tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post972453952566945584..comments2024-01-31T15:10:55.111+00:00Comments on Transition Quaker: The End of ProgressCraig Barnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16201061939693242954noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-31393789540825119502017-01-18T16:46:05.846+00:002017-01-18T16:46:05.846+00:00Progress was a key word for Quakers a hundred year...Progress was a key word for Quakers a hundred years ago and crops up in the Swarthmore Lectures, for example, T E Harvey's 1921 The Long Pilgrimage, an exposition of the idea and reality of human progress in the light of Christian hope, written (interestingly enough) after the First World War when one would have thought hope would have been in short supply.<br /><br />Progressivism is not ideological, it's pragmatic. It is what necessarily happens if wisdom, love and truth abound. (Quakers don't have a monopoly on concern for truth and justice and all those good things.). Progressivism isn't blind to the imperfections of the mankind and to environmental stress, but it isn't demoralised by them either.<br /><br />'Post-truth' is just another word for hoopla, blagging, bullying and rabble-rousing, a family of practices as old as mankind. The Old Testament prophets - generally, a curmudgeonly bunch - were masters of it. For example, read Jr: 27:1-15; 28:1-17 about Jeremiah and the prophet Hananiah. <br /><br />If you think that we are surrounded by fanaticism and xenophobia, you are probably paying too much attention to sensationalist media. Maybe race war is a daily occurrence in Sheffield but it isn't where I am, a diverse and peaceable suburb of London. Accordingly, I am puzzled why anyone should think there isn't moral or economic progress, because clearly there is. For starters, read "Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future" by Johan Norberg. The history of the fight against slavery, which continues to this day, is similarly illustrative. Also illustrative is the growth in international institutions (notwithstanding Brexit) called for in the Foundations of a True Social Order (QF&P 23.16)<br /><br />That being said, I agree progress is a continuum without an end-goal, which is reflected in the Christian idea, which you and others have mentioned, that the kingdom of God is as much now as in the future or the after-life. I find that a very invigorating, indeed therapeutic, idea and entirely consistent with a secular belief in progress.Mark Frankelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04240476821058582804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-30850066273141268822016-12-08T15:39:33.243+00:002016-12-08T15:39:33.243+00:00Craig, this piece presents a valid critique of the...Craig, this piece presents a valid critique of the secular doctrine of progressivism and offers many insightful observations, yet nevertheless retains a humanist perspective that is distant from the understanding of 17th c. Friends. It's apparent that virtue is an strong consideration for you, but it seems to be virtue derived from attentiveness to values, not the living Christ. Friends found faith to be a gift from God; it was a second birth and not a state materially given in the heart. (The image of God is the potential to receive Christ, not the condition of having received him.) Faith is something to expect and wait for. Reading Mk. 13:31-37 may be useful in conveying the otherness of Christ's coming; in fact, the whole chapter is an answer to the disciples puzzlement about what's to be expected. <br /><br />Reading and responding to historical texts in the same spirit in which they were written reveals their pertinence to the universal time-transcending human condition, and is not out-dated revelation. As Jesus says in v.31 "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." <br /><br />The thought in this essay that strikes me as offering the passageway between humanist virtue and the coming of the Lord is your mention of the "scrupulous truthfulness of earlier Friends": "there are other moral issues where we seem to be far less perceptive than former generations, such as our relative indifference to lying compared to the scrupulous truthfulness of earlier Friends." This honoring of truth strikes me as the key that moves us from the condition of virtuous humanism into a readiness to receive the faith that is testified to by Scriptures and Friends. Valuing the truth and not letting oneself be placated by human capacities—whether noble or ignoble—is the path set out for us. Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04915369728649066397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-5025135807080741512016-12-08T08:53:12.564+00:002016-12-08T08:53:12.564+00:00"Perhaps our task as a People of God is not t..."Perhaps our task as a People of God is not to build a perfect world, but to perfect our love for the world and humanity as it is." Well, perhaps as Friends we and other of like mind might try to built the perfect world. It does give us a standard to walk by--like our corporate pacifism. <br /><br />God's reign of peace [nice term: I call it simply 'the Way' in my 'What Love Can Do"] is not somewhere else at the end of history. It is present here and now . . . [yes!] In Jesus' words, 'The kingdom of God is among you' (Luke 17:21) Speaking technically, can I suggest that the true translation--the early Quakers had it right--'is within'? Fitzmyer says that while Luke normally used "en mesō" for ‘among’ (e.g. Lk. 2: 46, 8: 7, 10: 3), the use of "entos" in 17: 21 is a rare occurrence; it appears only once elsewhere in the Gospels in Mt. 23: 26. Marcin also presents a convincing argument for ‘within you’ while Ramelli draws on classic Greek, Latin and Syriac sources (a form of Aramaic) to support her belief that entos means inside; she comments:<br /><br />The reason for the modern translation . . . ‘among you’, against most<br />ancient and early modern versions and interpretations [e.g. the King<br />James Bible], seems to be first of all the lack of consideration for the meaning of entos in the Bible and in Greek literature.<br /><br />Thank you very much for your excellent piece. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08959881534542495592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-80660717400984495782016-12-04T12:12:40.921+00:002016-12-04T12:12:40.921+00:00Given the context of the article, the King James t...Given the context of the article, the King James translation of Luke 17:21 might be more accurate and appropriate: "The kingdom of God is within you."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-38375605487235267332016-11-30T14:43:15.559+00:002016-11-30T14:43:15.559+00:00Hi Mary, Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful...Hi Mary, Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful poem. I didn't know it, being woefully uneducated in poetry, so I really appreciate reading it here.<br />In Friendship, CraigCraig Barnetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16201061939693242954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4497531321890746707.post-27983446283046107242016-11-30T13:12:13.156+00:002016-11-30T13:12:13.156+00:00Yes yes. As ever, Craig, your words are thought-pr...Yes yes. As ever, Craig, your words are thought-provoking, clear, and renewing. You must know the R.S.Thomas poem on this theme, but I think it's worth quoting here. It recurs in ministry in our Meeting at the moment.<br /><br />The Kingdom<br /><br />It's a long way off but inside it<br />there are quite different things going on:<br />festivals at which the poor man<br />is king and the consumptive is<br />healed; mirrors in which the blind look<br />at themselves and love looks at them<br />back; and industry is for mending<br />the bent bones and the minds fractured<br />by life. It's a long way off, but to get<br />there takes no time and admission<br />is free, if you will purge yourself<br />of desire, and present yourself with<br />your need only and the simple offering<br />of your faith, green as a leaf.<br />MaryShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10317260448956032369noreply@blogger.com