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Book Review: Saints and Scoundrels by Robin Phillips

October 29, 2012 / / 4 Comments
 [Revised 7 November 2012]

It is a distressing fact that many Protestants nowadays are ignorant or indifferent about church history.  This mindset is dangerous on several levels.  One, it in effect denies God’s role as the Creator and Sustainer of his creation.  Two, it denies that there is a moral dimension to history.  Three, it implicitly denies that God is at work redemptively giving human history purpose and meaning.  And four, it assumes a spirit/matter dualism that closely resembles the ancient heresy of Gnosticism.

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It has been a pleasure interacting with Robin Phillips through this blog.  I especially appreciate his articles on Protestantism’s vulnerability to the Gnostic heresy.  He recently published Saints and Scoundrels: From King Herod to Solzhenitsyn through Canon Press.  The book seems to be written to remedy Protestantism’s historical amnesia.

 

A Young Boy and the Flow of History

The seed for Saints and Scoundrels was planted when as a eleven year old boy, Robin Phillips, visited the Berlin Wall.  He wrote in the Preface:

Robin Phillips then

When I was eleven years old, I traveled to West Germany with my family. I will never forget the afternoon my dad drove us to the wall separating West and East Germany. The electric fence dividing the free world from the “evil empire” looked ominous. 

As we emerged from the car, we were met by a chill, drizzling rain. On the other side of the fence a lone guard stared gloomily at us. The rest of my family had their picture taken in front of the fence but I was too afraid to venture near. A few minutes later I plucked up the courage and asked my dad to photograph me next to the terrible barrier, or as close to it as I dared approach.

 

A few years later, he saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism. This had a profound impact on Robin Phillips. He wrote further in the Preface:

Robin Phillips

In toppling His enemies, God does not work alone but uses the faithfulness of His people throughout the ages to accomplish His purposes. From my perspective as a young boy, it seemed as though the collapse of communism had come out of the blue. Since then, I have had the opportunity to study the men and women of faith who played a part in the accomplishment of God’s plans. 

 

We are all part of the flow of history. Some people think history is boring and irrelevant to faith in Christ, but reading Saints and Scoundrels will make us come away with an appreciation of how the moral choices people make affect the flow of history and how God exercises his sovereignty and redemptive grace in history.

 

Overview of Saints and Scoundrels

This book is not conventional church history.  Major historical figures like Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and John Calvin are passed over.  It is, rather, a collection of biographical sketches arranged in chronological order.  As the title implies the book covers both the high and low points of Western history.

Robin Phillips is attempting to present something similar to Hebrews 11, the biblical chapter that recalls the heroes of the faith. The book aims to present a Christian worldview through positive and negative moral examples.  It also presents the Christian worldview exemplified through a wide range of vocations: theology, politics, charity, literature, drama, and cross-cultural missions.  In his Preface Phillips states: “What is just as important as defeating or converting God’s enemies is the positive work of building up the culture of Christendom (p. 13).”  To further reinforce the book’s pedagogical function at the end of each chapter is a list of discussion questions and a personal challenge question.  The book assumes that one already has a grasp of basic Christian doctrine and values.

 

My Evaluation

Robin Phillips’ prose is clear and accessible to a general audience, but I was confused at times about whom his intended audience was.  The occasional bolded terms for the glossary seem to be aimed a high schoolers or first year college students.  But there are parts where Phillips presents complex ideas like cultural Marxism which is more appropriate to college students.

I wished Robin Phillips had provided an introduction and an epilogue to provide an overarching thematic unity for the book.  George Grant’s “Introduction” seems to me more of a foreword.  It would have been good if Phillips took some time to discuss the method behind his selections.  There is an implicit agenda conducted through his selections.  Nearly half of the chapters (eight out of twenty) deal with characters from England and another two from Scotland.  This is not necessarily a flaw or a weakness but it does need to be addressed openly in either the introduction or epilogue.  A parent or instructor perusing the book needs to know these things at the outset.

The selections seem to be guided by a concern for the cultivation of a Christian worldview.  The selections are at times surprising and illuminating.  As a product of modern American culture I especially benefitted from the chapters on Alfred the Great, King John, William of Orange, and J.S. Bach.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the inclusion of the Frankfurt School of critical theory.  As a product of modern liberal education I am well acquainted with this school of thought.  This is an influential school of thought that young Christians need to be prepared to deal with.  It seems to this reviewer that in selecting extremes like Jean Jacques Rousseau and Antonio Gramsci, Phillips quietly passed over moderate liberals like Thomas Jefferson and John Locke.  This gives the selections an antinomic black versus white quality that can give an unbalanced view of history.

Theologically, the book assumes an irenic “mere Christian” stance.   While Robin Phillips often took an overtly didactic tone in his biographical sketches, theological issues were handled with a light touch.  One example of the book’s didactic tone can be found in the introduction to the life of George MacDonald: “One important lesson we learn from MacDonald is that beauty was never meant to be an end in itself, but something that points us beyond the universe to God and His goodness” (p. 246).  Phillips describes Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a “highly complex thinker” and “heterodox” (p. 263).  This is very mild language that fails to alert the young reader to the liberal elements in Bonhoeffer’s theology that has upset conservative Protestants.  See Michael Hoffman’s review on Amazon.

