Sometimes you read a book that reminds you how much you have left to learn. This book did that for me. We often speak of the intentions of the founding fathers and the original colonies as if they were a monolithic unit that were all in agreement on policy, cultural norms, and religion. This book challenges that notion and demonstrates that the “United States” weren’t so united in the early days. What’s fascinating is you can draw a line from the ethnoregional backgrounds to current day political leanings. Why is there such a similarity between the Northeast and the Left Coast? Why does the Midwest tend to vote similarly to the Deep South? This is a fascinating read. I do think Woodard was a bit harsh on his critique of evangelicals. The book skips too quickly through Reconstruction but overall, this one is fascinating. Though not the goal of the book, it helps explain why a two party system feels so unsatisfactory to many of us.
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Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin
This book interacts with 12 big questions that people ask about Christianity. McLaughlin takes a refreshing approach that is a bit unique apologetically. The book doesn’t fit neatly into any of the major apologetic camps (Presuppositional, Evidential, Classical). I found her interaction to be intellectually satisfying and also deeply caring. She has a knack for cutting to the heart of our cultures big questions and assumptions and confronting them with both statistics and biblical truth. When I was in High School, I remember buying a Confederate Flag at a flea market. I put it up in my room. It’s what good Southern boys did who loved sweet tea, grits, college football, hunting, fishing, and mud riding. I had no idea that the flag stood for anything other than an icon of good ole boy southernism. Sure, I knew that it was the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far away from my teenage self. Fast forward to my first year in college. I remember being at a camp event at my college. I wasn’t part of the camp but I was around campus that summer. I remember a girl from Ohio who was a camp counselor was incensed that a camper showed up with a Confederate Flag bandana on his head. I didn’t say anything, but I remember thinking, “I have no idea why that is offensive.” Honestly, I was stymied.
I’ve largely sat out the latest rounds of culture battles not because I don’t have opinions but because the way the conversations are happening. It's juvenile and generally unhelpful. As Alan Jacobs says it, we like to cast others as the “repugnant cultural other.” No room for nuance. No room different perspectives. No room for an actual argument. No time to see if someone else may have a valid perspective. I’m sure this post will cast me in one of two camps for some of you as well, dear reader. It’s sad. That said, I think it’s time to give up the battle over the flag. I now realize the flag means something dramatically different to people who didn’t grow up like I did. Why fight this one? Sure, it may be “heritage not hate” for you, and I sincerely believe that, it was (and is still) for me. But when we have fellow image bearers telling us this is a painful reminder of the slavery of their ancestors, can’t we love our neighbor enough to let it go? I understand the impulse to resist the unrelenting march towards PC madness. The appetite is unquenchable and I’m inclined to not want to play along. The movement capitalizes on the headlines and it’s become quite effective at massive cultural change in a short amount of time. I think many of us are asking when or if it will end? I’m concerned. But let’s be reasonable, Christian brothers and sisters, what’s the harm in putting away the flags? “The kingdom of God is more than eating and drinking” — and the flying of flags. (See Rom 14:17) I've decided to start posting regularly on books that I'm either reading or have read. I want to think this will be a book of the week, but I've known myself long enough to not overpromise :) First up, How to Think by Alan Jacobs. This one makes a good listen if audiobooks are more your thing. Jacobs has quickly become one of my favorite writers. I was most helped by his explanation of the "Repugnant Cultural Others" (RCO). Jacobs explains: "Everyone today seems to have an RCO, and everyone’s RCO is on social media somewhere. We may be able to avoid listening to our RCO, but we can’t avoid the realization that he or she is there, shouting from two rooms away.’" Rather than honest dialogue, we tend to put people in one of two camps, hence there is me, who is right, of course, and the RCO. This is no way to have conversations. The logical fallacies of this type of thinking are legion (ad hominem, straw men, false dichotomy, and we could go on). If you plan to engage in any sort of debate, online or in person, I think this book is a must read (or listen). |