In terms of worldview thinking Romanticism / Transcendentalism was the mystical new agey subjectivistic godless ying to the rationalistic objectivistic godless yang of Deistic Unitarianism. Romanticism / Transcendentalism flexed its muscle in New England with the take over of Harvard from the Deistic Unitarians circa 1840’s.
Whereas Unitarianism posited some kind of rational divine order that could be read via the use of autonomous right reason of a deistic natural law, Romanticism / Transcendentalism had a kind of Hegelian pantheistic feel to it as it thumped the idea of connecting with the divine oversoul in all of us. Unitarianism was very rationalistic oriented while Transcendentalism / Romanticism was given to the feelings and the senses.
Epistemologically speaking, Deistic Enlightenment Unitarianism insisted that man could know via reason discovering self-evident truths. Transcendentalism / Romanticism however made the Epistemological move to intuition as the basis of knowing. Rationalism gaves us the godless outward look, while Romanticism / Transcendtalism gives us the godless inward look. Ontologically speaking, the god concept for Deistic Enlightenment Unitarianism remained objective, however ontology for the Transcendentalist / Romanticism was not the god outside but the god in all of us. The American Transcendental movement’s philosophical pillar was that the individual is identical with the world, and that world exists in unity with God. Through this logic, it followed that the individual soul is one with God. Anthropologically speaking, Romanticism / Transcendentalism believed that man should be primarily thought of in terms of spirit or the divine spark. They believed that man was inherently good and that man had only to be educated into his inherent goodness.
As Romanticism / Transcendentalism gained a foothold in American culture one consequence was the rise of radial abolitionism. The Romanticist /Transcendentalist worldview, believing that all men share equally in their god quotient therefore believed that all men were perfectly equal and that the power of the State should be used to insure that all men were forcefully given their equality. Interestingly enough, Romanticism / Transcendentalism, as it informed the radical abolitionists worldview, served as one of the factors that set the Northern Yankee armies marching.
The power of Romanticism / Transcendentalism dissipated and eventually the rise of Darwinism as a worldview began to account for social order mythology that animated the West. Somewhere around the 1930’s – 1940’s the power of Existentialism as the guiding motif for the West began to pick up steam.
America has had basically 4 or 5 worldviews. Calvinism, Rationalistic Unitarianism, Romanticism / Transcendentalism, (which also explains the rise of the Jacksonian Democratic Revolution here), Social Darwinism, and Existentialism. Some would argue that currently we are in a kind of Nihilistic worldview, though Nihilism, what is styled as “post-modernism,” could also be argued as merely subsequent extensions of Existentialism.
Of course these matters are not always clear cut in terms of the exact dates in which they are hegemonic. For example, even though we are in kind of a Nihilistic mode right now, the relative rationalism of Darwinism still reigns supreme in the hard sciences. Also keep in mind that in the end there are only two worldviews. Biblical Christianity vs. some variant of Humanism.
Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, Rebecca Bacon, 3/27/13
Lesson 19, The Legacy of the Mighty Scots
Four things about crowds:.
1.) Affirmation
This is one way they are formed. If a person is expected to do something then they will probably will do it for the Affirmation.
2.) Repetition
Crowds repeat the same thing over and over. Repetition bears memory.
3.) Contagion
when one person goes, they all go.
4.) Prestige
If a person has prestige and recognition then if they appoint these things then it will really happen.
One place these four things are shown over and over again ins in the Government Schools.
The Regency Period
George IV
1. Regency from 1811-1820
2. The Napoleonic Wars
3. The Halcyon Day of the Empire
The Scots Legacy
The National Covenant of 1638
1. Firm Reliance on Divine Providence
2. Establish Justice
3. Ensure Domestic Tranquility
4. Promote the Common Welfare
5. Crown Rights of King Jesus
The Scots Resurgence
Scottish Enlightenment
1. David Hume (1711-1776)
was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism.
2. Adam Smith (1723-1790)
was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy.
3. Thomas Reid (1710-1796)
a religiously trained Scottish philosopher and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment.
4. James Mill (1773-1836)
was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was a founder of classical economics, together with David Ricardo, and the father of influential philosopher of liberalism, John Stuart Mill.
There were many Scots who where great men and Theologians. There were Historians, Philosophers and even men who founded things.
The Scots Presurgence
Thomas Chalmers
1. Kilmany: 1799; Glasgow:1815
2. St. Andrews: 1823; Edinburgh: 1828
3. Free Church: 1843
Walter Scot
Walter’s pastor was Chalmers. He is mostly famous for his Waverley Novels. And in 1822, the Honors of Scotland like the Bagpipe and the Kilt were returned to the Scots.
Many things that we use from day to day, were invented by the Scots. A few are:
Radio, Telephone, Television, Steamboat, Bicycle, Matches, Electric clock, Comb, Golf tee, Key Ring, etc. and cures for many diseases.
The Arbroath Declaration of 1320
Promotes:
Equality under law, Individual Liberty, Checks and Balances, Sphere Sovereignty, and Inalienable Rights.
Declarations make limits.
The National Covenant of 1638
Promotes:
Firm Reliance an Divine Providence, Establishing Justice, Ensures Domestic Tranquility, the Common Welfare, and the Crown Rights of King Jesus.
These two Declarations helped the Scots change the world. Not many people have even heard of these Declarations. Even if it started with the falling of a pebble, it ended with an avalanche.
Vocabulary
Covenant- an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified.
Progeny- a descendant or offspring, as a child, plant, or animal.
Historiography- the body of literature dealing with historical matters; histories collectively.
Sphere Sovereignty- the concept that each sphere of life has its own distinct responsibilities and authority or competence, and stands equal to other spheres of life.
Gargantuanism- Something of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic.
Legacy- anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.
Aghast- struck with overwhelming shock or amazement; filled with sudden fright or horror.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 20 – The Transformation of Education
“The Great commission of the Lord Jesus to His disciples mandates a going, teaching, baptizing, nation-building church.” -Jan Amos Comenius
Vocabulary:
ecclesiastical – of or pertaining to the church or the clergy; churchly; clerical; not secular.
civitas – the body of citizens who constitute a state, especially a city-state, commonwealth, or the like.
covenantalism – the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture and carried down through generations.
substantive – a pronoun or other word or phrase functioning or inflected like a noun.
patronizing – to behave in an offensively condescending manner toward
strategic – pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of strategy
discipleship – a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower
deliberative – having to do with policy; dealing with the wisdom and expediency of a proposal
amorphous – lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless
consumerism – the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy.
dislocation – the state of being dislocated
Some of the great educators were Rene Descartes (1596-1650), Theodore Beza (1519-1605), and Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670). Prior to education there was no notion of children. They were just little adults and treated as such. But with education coming in there had to a time set aside for the mind to be formed and shaped by learning. With this came the idea of childhood.
With education certain things were taught. Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric were the basics…the foundation. They were the building blocks and the stepping stones. Out from that there you had Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. All this combined and connected formed a medieval model of discipleship. It was started to create little disciples of Christ that exit school and go out to spread this knowledge to the world.
Jan Amos Comenius came after Beza and received a legacy from the Brethren of Common Life schools started by Groote and Milic. They not only taught that everything in the world (music, art, literature) were a part of Christianity, but they taught to teach and then send the disciples out to the world to influence it. He suffered greatly and was met with a lot of adversity but used it to shape and form his life and spread the news of God and education to many others. He devised the Pansophic Collegium which taught about universal knowledge and wisdom, Christ’s rule over everything on the earth. He taught that everything is like a spider’s web…everything is connected and intertwined.
Biblical Foundations from the Trivium and Moral Philosophy:
Identity – Psalm 78
Comfort – Psalm 77
Meaning – Deuteronomy 6
Courage – Joshua 1
Discernment – 1 Corinthians 10
Action – Micah 6
We are to learn our past and connect it to our present and let it shape our future. We cannot be forgetful hearers, but rather effectual doers. We must use the past as a future orientation. Those who do not know their past will be sure to repeat history blindly. We have a calling and destiny and we cannot respond to that without knowing the past and the history behind everything.
Shema and Educational Biases:
Theological: Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – The Context of Sovereignty
Literary: Deuteronomy 6:6 – The Context of Revelation
Didactic: Deuteronomy 6:7 – The Context of Discipleship
Covenantal: Deuteronomy 6:7 – The Context of Relationship
Aesthetic: Deuteronomy 6:8-9 – The Context of Beauty
Ethical: Deuteronomy 6:10-19 – The Context of Redemption
Historical: Deuteronomy 6:20-25 – The Context of Providence
Prior to Theodore Beza and Jan Comenius, only the richest and most powerful had opportunities to be educated at all. Beza argued that if the Reformation was going to change the whole culture, then it would be necessary to pursue universal education where every single child had the opportunity to be nurtured in this larger vision of moral philosophy and the trivium. Comenius’s idea was that, under the Lordship of Christ, every single discipline could become the means by which a student is discipled in the truth. Therefore, everything should be legitimate for the curriculum, which formed the basis for his concept of moral philosophy connected with the trivium.
Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, Rebecca Bacon, 4/3/13
Lesson 20, The Transformation of Education
Rene Decartes (1596-1650)
He was considered the father of Philosophy. His motto was: “Cogito ergo Sum,” which translates “I think therefore I am.” The reason this is wrong is that it starts with “I,” when it should start with God.
Theodore Beza
He was taught by Melchior Wolmar, Peter Viret, and later, John Calvin. He realized that the schools were teaching the wrong thing so he started his own.
Jan Amos
Was an orphan, lost his wife and children, and went into exile with his people. His greatest help was his education. He benefited from the foundations of Groote and Milic. He wrote a book which devised the Pansophic Collegium, and taught that you grow stronger when you suffer.
1. Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric
2. Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom
3. A Medieval Model of Discipleship
The Trivium
First you learn Grammar, which is considered the “basics.” Then you go on to Logic and learn to apply the “basics” to life. Last of all you learn Rhetoric and you use all three to make arguments. You could also go one step more and apply these to a Christian Worldview.
Moral Philosophy and the Trivium
Our Identity: Psalm 78; Who we are.
Comfort: Psalm 77; Despite problems.
Meaning: Deuteronomy 6; We can’t understand the present without the past.
Courage: Joshua 1; No matter what happens.
Discernment: 1 Corinthians 10; In times of difficulty.
Action: Micah 6; What to do.
Past and Present
1. Forgetful Hearers
2. Effectual Doers
3. Past as a Future Orientation
4. Calling and Destiny
Basis for Education
1. Theological
Deuteronomy 6:4-5; “You shall love the Lord you God.”
2. Literary
Deuteronomy 6:6; “These words shall be on your heart.”
3. Didactic
Deuteronomy 6:7; “You shall teach them Diligently.”
4. Covenantal
Deuteronomy 6:7; “Talk of them when you sit in you house,when you walk in the way, when you lie, and when you rise up.”
5. Aesthetic
Deuteronomy 6:8-9; “You shall bind them as signs on your hands and as an adornment the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
6. Ethical
Deuteronomy 6:10-19; “And when the Lord brings you into your inheritance, then take care lest you forget – and you shall diligently keep all God’s commandments.”
7. Historical
Deuteronomy 6:20-25; “And in times to come, tell you son of the signs and wonders the Lord showed you.”
The culture we live in is constantly being dumbed down. We don’t just learn Modernity for the names and dates. We may learn things, and they may be very helpful, but we need to learn to connect the dots. To see how everything is connected. Only then will we understand it properly.
Vocabulary
Ecclesiastical- of or pertaining to the church or the clergy; churchly; clerical; not secular.