From an ecumenical standpoint the book is biased towards Protestantism but is balanced by the inclusion other Christian traditions, e.g., Eastern Orthodox Christians like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  It would have been good if someone from the Roman Catholic tradition were included in Saints and Scoundrels.  The late Pope John Paul II, who helped bring about the downfall of Communism, could have served as a complement to the Orthodox Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  Father Damien De Veuster is an example of a life of sacrificial service to those rejected by society.  In the 1800s the Hawaiian kingdom was predominantly Protestant (Calvinist Congregationalist), but it was a Roman Catholic missionary priest from Belgium who is remembered more than a century later for his ministry of compassion to the Hawaiians under medical quarantine due to Hansen’s disease.  He known today as Saint Damien of Molokai, a “martyr of charity.”

As an Orthodox Christian I was especially interested in what Robin Phillips had to say about Irenaeus of Lyons and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  He did a good job describing how Irenaeus defended the Christian Faith against the Gnostic heresy.  He drew attention to the fact that Christian truth is public truth safeguarded by means of apostolic succession. But more attention could have been given to the fact that Irenaeus stressed the visibility and universality of Christian truth — that no matter where one went throughout the Roman Empire one would hear the same confession of faith.  Irenaeus’ emphasis on visible church unity is a necessary corrective to the widespread belief among Protestants that the true church is the invisible church and that the plurality of doctrines among Protestant denominations is tolerable.

 

Orthodox Eucharist

Robin Phillips noted that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was deeply influenced by the rhythms and rituals of Orthodox worship (p. 318).  But such a cursory description does a disservice to most Western readers who are unaware of the rich and profound nature of the Orthodox Liturgy.  Many first time visitors have commented on the deep spirituality of Orthodox worship.  There is a well known story how the pagan ruler Vladimir of the Kievan Rus sent envoys to investigate the religion of the neighboring countries.  Of the Orthodox worship at Constantinople the envoys reported: “We no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on earth, nor such beauty, and we know not how to tell of it.”  Unless the reader has a glimmer of the deep spirituality of the Orthodox Liturgy, they will not be able to understand what religion means for an Orthodox Christian like Solzhenitsyn.

With respect to the discussion questions I believe that Robin Phillips ought to have raised the question about the US now having the largest prison population and the highest prison population rate in the world.  If the United States has now become the new gulag archipelago what does it say about the moral health of our country and about the moral influence of Christianity?

The Glossary seems to be a vocabulary builder for high schoolers.  The inclusion of basic vocabulary items like “deft,” “ecclesiastical,” “ecumenical,” and “egalitarian” struck me as unnecessary as they can be easily looked up with a pocket dictionary or Googled by those with wifi connections.  Also, there were some missed opportunities.  For example, Phillips did not include important terms like: “heterodox,” “materialism,” “modernism,” “romanticism,” and “secularism.”  It is important that young Christians have a good understanding of these ideas when they enter into the intellectual marketplace of academia.

The “Bibliography and Sources” section will be useful for those who wish to do further reading.  The entries are eclectic ranging from ancient primary sources like Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities and the Jewish War, nineteenth century works like Philip Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, to modern scholarly works by major publishing houses like Cambridge University Press.  Also included are URLs to blog postings written by Phillips and others.  However, this section is not comprehensive.  A quick glance showed some major omissions, e.g., Robert M. Grant’s Irenaeus of Lyons (1997) and Eric Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (2011).  Despite these limitations the entries are suitable for the intended audience.

 

Recommendation

A widespread problem among many Christians today is the ignorance of church history and their Christian cultural heritage.  Saints and Scoundrels is recommended for Christians who wish to learn about the Western Christian heritage and those who want to strengthen their Christian worldview.  This book works best as: (1) a supplementary reading for a Christian secondary school or (2) Christian parents who want to acquaint their teenage children with a Christian approach to history, culture, and morality.

Robert Arakaki

 

Additional Links

Order Saints and Scoundrels from Canon Press

Posting:   Response to Robin Phillips — “Are Calvinists Among the Gnostics?”

Posting:   Response to Robing Phillips “Questions About St. Irenaeus and Apostolic Succession.”

 

The Orthodox Priest’s Toolbox for Pastoral Care

October 19, 2012 / / 7 Comments


toolbox-1

 

An Orthodox Response to Spencer Boersma’s “The Impotence of Calvinism?” (2 of 2)    (1 of 2)

This week’s posting is a continuation of my response to Spencer Boersma’s “The Impotence of Calvinism.”  In this posting I will be looking at how an Orthodox priest might approach Young Man’s problem differently.

 

The plight of Boersma’s Reformed pastor is that his tool box is a limited one.  An Orthodox priest has a much fuller array of tools available to him.

 

The Divine Liturgy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consistent attendance at weekly Sunday Service is foundational for Orthodox spirituality.  The Liturgy provides focus and power to our individual spirituality.  It shapes our hearts and minds as we participate in the prayers and hymns.  It is not just a nice Sunday service.  For the Orthodox it begins with the Vespers service at Saturday sundown followed by Matins and the Liturgy on Sunday morning.  Standing throughout the Liturgy, singing the hymns, paying attention to the prayers, and keeping the pre-Communion fast (no food or drink after midnight) comprise a regime of spiritual disciplines far more demanding than many Protestant services today.  Liturgical worship is radically different from the feel good spiritual high of mega churches or the lengthy sermon centered services of traditional Protestantism.

