomas Malory, a knight, in the late 1460s; note the central role
played in the epic by Bernardʼs medieval code of chivalry; you should be able to
recognize several English words that are based on the Latin names for the codeʼs
virtues (hilaris, hilarious; sanctus, sanctity; urbanus, urbane; etc.)

“He descended into hell” — (from July 21 daily Bible lesson in Tabletalk magazine)  As suggested by this phrase in the Apostlesʼ Creed, many in the early church may have believed that Jesus, in the time between His death and resurrection, visited hell and preached to souls there? The theory is based in part on St. Paulʼs reference in Ephesians 4 to Christ having “descended into the lower regions,” though in all likelihood
the apostle simply speaks of His descent from heaven to earth in this passage. Calvin
understood the old creedal phrase as a witness to Christʼs sufferings on the cross.

Of Magnanimity
(from the June 2011 issue of Chronicles, a poem by David Middleton for you to enjoy)
 To rule men well there first must be
 This virtue, magnanimity:
Greatness of soul whose depths forget
Each slight and hurt without regret;
In public and in private life
The servant-head of kingdom, wife;
 The foe included with the friend
In council for a common end;
 Due credit given to those few
Whoʼve earned it but to others too
Who did much less, yet when words praise,
Example, exhortations raise;
The man subsumed within the role
 That self, through selflessness, makes whole,
Free subject of a subject Liege,
His shed blood his noblesse oblige.

Students, please note the close ties these verses share with the medieval code of
chivalry mentioned in our Almanac studies above.

In the first stanza the word “magnanimity” is actually defined for the reader, its Latin
roots, I trust, easy for you to pick out. And in the last stanza you have that marvelous
French phrase “noblesse oblige” that we encountered earlier this summer. Again, I trust
you can define it.

Just wondering, however, what you make of the line, Free subject of a subject Liege?
Hereʼs an occasion for good conversation (table talk) with our parents and siblings.
Lastly, speaking of “credit where credit is due,” David Middleton is presently poetry
editor for Modern Age. He has authored many collections including The Habitual
Peacefulness of Gruchy: Poems After Pictures by Jean-Francois Millet (LSU Press).