For the Creepy File

A Romanian police report blames the vandalism of a house on some really nasty ghosts.

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William F. Buckley for Mayor: Vote Row D!

In 1965 the Conservative Party was looking for a candidate to run for Mayor of New York City. The Republican’s were running the ultra-liberal “Silk Stocking” district Congressman John Lindsey and the Democrats were rallying to the banner of Abraham Beame.

What a candidate they found! On June 24th William F. Buckley, Jr. announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York. He would seek the nomination of the Conservative Party.

Buckley declared:

“I am a Republican. And I intend, for so long as I find it possible to do so– which is into the visible future– to remain a Republican. I seek the honorable designation of the Conservative Party, because the Republican designation is not, in New York, available nowadays to anyone in the mainstream of Republican opinion.”

What followed is New York political legend. A heroic campaign of ideas waged by a man of authentic thoughtfulness. No glad-handing. No false familiarity. No kissing babies. When asked if he planned to “campaign”, Buckley said, “No, I will not, primarily because I don’t have time. I will spend what time I have to develop as carefully and responsibly as I can those positions that I want to project and will project them wherever opportunity lies.”

When ask what the first thing he would do if elected mayor, Buckley famously replied, “ask for a recount.” He had nothing to worry about. Lindsey was elected Mayor.

Still, the Buckley campaign helped give life to the Conservative Party. He gave NY Conservatives a vision of what could be and what they should work toward. Would that the Conservative Party could find such a candidate, and wage such a campaign, again.

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Fox News on Buckley’s Passing

Here

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William F. Buckley, Requiescate in Pace

No figure more exquistetly reflected the American Conservative movement both intellectually and within the popular imagination than William F. Buckley. Buckley woke this morning in the presence of His God.

The man who first emerged as a critic of establishment liberalism in God and Man at Yale went on to found the rights most prestigious magazine, National Review, and helped found numerous organizations such as Young Americans for Freedom and the New York Conservative Party. From Firing Line to his Blackford Oakes novels, Buckley was always breathtaking. His wit, charm, and intellectual depth will be sorely missed.

He was not only a great conservative, he was a truly great American.

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Pew Forum: Religion in America

Results of the 2008 survey have been released. One highlight: about 44% of American adults have switched religious affiliation at some point (including those who have switched from one branch of Protestantism to another). I fall into this category, as do several of the participants on this blog. Will our children do the same? I hope not. After all this upheaval (which has greatly impacted the RPCNA), we need to settle down and find some continuity.

HT: Rod Dreher

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VanDrunen on Two Kingdoms and Ethics

Here’s a link to a recent lecture given by Dr. David VanDrunen (WSC) on the doctrines of the two kingdoms and the ordo salutis. It’s about 38 minutes long.

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Ecclesiastical Totalitarianism

Here’s an effort to separate the real from the faux neo-Calvinists.

Recent interactions with seminarians have made me realize how popular the notion of cultural transformation is as the best understanding of the Reformed ministry. Whether called mercy ministry, urban missions, or word and deed, a wing of the Presbyterian world believes that the church is called to apply the gospel to all of society and culture as part of the Great Commission. Cultural transformation is essential to the church’s love of neighbors and evangelism. As one prominent Presbyterian pastor puts it, “To say that social concern could be done independently of evangelism is to cut mercy loose from kingdom endeavor. It must then wither. To say that evangelism can be done without also doing social concern is to forget that our goal is not individual ‘decisions,’ but the bringing of all life and creation under the lordship of Christ, the kingdom of God.”

This has an obvious appeal and appears to move the church away from irrelevance to the front lines of social activism. I have long thought that Kuyperianism of this sort is far more popular than the two-kingdom view because it is uplifting and inspiring. It gives the timid the gumption to go out and get things done. By contrast, the two-kingdom view prompts introspection and uncertainty.

But further reflection shows that the inspiration of such transformationalism may be as full of hope as Obama (and as vacuous). How exactly is a small wing of Protestantism going to transform New York City? At my home church in Glenside, Pa., we need a permit from the Virtuous Commonwealth just to remodel our auditorium. Even transforming an intersection in the Big Apple would require a herculean effort. (Can you really call it transformation if you need a permit?)

The need for permits is a reality that transformationalists do not seem to consider thanks to what seems to me a naive view of culture and society in the West (at least). Our society is remarkably complex affair that owes to legal, economic, political, and church-state developments that transpired over two millennia. The legendary sociologist, Edward Shils, for instance, explained some of this complexity when he tried to define the basic components of civil society. The first is that society is distinct from the state. Second, it protects rights to personal property. And third it involves “a constellation of many autonomous economic unites and business firms acting independently of the state and competing with each other.” The virtue of a civil society is that it allows for the diversity of objectives pursued by individuals and institutions. So one could say that civil society allows churches to try to transform society. What civil society will not allow is the conflation of society and the state. This was the mistake of Communism and why it was always the Party’s job even to throw a party.