I like to think of the Liturgy as a spiritual nuclear reactor; if one stands in the radiation field one gets irradiated or energized by the Divine Presence.  There are two key moments in the Liturgy: the reading of the Gospels in which we hear the words of Christ, and the Eucharist in which we feed on the Body and Blood of Christ.  The Eucharist in the early Church was not viewed as symbolic reminders but as “the medicine of immortality.”  In the pre-Communion prayer by John Chrysostom we read:

Seeing the divine blood, have fear, O man, for it is coal that burns the unworthy.  It is God’s body that deifies and nourishes me; it deifies the spirit and nourishes the mind mystically.

Loving Master, Lord Jesus Christ, my God, do not let these Holy Things be to my condemnation because of my unworthiness, but rather for purification and sanctification of my soul and body, and as a pledge of the life and kingdom to come.  For it is good for me to cleave to God, and to place the hope of my salvation in the Lord.

This understanding of the real presence in the Eucharist is radically different from what many Protestants are accustomed to, even for the Reformed Christians who affirm the real presence in the Lord’s Supper.

 

Confession

Orthodox Confession

This is probably the most potent tool that the Orthodox priest has that the Reformed pastor does not have.  If the Young Man were to ask: “Father, why did I sin?”  The priest can reply: “Let us go before God in prayer and we will deal with your sin problem in the sacrament of confession.”  In the Orthodox approach to confession one usually stands or kneels before the icon of Christ with the priest standing at one’s side.  To use Evangelical language the Orthodox priest and the penitent go in prayer to the foot of the Cross, and there the penitent confesses his sins to Jesus Christ directly.  The priest is a bystander acting as a witness.  In the sacrament of confession the priest prays:

O God our Saviour, who by thy Prophet Nathan didst grant unto repentant David pardon of his transgressions, and didst accept Manasses’ prayer of penitence: Do thou, with thy wonted love towards mankind, accept also thy servant, N., who repenteth him (her of the sins which he (she) hath done, pardoning his (her) offences, and passing by his (her) iniquities.  For thou hast said, O Lord: With desire have I desired not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from the wickedness which he hath committed, and live; and that even unto seventy times seven, sins ought to be forgiven.

By speaking out loud the sin, the penitent is bringing the sin out from the shadows of shame and secrecy into the light of humility and faith.  Confession is also an opportunity for healing and coaching.  Oftentimes the priest will give the penitent Christian advice about how to strengthen their spiritual life and live a life pleasing to God.  Going to confession is often an uncomfortable experience because it involves baring one’s soul to the priest.  This is similar to the discomfort one feels when one undergoes a physical examination by the physician.  Frederica Mathewes-Green in At the Corner of East and Now (p. 65) wrote:

Preparing to go to confession can be stressful; one feels awkward and embarrassed to say some things aloud.  But saying them, and then hearing them forgiven, turns out to be surprisingly liberating.  It’s freeing to have no secrets and to know that one’s most shameful moments are seen, known, and forgiven by God.  Receiving this forgiveness through the priest, hearing the words aloud, contributes to a sense of permanency and reliability; its’ not just you talking to the bedroom ceiling.  As my husband says, on the way in people say, “I hate confession!”  On the way out they say, “I love confessions!“

The Orthodox understanding is that when we come to faith in Christ and are born anew in the sacrament of Baptism all our sins have been forgiven.  In baptism all our previous sins have been forgiven but not future sins.  Because they have not yet happened these sins are hypothetical.  But when they become real then they need to be dealt with through repentance and confession.

 

Fasting

The Weekly Fasts.  All Orthodox Christians are expected to keep the Wednesday and Friday fasts.  The weekly fasts consists primarily of abstaining from meat, fish, and dairy products.  This is an ancient spiritual discipline which dates back to the early church.  According to the first century Christian document, Didache 8:1, the Christian fasts are a continuation of the Jewish biweekly fasts.  This makes for spiritual discipline as a corporate endeavor, something the Church does together than an individual affair.

Fasting has for the most part been discarded by Protestants.  They shy away from fasting out of fear of works righteousness or if they do endorse fasting, they stress that you do it on your time in your own way.  But for the Orthodox fasting is a way of denying the desires of the flesh and of submitting to Christ.  It is also a way of strengthening our souls.  For many Christians our inner life is in disarray like an exhausted mom whose house is taken over by unruly children, or like the owner of a dog who is pulled along by the dog instead being the master.  Oftentimes a priest will prescribe a fasting regime for persistent sins.  By learning to control the desires of our stomachs we learn to control the other desires (passions) becoming rational beings no longer swayed by our feelings and wants.

