The Subtle Drama

Tony Reinke Reading

Wickedness is easier to display in literature than goodness. Evil characters are easier to develop than good characters. So says crime novelist Phyllis Dorothy James, or P. D. James. In an interview with Ken Myers from the 1980s, James said this:

I suppose that wickedness reveals itself often in action. Goodness also does, but is on a quieter plane. Good people often reveal their goodness through the whole of the quiet revelation of their character in the ordinary events of life. And if a good person is being courageous he’s probably being courageous in facing rather ordinary troubles—sick children, a sick wife, an uncongenial job. Wicked people are murdering. It’s more dramatic. Goodness is very seldom dramatic, I think. And it’s much more easy to write about drama.

If evil is more dramatic and more easily communicated in literature it is also more easily read. On the other hand, goodness in literature is difficult to write and is–I think–more difficult to read.

The bold drama in crime fiction is less demanding of the reader. The subtle drama of goodness we read in novels like those by Marilynne Robinson is more demanding. And this is because reading literature for its goodness requires the reader to pick up on the subtle drama.

On Technology

Tony Reinke spurgeon

Ken Myers:

“In his book, The Technological Society, Jacques Ellul makes the great insight that technological societies tend to produce people who are fascinated with means and forget the ends. We are more interested in the capacities of technologies we have to do certain things. Rather than saying, ‘Here are the ends we want to pursue, now what tools do we need to achieve those ends?’ Rather, we get the tools—the technologies—and we ask, ‘What can we do with these?’”

Good warning from a nice conversation between Ken Myers and Bruce Little.

PS: If you are thinking of buying Ellul’s book–I wouldn’t. Ellul is never easy but this one is an especially hard read. And it’s now published in small print mass paperback. It’s like reading a book printed on grocery bag with 6 point bled-out font. You can have my copy.

PPS: Here’s a moving picture version of the conversation between Myers and Little:

Paltering with Synergism

Tony Reinke Self-promotion, Self-strength

Isn’t this so true of the struggle to release our grip on self-righteousness, self-respect, self-affirmation? From P. T. Forsyth’s book The Cruciality of the Cross [page 47]:

“A man needs something to make him confident that his past sin, and the sin he is yet sure to commit, are all taken up into God’s redemption, and the great transaction of his moral life is done. … It is not easy.

Theological belief may not be so hard. But for a man to make Christ’s atonement the sole centre of his moral life, or of his hope for the race, is not easy. Nothing is so resented by the natural self as the hearty admission of man’s native lostness and helplessness, especially when he thinks of all the heroisms, integrities, and charities which ennoble the race.

It is not always pride, it is often a mere natural self-affirmation. It is a native self-respect, which makes him shrink from submitting himself absolutely to the judgment of another. Even in his repentance he does not want to lose all self-respect. He feels he cannot amend the life of conscience, and repair the old faults, without, some remnant of self-respect to work from.

His new shoots must come from the old stump, which must not be rooted out. He is fighting for the one remnant of a moral nature which if he lost he fears he would be less than a man. He does not easily realise what a poor thing his self-justification must be compared with his justification by God, his self-repair beside God’s new creation. He does not feel how sterile the stump is, how poorly his moral remnant would serve him for his moral need, how that recuperative vitality is the one thing he lacks, how absolute God’s grace is, and how complete is the moral re-creation in Christ. He palters with a synergism which is always trying to do the best for human nature in a bargain with God.”

Upcoming Bavinck Conference

Tony Reinke Herman Bavinck

Announced:

New College [University of Edinburgh] and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam invite you to a two-day symposium on the Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck (1854-1921).

Following the pattern of Bavinck’s work, the conference will first explore issues related to Bavinck’s theology before examining wider cultural and ethical applications of this doctrine.

The Conference will take place in New College 1-2nd September 2010.

More info here. Download the PDF flier here. The conference organizers welcome proposals for papers from graduate students.

You are not your gift

Tony Reinke Children, Parenting

I don’t invest much time reading magazines, certainly not as much time as I should. But I have read Marvin Olasky’s interview with singer, songwriter, and author Michael Card. I’ve read the interview at least three times because there is one segment of the interview that haunts me, warns me, and motivates me as a father.

At one point in the interview Card is asked about his song, “Underneath the Door.” I was not familiar with the song so I went online and found this video:

In the interview Olasky asks Card about this song:

Marvin Olasky: You mentioned somewhere that as a small boy you saw very little of your father. He came home from practice, closed himself in his study, and you would push drawings and other things under his door to try to get his attention. Did it work?

Michael Card: No, it didn’t, actually. I wrote a song called ‘Underneath the Door.’ I grew up eating supper at 8 o’clock because my mom would wait for my dad. In those days when the father would come home the kids would come to the door and greet him. My kids don’t do that with me; they just sort of look up from their video games and say, ‘Oh, you’re home.’

MO: You were the designated dad-bringer.

MC: My family would always send me to go get my dad, and I had to get his attention somehow, because he was locked away in his study. But he was a phenomenal person, my father. The older I get the more I appreciate him. He was a good man.

MO: That sounds frustrating.

MC: It was frustrating. One of my major themes is that you are not your gift, and my father thought he was his gift. He thought that medicine was all he was, so when he was forced to retire he died a few months later. He could not imagine living without being a doctor.

Card’s song and this interview haunt me as a father. They cause me to rethink my own parenting. I don’t have an office door, but are there ways in which my children are locked out of my life? Am I accessible to them? Do I assume that my gifts and calling are more important than the time I spend with my children? In the time I spend with my kids, am I focused on them, am I listening, am I entering their world or do I require them to enter into my world? Do my children get my attention easily? Do they get my full attention? Can I unhitch my mind from all my other duties when I am with them? Do I think of myself as a child of God ultimately or do I think of my value in terms of my gifts and calling and output? All important questions that this interview raises in my own mind.

For my Logos peeps

Tony Reinke BR > Logos Bible Software, Herman Bavinck, John Flavel, John Newton

If you use Logos Bible Software here are three notes from the week:

• I’m told that work to finish Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics (4 vols) has been slower than expected. The work is now set to be released in 6 to 8 weeks (mid April / early May). This is bad news for those who ordered early. But it’s good news for slackers because you can still get in on the pre-pub price of $99.95 (the price will jump to $150 once it’s released).

• This week The Works of John Newton (6 vols) was offered as a pre-pub ($99.95). This is a set to seriously consider. See here for details.

• Also this week, The Whole Works of John Flavel (6 vols) was offered as a pre-pub (also for $99.95). This is another set worth a look. See here for details.