Civitas- the body of citizens who constitute a state, especially a city-state, commonwealth, or the like.
Covenantalism- a belief in a solemn agreement—much like a contract—whereby God promises to do certain things for men, and often they are expected to do certain things in return.
Substantive- belonging to the real nature or essential part of a thing; essential.
Patronizing- displaying or indicative of an offensively condescending manner.
Strategic- pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of strategy.
Discipleship- teachings of the doctrines of another.
Deliberative- having the function of deliberating, as a legislative assembly.
Amorphous- lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless.
Consumerism- a modern movement for the protection of the consumer against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising, unfair pricing, etc.
Dislocation- an act or instance of dislocating.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 21 – The Recovery of the Parish Life
“The smiling little cottage, where at eve a good man meets his rosy children at the door, prattling their welcomes, and his honest wife: such is the heart, the soul, the very essence, of parish life: the hearth, the home, domesticity.” Thomas Chalmers
Vocabulary:
Gradgrindism – pertaining to the character, Gradgrind, from one of Charles Dicken’s novels.
sati/suttee/sarti – a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband: now abolished by law
immolation – to sacrifice
latitudinarianism – a person who is latitudinarian in opinion or conduct
paucity – smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness
Chalmers lived through several wars and during his lifetime there was a constant push to overthrow the ancien regime…the Medieval Christendom where Christ was the king. He lived during the time when Scotland became a place of industrialism. Chalmers was the leader of the Kilmany parish.
Although completely trained in the pastoral life, he was not himself a believer and it wasn’t until later in life (assumed to be due to his parish and the community) that he actually came to believe what he preached. He was considered to be a bright and leading star but it was clear he was aching for his emptiness to be filled. Through a crisis with his family it brought up a crisis with his faith and in the end he came to know Christ closely. Chalmers had a great knowledge of his sin and did not think highly of himself. This is characteristic of great men. Until you have looked at the majesty and grandness of God you cannot understand your sin or how small and low you are. Chalmers understood this and went to God for grace and mercy for all his sins and out of gratitude turned and produced fruits by building up the body of Christ.
With the Parish life comes different principles. One of the principles is Biblical Jurisdictionalism. There are different realms comes different places of power. Spheres of Sovereignty before God and His law. They all have a vertical responsibility. The leaders have a responsibility. The people within the jurisdictions have a responsibility to the leader and then to God. Chalmers would say that the different spheres overlap and they have a responsibility to one another. All have sinned and fallen short of the real law of God and as such we must have checks and balances to hold us all accountable to one another. When one falls, another will be there to pick up and correct the error. The four main spheres of Jurisdictionalism (we would say really three) are the Church, School (we would take this out), Home, and Civil. They each have differing roles and duties unto God and cannot take over a different sphere.
Another principle that comes with the Parish life (or any life for that matter) is Biblical Covenantalism. It is like weaving…the Jurisdictionalism is the vertical and the Covenantalism is the horizontal. Without one it cannot be solid and firm and holding together. They are woven together to make something great. The points of Covenantalism are: Honest Answers (always seeking to give truth and never giving up honesty), Substantive Content (never dumbing down the Gospel for the people, but helping them grow and learn and advance in knowledge), Sovereign Grace (God’s great mercy meets our dark sin and overcomes it without having to do with any action of ours), Strategic Discipleship (this would transform the world and root you firmly in the idea of the home), Domesticity (the church is the fountain in the garden of the home and applying Biblical Christianity to the family), Transformational Mercy (the cure for the poor is the church to care for them and the family and church must work together to show a mercy that transforms nations), Pastoral Care (there must be a connectedness within parishes and within that parish there is a care that trickles out even to the surrounding businesses), Intentional Community (we cannot retire from community even when we fail…we must seek for purposeful and meaningful community life), Deliberative Holiness (set apart and changing lives with our lives built around holiness by putting off the old man and putting on the new man), and Unflinching Justice (backing down and becoming tolerant of shortcomings leads to a wayward life from God’s law; we cannot give up firm justice).
Chalmers moves from Kilmany to Glasgow and serves a church there called Tron. He sought to encourage church planting. Building a small church and growing bigger and bigger until you “break off” and build more churches to make in a geographical area to make it easier for some of those people coming from far away to that one big church. It’s easier to care for a church community when it’s smaller and more intimate…you know everyone and everyone knows you.
Thomas Chalmers decided to make his own little church in Glasgow because he wanted his beliefs to be listened and understood without the big crowd. He started up St. John’s Parish in a small “back alley” part of Glasgow. He wanted to be involved with the parishioners lives. He had thrown away his “career” to do all of this, but it was what he wanted and felt led to do.
He left St. John’s Parish to go and preach at Edinburgh University. He was told his ideas were not practical, but his preaching continued. From there he went on to New College Edinburgh to teach and preach. He believed that his preaching required great courage because no matter how large he dreamed his vision and dreams were too small. He received criticism on every side for every issue possible. And from the New College Edinburgh he moved to Westport Parish Edinburgh. While there, he planted another church in one of the poorest and darkest parts of the town. “Care for the souls of men is not to end in the pulpit. We must take the Gospel to the people; the lost must be graciously pursued. A single person called out of darkness, though he lived in some putrid lane, is a brighter testimony than all the applause of the fashionable.”
With a shared common faith comes a shared community. When you have a people bonded together with a shared confession and a view of the gospel, this will portray itself with a shared and tight knit community with things in common.
The central figure in the anti-revolutionary, reformational reaction to some of the trends that emerged early in Modernity was Thomas Chalmers, one of the most remarkable figures of the nineteenth century.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 22 – To the Uttermost: The Rebirth of Missions
“God therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Jesus (Matthew 28-19-20)
Vocabulary:
duly-constituted – To set up or establish according to law or provision
permutation – the act of permuting or permutating; alteration; transformation
discourse – communication of thought by words; talk; conversation
petition – a formally drawn request, often bearing the names of a number of those making the request, that is addressed to a person or group of persons in authority or power, soliciting some favor,right, mercy, or other benefit
federalist – an advocate of federalism
centralize – to bring under one control, especially in government
decentralize – to distribute the administrative powers or functions of (a central authority) over a less concentrated area
malaise – a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
The push for missions didn’t come until around the mid-1800’s. There were plenty of missions and missionaries before that time but the real passion for it didn’t start until that time. If it wasn’t for a Biblical Christian worldview there never would have been the spread of the Gospel. Christians have an idea of progress..history is linear and the future can be built on from the past. Because of postmillennialism we can have hope and trust in the idea of missions. With the growth of Christianity there was the growth of missions and the spread of the Gospel.
The three revolutions of the time were agricultural, industrial, and transportational. It split Christians and families apart and introduced a European culture. It was said Christianity was still the faith of Europe at that time…weak and struggling, but still the faith. It is debated whether this was really truth.
Christianity was pushing its influence upon the whole world and that made it smaller in the sense of you can connect easier with people and travel easier as well. Your personal world was built bigger and grew and expanded more, but as a big picture you are cramming more people together which will cause friction with all the differing worldviews. Technology and easier travel causes for seeing people more often and leads to more friction eventually.
Europe was continually the country taking more power and influencing more and as such Christianity had a great deal of influence for the world. This brings to mind the necessity to go out and make more disciples for Christ as the Great Commission commands us. It was not enough to trust and believe in Christ at home, but to go out to all corners of the nations and to give the Gospel of God to them.
Without the notion of Christianity you would see sutti, abortion, infanticide, and many other horrific things. They saw this as normal and just a part of life…but it was culture and religion of death. There was no life involved. We see the culture of death and destruction in our culture today. We do not get to the core of people and we are not reforming that in them and so they are turned and swayed by every strange wind of doctrine.
There were several “failures” of the missions of that time: Rice Christians (they were attracted to the rice and not the Gospel, Importing Culture (their culture was more accepted than the religion they were sharing), Social Gospel (they paid more attention to their deeds and works as opposed to evangelizing), and Cargo Cult (the heathens would imitate all the actions of the missionaries just for the benefits).
William Gladstone (1809-1898) was a Scottish evangelical who sought to reform with missionaries. He was a prime minister four different times but essentially he was a socialist who wanted to spread the wealth around. He wanted progress and change. He sought to evangelize through providing for people, not the government’s job. He said, “There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, to spread its blessings abroad.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) he was a Jew and often called Queen Victoria’s favorite prime minister. His parents were converted to the anglican faith. He was a static conservatist and a classical tory. He believed in a regressive social agenda. He said, “Duty cannot exist without faith.”
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) began various schemes to aid missionaries and the missions. He had formed a missionary movement and society. He was the great champion of missions. He said, “Regardless of how large, your vision is too small.”
William Carey (1761-1834) created a booklet which was titled An Enquiry into the Obligations which was a call to missions. He also worked on translating the Scriptures. He went from being a simple cobbler to a preacher but without converts for many years. Many great missionaries don’t see their fruit in their lifetime. He said, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”
David Livingstone (1813-1873) was a great man who was determined to make a great influence. He went to work on Africa and sought to bring in fair trade and flesh trade even though he faced great obstacles and grief. He also explored and mapped Africa. He said, “I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward. I am determined never to stop until I have achieved my purpose.”
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was inspired to bring the gospel forward and went from being a small country boy to travelling to China. He faced great obstacles in his personal life. But because of his great work there were 300 missionaries working in China and many churches that were set up and started by Taylor. He said, “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack for God’s supply.”
Modernity had radically transformed the world with the invention of steamships, railroads, streetcars, bicycles, telephones, harvesting machines, and much more, yet, Christianity, after spreading rapidly from the Mediterranean world to Europe, had essentially remained there for eighteen centuries. At the beginning of the nineteenth century all of that was about to change, but not without its detractors.
Modernity (Progressivism, Religious Humanism, Marxism)
I. Characteristic
a) Utopia – kingdom of man (opposing Kingdom of God)
b) Planning – the state plans everything (God “doesn’t plan” our lives)
c) Centralization – we revolved around the state (instead of our lives surrounding around God)
d) Identity/Sameness – we find out identity (cog-ness) in the state (opposed to Scripture/Christ)
e) Majoritism – majority is bad, minorities get the floor (instead of God’s idea of justice/equality)
f) Hostility against Organized Religion – Official religion (Christianity) is bad (vs. a given)
g) Socialist Hatred of Free Enterprise – state must plan business (vs. creative entrepreneurs)
h) Anti-familialism – family cannot be allowed to strong (contrary to Biblical family)
i) Intolerance – they are intolerant of our intolerance (contradiction to Law of God)
j) Statism – state is always right, always our god (all is fallen and corrupt apart from God)
k) Messianism – the state is our messiah in our Utopia (our only true Messiah is Christ)
l) Colonialism – cultures must change to accomplish Utopia (cultures founded in Christianity)
m) Interventionism – forceful submission to the state’s rule (true submission to Christ alone)
Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, Rebecca Bacon, 3/5/13
Lesson 21, The Recovery of Parish Life
The date many people think is the begging of Modernity is 1789, with France and the falling of the Bastille.
“We will not rest till the last King is strangled with the entrails of the last Priest.”
This is the pithy way of describing Modernity. Man takes God off the throne and places himself on it.
The Transformation of the World
Disruption and Displacement
An Age of Intellectual Infidelity
Anstruther in Fifeshire
“Gargantuanism and the care of souls cannot coexist.This is of an obvious necessity in our small villages; it is of a vital necessity in our large citys.”