Fasting is a powerful tool for dealing with situations where demonic influences are involved (see Mark 9:29 NKJV).  Pope Leo the Great, a fifth century church father, wrote:

Therefore abstaining from food and drink, they [the Jews] applied the discipline of strict correction to themselves, and in order to conquer their foes, first conquered the allurements of the palate in themselves.  And thus it came about that their fierce enemies and cruel taskmasters yielded to them when fasting, whom they had held in subjection when full.  And so we [the Christians] too, dearly beloved, who are set in the midst of many oppositions and conflicts, may be cured by a little carefulness, if only we will use the same means [fasting].  For our case is almost the same as theirs, seeing that, as they were attacked by foes in the flesh so are we chiefly by spiritual enemies.  (“Sermon XXXIX.I On Lent” Sermons of Leo the Great.  NPNF Second Series Vol. XII p. 152)

Relying, therefore, dearly-beloved, on these arms, let us enter actively and fearlessly on the contest set before us; so that in this fasting struggle we may not rest satisfied with only this end, that we should think abstinence from food alone desirable.  For it is not enough that the substance of our flesh should be reduced, if the strength of the soul be not also developed. (“Sermon XXXIX.V On Lent” Sermons of Leo the Great.  NPNF Second Series Vol. XII p. 153)

Abstaining from food makes little sense in a religious tradition like Calvinism that puts the emphasis on the intellect, but fits in well with a religious tradition like Orthodoxy that has a more holistic view of the human person.  I would urge my Calvinist friends to give thought to the mind-body separation that seems to pervade their worldview.  This theological outlook is at odds with the more integrated and holistic spirituality of the early Christians.

 

Boston Marathon

Great Lent.  For me the transition from popular Evangelicalism to Orthodoxy was a lot like a couch potato joining a family of athletes.  If the twice a week fasts are like a routine morning jog, Orthodoxy’s 40 days of fasting in Orthodoxy is like the Boston Marathon or the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon.

 

Great Lent is a time of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.  In addition to the fasting are the midweek church services.  It can be a tremendous challenge for many but they end up spiritually stronger.   Under the spiritual regimen of Calvinism, the Young Man would become more developed intellectually but remain undeveloped in other areas of his life.  Under the holistic approach of Orthodox Great Lent the Young Man will be challenged not only in his intellect, but also in his heart and his relationship with the Church and with those in need outside the Church.

 

Pocket-Prayer-book-black__50622_zoom

Prayer.  Personal devotions are valued in both the Protestant and Orthodox traditions.  In contrast to Protestantism’s emphasis on extemporaneous prayer, Orthodoxy values liturgical prayers.  It also values prayers composed by the saints.  The value of using these prayers are much like a beginning pianist imitating the great composers.  Orthodoxy also has available for its members prayer books that contain the Morning Prayer and the Evening Prayer, and prayers for other occasions.  One of the more popular prayer book is the tiny pocket prayer book sponsored by the Antiochian Archdiocese.  In addition there are: A Manual of Eastern Orthodox Prayer and My Orthodox Prayer Book.  For those interested in the Slavic tradition, there are the Orthodox Prayer Book (Jordanville) and the Old Orthodox Prayer Book (Russian Old Believer).

 

 

Prayer Rope

Probably the most characteristic example of Orthodox spirituality is the black knotted prayer rope and the Jesus Prayer.  Orthodox Christians will say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” at each knot.  The constant saying of the Jesus Prayer will etch the prayer onto our hearts and mind reshaping our inner man.

 

 

 

Monasticism.  If the Orthodox parish priest is like the family doctor, the monastery is like the Mayo Clinic of Orthodox spirituality.  Orthodox monastics devote their lives to prayer much like the way pro football players devote their lives to athletic excellence.  Thus, if an Orthodox priest finds himself with a difficult pastoral challenge he has the option of recommending the Young Man do a pilgrimage to a monastery.  Many Orthodox Christians go to a nearby monastery for a personal retreat and for spiritual direction.  Contemporary accounts of pilgrimages to Orthodox monasteries can be found in Touching Heaven: Discovering Orthodox Spirituality on the Island of Valaam (2003), The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality (2002), and The Scent of Holiness: Lessons From a Women’s Monastery (2012).

The Calvinist pastor on the other hand pretty much operates like an independent physician who has no nearby hospital to rely on.  Thus many Reformed pastors, if they ever run into especially difficult pastoral cases, are pretty much on their own.  They might be able to consult with fellow pastors or with their seminary professors but that is about it.

In our modern and post-modern culture saturated material excess and framed by materialistic worldview, we have largely lost the place and importance of the monastery and monastic life for Christian spirituality. This neglect is evident even in many Orthodox parishes. Yet in many Protestant settings the subject of monasticism and the monastic lifestyle is subject to scorn and ridicule.  Instead of visiting monasteries, many Protestants attend conferences or go on cruises where they hear inspiring talks.  This situation is tragic.  We need to awaken to the widespread spiritual poverty in our midst to recognize the important role monasteries play in supporting the spiritual vigor of the larger Church.

 

Lives of the Saints.  In every Sunday service the Orthodox Church commemorates saints of the day.  During the Matins service which precedes the Divine Liturgy excerpts from the lives of the saints are read.  These are in part a lesson in church history but are also a celebration of the Holy Spirit’s work in a person’s life.  One of the more conspicuous examples of this is the story of Saint Mary of Egypt whose life story is recounted on the fifth Sunday of Lent.  Athanasius the Great Life of St. Anthony is an early classic about a great desert father.  The Prologue of Ohrid is a multi-volume series of the lives of Orthodox saints.

