Society Can Change - Wolterstorff part 1
To my readers.
There is a false dichotomy between conservative and liberal that unfortunately is not pointed out enough. The conservative points everything back to individual, personal responsibility. Structures are in place and, for the most part, not to be questioned. If you have a problem it is a personal problem resulting from your own lack of effort or responsibility. The liberal points the structure of society: questions healthcare, systematic racism, prison complex, capitalism. Of course these truths are in tension like so many other truths, they are both true.
To the conservative who is so proud of his hard work, are you really going to show such ingratitude to your parents like that? What kind of conservative are you if you don't acknowledge the hard work of the generations that went before you? And then does it not take any thought to realize that it wasn't just hard work, but also luck or chance at this moment or that in your life or your parents life or your grandparents life? Of course everything doesn't reduce to "hard work and personal responsibility."
My reasons for a deep exploration of this book is to show conservatives that much of the impetus to examine Society and the Structure of Society and even giant things like Capitalism can be seen as having begun in Calvin and the reformed movement. In Wolterstorff, I find an ally and I want you who are more connected and invested in Christianity to know your own history. If you are more of a liberal-minded person or if you are not sure about Christianity or even anti-christianity (and there are lots of good reasons to be, now more than ever), I hope you, like me, find hope in knowing that reformed Christians like the author are making these arguments and encouraging us to question and to reform society. Political power is best achieved in a democracy through coalition building.
Introduction to the Book
In 1983, Eerdmans published Until Justice and Peace Embrace by philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff. Wolterstorff comes from a Dutch reformed tradition in Michigan and throughout his time teaching at Yale, then Calvin, then back at Yale he remained in this tradition while writing about religion, ascetics and justice. Personally, I admit: 1) a prejudice against Calvinists, 2) a big question mark about the reformation in general and 3) lately (last 5 years or so) a great disillusionment with all Christianity, especially in the US. So I was glad at the happy coincidence to read this book and find a Calvinist who is willing to examine and question social structures (and even capitalism) and find justification for doing so in Calvin and Kuyper!
Before I start walking through this book in more detail, I want to posit a few attributes that stand out about Wolterstorff. 1) He is under no illusion that his tradition is the only one with truth; 2) As a direct corollary, he is willing to look at the darkness and injustice perpetuated by people in his tradition --- Apartheid and the Afrikaner people; 3) In order to face the injustice squarely and responsibly he listens to those directly oppressed by those in power; 4) He is willing to read widely and read to understand, not to win arguments.
He opens the book with this dedication - "For my dear friend Allan Boesak, black Reformed pastor and theologian from South Africa, in whose speech I have heard both the cries of the oppressed and the Word of the Lord."
Societal Structures Can Be Reformed
The medieval world was one of order, with a hierarchical structure "God in his heaven, the bishop in his chair, the lord in his castle." (7). This is setting up his first interesting point on the Reformation movement. We as moderns think about all this and immediately see the inequality and lack of freedom in this social structure. But people inside this time, did not see the structure because that couldn't be questioned, only the players inside that structure, a rival prince perhaps. "With rebels and usurpers they were well acquainted; radicals and revolutionaries they knew nothing." (8) Then he points to a sermon by Puritan minister Thomas Case in the English House of Commons in 1641:
I personally think this is a big challenge to the conservative mindset. They want slow or no change. They like order and hierarchy. But the US is largely animated by the myth of upward mobility. We don't have kings. But as we can see with Thomas Case, you have to be willing to question social structures. Otherwise you revert to the medieval mindset.
Wolterstorff calls this "world-formative religion." He concludes chapter one "There are those in this world for whom the bonds of oppression are so tight that they cannot themselves work for a better society. Their lot falls on the shoulders of you and me. For I write mainly to those like myself who live in societies where the space of freedom is wide. To us I say: the Word of the Lord and the cries of the people join in calling us to do more than count our blessings, more than shape our inwardness, more than reform our thoughts. They call us to struggle for a new society in the hope and expectation that the goal of our struggle will ultimately be granted us." (22)
There is a false dichotomy between conservative and liberal that unfortunately is not pointed out enough. The conservative points everything back to individual, personal responsibility. Structures are in place and, for the most part, not to be questioned. If you have a problem it is a personal problem resulting from your own lack of effort or responsibility. The liberal points the structure of society: questions healthcare, systematic racism, prison complex, capitalism. Of course these truths are in tension like so many other truths, they are both true.