(All unmarked quotes in this lesson are from Thomas Chalmers)
St. Andrews University
At eleven years old, Thomas Chalmers went to St. Andrews University, which no 11 year old in our days could or would be able to do. When he graduated from there he wanted to preach, but failed on a problem on the test which should have been easy for him.
“What are the objects of mathematical science? Magnitude and the proportions of magnitude. But in the foolishness of my youth, I thought not of the littleness of time and I recklessly thought not of the greatness of eternity.”
He soon took the test again and was able to become a preacher at nineteen, although you are supposed to be twenty-one before you are able to enter.
Kilmany Perish
He thought the law and gospel were a bunch of rules and regulations. He never thought of its glory. He was also fascinated by Malthus and Hume. At this time of his life he was a great man, yet he did not respect God as he should.
He later repented and learned to appreciate God and he saw him high and lifted up. He saw himself as a sinner and thus has a lot of gratitude toward God. He saw the majesty and glorification in God but was not constantly reminded of how sinful he was. Instead of basking in it, he would always humble himself and lift God up, instead of casting himself down.
“O God, fit a poor, dark, ignorant and wandering creature for being a minister of thy word. May I find rootedness in your provision and in Your People.”
The Industrial City of Glasgow
“If the Church of Jesus Christ does not become central to the life of growing citys then the citys will become mere geographies of no singular place. Thus, we must assert, regardless of how large our vision, it is too small.”
Parish life Principles
1. Biblical Jurisdictionalism
We teach that there are only three Jurisdictions; Church, Home, and Civitas. But Chalmers taught that there was a fourth, which was school. These groups can also overlap. This belief of Jurisdiction rids us of tyranny.
2. Biblical Covenantalism
Chalmers list of Covenantalisms:
(1.) Honest Answers
If you want answers to be Honest then they have to be Totalistic and lasting.
(2.) Substantive Content
The context needs to be wholesome and full even if no one can understand.
(3.) Sovereign Grace
Chalmers could have made himself famous by the applause, but he didn’t. Instead he lowered himself because he knew that that was what God had called him to do, and that it was by God’s grace that he was there.
(4.) Strategic Discipleship
There need to be leaders or gatekeepers to support and lead us.
(5.) Domesticity
The Church needs to be an aid to the family and community.
(6.) Transformational Mercy
This is were Strategic Discipleship and Transformation are put together. Chalmers wanted the poor to take care of the poor.
(7.) Pastoral Care
Chalmers believed that he needed to give personal care within the Church. Not only there but in the community.
(8.) Intentional Community
We need community. The reason we don’t have it is because it needs to be made intentionally and no one wants to do that.
(9.) Deliberative Holiness
We constantly need the desire to put off the old man and put on the new man created in Jesus Christ. That man needs to the things that others think are too low for them.
(10.) Unflinching Justice
Chalmers thought that Justice was necessary and should be taken without fear.
Tron Church in Glasgow
No on thought Chalmers, despite how good he was, would be able to teach in Glasgow. But he went there and was able to attain the Tron (gateway)church.
“I long to establish it as a doctrine that the life of a town minister should be what the life of a country minister might be, and his entire time disposable to the purposes to which the Apostles gave themselves wholly, that is, the ministry of the word and prayer.”
St. Johns Parish in Glasgow
Chalmers wanted to make another Parish in the “dirty” place in Glasgow and the authoritys gave him permition. So St. Johns was made and it grew very large, despite what people had said.
“Now, in our large towns, we have the ministerial service without the pastoral; and we all know what a loose and precarious connection between ministers and people this has given rise to.”
Edinburgh University
When St. Johns became stable, Chalmers went and taught at the Edinburgh University. By this time was married and had five girls.
“Of all the cants we are canted in this canting world, there is no cant to me more hateful than the cant of an ostentatious and affected liberality.”
New College Edinburgh
He made a knew Collage in Edinburgh were he taught.
“Gospel preaching always requires great courage, both to execute and to tolerate, for it must ever needs be a running toward a lion’s roar. Regardless of how large, your vision is too small.”
West-port Parish Edinburgh
He went to the worst part of Edinburgh and made another Parish.
“Care for the souls of men is not to end in the pulpit. We must take the gospel to the people; the lost must be graciously pursued. A signal person called out of darkness, though he lived in some putrid lane, is a brighter testimony than all the applause of the fashionable.”
No one understood why he left the best spots to work and preach, to go to the worst and “dirty” places were he would not earn much money. He would have been rich and famous but gave it all up to teach God’s word to those who didn’t know him. In the last five years of his life he built 500 churches and by the time he died over 300 were payed for with his own money.
“A smiling little cottage, where at eve a good man meets his rosy children at the door, prattling their welcomes, and his honest wife: such is the heart and soul, the very essence of parish life: the hearth, the home, domesticity.”
Vocabulary
Suasion- the act of advising, urging, or attempting to persuade; persuasion.
Pansophic- universal wisdom or knowledge.
Collegium- a group of ruling officials each with equal rank and power, especially one that formerly administered a Soviet commissariat.
Trivium- the lower division of the seven liberal arts, comprising grammar, rhetoric, and logic.
Shema- a liturgical prayer, prominent in Jewish history and tradition, that is recited daily at the morning and evening services and expresses the Jewish people’s ardent faith in and love of God.
Purblind- nearly or partially blind; dim-sighted.
Didactic- intended for instruction; instructive.
Ardor- great warmth of feeling; fervor; passion.
Paradigm- an example serving as a model; pattern.
Aesthetic- pertaining to a sense of the beautiful or to the philosophy of aesthetics.
Hobbesian- a person who believes in or advocates the principles of Thomas Hobbes.
Primacy- the state of being first in order, rank, importance, etc.
Ethical- pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.
Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, Rebecca Bacon, 4/17/13
Lesson 22, To the Uttermost: The Rebirth of Missions
To the Uttermost
1. Commission
If this world was constantly pagan and only so, then we would not have as much progress as we have today. Only Christianity can give us the ideas and knowledge that we have today.
During the 1800 there were four great Revolutions going on.
1. Agricultural Rev.
2. Industrial Rev.
3. Transportational Rev.
4. Communicational Rev.
At this time, faith, was Europe’s only faith. But we would not say that it was Christianity.
Progress is both good and bad. We could not have gotten technology without a Christian worldview. Most technology and progress ends with destruction. If you attack someone, then you are probably attacking their worldview as well. Thus, if you attack a White, Christian, Anglo Saxon (just an example), then you are attacking Christianity.
The great Commission teaches that we need to go to the uttermost parts of the world to teach God’s word. That is what many did. But when they went, they saw that most “communitys” had firm pagan beliefs. When people live farther away from civilization for long periods of time, they become ignorant.
1. All Authority in Heaven
2. All Authority on Earth
3. No Neutrality
Discipleship
1. Going forth
2. Faithfully Baptizing
3. Teaching all things
Although there were many things that the Missionarys did which were wrong, they were constant. They kept pushing on, despite how great the odds. Some may not have taught Jesus Christ, But others taught the fullness of the Bible.
Awakening
1. On the Heels of the Explorers
2. Horrors of Untamed Heathenism
3. Word and Deed Ministry
Latitudinarianism
Neutrality
1. Enlightenment Darwinism
2. Enlightenment Mercantilism
3. Enlightenment Pragmatism
Gospel
1. Light out of Darkness
2. Liberty out of Tyranny
3. Life out of Death
We are moving to (end result) the Kingdom of God. But people often forget what the end result is and believe that the Means is the end.
Transformationalism
1. Liberty, Rescue, Relief
2. Grace, Charity, Law, Medicine
3. Confronting sin in Hearts and Cultures
William Gladstone (1809-1898)
was a Scottish Evangelical and was Christian Reformed.
Classical Liberalism
Was Prime Minister four times.
Progressive Social Agenda
“There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, to spread its blessings abroad.” -William Gladstone
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
Jewish Nouveau Riche
Static Conservatism
Was a Classical Tory and was a Prime Minister two times.
Regressive Social Agenda
“Duty cannot exist without faith” -Benjamin Disraeli
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847)
The Kilmany Perish
The Glasgow Experiment
The St. Andrew’s Seven
The Edinburgh Years
The Free Church Tradition
“Regardless of how large, your vision is too small” -Thomas Chalmers
William Carey (1761-1834)
was a cobbler but became a preacher.
An Inquiry into the Obligations
He joined the Baptist Missionary Society.
Translation, Industry, Education
He had much suffering but triumphed.
“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God” -William Carey
David Livingstone (1813-1873)
Went from Scotland to London, then went to Africa.
Fair Trade and Flash Trade
He faced Obstacles and Grief.
Mapping the World.
“I am prepared to go any were, provided it be forward. I am determined never to stop until I have achieved my purpose.” -David Livingstone
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
He went from the country to the city and then on to China.When he arrived he had no money, he knew no one there, and he didn’t even know their language.
He changed Missions forever.
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack for God’s supply.” -Hudson Taylor
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” -Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20)
Vocabulary
Gradgrindism- having a soulless devotion to facts and figures; inflexibly utilitarian.
Sati/ Suttee/ Sarti- a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband.
Immolation- an act or instance of immolating.
Latitudinarianism- allowing or characterized by latitude in opinion or conduct, especially in religious views.
Paucity- smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness.
Modernity
Supports Utopia
Modernists believe that our world is moving to a better place, and this place is called “Utopia,” which means nowhere. All the planning for Modernity is done by the Elites, or, the State. This means that not only God doesn’t plan, but the individuals can’t plan.
Equality
The Government wants to make us all cogs in the machine, to make us all the same to work the plan of the State. They want to erase all distinctions, including man and woman, adult and child, and God and man.
Modernity also attacks the Family, because a family is really a family, then it has to have distinctions. Familys attack Equality. The Family builds up amounts of money to pass down through the generations. But the State has made special taxes which allow it to take that fund so the family cant hand it down. The Family is a Christian sign. If the State attacks the family then it is attacking Christianity. Colonialism is an aid to Modernity.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 23 – The Presidential Inauguration
“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom – symbolizing an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change.” – John Kennedy
Vocabulary:
sentimental – expressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia
debauch – to corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce
exacerbate – to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate
catechize – to instruct orally by means of questions and answers, especially in Christian doctrine
rasping – harsh; grating
taxidermy – the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and of stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form.
tenure – the holding or possessing of anything
herald – to give news or tidings of; announce; proclaim
prominent – standing out so as to be seen easily; conspicuous; particularly noticeable
conservation – the act of conserving; prevention of injury, decay, waste, or loss; preservation
Although it is never well populated information, George Washington was not the first president of the United States of America. He is the first recorded president, but before him there were fifteen other presidents (John Hancock was in office 1775-1776 and 1785). The names of these men were Peyton Randolph, Henry Middleton, John Hancock, Henry Laurens, John Jay, Samuel Huntington, Thomas McKean, John Hanson, Elias Boudinot, Thomas Mifflin, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Nathaniel Gorham, Arthur St. Clair, and Cyrus Griffin.
At the beginning of all this ruling of the government the men who had power made sure they did not have power. They were men who were Biblical leaders and were willing to give up power and be accountable to others. This puppy of the federal government grew up into a wolf over the years and rules as that now. However, back then those men didn’t believe that the government had no job being involved in the church realm at all. One of those early presidents was a member of the Bible society…printing copies of the Bible to distribute. They were not afraid of their belief of God and ruled as such for the most part. Another part of rulers late on around the time of Jefferson there was the idea of Federalists and anti-Federalists.