 

 

Protestantism’s neglect of the lives of the saint is partly due to its rugged individualistic mindset.  We will live the Christian life our own way: “No one tells me what to do!”  Our fear of “ancestor worship” has resulted in a huge gap in church history among Protestants.  Instead of being rooted in history, many Protestants today are enamored with their favorite modern theologians or radio preachers but are woefully ignorant of their rich Christian heritage.  When I need examples for combating the passions of the flesh I reflect on John the Baptist and Saint Mary of Egypt.  I can also find spiritual wisdom in the great spiritual classic The Ladder of Divine Ascent by Saint John of the Ladder.  Many people also find great value in the Philokalia, a compilation of texts by spiritual masters from 300 to 1400.  The wisdom of these books become even more useful if used in conjunction with the guidance of a wise father confessor (spiritual director).

 

Summary

The predicament of Boersma’s Young Man is common across Christian traditions.  However, theological paradigms greatly influence the responses the pastor or priest will make.  Boersma’s hypothetical dialogue illustrates some of the limitations and constraints of Reformed theology.  Orthodoxy on the other hand does not agonize whether one is part of the elect.  Instead it takes a more direct and practical approach to the problem of living a holy life.  Orthodoxy is full of ancient wisdom expressed in song and teachings, historical examples of courage and humility, a framework for worship.  Orthodoxy draws on Holy Tradition and a host of spiritual tools and disciplines handed down to us from the early Church.  What I have tried to do is show how Orthodoxy provides a more holistic and effective course of treatment for problem of sin.  For those spiritually wounded and struggling to live holy lives the Orthodox Church says: Come and see!  Come to the spiritual hospital for the healing of your souls.

 Robert Arakaki

The Power of God’s Mercy: An Orthodox Response to Spencer Boersma’s “The Impotence of Calvinism?” (1 of 2)

October 11, 2012 / / 21 Comments

 

"The Impotence of Calvinism?" by Spencer Boersma

“The Impotence of Calvinism?” by Spencer Boersma

 Spencer Boersma posted “The Impotence of Calvinism?” on After Orthodoxy?  In it he presents a hypothetical conversation between a Young Man and his Calvinist pastor about his struggle to live a holy life and God’s preservation of the elect.

Here is a partial excerpt of the conversation.

 

YM: A Young Man turned to his pastor and said, “Pastor, why did I sin?”

P: “Because you did not obey God, son,” the Pastor replied.

YM: “But this time it was like I could not stop myself, no matter how hard I tried. Pastor, am I responsible for the sins that I do that are out of my control?”

P: “Why yes. After all, you did them. You are always in control. You never have an excuse.”

YM: “But Pastor, don’t you say in your sermons that God is sovereign. God is in control, not me?”

P: “Yes he is, always. So, you should ask him for the strength to obey.”

YM: “I did and he didn’t give me the strength this time…”

P: “…I don’t think that is what happened. He probably did provide and you did not act on that provision.”

YM: “Well, maybe. But if that is the case, why did he cause me not to act on it? Why did he not give me the strength to act on the strength that he gave?”

P: “What? No. No. No. You are confused. You do not understand. God does not cause you to sin. You do.”

YM: “But I thought you said he was sovereign over everything, that he causes all things?”

P: “Yes, but not that.”  

More

One troubling aspect about the dialogue is that the pastor is so busy debating theology with a member of his flock that he fails to practice the healing of souls.  It seems that the pastor is applying rigorous logic when mercy and compassion are what the Young Man so desperately needs.   The dialogue ends in both sides frustrated and at an impasse.  This pastoral impasse is rooted in a theological conundrum that lies at the heart of Reformed theology – its monergistic approach to salvation.  Boersma writes:

Of course, with our classical Calvinistic circles, this question cannot be answered without, as we see with the pastor, getting rather frustrated and upset. Even then, no helpful answer is really given that would comfort the young man in the despair of his sin. Does God love me as a disobedient sinner? Does [God] not love me enough to destroy the sins that have enslaved me? The answer, for the Calvinist, is left shrouded in terrifying mysticism, paralyzed the inability for the Calvinistic account of God to answer the question of whether or not God has truly elected a person to salvation (emphasis added).

Boersma closes with a quote from Isaiah 63:15-17 in which the prophet asks why God has hardened the hearts of the Israelites.  While this verse may bring some comfort to the troubled Young Man, it still does not address the theological roots of his problem.  Many Reformed pastors or theologians take a different tack counseling: “Do not concern or trouble yourself with God’s eternal decrees or election.  Your duty is to ‘trust and obey,’ to be faithful to ‘those things that have been revealed’ (Deuteronomy 29:29).”

In this blog posting I will: (1) discuss the Reformed perspective on the Christian life and (2) present the Orthodox perspective on the Christian life.  Then in the next blog posting I will describe the different approach an Orthodox priest might take to the Young Man’s predicament.

 

The Reformed Perspective – Christian Life as Imparted Grace to the Elect

John Calvin

John Calvin

The foregoing dialogue is really about the Reformed doctrine of the preservation (perseverance) of the saints.  The pastor faithfully and accurately reflected Calvin’s teaching on the Christian life.Calvin wrote:

For perseverance itself is indeed also a gift of God, which he does not bestow on all indiscriminately, but imparts to whom he pleases.  If one seeks the reason for the difference–why some steadfastly persevered, and others fail out of instability–none occurs to us other than that the Lord upholds the former, strengthening them by his own power, that they may not perish; while to the latter, that they may be examples of inconstancy, he does not impart the same power (Institutes 2.5.3; Calvin 1960:320, emphasis added).

