Onward, Christian Soldiers! Part One
MFOgilvie
By Mary Grabar
Sunday, March 11, 2007
For too long Christians have been in retreat. Lately, several men with
very little knowledge of theology or cultural history have foisted
tracts on to a public that has been denied exposure to the rich
tradition of Christianity upon which our rights, our values, and
highest forms of art are based. A handful of smug
"scientists" (Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, among them) have come
along displaying their ignorance in pedestrian prose.
Like the big Liar, they look for and exploit weaknesses. The flock has
been demoralized both by the weasels (called humanities professors)
nipping at them when they were young and vulnerable, and by the
leaders of churches who have either sacrificed some lambs (hoping to
appease these atheist hyenas) or have simply retreated from the
world.
In the public universities today, professors wax on about the wonders
of Islam or Native American scalp dances, but stutter apologetically
about "oppression," "hegemony," and "imperialism" when they present
the great works of our Western tradition. Smart-alecky graduate
teaching assistants express their desire to disabuse undergraduates of
the Christian beliefs and values they enter college with. Craven
tenured professors give in to feminists strutting in high heels and
mini skirts or in Dickies pants; they meekly follow the order of the
feminist department heads to place on their syllabi the learning
objective, "an understanding of gender, cultural, and ethnic
diversity." At faculty meetings they nod and express agreement about
the need for "diversity," as the great literary works like Paradise
Lost are replaced by such vile things as the lyrics of Tupac Shakur
(true story).
But we need to be reminded that Christians started almost all of the
major universities in this country. If it weren't for Christians, the
atheists would be chanting into the fire and clubbing each other over
the head for food and women. But contrary to the historical evidence,
the atheists claim to have the moral high ground, to be the most
civilized, while cashing in royalty checks. Christians' own recent
timidity is partly to blame.
The Catholic Church abandoned its rich traditions and emphasis on
scholasticism while priests went protesting and parishioners wore
jeans to mass. The Church adopted the ways of the world (and a pretty
bad world at that in the 1960s), and rather than allowing the Gospel
to work through souls, caved in to political demands. The Catholic
Church has sacrificed lambs on the altar of political correctness.
Evangelicals have retreated, refusing to read or listen to anything
that engages the world or involves serious thought. They read their
own literalist tracts and live circumscribed lives. Christian
bookstores carry only their own pious tomes that hardly qualify as
great literature. Christian art refuses to engage with the world and
has thereby become largely irrelevant, except to those seeking to
affirm their own beliefs in a pious, non-challenging way.
It isn't much better for the small group of serious Christian literary
writers. Indeed, at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs
conference in Atlanta last week, out of over 300 panels (with some on
such topics as "Deviant Fictions by Women," "Queer Poetry/Queer Myth,"
and "Native American Literature in the Classroom,") two panels were
dedicated to Christian literature, and one only by way of Flannery
O'Connor. The panel, "Fact and Mystery: The Legacy of Flannery
O'Connor," was made up of a publisher of a literary journal of arts
and religion and three of its writers. What I learned from this panel
was that the Christian writer "writes out of moments of his own
doubt."
So, the literary writer who is Christian is to express "doubt." Gee,
thanks for letting us do that. We wouldn't want to offend non-
Christians. We wouldn't dare take a stand on the big questions.
The published literature reflects this axiom. Literary Christian
writing today portrays the tedium of small domestic dramas. The
writers and publishers of these journals are as quivering as the
tenured professors who dutifully put "race, class, and gender" on
their syllabi, and are afraid to mention the Trinity in class
discussions.
Do the atheists express doubt? No, they have all kinds of faith in
themselves--from the smug authors of atheistic apologetics to the
narcissistic authors who see into "nothing," from Sartre to Jonathan
Franzen.
The leftist literary writer has no qualms about promoting his politics
through his fiction and poetry, as well as in his commentary. About a
quarter of the contributors to the Huffington Post are creative
writers--novelists, screen writers, poets, etc. In fact, they get
directly involved in politics and use their cachet as writers through
"Litpac," a political action committee of writers who made phone calls
to voters during the 2006 elections. A luminary is Stephen Elliott,
author of autobiographical sadomasochistic fiction, teacher at
creative writing workshops, and a featured performer in the "Sex
Workers Tour" that visited campuses across the country this year.
While the non-Christian writer is rewarded for promoting
sadomasochism, and blazes forward in the political arena, the
Christian writer congratulates himself for expressing doubt.
Did Dante express doubt? Did Flannery O'Connor? The artist who
expresses doubt is at one and the same time a coward and a tyrant. He
is a coward, obviously, because he is afraid to express his faith, to
go out on a limb, to be vulnerable to being wrong or attacked for his
views. The doubter, the equivocator, is above criticism, and above
engagement.