There was a time when there were four candidates for presidency but none of them had enough votes to become president. But John Quincy Adams was pushed at the seat of power by the end of it and Andrew Jackson (another contender) was so enraged over that fact that he ran again for office and took presidency after Adams.
William Harrison was a general and was run on the model of Andrew Jackson. He gave his inauguration speech in freezing weather, caught a severe cold, and was dead in a month. He was followed by John Tyler.
The Constitution said nothing about how the States had to be forced to stay in the Union apart from their consent or will. There were 11 states that left the Union…some before and some after Lincoln. They got out mainly because of the states’ limitations.
Again and again we have seen this remarkable opportunity for renewal and the reminder that we’re the heirs of an incredible legacy, the likes of which virtually no other people have enjoyed across history as long as we have. The transfer of power in other countries has rarely been peaceful as it has in the United States. So today, no matter what you think, on this day, as Americans and Christians, we celebrate the outpouring of an extraordinary, abounding grace.
Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, Rebecca Bacon, 4/24/13
Lesson 23, The Presidential Inauguration
Modernity pushes Progressiveism. When Obama took the Presidential seat, He said that he was going to bring hope and change. But the problem was that he didn’t say what or how he was going to change. This makes him a blank slate on which people can paint whatever they want.
In 1789, George Washington was made the “first” President. But truthfully, he was the first recorded president. Little do many of us know that there were fifteen Presidents before him. This started with Peyton Randolph in 1774, and ending with Cyrus Griffin in 1788. All the Presidents in between were rather flushed down the memory hole and forgotten. There may have been many good presidents, but there were also many bad ones as well.
Notable Inaugurational Speeches
“Let us offer humble supplication for Divine grace to be conspicuous in favor to the American People.” -Washington
“The Patriotism of the people is surely a sufficient guard to our freedoms and liberties.” -Madison
“With malice toward none and charity toward all let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among our selfs and with all nations.” -Lincoln
“No people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness.” -Theodore Roosevelt
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” -Franklin Roosevelt
“And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” -Kennedy
“We are a nation that has a government–not the other way around. And this makes us unique among nations. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command let us courageously begin an era of national renewal of faith and hope and love.” -Reagan
Vocabulary
Duly-constituted- To set up or establish according to law or provision
Permutation- the act of permuting or permutating; alteration; transformation.
Discourse- communication of thought by words; talk; conversation.
Petition-a formally drawn request, often bearing the names of a number of those making the request, that is addressed to a person or group of persons in authority or power, soliciting some favor, right, mercy, or other benefit.
Federalist- an advocate of federalism.
Centralize- to draw to or gather about a center.
Decentralize- to distribute the administrative powers or functions of over a less concentrated area.
Malaise- a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 24 – TR and the American Century
“The most dangerous form of sentimental debauch is to give expression to good wishes on behalf of virtue while you do nothing about it. Justice is not merely words. It is to be translated into acts.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Vocabulary:
regicide – the killing of a king
fulcrum – the support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns in moving a body
consolidator – to bring together (separate parts) into a single or unified whole; unite;
confederation – the act of confederating
reincarnation – the belief that the soul, upon death of the body, comes back to earth in another body or form
infrastructure – the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization
coup d’etat – the sudden deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment to depose the extant government and replace it with another body, civil or military
particular (n.) – an individual or distinct part, as an item of a list or enumeration
universal (n.) – something that may be applied throughout the universe to many things, usually thought of as an entity that can be in many places at the same time
antithesis – opposition; contrast
synthesis – the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity ( opposed to analysis, ) the separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements
ethereal – light, airy, or tenuous
immutable – not mutable; unchangeable; changeless
medium (n.) – a middle state or condition; mean
skepticism – skeptical attitude or temper; doubt
cynical – distrusting or disparaging the motives of others; like or characteristic of a cynic
complementary – forming a complement; completing
perpetuate – to make perpetual
fragmented – reduced to fragments
assimilated – to take in and incorporate as one’s own; absorb
defenestration – the act of throwing a thing or especially a person out of a window
in spades – in the extreme; positively
on par – An amount or level considered to be average; a standard
amalgamation – the act or process of amalgamating
ignominious – marked by or attended with ignominy; discreditable; humiliating
thwart – to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose
Theodore Roosevelt was born and raised in a Christian home. He was born in ‘58 to a Southern mother and a Northern father. His two uncles fought for the South while his father worked for Lincoln. Theodore was born as a sickly child and suffered a great deal from asthma. He was able to overcome it and survive his childhood to go on and survive a bullet wound at point blank range. After being shot he continued to give his speech for an hour and a half after then going to the hospital.
In 1876 he went to Harvard. He also learned how to do taxidermy. Theodore had an avid interest in anything because he wanted to be able to speak fluently with anyone on any subject. He began to teach Sunday School to young boys and later expanded it to older boys too. He married Alice and moved back to New York so he could study law. He then ran for the state legislation and was elected in ‘82. In ‘84 his mother and wife died at the same time with illness and childbirth respectively…he had a daughter, Alice, who he entrusted to family. Theodore went out went to “find himself” and become a Westerner. But he couldn’t stay out of the politics.
He was known as a reforming progressivist. He became the police commissioner in 1895 and came up with the idea of fingerprinting. In 1889, he married his childhood friend, Edith. Shortly after this, Theodore went into publishing. He was adventurous but also intellectual. He became the assistant secretary of the Navy in ‘97, and in ‘98 the war broke out. He resigns his position in the Navy at this point and goes out to sign others up to go to with him to Cuba. He puts together the Rough Riders and they’re shipped out to Puerto Rico. They had enormous success there and when they got back he ran for Governor of New York in 1899 and won, mainly because his popularity.
Many people wanted to get rid of him so they suggested he ran for vice president. That role is mainly a quiet role where no one hears about it. The problem with that is the president did die and so Roosevelt became president. In 1904, he was very popular and was reelected in a landslide. At this point, he is 43 years old.
When he finally left the White House, he left to go to Africa for a year and then later on to South America as an explorer. He was very sick when he got out, but he also got out of the Amazon. He had written 12 books by the time he left the White House and later on another 45 books.
He was titled a conservatist and a Christian, and although this may have been true on some small level, he had many works and actions that spoke otherwise. He spoke, but he did not act upon his so-called Christianity. He moved in terms of his worldview of modernity and progressivism.
Men like Roosevelt don’t come along in every generation, but Roosevelt said that every single one of us has the ability to make ourselves by the grace of God, because God pours forth His gifts. Roosevelt’s model and legacy provide us the hope that once again America’s great opportunities can be seized by God’s grace and molded into a greater legacy yet to come.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 25 – Modernity’s Unending Tumult: The End of Christendom
“The last years of the nineteenth century were but the coming of Babylon.” -Andrew Nelson Lytle
Vocabulary:
casualty of war – Military or civilian casualty suffered in war or deployments on the side in which it occurred
combatant – a nation engaged in active fighting with enemy forces
co-belligerency – the state of being a country fighting with another power against a common enemy
Pan-Slavism – the idea or advocacy of a political union of all the Slavic peoples
precedent – any act, decision, or case that serves as a guide or justification for subsequent situations
fascist – a person who believes in or sympathizes with fascism
trench warfare – combat in which each side occupies a system of protective trenches
quintessence – the pure and concentrated essence of a substance
With the sixteenth century there was the Protestant Reformation, New Worlds and Empires, and a Stalemate in the Balkans. With the seventeenth century there was the Hapsburg Hegemony, the Wars of Retribution, and Regicide and Revolution. With the eighteenth century there was Imperial Mercantilism, the American War for Independence, and the French Revolution. And with the nineteenth century we have the Nationalistic Revolutions.
With the Congress of Vienna they sought to find a balance of power. In terms of international power, you had one hundred pound gorilla, England. There were other little ones, but England controlled it for the most part. If any international power chose to go their own way, then the others would take sides to bring them back into line. This was an armed peace. There were rules set up and if you went outside that then you put yourself at risk for being taken down. It was a checks and balances kind of power.
Napoleon III was a part of the Bonapartist Movement. He sought to bring about a coup d’etat and change the source of government to what he wanted. That was overthrown though, and he was sent in exile in the United States. He went to the Jews (Jews run the banks) and tried to get a war started so that the banks would get more money. He ran for President of the Second Republic and won because of his name recognition. The war didn’t end till 1870 but the bad blood had been established between France and Germany.
Nietzsche brought about the idea of nihilism. Nothing is real. Nothing is absolute. Nothing has transcendent realities. From out of that idea, we get the modern art and music. There is no meaning. There is no god. Our culture today reflects this. Nothing means anything. Family. Life. Death. Love. It is all pointless and nothing. The whole push behind all their belief is the refusal to have God rule any part of them. Progress would only happen through a clash of ideas. Conflict is absolutely necessary. Nietzsche believed that chaos was needed because out of chaos comes order. Tension and conflict was what they actively stirred up. This is largely what we have even still today. Truth today is whatever anybody wants to believe truth is. It’s different for every person. Life is whatever you choose it to be. Death is whatever you choose it to be. Whatever Christianity teaches, Nietzsche would teach the opposite. There is no absolute. Therefore, when a life has finally reached whatever point it should be at, then there is no reason to keep that life around. It is a standard of deserving treatment or life.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner sought to push power through his music. He took Nietzsche’s theories and applied it to music. It was binding up the rationality in everybody so that the inner “devil” can come out. Georges Braque made it a world of no absolutes on canvas. Chaos and confusion on paper. There is really no meaning to art. Art is whatever you make it to be. Order is not approved of. Disorder and chaos are normal.
This disorder, chaotic, meaningless, empty, order-less, purpose-less kind of world leads to a world where the family is broken. Single parent households, divorce, unwed pregnancies, perversions…this is displayed in these Nietzsche-kind of worlds.
When you apply it to politics you get the rise of Karl Marx and Frederick Engles. They take the spiritual idea of Nietzsche and make it a little more materialistic to apply it to the realm of politics. In order to bring in this New World Order into play, they must take out the old world order…Christianity in its entirety. Otto von Bismarck also took part in bringing this chaotic worldview to the sphere of politics. Bismarck will eventually form a new generation by placing this Nietzsche worldview into the schools and teach them that the government needs to have more control over the people.
The philosophers, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Karl Binding, and Alfred Hoche, prepared the ideas of nonsense and meaninglessness and the others applied it to the world. The artists, Wilhelm Richard Wagner, Georges Braque, Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe…and the politicians, Karl Marx, Frederick Engles, and Otto von Bismarck were the ones who made it applicable to the general public through art, music, and politics.
Karl Marx called this the Theory of the Robes. You capture and change the minds of the professionals…the doctors, the pastors, the intellects…and if you do that then you capture the minds of the less intelligent.
The state formed the “universal spirit” of Hegel and his ideas. It was the push for progress and change and the state was how they pushed it. The Law of Non-Contradictions says that both A and non-A are true…truth is anything. There is nothing that is not true. Truth is one thing for you and one thing for me and there are no contradictions. This opposes the thesis and antithesis idea of the Biblical Christian. Instead of thinking 1) Linearly 2) Biblically and 3) Absolute, we must now thing 1) Triangular 2) Synthetic and 3) Relativistically. Because of this worldview that says that anything is true and nothing is true truth, you can go from Thesis and Antithesis to get a Synthesis. As you build this up more and more you create “progress” but really conflict. This will lead to spineless, character-less, dumb-down people.
1) Progress is inherent in change. Progress is whatever advances their agenda and plan.
2) Nature acts dialectically.
3) Conflict is the essences of change and the dynamic of progress.