According to Calvin, if one belongs to the elect one will have received divine grace (power) to resist sin, but for those not part of the elect God in his inscrutable wisdom has withheld his grace from them.  The element of our human response or struggle to live holy lives has no part in Calvin’s monergistic understanding of salvation.  Based on what Calvin wrote the Young Man has reason to be concerned about his salvation.

This has led to Reformed theologians devoting considerable energies to addressing this problem by asserting the possibility of the certainty of salvation.  The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches:

This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ, the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof. (Chapter XVII.2; emphasis added.   See also Chapter XVIII and the Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 80)

The Westminster divines underscored the divine decrees and the denial of human free will before addressing the assurance of salvation.  What I find problematic about the Reformed position on the assurance of salvation is the extreme language used.  The unqualified use of “certainty” and “infallibility” seems to imply that they have X-ray vision capable of discerning the inscrutable will of God.  The Orthodox position is that the eternal destiny of individuals is a mystery but that we put our confidence in God’s goodness and mercy.

 

The Orthodox Perspective — Christian Life as Struggle and Journey

prodigal-sonGod’s mercy is foundational for Orthodox spirituality.  God in his mercy will welcome back the repentant sinner.  In the Sunday Liturgy one hears repeatedly: “Lord have mercy!”  Orthodox Christians are en-couraged to cultivate a heart of repentance by saying repeatedly the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  Consistent attendance at the Sunday Liturgy will give one a growing awareness that God is not so much the stern judge as He is the merciful father waiting for the prodigal to return home.

Orthodoxy understands the Christian life as one of struggle, even holy warfare against the world, flesh and devil.  Having been born to new life in Christ we are currently engaged in a daily struggle against the passions of the flesh, our fallen human nature.  The Christian life is a repeated cycle of us walking, our falling flat on our faces, and our getting up again, etc.  Therefore, an Orthodox Christian is not surprised by our falling into sin like the Young Man.  Orthodox Christians do not agonize over our salvation, nor do we inquire into our eternally decreed election.

This emphasis on divine mercy lays the foundation for the Orthodox teaching on synergy – we freely co-operate with God in our salvation.  This view lies somewhere between the extremes of Calvinism and Pelagianism.  Unlike the Pelagian heresy which assumed that man possessed the innate ability to live righteous lives, the Orthodox approach is that we need God’s grace given through the sacramental life of the Church.  And unlike Calvinism which assumes that we are totally depraved and incapable of doing good unless God acts on us, we have the capacity to respond to God’s invitation to enter into his kingdom.

We avail ourselves of God’s grace in the Mysteries (sacraments) of the Church.  The church services in combination with the spiritual disciplines prescribed by the Church comprise a therapeutic regimen designed to restore us to spiritual health.  Through them we learn to pray, to be still before God, to deny the passions of the flesh, to acquire wisdom, in short we attain “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).  This is not works righteousness but rather a synergistic process in which we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ.

We begin our Christian life with a wounded heart but over time through our following the Orthodox way of life, our hearts become stronger, more rational, and purified.  Kallistos Ware wrote in The Orthodox Way:

The first stage, the practice of the virtues, begins with repentance.  The baptized Christian, by listening to his conscience and by exerting the power of his free will, struggles with God’s help to escape from enslavement to passionate impulses.  By fulfilling the commandments, by growing in his awareness of right and wrong and by developing his sense of ‘ought’, gradually he attains purity of heart…. (p. 141)

Over time our struggle to follow God’s commandments becomes easier as we become accustomed to doing God’s will and putting aside the passions of the flesh.  What was alien to our fallen nature becomes over time natural to our new nature in Christ.

 

Christian Discipleship and Eschatology

Orthodoxy views the Christian life as preparation for the inevitable encounter with Jesus Christ at the final judgment.  The Orthodox understanding that there is a connection between our spiritual condition and our eternal destiny was echoed by CS Lewis in his essay “Weight of Glory.”

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.  All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations.

Every day we make choices that lead us in one of two directions: towards God and his kingdom or away from God and into the darkness of hell.  Every year just before Great Lent commences the Orthodox Church celebrates the Sunday of the Last Judgment in which the parable of the sheep and the goats is read out loud (Matthew 25:31-46).  Unlike some Christian circles that devote considerable amount of time and energy into speculation about the end times, the Orthodox Church uses this parable to remind us that even the normal everyday acts of charity can have eternal consequences.

This preparation for the final judgment takes place not just on the Sunday of the Last Judgment but throughout the year.  Every Sunday in the Completion Litany Orthodox Christians pray:

That we may live out our lives in peace and repentance, let us ask of the Lord.

Following that, we pray for:

A Christian end to our lives, peaceful, free of shame and suffering, and for a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ, let us ask.

