Summer History & Heritage — #10 (week of August 15)
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).