All truth is relative and it’s good to think relativistically. It’s bad to not think relativistically and that is not very relative. That is where their contradiction lies.
Ideological Nationalism. The “ism” absolutizes the national or a nation. Within a nation there is a blood relation, a shared ethics, a shared history, literature, and music…not just family but culture. You add the “Ideology” and it is a set of ideas and propositions that the nation group holds onto. There is an intense desire to all be one nation group, peer pressure or forced pressure to be that way by the state. It can be the philosophical commitment to bring about cultural and social uniformity by means of political consolidation and, if necessary, state coercion. With the entrance of the 20th century, there was the push for certain points within the nation as a whole. These points were Union, Amalgamation, Conformity, Bureaucratization, Militarization, and State Power. Instead of a Christian nation, it was a push for Cultural Marxism. We are called to be a lot of cultures together, diversity. But it’s not true diversity. The reason for this is that they want our minds to all be uniformed, all thinking the same thoughts.
When ideas start to percolate and move through culture, those ideas will have consequences. You may not see it immediately. You may think those who cry doom and gloom are alarmists. But in the end, ideas do have consequences. One of the reasons we study history is so that we can look back on the ridiculous mistakes of the past and do our best not to repeat them. If you look at the period between 1870 and 1910, we are currently, madly rushing to repeat every single mistake and in spades with billions on the line. We don’t have kings and princes to overthrow. So what will we overthrow? With great peril comes great opportunity – for those who are forewarned and forearmed.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, 5/1/13
Lesson 24, Theodore Roosevelt (TR) and the American Century
TR is known as the first Progressivist but was also a Republican.
The Conservative- Progressive Reformer
An Extraordinary Life
1. Youth
TR was born in 1858. His mother was from the South, but his father was from the North. He was a weak child from birth and had Asthma. But he worked hard and challenged himself in working out.
2. Fast Start
He went to Harvard and Graduated in 1880. He married Alice Lee in the same year. In 1882 he becomes the youngest New York State legislator. An urgent call summons him home where he finds his wife and mother are both dieing. They both die, his wife giving birth to a daughter who he names after her.
3. Second Wind
After their death he decided to go West and “make a man of himself.” He gives Alice to some cousins and goes on to ranching life.
He returns to New York in 1886 and marries his childhood friend Edith Carrow.
He is appointed assistant secretary by President McKinley in 1897. But he grew restless and resigned.
Politics
Rough Riders:1897
Governor of New York: 1899
Vice President: 1900
President:1900
Re-elected in a landslide: 1904
On not Retiring
Out-doors man
African Safari
South American Explorer
Western Conservation
Patriot
Seeing the foes within
Seeing the foes without
Running against the system
Legacy
Twentieth-century Politics
FDR and TR Jr.
Liberals and Conservatives
TR wrote many books during his life and many are still famous. TR dies in 1919.
Vocabulary
Sentimental- expressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia.
Debauch- to corrupt by sensuality, intemperance, etc.; seduce.
Exacerbate- to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate.
Catechize- to instruct orally by means of questions and answers, especially in Christian doctrine.
Rasping- harsh; grating.
Taxidermy- the art of preparing and preserving the skins of animals and of stuffing and mounting them in lifelike form.
Tenure- the holding or possessing of anything.
Herald- a person or thing that proclaims or announces.
Prominent- standing out so as to be seen easily; conspicuous; particularly noticeable.
Conservation- the act of conserving; prevention of injury, decay, waste, or loss; preservation.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class, 5/1/13
Lesson 25, Modernity’s Unending Tumult: The End of Christendom: Modernity’s Unending Tumult
Ideas have consequences
1. Sixteenth Century
The Protestant Reformation
New Worlds and Empires
Stalemate in the Balkans
2. Seventeenth Century
The Hapsburg Hegemony
The Wars of Retribution
Regicide and Revolution
3. Eighteenth Century
Imperial Mercantilism
The American War for Independence
The French Revolution
4.Nineteenth Century
The Nationalistic Revolutions
When two tides of a river meet, an explosion happens. This is the same with Christendom and Modernity.
Louis, the Nephew of Napoleon I, makes himself Napoleon III.
The Undermining Revolutions
1. Philosophy
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Hegel believed that if you have a Thesis and an Antithesis, they make a Synthesis. This then becomes the new Thesis, which always has an Antithesis. These again make a Synthesis, which again turns into a Thesis, etc. The Synthesis was considered as “truth” by Hegel, but isn’t.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Nietzsche completely hated God and strove to destroy him. He saw what a scam Hegel’s work was on the Thesis and Antithesis, and told everyone so.
Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche
These two men wrote a book on Nietzsche and his theory. It is called; “The Destruction of Life Devoid of Value.”
2. Art
Wilhelm Richard Wagner
Wagner composed music and into it he put the feeling of how to really celebrate.
Georges Braque
Braque was a painter, and his purpose in painting was to desturbe, confuse, cause chaos and terror. His paintings do not make any sence and are a mess, not art.
Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe
These two men were architects. Their style is called Bauhaus.
3. Politics
Karl Marx and Frederich Engles
These men wanted a New World Order, and in order to have one they had to get rid of Christendom.
Otto von Bismarck
Bismarck had his own idea of how the government should run and use their power. He put these ideas into the Prussian schools in Europe, so the next generation would be taught it.
“The Theory of the Robes”
Those who wore robes were considered the upper class; Doctors, Preachers, Teachers, etc.
Progress
1. Sodomy
2. 2nd Amendment
3. Obama Care
These are all part of Ideological Nationalism.
1. Progress is inherent in Change.
2. Nature acts Dialectically.
3. Conflict is the essence of Change and Dynamic of Progress.
Ideological Nationalism
1. A Nation is an Ethnos (blood related). They are a people who have a shared History, Literature, Music, etc.
2. Union
3. Amalgamation
4. Conformity
5. Bureaucration
6. Militarization
7. State Power
The Pity of War
1. Militarism
A New Arms Race
French Plan XVII v. German Plan 19
Economic Imperialism
2. Alliances
The Balance of Power
Triple Alliance v. Triple Entente
Ethnic and Nationalistic Tensions
3. Final Parade- 1910
Funeral of Edward VII
Gathering of the Cousins
A Final Peace
The People who write history are the victors, the ones who survive. Unfortunately, the majority of those people portray the history wrong. We must always look between the lines and correct the mistakes of the past.
Vocabulary
Regicide- the killing of a king.
Fulcrum- the support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns in moving a body.
Consolidator- to bring together (separate parts) into a single or unified whole; unite; combine.
Confederation- the act of confederating.
Reincarnation- the belief that the soul, upon death of the body, comes back to earth in another body or form.
Infrastructure- the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.
Coup d’etat- a sudden and decisive action in politics, especially one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force.
Particular- an individual or distinct part, as an item of a list or enumeration.
Universal- of, pertaining to, or characteristic of all or the whole: universal experience.
Antithesis- opposition; contrast.
Synthesis- the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity, the separating of any material or abstract entity into its constituent elements.
Ethereal- light, airy, or tenuous.
Immutable- not mutable; unchangeable; changeless.
Medium- a middle state or condition; mean.
Skepticism- skeptical attitude or temper; doubt.
Cynical- distrusting or disparaging the motives of others; like or characteristic of a cynic.
Complementary- forming a complement; completing.
Perpetuate- to preserve from extinction or oblivion.
Fragmented- existing or functioning as though broken into separate parts; disorganized; dis unified.
Assimilated- to take in and incorporate as one’s own; absorb.
Defenestration- the act of throwing a thing or especially a person out of a window.
In Spades- in the extreme; positively.
On Par- at the same level as.
Amalgamation- a consolidation of two or more corporations.
Ignominious- marked by or attended with ignominy; discreditable; humiliating.
Thwart- to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, 5/8/13
Lesson 26, The Pity of War: The Ongoing Tragedy of the First World War
A lot of the Royals in Europe during the time of WWI were related as cousins. Chaos and Wars may start when a molehill or feud between relatives, becomes a mountain. You just need to add machine guns. The banks funded both enemies, so no matter who won, the banks would always win. 25% of the population was destroyed during the next 4 years.
Profile of the First Modern War
The Raw Wartime Statistics
70 million- Military Combatants
40 million- Military/Civilian Casualties
8 million- Prisoners of War
20 million- Combat Deaths
4 million- Starvation
50 million- Flu/ Typhus
The Empires of Hapsburg, Prussia, Ottoman and Russia all ended during WWI.
Trench Warfare
Men would have to live in the many miles of trenches. 475 miles of trenches were made. The men were forced to stand, days on end, in disgusting water. If they stood properly they would get shot at. They could not sleep unless they did it while standing.
The Progression of World War I
The Slavs, Despite that they hated each other, hated the Germans more. They were able to group together against the Germans. The Ottoman Turks also fought against the Germans. They would send wave after wave of peasants, many of whom had only a knife or sword.
Result of World War I
1. Cease Fire
Versailles Treaty
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
The League of Nations
2. New Tyrannies
International Socialists in Germany
Fascists in Italy and Spain
3. World Map
Yugoslav Balkans
Hashemite Middle East
Nationalistic Third World
The Pity of War
Vocabulary
Casualty of War- this term usually applies to non-combatants or civilians who are caught in the cross-fire or harmed by indirect means during battle or a mission.
Combatant- a nation engaged in active fighting with enemy forces.
Co-belligerency- the state of being a co-belligerent.
Pan-slavism- the idea or advocacy of a political union of all the Slavic peoples.
Precedent- a legal decision or form of proceeding serving as an authoritative rule or pattern in future similar or analogous cases.
Fascist- a person who believes in or sympathizes with fascism.
Trench Warfare- combat in which each side occupies a system of protective trenches.
Quintessence- the pure and concentrated essence of a substance.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, 5/15/13
Lesson 27, A New World Order: Wilson’s Fourteen Points
The Best of Intentions
The people who started the wars thought that better things would come of them.
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
The End of World War I
1. America’s Day
Fresh and Energetic Forces
Visions of a New World Order
An Ideological Witches’ Brew
2. Peace Treaties Ending World War I
Versailles: June 28, 1919
The Versailles treaty was a terrible treaty which completely ignored the fourteen points.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye: September 10, 1919
The Hapsburg Empire was dismantled during the Saint-Germain-en-Laye treaty.
Neuilly-sur-Seine: November 27, 1919
Trianon: June 4, 1920
Sevres: August 20, 1920
The Sevres treaty created Turkey and the Turkish people.
Lausanne: July 24, 1923
In 1916 Woodrow Wilson won the Presidential election by a very small amount of votes. When he was elected he promised change. Change can sometimes be a good thing. But when the president promises it, it normally isn’t good.
When a tax is made, people may say that it will not rise very high, but one percent becomes two percent, and two percent becomes four, etc.
The Fourteen Points
Demand, Intention, Effect
1. Open Peace, Prevent Domino, Espionage.
2. Free Seas, Reopen Seas, Monopolies.
3. Free Markets, Invigorate Economy, Centralization.
4. Arms Reductions, Reduce Tension, Status Quo.
5. Colonial Reform, Restore Nations, Third World.
6. Russian Nation, Prevent Intervention, Sovietization.
7. Belgian Nation, Create Buffer, Nationalism.
8. French Restored, 1870 Borders, Animus.
9. Italian Borders, Alpine Borders, Lombardy.
10. Hapsburg Break, End Empire, Anschluss.
11. Balkan Ethnicity, Yugoslavia, Slavic Genocide.
12. Ottoman Break, End Empire, Mid-East Crisis.
13. Poland Restored, Prussian Buffer, Soviet Tension.
14. League of Nations, World Government, Globalism.
We can’t trust the Government to fix what they “broke.” However, if we do have a fix it wont be easy, because every day we stray further and further away from the truth.