Sometimes I think the rhetoric of transformationalism leads to a form of tyranny similar to Communism. Instead of conflating society and the state, the ideal of redeeming culture verges into conflating society and the church. If godless tyranny was a bad thing, wouldn’t godly tyranny also be?

Of course, the response is usually the fist-pounding one that quotes Kuyper and says “every square inch is Christ’s.” But the point of this remark is not entirely understood. Two kingdom folks agree that everything belongs to Christ, including civil society. In fact, every square inch is Christ’s even if the church is not transforming it. (Maybe the reason for the popularity of Tim Keller’s new book among the transformationalists is that lacking examples of the gospel’s transforming power they really do need reasons to believe that God exists and is in control.)

So if we can agree that civil society as it has developed in the West is a good thing, then maybe it’s possible to clarify exactly what’s at stake in the debates between Kuyperians and two-kindgomers. Kuyper himself believed in sphere sovereignty and that the institutional church should remain distinct from the spheres of the family and the state. He was also a great opponent of cultural and social homogeneity. So there’s a measure of agreement. Kuyperians and two-kingdom folk would also likely agree that the church is responsible for the gospel. Disagreements may surface over the degree to which the spheres of the family and the state depend for their legitimacy on whether or not they confess Christ. But this is a very different question from saying that the church, for the sake of neighbor love or mercy ministry, should build low-income housing.

Possibly what the soft (as opposed to hard) Kuyperians have in mind by mercy ministry and “word and deed” is simply providing assistance for the poor and destitute. If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the word charity be preferable to social justice (a phrase that eerily unites Jim Skillen and Jim Wallis)? And granted, Reformed Christians may disagree about the nature and scope of diaconal work. But do we really need the mantra of redeeming the city to engage in simple and low-profile acts of charity?

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Obama/Webb 2008

Now that Obama seems to have made short work of the Clinton machine it will soon be time to focus on a national campaign against John McCain.

Obama may not need my advice. He is a phenomenon the likes of which we have not seen since Reagan. My guess is that McCain’s often nasty personality and gruff style will make for poor comparison during a national election.

Further, Republicans will find it hard to land a solid punch on America’s first credible black presidential candidate. PC has done much to silence political debate. Republicans will not want to face the accusation of America’s last heresy- racism.

Still, Obama has some drawbacks. He is, after all, our first black presidential candidate and that will raise questions for some. Beyond questions of race, the man is named Barak Hussein Obama. A name the invokes the memory of America’s most hated enemies of the 21st Century. For much of middle America, the silver tongued phenomenon will still “feel” foreign.

Substantively he has no record. It was not long ago that he was an Illinois State Senator. He won his US Senate Seat by beating up on Alan Keyes. Unless Keyes miraculously receives the Republican nomination for President, something that will NEVER happen, Obama will be encountering his first real opposition. Republicans will not pull their punches as they try to paint Obama as a radical, rootless, left wing ideologue who will cannot or will not protect us from our Muslim enemies. This is the right’s only hope to stop him.

Here is my advice. Once the nomination is wrapped up and Obama no longer has to worry about his left, he must prove that he is a man of prudence and moderation by picking a vice president with conservative street cred’ and real foreign policy experience. My pick is Virginia Senator Jim Webb. Jim Webb is a red blood conservative and a true American patriot. He served as Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy. He is the author of the very interesting Born Fighting which chronicles the history of his people… the Scots-Irish… in America. He is a deeply rooted, blood and soil, traditionalist conservative… far to the right of George Allen, the Republican who he defeated in the 2006 Senate race. Webb, who became a Democrat and ran for the Senate mostly because of his opposition to the Iraq War is a pick that would make the case for Obama’s moderation and willingness to govern on the basis of prudence.

Obama/Webb in 2008? Even I could be tempted.

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Caleb’s Review at ISI’s First Principles

Caleb’s review of Jason Peters, ed. Wendell Berry: Life and Work

If you have not done so already, you really need to bookmark First Principles. It is the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s new web journal.

ISI should really start a blog. Maybe they could get Caleb to be a regular. I would tune in daily.

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On the Kingdom of God

Matt Tuininga is student at Westminster California with an interest in political theology. He is David VanDrunen’s research assistant.

DRC is happy to give him a plug and looks forward to reading him in the future. Here is his essay On the Kingdom of God at Creed:or: Chaos.

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