We prepare for the final judgment by living lives of peace, repentance, and piety.  Orthodox Christians also anticipate and prepare for the final judgment in the Morning Prayers.  An excerpt from one Morning Prayer often used by the Orthodox reads:

When I am being judged, do not allow the hand of the prince of this world to take hold of me, to throw me, a sinner, into the depths of hell, but stand by me and be a savior and mediator to me.  Have mercy, Lord, on my soul, defiled through the passions of this life, and receive her cleansed by penitence and confession, for you are blessed to the ages of ages.  Amen.  (Prayer of Saint Eustratios)

Our confidence is not in our good works but in the mercies of God.  In anticipation of the final judgment we trust Christ to protect us from Satan’s accusations, to heal our souls, and to purify our hearts through the sacrament of confession.

The words “theosis” or “deification” are often used to explain the Orthodox understanding of salvation.  What may strike inquiring Protestants as a bizarre concept is really another way of referring to becoming mature or perfect in Christ, that is, like Christ (II Peter 1:4, I John 3:2, Romans 8:29).  The promise of the Christian life is not just the forgiveness of sins but the restoration of the imago dei within us.  The Orthodox Church believes that our ongoing sanctification will culminate with our glorification at the Second Coming of Christ.

 

theology boxes by Naked Pastor

theology boxes by Naked Pastor

Theology Boxes We Live In

While the forensic understanding of salvation (the forgiveness of sins) can be found in both the Reformed and Orthodox traditions, the forensic paradigm is given pride of place in Reformed soteriology.  The prominence of the penal atonement theory is such that it overshadows other paradigms of salvation.  While Orthodoxy does accept the forensic understanding of salvation, it takes a broader and more inclusive approach.  In addition to salvation as the forgiveness of sins, Orthodoxy also stresses salvation as the healing of the soul, denying the passions of the flesh, and militant resistance to the Devil.

Medical Paradigm.  As a result of the Fall the human soul has become diseased and wounded.  In the ESV translation of Jeremiah 17:9 we read: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  Jesus taught that the evil thoughts emerging from men’s hearts make them unclean (Mark 7:20-23).  David in Psalm 51 prayed: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  Thus, our salvation requires the restoring of our disordered inner state to the integrity and wholeness that God intended for us.

 

Icon – Good Samaritan by Marice

Jesus often described salvation using medical terms.

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.  (Mark 2:17)

Probably the best known example of the medical paradigm is the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35).  In this story a certain traveler fell into the hands of robbers who beat him and left him half dead.  Later in the story the Good Samaritan came to the injured traveler, bandaged his wounds, poured oil and wine on the man’s wounds, then took him to an inn.  The traveler falling into the hands of robbers can be understood as humanity falling into the clutches of the Devil and his demons who ravaged his soul.  The Good Samaritan pouring oil and wine on the man’s wounds is a reference to the sacraments of baptism, chrismation, and the Eucharist.  The inn is a reference to the church as a spiritual hospital.  This picture of humanity as the victims overcome by demons and rescued by God’s mercy is quite different from the legal paradigm which depicts humanity as guilty criminals standing before a stern judge.

Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos in Orthodox Spirituality noted that Protestants’ understanding of faith as theoretical acceptance of God’s revelation has resulted in the absence of the therapeutic approach (p. 28).  He finds a similar lack in the Roman Catholic tradition:

In deed we cannot find in all of Latin tradition the equivalent of Orthodoxy’s therapeutic method.  The nous [mind] is not spoken of; neither is it distinguished from reason.  The darkened nous is not treated as a malady and the illumination of the nous as its cure.  Some greatly publicised Latin texts are sentimental and go no further than sterile moralising (pp. 29-30).

Orthodoxy has a deeper understanding of salvation and the healing of our souls that I have not seen in Protestantism.  Metropolitan Nafpaktos wrote:

What is healed first and foremost is a person’s heart, which constitutes the centre of his entire being.  In other words, it is not just the visible signs of illness that are treated, but also the inner self, the heart.  When a person’s nous is sick, it is dispersed and scattered among created things through the senses, and is identified with the rational faculty.  This is why it must return to dwell within the heart, which is the work of Orthodox spirituality.  The Orthodox Church is referred to as a Hospital, a place of healing for the soul, for this reason (pp. 98-99).

The Orthodox Church, however, does not just stress the necessity of healing; it also outlines the means by which it can be achieved.  Because a person’s nous and heart are impure, he must pass successfully through the three stages of growth in the spiritual life: purification of the heart, illumination of the nous and deification.  Orthodoxy is not like philosophy.  It is more closely related to the applied sciences, particularly medicine (pp. 99).

The Strong Man Paradigm.  The Calvinist paradigm assumes that failure to keep God’s law is the result of willful disobedience, not inability.  To view sin as the condition of being willing but lacking the ability to keep God’s law – involuntary sin — is for Reformed Christians a contradiction of terms.  The Orthodox understanding of sin is broader and subtle going beyond just conscious and willful forms of sin.  Below is an excerpt from a pre-Communion prayer composed by John Chrysostom, a fourth century church father, which reflects a more complex understanding of sin:

Wherefore I pray thee: have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions both voluntary or involuntary, of word and of deed, of knowledge or of ignorance; and make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Thine immaculate Mysteries, unto remission of my sins unto life everlasting.  Amen.  (Emphasis added.)