C.S.Lewis has said, “The most dangerous aspiration of any man is to do something that has never been done before.”
Vocabulary
Maelstrom- a large, powerful, or violent whirlpool.
Aristocracy- a class of persons holding exceptional rank and privileges, especially the hereditary nobility.
Populist- a member of the People’s party.
Referendum- the principle or practice of referring measures proposed or passed by a legislative body to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection.
Isolationist- a person who favors or works for isolationism.
Moderate- kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense.
Eke- to increase; enlarge; lengthen.
Regulatory- to control or direct by a rule, principle, method, etc.
Gullible- easily deceived or cheated.
Puppet Figure, Ruler- a person who rules or governs; sovereign.
Propaganda- information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
Unilateral- relating to, occurring on, or involving one side only.
Repatriation- to bring or send back (a person, especially a prisoner of war, a refugee, etc.) to his or her country or land of citizenship.
Insurgency- the state or condition of being insurgent.
Espionage- the act or practice of spying.
Unanimity- the state or quality of being unanimous; a consensus or undivided opinion.
Secession- an act or instance of seceding.
Buffer- an apparatus at the end of a railroad car, railroad track, etc., for absorbing shock during coupling, collisions, etc.
Competency- suitability, competence.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 26 – The Pity of War: The Ongoing Tragedy of the First World War
“World War I, was the most unnecessary and the most destructive war in all of modern history. It was and is the quintessence of the pity of war.” -Niall Ferguson
Vocabulary:
maelstrom – a restless, disordered, or tumultuous state of affairs
aristocracy – a class of persons holding exceptional rank and privileges, especially the hereditary nobility
populist – a member of the People’s party
referendum – a vote on such a measure
isolationist – a person who favors or works for isolationism
moderate – kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense
eke – kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intensely
regulatory – to control or direct by a rule, principle, method, etc.
gullible – easily deceived or cheated
puppet figure or ruler – a leader or ruler who is chosen by a despot to head a government
propaganda – information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
unilateral – undertaken or done by or on behalf of one side, party, or faction only
repatriation – to bring or send back to his or her country or land of citizenship.
insurgency – rebellion within a group, as by members against leaders
espionage – the act or practice of spying
unanimity – the state or quality of being unanimous; a consensus or undivided opinion
secession – an act or instance of seceding
buffer – a person or thing that shields and protects against annoyance, harm, hostile forces, etc., or that lessens the impact of a shock or reversal
competency – the quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity
Men are leaving God through the war. Harvard lost 50% of their men and Oxford lost 75% of their men due to leaving for the war. It became a culture of death. The death of the war vastly outnumbered the death of the Black Plague in years previous in Europe. It brought an end to the empires of Hapsburg, Prussia, Ottoman, and Russian.
There were certain things that came about because of technologies because of the war. The telephone, wireless radio, armored cars, tanks, fixed wing aircraft, indirect mortar fire, steel helmets, mustard gas, chlorine gas, gas masks, aircraft carriers, u-boats, depth charges, passive sonar, light automatic, rifles, flamethrowers, air reconnaissance, and trench warfare.
There were several results of the WWI one of which was the Versailles Treaty which included Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the League of Nations, also pushed by Wilson. The League of Nations is eventually followed by the United Nations. This was all a time of “cease fire”, a time of short “peace” before it all began again.
World War I, often called the Great War, unleashed upon all the rest of the world new nationalistic aspirations in undeveloped countries and former colonies, throwing Africa, South America, and Asia into one prolonged terror-struck, civil war that continues to this day.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 27 – A New World Order: Wilson’s Fourteen Points
“Hosts of mild black-coated men call themselves sane and sensible merely because they always catch the fashionable insanity, because they are hurried into madness by the maelstrom of the world.”G.K. Chesterton
Vocabulary:
populist – a supporter or adherent of populism
procure – to obtain or get by care, effort, or the use of special means
bureaucracy – government by many bureaus, administrators, and petty officials
celebrity – a famous or well-known person
unprecedented – without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled
phenomenon – a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable
personality – the visible aspect of one’s character as it impresses others
innovation – something new or different introduced
craftsmanship – a person who practices or is highly skilled in a craft; artisan
incumbent (adj.) – holding an indicated position, role, office, etc., currently
clever – mentally bright; having sharp or quick intelligence; able
calling – vocation, profession, or trade
brazen – shameless or impudent
disrupt – to cause disorder or turmoil in
consumption – the act of consuming, as by use, decay, or destruction
stability – firmness in position
consumerism – a modern movement for the protection of the consumer against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising, unfair pricing, etc.
colloquial – characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing; informal.
glib – readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely so
credit – commendation or honor given for some action, quality, etc.
novelty – state or quality of being novel, new, or unique; newness
reactive – tending to react
electorate – he body of persons entitled to vote in an election
criterion – a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something
fascist – a person who believes in or sympathizes with fascism
incursion – a hostile entrance into or invasion of a place or territory, especially a sudden one; raid
vigilance – state or quality of being vigilant; watchfulness
warmonger – a person who advocates, endorses, or tries to precipitate war
marxist – an adherent of Karl Marx or his theories
pragmatic – of or pertaining to a practical point of view or practical considerations
speakeasy – a saloon or nightclub selling alcoholic beverages illegally, especially during Prohibition
wrest – to twist or turn; pull, jerk, or force by a violent twist
ostentation – pretentious or conspicuous show, as of wealth or importance; display intended to impress others
All what they have in mind is a New World order and the League of Nations. These were both the plans that Wilson had in mind throughout all the plans of war. If you crush an empire like the Hapsburg empire you ensure absolute chaos to rule. This is just a move towards a New World Order though…chaos. The demand was for open peace. But open peace is a buzz phrase. Wilson did it and even now Obama does it. It was supposed to prevent a domino effect but only lead to espionage. Wilson’s points ensure the Cold War and WWII and Soviet Domination of the East and the economic collapse of the West. It was somebody’s intent to do this. Maybe not Wilson, but someone behind it all knew exactly what it would bring about and wanted it. The second demand was for free seas, being able to sail the seas for nothing. They hoped to reopen the seas but they ended up with monopolies as well as control of the market and a navy. This created an equity and an envy from others. Another demand was for free markets. The intention was to invigorate the economy but they just ended up with centralization. Free markets are good if you can actually get them, but most often than not it ends up not really being free. Another demand was for arms reduction, the intention behind this was to reduce tension but they just ended up with a status quo. None of these are truly accidental. The push for the League of Nations was intended for a World Government, but what it led to and ended up being was Globalism. The list goes on….so many things were demanded, intended, but other things were the real effect. There became a lot of ethnic strife, but the one nation group that came under attack from Wilson’s points was Germany. The question the people needed to ask was, “What is wrong with our current economy and government?”
Henry Luce was/is the inventor and owner of Time magazine.
You can’t ask the government to fix some problem that they created. When you have a problem, you do not necessarily hold the solution.
We can say that the ones in charge had only the best of intentions. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The plan to usher in a New World order was to go global. With the entrance of the 17th amendment got rid of the recollection of senators and helped eliminate the checks and balances source of accountability. That was the first transformation. The second transformation came with the 16th amendment. With this, you have the income tax as a progressive tax, meaning the more you have the higher percent of your tax. The third transformation is perhaps the greatest of the three. It is the federal government given wide-ranging authority which began the control of banking brought on by the birth of the Federal Reserve to control the rise and fall of markets around the globe.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 28: A New American Revolution: The Roaring Twenties
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan
Vocabulary:
respite – a delay or cessation for a time, especially of anything distressing or trying; an interval of relief
nostrum – a scheme, theory, device, etc., especially one to remedy social or political ills; panacea
equipoise – an equal distribution of weight; even balance; equilibrium
submergence – to cover or overflow with water; immerse
taciturn – inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation
bloatocracy –
synonymous – having the character of synonyms or a synonym; equivalent in meaning; expressing or implying the sameidea.
You will always have an elite class in any nation or culture. It is inescapable. However, an elite in a Biblical world will understand that they do not have a great amount of authority and it is still authority under God and His Law.
Wilson was an empire-maker and one of his goals was nationalism. The regionalism is eliminated so that nationalism can enter. Nationalism had been on the rise and Wilson just brought it about more step by step. That is just the first step. After you eliminate the regions into nations, you get nations eliminated for the world. Internationalism is introduced. It was a call to a New World order and because of that they would need to remake the central government.
Marketing was pushed during this time. Consumption became a leading factor. They did this largely through mass manufacturing and consumer advertising. One of the ways they did this was through women smoking. They didn’t prior to this time, but they pushed the idea of women being pressured and limited. The idea of women being able to smoke was pushed as a sign of liberty and freedom. For this reason it was accepted and acknowledged as okay. People associate themselves with what they purchase. The more they purchase the more they have of an identity. You bring a need to people…the thought that they need something. Now shopping was pursued as an amusement and not just a necessity.
The first media-made president was Warren Harding. He used the newspapers and became an icon for things he really wasn’t. His presidency was marked by scandal. The nation got a pop-star as a president, not an intelligent politician.
Churchill was in a kind of exile from government positions because he was viewed as a warmonger. After WWI, there was not much of an appetite for any warmonger. He fought through depression constantly throughout his life. No matter the obstacle, he took it on headfirst. Reform doesn’t help with bringing people in. You lose people when you just preach what you should. People want to be entertained. Men are sinners, the problem is not what we do, but rather what we are: sinners.
In the Roaring Twenties, America was headed toward disaster quickly. The difference between the Republicans and the Democrats was that Democrats were driving the engines toward disaster at 100 miles per hour, and the Republicans wanted to drive the engines toward disaster at only 60 miles per hour. That’s not a substantive difference in leadership. So the Roaring Twenties, with all its flappers and its madcap speakeasies – its gangster culture – was a loud cry for leadership and a new direction. The great lesson of history is: it is never as bad as it looks. There is always hope for the future as long as leadership emerges.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 29 – Coolidge’s Anti-Revolutionary Normalcy
“Coolidge’s brief respite of normalcy cut against the grain of revolutionary Modernity.” -Paul Johnson
Vocabulary:
usury – the lending or practice of lending money at an exorbitant interest
commodity – an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service
foreclosure – the act of foreclosing a mortgage or pledge
squander – to spend or use (money, time, etc.) extravagantly or wastefully
inflation – a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency
recession – the act of receding or withdrawing
depression – sadness; gloom; dejection
capital – the city or town that is the official seat of government in a country, state, etc.
deflation – a fall in the general price level or a contraction of credit and available money
precipitate – to hasten the occurrence of; bring about prematurely, hastily, or suddenly
tariff – an official list or table showing the duties or customs imposed by a government on imports or exports
premium – a prize, bonus, or award given as an inducement, as to purchase products, enter competitions initiated by business interests, etc.
lobbyist – a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest; a member of a lobby
garner – to get; acquire; earn
subsidy – a direct pecuniary aid furnished by a government to a private industrial undertaking, a charity organization, or the like
fiat – an authoritative decree, sanction, or order
receipt – a written acknowledgment of having received, or taken into one’s possession, a specified amount of money, goods, etc.