Writers who are Christian should not be afraid to present their ideas
to a mainstream audience. The staying power of Flannery O'Connor even
among nonbelievers is a testament. As they say in dancing: Lead strong
even if you lead wrong. There can be no dance without a lead. There
can be no memorable art from a position of doubt or neutrality.
The Christian writers of mystery plays during the Middle Ages
displayed great ribald humor, of themselves and of Biblical
characters. There is the great tradition of satire in the vein of
Evelyn Waugh. And none of the nice pastel pious literature of today
presents the horrors of hell the way Dante and Milton do. Or humor
that cuts the way Flannery O'Connor's or Walker Percy's did.
What works of atheists, Buddhists, Muslims or Wiccans parallel the
greatness of the literature that expands on the themes of the Bible?
It's time to engage and fight the enemy.
This is not a call for forceful conversion but an assertion that we
have the right to express facts about the great Christian heritage of
our art and values and the imperative to continue in that tradition as
artists and writers. The alternative is an atheistic world that is
scientifically sophisticated, but ugly and loveless. The works
produced lately-the piles of garbage that pass as "installation art,"
the literature that glorifies pain and promiscuity-testify to the
world atheism is ushering in.
Let's take up Milton's call in Areopagitica. We demand our rights to
free speech in our intellectual centers, especially those we founded.
We make up 80% of the population in this country, but in the classroom
we're presented as responsible for the ills of the world and ordered
to present only other religious traditions in a respectful way.
We need Christian writers who will engage with the world and write for
the world.
Yes, one of the reasons for my attending this conference was to find a
publisher for my novel manuscript, "Dancing with Derrida," that
tackles the atheistic world that has brought us abortion, feminism,
pornography, political correctness, and objectifying sex. But I am
told that no "Christian" publisher will touch it. And most mainstream
publishers seem to want novels that promote politically correct
themes, nihilistic views of dysfunctionalism, chick lit fluff, or
timid little tomes that present "doubt."
Even many conservatives have written off the arts. They believe that
English departments are not very influential or important. They have
turned their attention to political science departments. The
conservative publishers have done the same, churning out political
books every month, but no works of fiction or poetry. We need to
support and promote our art. Art's effect ripples out. It promotes and
sustains our culture.
Flannery O'Connor, one of the most respected writers of the twentieth
century, by Christians and non-Christians alike, expressed her
Christian convictions through parables. She was not afraid to say
through the words of an escaped convict called the Misfit, "If
[Christ] did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but throw
away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing
for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you
can-by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other
meanness to him." Yes, these are the two choices available, as the
believer sees it. The atheist escaped convict says this right before
he murders an old woman. We know what choice he made.
Sadly, O'Connor, with her dark, violent, and funny parables, would
have a hard time getting published today. As a culture we are all the
poorer for not promoting Christian writers who challenge our pieties.
When I was teaching at an open admissions college, many of my students
were returning students. I had one middle-aged woman, a skeptic, who
told me after we had discussed The Inferno that she was going to give
a copy to her brother who had been thrown in jail that weekend.
Dante's work, describing certain sinners spending eternity submerged
in excrement (though not expressed in such polite terms by Dante), had
an effect on at least one person and it was going to the jailhouse
where it and other Christian works are badly needed.
Amanda Williams
news:1173701755.3...@64g2000cwx.googlegroups.com:
> Onward, Christian Soldiers! Part One
> By Mary Grabar
> Sunday, March 11, 2007
>
Ahh jeez... PLEASE tell me there isn't a Part 2 of this boring illiterate
drool?????
PULEEEEEEEEEEZE.....
--
AW
<small but dangerous.
MFOgilvie
> On 12 Mar 2007 05:15:55 -0700, "MFOgilvie"
>
> <matthew.f.ogil...@lmco.com> wrote:
> >For too long Christians have been in retreat. Lately, several men with
> >very little knowledge of theology or cultural history have foisted
> >tracts on to a public that has been denied exposure to the rich
> >tradition of Christianity upon which our rights, our values, and
> >highest forms of art are based.
>
> as ANY political ideology must;
There's a big difference between taking the heat and having to deal
with lies being told by liberals about Christianity every day.
MFOgilvie
> "MFOgilvie" <matthew.f.ogil...@lmco.com> allegedly said innews:1173701755.3...@64g2000cwx.googlegroups.com:
>
> > Onward, Christian Soldiers! Part One
> > By Mary Grabar
> > Sunday, March 11, 2007
>
> Ahh jeez... PLEASE tell me there isn't a Part 2 of this boring illiterate
> drool?????
And you don't dare have a problem with it.
za...@construction-imaging.com
That is a myth.