Orthodoxy does not assume like Protestantism that one already has the ability, that what is needed is needed is right understanding which comes from Bible reading and attentive listening to the pastor’s sermon.  The Orthodox understanding of sin is that our will and soul have been weakened by the Fall.  Our disordered inner state has resulted in our wills lacking the unhindered ability to control our bodies and our desires.  Orthodox spirituality also takes into account the external reality of demonic forces.

 

Christus Victor

Orthodoxy recognizes that as a result of the Fall humanity has come under the dominion of Satan much like a young kid coming under the grip of the neighborhood bully.  Jesus taught:

In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man.  Then he can rob his house.  (Mark 3:27, NIV)

Here Jesus is describing himself as the hero who breaks into a neighborhood bully’s house and rescues all the stolen goods from the bully’s house.  When Adam and Eve listened to the Devil’s words and rejected God’s words they came under Satan’s domination.  The human race remained in bondage to the Devil until Christ defeated him on the Cross.  The Christus Victor motif is a prominent theme in the Orthodox celebration of Easter.  Where Orthodoxy celebrates Christ resurrection as the decisive defeat of the Death and the Devil, Western Christianity puts the emphasis on Christ’s suffering on the Cross to atone for our sins.  The principal problem in the Western paradigm is God’s wrath against sinners, not man as weakened wounded hostages in bondage to the Devil.

The Strong Man paradigm can be seen in the Orthodox approach to baptism in which one must renounce Satan three times then three times confess Jesus as Lord.  This act of renunciation and confession is critical for our salvation.  Christian conversion is not simply agreeing with some theological concepts which is characteristic of Protestantism, but faith as trust and submission to Christ.  Through baptism our citizenship in the kingdom of God is restored and we come under Christ’s lordship and blessing.

 

The Christian Life as Transformation by Divine Grace

The overpowering desire alluded to by the Young Man was probably his sexual desires.  Rather than view human sexuality in terms of behavior, Orthodoxy views human sexuality in terms of inner energies and thoughts that give rise to action.  In the modern spiritual classic The Mountain of Silence, Fr. Maximos tells Kyriacos Markides how a life devoted to prayer can transform our sexual drive.

“Woe to those monks and nuns,” Father Maximos went on after we stopped laughing, “who shovel into their subconscious their sexual passions.  In such a state they would tremble and sweat in the presence of the opposite sex.  There is no spirituality in that.  What happens, and what we aim at, is the transmutation of erotic energy from earthly attractions to God, the way human beings were in their primordial natural state.”

“Eros turns into agape,” I muttered.

“Right.  Such persons love all human being without distinction to their sex.  Such persons do not have much to do with what belongs to the after-the-Fall state of humanity.  Do you understand?  The love of God totally transforms human beings through Grace.  (from Mountain of Silence p. 144)

Fr. Maximos described how authentic spirituality takes us beyond external legal righteousness that plagued the Pharisees (see Matthew 5:20).

“…and that’s why the saints are truly liberated in their very being.  They are the freest people on earth.  Once they reach that state they can never be affected by the sins of the world.  They are not terrified by them.  They are not human beings fortified behind their prejudices and repressions.  You may go meet saints and tell them the most horrendous sins.  They will not be touched in their innermost core.  Persons who have repressed their passions will get angry, will get into the punishing mood.  If you tell them that you committed some sinful act, they will become very upset and judgmental.  They will become intolerant without a trace of compassion.  Do you know why?  Because they themselves are suffering.  They have a lot of repressed emotions and anger inside them, a lot of repressed logismoi [thoughts].  Such persons are moralistic and pious, but they are not saints.” (from Mountain of Silence p. 145)

The Reformed tradition understands sanctification primarily as being accomplished by the Word and Spirit indwelling the believer enabling them to have victory over sinful desires (Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter XV, the Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 75; see also the Second Helvetic Confession Chapter IX).  In comparing the Reformed tradition against the Orthodox tradition care must be taken not to reduce the Reformed doctrine of salvation to justification. The point I want to make is that Orthodoxy’s synergistic approach to salvation allows for a broader and more holistic approach to sanctification.

 

Summary

Part of Young Man’s problem was his theological box.  The Calvinist paradigm of salvation rests on God’s exclusive love for his elect, the total incapacity of fallen humanity, and God’s inscrutable election.  This has been consequential for the Calvinist approach to salvation and the Christian life.  Reformed spirituality is characterized by intellectual rigor and self discipline reflecting its monergistic premise than Orthodoxy’s synergistic approach to the healing of the soul through the sacramental life of the Church.  The Orthodox paradigm takes a broader and more holistic approach to the fallen human condition.  Orthodoxy emphasizes the fact that God genuinely loves ALL mankind.  God is ever merciful waiting for us to turn to him.  Orthodoxy assumes a genuine volitional repentance to be foundational to Christian spirituality.  It incorporates the purification of the heart and healing of the soul not often found in the Reformed tradition.  One striking difference is that the Orthodox Tradition possesses a well defined set of spiritual disciplines it applies to its members.  In comparison to the Reformed tradition of pastoral care and spiritual direction which is quite young and undeveloped, Orthodoxy draws on a far more ancient tradition of spiritual care.  In the next blog I will be describing this system of spiritual disciplines available to the Orthodox priest and its importance for our sanctification.

Robert Arakaki

Coming Soon: Part (2 of 2) – The Orthodox Pastor’s Tool Box for Pastoral Care

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