Coolidge was a quiet, not outspoken person. He didn’t dominate rooms or conversations. He didn’t have some big ego. Coolidge was elected the VP under Harding, who was everything that Coolidge wasn’t…bold and flaring. Harding only ruled for 2 ½ years as president. He died in ‘23 and wasn’t missed. Despite all his beautiful rhetoric he was involved in things the people didn’t approve of. When Harding died, Coolidge took over. He was raised in a Christian family, hence his name John Calvin Coolidge. His family had been involved with politics for many years. This was what set him up as a citizen legislator. He was a bright man and prepared for a career in law. He married Grace (irony!). Coolidge was an honest man.
When Coolidge was in office, he cut 60% of the bureaucracy jobs in Washington, but turned around to sell that empty space out to the private sector. This took pressure off the people with their taxes and allowed them to spend more and save more, bettering the free market. He finished out Harding’s term. He then intended to go home and remain quiet and unbothered. Hoover was coming in and Coolidge knew that he would not keep the government small, but rather come in and destroy whatever he had set into place.
“Society and government are not synonymous.” -Thomas Jefferson
Coolidge believed in the character of good hard work. He also believed in people minding their own business and keeping your words short and to the point. He was not a man of many words, but what he did say was right to the point and didn’t waste your time. He lead an anti-revolutionary movement. He was against the enlightenment and modernity movement. Kuyper was also a man like Coolidge, but much more bold and outspoken. Some of the principles of the anti-revolutionary movement are a rootedness in the Christian faith (a professing faith and repentance when straying from that), intact family (passing down through the generations that Christian faith through diligent catechism), covenant community (being stable and accountable to one another, carrying one another’s burdens), love of home, a good work ethic and a sense of purpose and calling, as well as rootedness.
We find that the origins of this anti-revolutionary movement are rooted in several men. Hancock, Adams, Ames, Roosevelt, Lodge, and even Melville. Other anti-revolutionary movements were the Agrarians (Taylor, Henry, Jefferson, Calhoun, Davidson, Gordon, Lytle, Tate, O’Connor, Welty, Berry, and Karon), Distributists (Wyclif, Knox, Johnson, Chalmers, Chesterton, Belloc, MacDonald, Lewis, Tolkien, and Sayers), and Continentals (Groote, Hus, Calvin, Beza, d’Auigne, Prinsterer, Kuyper, Bavinck, Van Til, and Schaeffer).
It was assumed Coolidge would be a caretaker when he stepped into the office of the president upon Warren G. Harding’s unexpected death, but something happened during that year and half – with his focus on providing a laissez-faire, free market, government-stay-out-of-the-business-of-business approach to economics, the lowering of taxes, the removal of regulation, the restoring of state powers, and the encouraging of confidence in American ingenuity and progress throughout the world – that caused Americans to have renewed confidence in government. Coolidge was the most unlikely kind of man to usher in that type of reform.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, 6/5/13
Lesson 29, Coolidge’s Anti-Revolution Normalcy
A Needed Corrective
President Warren Harding served only two and a half years as president, starting in 1921, and died in office. He served as a member of the Ohio Senate, 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and United States Senator. He is also known for the Teapot Dome scandal.
Calvin Coolidge was a quiet man, not very domineering. We could say he was the opposite of Harding. He was born into a Puritan family, thus the name John Calvin Coolidge. When he first started out in the world, he won the election for the Council of Northampton, Massachusetts. Then he was elected to the Massachusetts State House of Representatives. Later he became Mayor of Northampton. In 1914 he won the election to State Senate.The next year he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. Later in 1918 he was elected as Governor. In 1920 he was elected vice-president under Warren Harding. Harding died in 1923, and Coolidge was sworn in as president.
Although Coolidge was known to be a skilled and effective public speaker, in private he was a man of few words and was therefore commonly referred to as “Silent Cal.” When ever he spoke, his words were always beneficial and wise.
Here are some of his Calvinisms;
“I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm.”
“No man ever listened himself out of a job.”
“If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it.”
“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.”
“Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
“Duty is not just collective; it is personal.”
“Perhaps the most important accomplishment of my administration has been minding my own business.”
“The business of America is business.”
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.”
“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.”
“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”
Anti- Revolutionary
1. Principles
Christian Faith- Different Christians with different beliefs wanted to bring back Christianity. They understood that they needed a strong Christian Faith in order to do so. Stability is necessary for a strong Christian faith.
Intact Family- These people new that a strong family was also needed. Not just with mother, father, brother and sister, But with church and community as well.
We will not be able to obtain this vision that the Anti-Revolutionists had, until the Public Schools are destroyed. They are dumbing down our children and culture, and tearing the family apart. The three things that you need to have are; Rootedness, a Love of Home, and a Sense of purpose and time.
2. Origins
Hancock, Adams, Ames.
Roosevelt, Lodge, Melville.
Agrarians, Distributists, Continentals.
Other Anti-Revolutionary Movements
1. Agrarians
This group was made of intellectuals who took from the works of Taylor, Henry, Jefferson and Calhoun.
Davidson, Gordon, Lytle, Tate.
O’Conner, Welty, Berry, Karon.
2. Distributists
The ideas of many in this group go back to Wyclif, Knox, Johnson and Chalmers.
Cesterton, Belloc, MacDonald.
Lewis, Tolkien, Sayers.
3. Continentals
The group contained people such as Groote, Hus, Calvin and Beza. Others were d’Aubigne, Prinstere, Kuyper, Bavinck, Van Til and Schaeffer.
Vocabulary
Respite- A short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant.
Nostrum- A medicine, esp. an ineffective one, prepared by an unqualified person.
Equipoise- Balance of forces or interests.
Submergence- sinking until covered completely with water.
Taciturn- Reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.
Bloatocracy- no results.
Synonymous- having the character of synonyms or a synonym; equivalent in meaning; expressing or implying the same idea.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 30 – Calamities Multiplied: The Great Depression
“The long economic constriction known as the Great Depression was caused by several factors, natural and man made. But the depth, breadth, and length of that sordid episode of human suffering was entirely the result of government intervention and poor fiscal management – the sort of economic foolishness that inevitably accompanies the machination of modern elitists.” -Murray Rothbard
Vocabulary:
totalitarian – of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life
dispensation – the divine ordering of the affairs of the world
capitulate – to surrender unconditionally or on stipulated terms
stipulation – a condition, demand, or promise in an agreement or contract
vie – to strive in competition or rivalry with another; contend for superiority
charismatic – characterizing Christians of various denominations who seek an ecstatic religious experience,sometimes including speaking in tongues and instantaneous healing;
fabricate – to fake; forge
tsunami – an unusually large sea wave produced by a seaquake or undersea volcanic eruption
cataclysm – any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature
Wehrmacht – the German armed forces of the years prior to and during World War II
It is said that the Great Depression began officially in 1929. It runs for about a decade or more until around the WWII. Many people understood that there needed to be a recovery with the Great Depression, but even more knew that there should be reform. “Never let a crisis go to waste”, so they sought reform above recovery. Because of this, you get many policies that lead toward a planned fascist state. FDR was the main pusher of this policy and leaned towards creating fiat money and pumping up the money supply.
The beginning of the “Long Depression” began in 1873 and ended 1877 with the end of the War Between the States. War never makes a people as a whole wealthy. In 1887 you have the Interstate Commerce Act and this is just the government getting more and involved in the people’s life. What it wanted to do was regulate so that that equality existed over state lines. In the 1907 you have the beginning of the “Great Recession” which is the beginning of what will lead to the Great Depression. It is simply the bottoming out of the inevitable. With the Constitutional Changes in 1913, you have the government once again seeking to take over your life more and steal your money.
In October of 1929 the market collapsed. On the 24th, there was the crash of the Black Thursday. The next day was the Blue Rally where it went back up. But then on the 29th it crashed even worse and the bottom went out. It was originally sold in 1913 as what would make the economy stable, but then in 1929 we see that it was a lie and this was exactly what they wanted. The government printed extra fake money to put it out in the market which pushed inflation into the culture. This deflated the real value of money and increased credit and debt. You have a great entrance of scams and schemes of fraud. This lead to a false sense of confidence and a fake need for more money to be printed…a domino effect. They believed there was a demand for more goods and so they produce more inventory. Houses were built but they remained empty because the money was artificial and fake. There became a surplus of inventory and a crisis of confidence…people are losing jobs and can’t afford any of the extra things that were made for all the extra money. Deflation began as a result of the inflation and this all lead to the collapse of Wall Street and that started the Great Depression.
In 1930 we have the drought that turned to dust on the plains. Crops turned to sandboxes and left the people even more destitute than before. Commodities and prices dropped. When it comes to economics you have to look for the unseen problems. The things that might have happened if other things hadn’t happened. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was also brought in at the time. This increased the prices even more by putting a higher tax on things coming in. Then you also have the committee for the unemployment relief…the government attempting to fix the problem but making it even worse. J.M. Keynes writes a Treatise on Money and uses it to advance the idea of the government needing more control over the private sector in order to be able to fix whatever problems were going on.
Fiat money is really a tax. When they put more money in the system, then the value of your money goes down and it’s devalued and you lose that value and money to the government. So whether it’s a real tax or fiat money, it’s a tax nonetheless.
In 1931 the interest rate went up twice and with that that you are being charged to borrow money. You will then be less inclined to borrow money at that point and because of that the money flow is restricted. All of this can be eliminated if you shrink the size of government and you cut off the FDR…these two actions would go hand in hand.
In 1932 you have the largest peacetime tax increase. It’s crazy to think that raising the increasing the taxes during the time of crisis will help. Also the interest rate for the peacetime tax rate was increased as well. To go along with these you have the largest reduction of the business exemptions. Combine all these together and you have the helping along the Great Depression.
Economics 101:
There are three different kinds of economics.
Intrinsic – Rents and Wages, Land, Partnership, and Trade. (You own or have things that will always return its value regularly)
Kinetic – Interest and Profits, Labor, Stock, and Receipt. (You invest and your money works for you and returns its value)
Speculative – Taxes and Estates, Capital, Usury, and Fiat. (You assume or speculate the value and you don’t know if it will return the value but you take a risk)
If you have a money supply expansion you get an inflationary boom which leads to a credit expansion.
If you have a credit expansion you get an imprudent investment which leads to overproduction.
If you have an overproduction you get a surplus inventory which leads to a crisis of confidence.
If you have a crisis of confidence you get a failure of demand which leads to liquidation.
If you have a liquidation you get a credit contraction which leads to a money supply shrink.
If you have a money supply shrink you get a deflationary recession.
When you subsidize anything you will get more of it. When you tax anything you get less of it.
There were runs on banks, the collapse of banking institutions, which stripped away the life savings of two-thirds of the American people. There was massive unemployment, long, long lines of beleaguered men seeking assistance for themselves and their families, squatter camps throughout the nation where the homeless would gather. Foreclosure rates soared from 1929 to 1932 some 190%. If we will not learn from the past, if we won’t look at causes and effects across the course of time, if we only think of the moment, if we fail to recognize those lessons and aren’t even aware of the lessons of the past, then we will create deeper and greater crises.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, 6/12/13
Lesson 30, Calamities Multiplied: The Great Depression
Modernity- the act of taking God off his throne and putting man on it.
Anti-Revolutionarys- Groen Van Prinester, Calvin Coolidge, Abraham Kyper, John Calhoun.
Recovery and Reform
During the Great Depression, 63% of the population lost their bank accounts and every thing in them.
Calamities Multiplied
Before the collapse
1873: Beginning of the “Long Depression.”
1887: Interstate Commerce Act.
1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
1906: Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
1907: The Beginning of the “Great Recession.”
