Ruminations on the State of Modern History “Education”

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A brief synopsis of the monologue I gave my students after one of them made a declaration which indicated an expectation that people who lived 200 years ago should live as though they were in the world in which we live today:

By contemporary standards, if something is hard, it’s branded bad, and if something is bad, it must be immoral. However, that is a complete departure from centuries of human understanding. It is only in very recent times that hard situations, hard relationships, or even hard work were considered so bad as to be branded immoral, something to be avoided completely, or done away with at all costs. After all, we are called to shun what is evil, right? Makes sense. However, not so long ago, I was taught that hard things build character. Hard wasn’t bad. Sin was bad.

Before 200 years ago, few people of any nation viewed the conquering of lands as immoral. If you claimed land, you needed to be able to defend it. If you couldn’t, a stronger clan, tribe, or nation might take it. That was the way of the world. Was it hard? Yes. Was it bad? Often, especially if you were the one being conquered. But was it immoral? Well, do we see any indication in the Bible that God saw the rise and fall of kingdoms based on conquest uniquely sinful? Nations were judged for truly sinful, idolatrous, immoral behavior, but never for being conquerors. There is room for looking at individual moments in history, holding them up to Biblical standards of morality, and judging them accordingly. Taking these same moments however, and holding up to the rules of modern moral sensibilities is not the proper way to study history. It only serves to make us wise in our own estimation, and makes us miss the opportunity to learn from those who went before us, on whose shoulders we stood as we settled into our lofty perches.

A Lament of Modernity from Kipling’s Pen

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The Gods of the Copybook Headings

The Marketplace in Bergen
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. 

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind. 

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome. 

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. 

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."  

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."  

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, 
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; 
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, 
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."  

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four–
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. 

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began. 
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, 
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire; 

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, 
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, 
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Another Giant Has Left the Arena

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The losses of John MacArthur, Charlie Kirk, and now Voddie Baucham have inspired thoughts that I think are worth considering. I keep thinking about Teddy Roosevelt’s speech, The Man in the Arena. Specifically, I’m reminded of this part:

A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities – all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority, but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

We live in an age where thousands of men and women do little more to contribute to the world besides type, pontificate and criticize. Fewer men than ever before, even Christian men, enter the arena, even of the smallest sort, to make a genuine impact within their spheres of influence. Worse, the Internet has produced a way for the whole world to sit comfortably behind our keyboards to pick apart the faults of the men who, however imperfectly, enter the arena on behalf of their detractors.

May the Lord raise up men who actually dare to enter the arena, and not more keyboard “warriors” who think that they are in the arena when they are actually barely in a simulator.

If I Perish…

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We are seeing evidence of young Christians energized and fearless. Already, I’m hearing stories (real life, not online) of people returning to the faith that they had either abandoned or sidelined as an accessory.

This sounds like the fruit of martyrdom, no matter what haters of God try to say. May the Lord raise up more and more believers, and wake the rest of us up from our stupors, who are willing to say, “If I perish, let me perish, but I must speak what it true.”

And not just as keyboard warriors hiding behind screen names. But as bold warriors for Christ.

RIP, Charlie Kirk.

Good Thoughts from a Deep Thinker

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Anyone who has “known” me long enough to stay connected to this moribund blog of mine is aware that I am an admirer of the thoughts and writings of classical educator Joshua Gibbs. While he is far from a household name, anyone with investment in the classical resurgence in education has most certainly read an article or seen a quote of his over the past decade. I reviewed my favorite of his books, How to Be Unlucky, here and here.

Once again, Mr. Gibbs has composed some thoughts worthy of sharing, and so I will share them. In his recent Circe article, 101 Aphorisms I wrote, there are some gems that one only wishes she were clever enough to have come up with on her own! An excerpt of his 101 aphorisms:

1. To break the rules in small ways is not to barely break the rules, but to break the rules entirely for almost nothing in return. 

2. Beggars can be choosers if they are also willing to be martyrs. 

3. The Lord loves a cheerful giver, but He’ll take a reluctant one.

4. Taking an issue personally is not the same thing as taking it seriously. Plenty of persons are not serious. [this is probably in my top three of ALL 101!]

You’ll have to click on over to read the entire list, but here a few more:

11. Agreeing with your enemies is the easy way out of loving them.

12. Better to go to heaven embarrassed than to go to hell with your ego intact.

13. Few people fold under pressure as quickly as free thinkers. They feel no guilt at abandoning whatever idea or identity has prompted their persecution. 

14. In chess, the death of the king is too sacred to depict. 

15. The simplest solution to a problem is usually the least polite. 

17. The things most commonly used to alleviate boredom are, in fact, quite boring in themselves. In the same way sad people want to hear sad music, and happy people want to hear joyous stories, so do bored people enjoy boring things. 

18. It is not courageous to say something unpopular. It is courageous to say something true when the truth is unpopular.

Well, you get the idea. It’s basically 101 pithy expressions of things we almost all know are true, but it’s kind of fun to see them all collected in a neat and concise manner.

The Communist Manifesto

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I assigned the original 32-page document to my students this week to read. Should make for a lively discussion next week when we meet.

The fact that so few Americans have read the writings that surround our most prevalent debates and discourses is a real shame, so I’m doing my part to fix the problem going forward.

I may be back to tell whomever is left here how the discussion unfolded.

How y’all doing?

Florida is More Conservative than Kansas…

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Let that sink in. Why do I say that?

Because abortion on demand failed here tonight. It passed in more rural states like Kansas.

Legalization of recreational marijuana failed here tonight.

So keep hitting us with your Florida man jokes. It’s fine. We don’t mind.

Whatever our deficiencies, and they may be many, minors and women at every stage of pregnancy aren’t free to murder their babies down here.

Because It’s Funny…

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Obligatory language warning for those who may want to stop reading right here.

There are so many unfunny things online masquerading as funny, but this one is actually funny so I’m sharing it. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you also may want to stop reading right here.

Looking forward to sharing some short story reviews later this week. Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor to start with.

Enjoy your Monday!