To the conservative who is so proud of his hard work, are you really going to show such ingratitude to your parents like that? What kind of conservative are you if you don't acknowledge the hard work of the generations that went before you? And then does it not take any thought to realize that it wasn't just hard work, but also luck or chance at this moment or that in your life or your parents life or your grandparents life? Of course everything doesn't reduce to "hard work and personal responsibility."
My reasons for a deep exploration of this book is to show conservatives that much of the impetus to examine Society and the Structure of Society and even giant things like Capitalism can be seen as having begun in Calvin and the reformed movement. In Wolterstorff, I find an ally and I want you who are more connected and invested in Christianity to know your own history. If you are more of a liberal-minded person or if you are not sure about Christianity or even anti-christianity (and there are lots of good reasons to be, now more than ever), I hope you, like me, find hope in knowing that reformed Christians like the author are making these arguments and encouraging us to question and to reform society. Political power is best achieved in a democracy through coalition building.
Introduction to the Book
In 1983, Eerdmans published Until Justice and Peace Embrace by philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff. Wolterstorff comes from a Dutch reformed tradition in Michigan and throughout his time teaching at Yale, then Calvin, then back at Yale he remained in this tradition while writing about religion, ascetics and justice. Personally, I admit: 1) a prejudice against Calvinists, 2) a big question mark about the reformation in general and 3) lately (last 5 years or so) a great disillusionment with all Christianity, especially in the US. So I was glad at the happy coincidence to read this book and find a Calvinist who is willing to examine and question social structures (and even capitalism) and find justification for doing so in Calvin and Kuyper!
Before I start walking through this book in more detail, I want to posit a few attributes that stand out about Wolterstorff. 1) He is under no illusion that his tradition is the only one with truth; 2) As a direct corollary, he is willing to look at the darkness and injustice perpetuated by people in his tradition --- Apartheid and the Afrikaner people; 3) In order to face the injustice squarely and responsibly he listens to those directly oppressed by those in power; 4) He is willing to read widely and read to understand, not to win arguments.
He opens the book with this dedication - "For my dear friend Allan Boesak, black Reformed pastor and theologian from South Africa, in whose speech I have heard both the cries of the oppressed and the Word of the Lord."
Societal Structures Can Be Reformed
The medieval world was one of order, with a hierarchical structure "God in his heaven, the bishop in his chair, the lord in his castle." (7). This is setting up his first interesting point on the Reformation movement. We as moderns think about all this and immediately see the inequality and lack of freedom in this social structure. But people inside this time, did not see the structure because that couldn't be questioned, only the players inside that structure, a rival prince perhaps. "With rebels and usurpers they were well acquainted; radicals and revolutionaries they knew nothing." (8) Then he points to a sermon by Puritan minister Thomas Case in the English House of Commons in 1641:
Reformation must be universal ... reform of all places, all persons and callings; reform the benches of judgement, the inferior magistrates ... Reform the universities, reform the cities, reform the countries, reform inferior schools of learning, reform the Sabbath, reform the ordinances, the worship of God ... you will have more work to do than I can speak ... Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up."We have entered a different world ... Though Case surely knew well of licentious priests and corrupt judges, his attack here is not on persons, but on social structures...Clearly his assumption is that social structures are not something natural ... They are the result of human division, and made by us, they can be altered by us. Indeed, they must be altered, for they are fallen, corrupt. The structures themselves are corrupt and in need of reform, not only the persons who exist within these structures." (9) What is more it is Calvinism that began this kind of revolutionary questioning. Luther was largely interested in papal reform and inwardness reform, but left the state alone.
I personally think this is a big challenge to the conservative mindset. They want slow or no change. They like order and hierarchy. But the US is largely animated by the myth of upward mobility. We don't have kings. But as we can see with Thomas Case, you have to be willing to question social structures. Otherwise you revert to the medieval mindset.
Wolterstorff calls this "world-formative religion." He concludes chapter one "There are those in this world for whom the bonds of oppression are so tight that they cannot themselves work for a better society. Their lot falls on the shoulders of you and me. For I write mainly to those like myself who live in societies where the space of freedom is wide. To us I say: the Word of the Lord and the cries of the people join in calling us to do more than count our blessings, more than shape our inwardness, more than reform our thoughts. They call us to struggle for a new society in the hope and expectation that the goal of our struggle will ultimately be granted us." (22)
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