1912: Ludwig Von Mises’ Theory of Money and Credit.
1913: Constitutional Changes.
1914: The First World War Begins.
1919: John Maynard Keynes’ Economic Consequences.
1928: Herbert Hoover is Elected.
1929: Agricultural and Business Regulation.
After the Collapse
1929
October 24: Black Thursday
October 25: Blue Rally
October 29: Black Tuesday
1930
Drought turns to Dust on the Plains
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Committee for Unemployment Relief
J.M. Keynes’ Treatise on Money
1931
Interest Rates Raised Twice
1932
Largest Peacetime Tax Increase
Largest Peacetime Interest Rate Increase
Largest Reduction of Business Exemptions
Economics 101
1. Intrinsic
Rents and Wages
Land
Partnership
Trade
2. Kinetic
Interest and Profits
Labor
Stock
Receipt
3. Speculative
Taxes and Estates
Capital
Usury
Fiat
1. Causes -> Effect
Morey Supply Expansion -> Inflationary Boom
Credit Expansion -> Imprudent Investment
Overproduction -> Surplus Inventory
Crisis of Confidence -> Failure to Demand
Liquidation -> Credit Contraction
Money Supply Shrunk -> Deflationary Recession
2. Keynesian Response -> Misian Response
Inflate Further -> Liquidate Inefficiencies
Deficit Spending -> Dept Free Development
Stimulate Consumption -> Stimulate Savings
Discourage Savings -> Discourage Consumption
Subsidize Unemployment -> Encourage Private Initiative
The Uncle Sam Strategy -> The Grandma Strategy
When you go to college or to school, the things you go taught at church or at home, most of the time get washed out. But normally there are about one out of five good teachers.
Keynes made a theory of Economics. His theory was that dept is good.
When someone is poor, the Government should not help. The three spheres Family, Church and Civil should be the only ones who help. The first two should take care of the poor, but the Civil has the sword of judgment. The Government does not want these spheres to do this because when they do, they will grow both larger and stronger.
Vocabulary
Usury- the lending or practice of lending money at an exorbitant interest.
Commodity- an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service.
Foreclosure- the act of foreclosing a mortgage or pledge.
Squander- to spend or use extravagantly or wastefully.
Inflation- a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency.
Recession- the act of receding or withdrawing.
Depression- a depressed or sunken place or part; an area lower than the surrounding surface.
Capital- the city or town that is the official seat of government in a country, state, etc.
Deflation- a fall in the general price level or a contraction of credit and available money.
Precipitate- to hasten the occurrence of; bring about prematurely, hastily, or suddenly.
Tariff- an official list or table showing the duties or customs imposed by a government on imports or exports.
Premium- a bonus, gift, or sum additional to price, wages, interest, or the like.
Lobbyist- a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest; a member of a lobby.
Garner- to gather or deposit in or as if in a granary or other storage place.
Subsidy- a grant or contribution of money.
Fiat- an authoritative decree, sanction, or order.
Receipt- a written acknowledgment of having received, or taken into one’s possession, a specified amount of money, goods, etc.
Sarah Bacon – Modernity
Week 31 – A New Despotism: Hitler, Stalin, and Their Heirs
“The rise of Despotism in our time can be directly attributed to cowardice.” -Winston Churchill
Vocabulary:
Anschluss – union, especially the political union of Austria with Germany in 1938
repudiate – to reject as having no authority or binding force
appease/appeasement – to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe
annex/annexation – he act or an instance of annexing, especially new territory
sovereignty – the quality or state of being sovereign
nullify – to render or declare legally void or inoperative
reich – (with reference to Germany) empire; realm; nation
neutrality – the state of being neutral
isolationist – a person who favors or works for isolationism
capitulate/capitulation – the act of capitulating
arduous – requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult
muster – to gather, summon, rouse
inveterate – settled or confirmed in a habit, practice, feeling, or the like
Countries that had been previously regions were now consolidated to become centralized into one nation state. Germany was one of these. Wilson ensured the fact that there would be all this civil unrest by his redrawing of the maps and rearranging the country lines.
Stalin and Hitler have similar rises to power. They were both Marxist and were “of the left”. There is not much of a difference between national socialism and international socialism. The push behind any kind of socialism/communism is to get rid of God and to take over.
Hitler (1889-1945) was born in Austria to an unhappy home with spouse abuse. He was related in gang-related activities and did not show much promise in school. After his father died he began to study art and started to produce it. He was rejected from the fine arts school he wanted to go to in Vienna. He applied again the next year and was again rejected. He was soon dragged into WWI. He had few skills at all so he was a runner to carry messages between camps. He earned the award for bravery twice. He was then later put in a mental hospital and when he got out the war was over. The Germans felt they were wronged in the war because they practically won on the fields but it was not recognized. They had to pay the war fines but had no money. Hitler uses this later on in his rule to rise up by appealing to wrong done. He joined the Ultima Thule (a revolutionary movement). The way he controlled the people listening to him was amazing and he was a powerful speaker. The Ultima Thule eventually kicked Hitler out but then realized how central he was to the organization. They asked him back and put him in change. Hitler then promptly kicked them out using the people to force them out. He then changed the name to the National Socialist Party…the Nazis. He even instigated the uniforms and you see this in the rise of tyrannical states. Uniforms are used because you all see yourself as one person. In 1923, Hitler gathered a mob and stormed the Parliament building with the Beer Hall Putsch. The police broke it up and sent Hitler to Landesberg prison with a sentence for five years. He only ended up serving 8 months. While there, Hitler wrote his book Mein Kampf which roused the people and gathered them to his side once more. In 1933, the newly elected President von Hindenburg makes Hitler the Chancellor of Germany which brought the Nazis to power. In order to push his agenda, Hitler sought to find a common enemy for the people. This has been done throughout the years when any leader wants to gain more power.
Stalin (1878-1953) was born in Russia with Jewish blood in him. The majority of time broken families lead to kids gone wrong. Stalin attended seminary for a few years. He was national minded at that time. He failed three times while seeking in seminary to advance himself further. There was talk of war on the outskirts of Russia and this fueled the fire within the hearts of young men, one of which was Stalin. He was involved with gangs and revolution. Both the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were fascist. The gangs that Stalin were involved in and leading began to fund Lenin. Eventually he was under Lenin during the war and began his death toll by taking out villages and carrying the supplies back to the army. Eventually it became two armies…one of Stalin and one of Hitler. They were supposed to be hand in hand but we see the constant push for power between the two.
When you centralize power, you give it a good opportunity to commit genocide like what happened in the 20th century.
In the last 100 years there have been more deaths issued by the government than any other time or deaths from the beginning of time up till 100 years ago. It was and is a culture of death.
From Hitler to Stalin, Mao to Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe to Saddam Hussein, what Modernity and ideological nationalism unleashed in the twentieth century is beyond anything we can think or imagine. More people were slaughtered in the last 100 years than had been slaughtered in all of history combined.
Rebecca Bacon, Wednesday Modernity Class Notes, 6/19/13
Lesson 31, Hitler, Stalin, and there Heirs
A Despot is a Tyrant or Usurper.
The problem was not so much Ideological Nationalism as it is the Idea that is driving the Nationalism.
Saruman and Sauron
Just because we are apposed to one bad guy does not mean that we are not apposed to the other.
1917: The Bolshevik Revolution
1918: The Russian Civil War
1919: The Hungarian Communist Coup.
1920-1922: the Hungarian Civil War
1919: The Italian Fascist Terror
1920-1922: The Italian Civil War
1923: The Failed Nazi Putsch
1924-1932: The Weimar Civil War
1920: The Ataturk Nationalistic Revolution
1926: The Taisho Democratic Experiment Ends
1936-1939: The Spanish Civil War
The Rise of the Despots
Hitler (1889-1945) and Stalin (1878- 1953) were both Marxists.Hitler was known as a member of the far right. But this is not true. Hitler and Stalin are both of the left.
Adolph Hitler
Hitler was born in Austria as the fourth of six children. He lived in a poor and unhappy home. He had problems in school and soon became gang related. He loved Art and when he was still young he tried to join a fine arts school. He was rejected two times.
Munich, Anti-Semitism, and War.
Ultima Thule to Nazi.
Beer Hall Putsch.
Landesberg and Mein Kampf.
Hitler was sent to Landesburg prison for raising a mob and marching on the parliament building. He was supposed to be in for fivr years but was only in for eight months. While here he wrote his book Mein Kampf. Mussolini was a great influence on him.
Josef Stalin
Stalin was born in Russia in the country of Georgia. He grew up broken and poor. He wanted to be a pastor and thus went to seminary. Like Hitler he failed becoming a pastor, but three times. After this he became gang related and earned money by robbing banks.
Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
Civil War and Pravda.
Power Struggle and Cult of Personality.
At this time, Lenin had power. He had Jewish blood unlike Stalin who married a Jewish woman. Stalin caught Lenin’s eye and became one of his men. The gang operations who were now run by Stalin, were soon funding Lenin. Stalin rose in power of Lenin’s military, for he knew how to use terror for himself. During his rise to power he was financed by the Jews.
Tsunami of Tyranny: Fascist Alliance.
Tsunami of Tyranny: Communist Alliance.
Coming of Global War: 1937-1939
1. Causes
Treaty of Versailles
The Great Depression
Modernist Nationalism
Coercive Socialism
2. Spheres
Axis Powers: Germany, Japan, Italy.
Eastern Alliance: U.S.S.R.
Allied Powers: The United Kingdom and France.
Western Alliance: United States.
Communist Alliance: Satellite States
A Worldwide Cataclysm
1905: Japanese Imperialists Come to power.
1922: Italian Fascists Come to power.
1933: German Nazis Come to power.
1935: Wehrmacht Rearmament.
1936: Rome- Berlin Axis and Rhineland.
1937: Anschluss and Manchuria.
1938: Appeasement and Sudetenland.
1939: Poland, Finland, and Blitzkrieg.
1940: Tripartite Pact and Global Confrontation.
1941: Operation Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor.
A Century of Genocide
1915-1918: Turkish Armenian Genocide – 15 thousand.
1932-1933: Soviet Ukrainian Famine, or Holdomar – 7 million.
1932-1939: Soviet White Russian Purge – 11 million.
1937-1938: Japanese Nanking Massacre – 3 hundred thousand.
1938-1945: Nazi Holocaust – 6 million.
1944-1953: Soviet Gulag Camps – 29 million.
1949-1957: Maoist Counter-Revolution Repression – 3 million.
1958-1961: Maoist Great Leap Forward – 38 million.
1966-1976: Maoist Cultural Revolution – 3 million.
1949-1976: Maoist Laogai Camps – 27 million.
1975-1979: Khmer Rouge Collectivization – 2 million.
In the last hundred years, more people were slaughtered than in all the years before. The three words we should definitely be using more to describe the times we live in, are Despotism, Tyranny and Usurper.
Vocabulary
Totalitarian- exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.
Dispensation- a certain order, system, or arrangement; administration or management.
Capitulate- to surrender unconditionally or on stipulated terms.
Stipulation- a condition, demand, or promise in an agreement or contract.
Vie- to strive in competition or rivalry with another; contend for superiority.
Charismatic- characterizing Christians of various denominations who seek an ecstatic religious experience, sometimes including speaking in tongues and instantaneous healing.
Fabricate- to make by assembling parts or sections.
Tsunami- an unusually large sea wave produced by a sea-quake or undersea volcanic eruption.
Cataclysm- any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature.
Wehrmacht- the German armed forces of the years prior to and during World War II.