Christ transforming Uganda

Christians in a number of traditions pay lip service to an expression borrowed from H. Richard Niebuhr more than half a century ago: Christ transforming culture. But what does this mean in practice for specific contexts, e.g., subsaharan Africa? Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of Uganda gives us some concrete examples in this inspiring piece appearing in the upcoming issue of First Things: What Is Anglicanism? Orombi affirms that it is the Bible itself that has transformed his country and its people, and he highlights the treatment of women, clan revenge, and the worship of nature and ancestral spirits as examples.

The gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed to us through the Word of God enables warring tribes to begin to coexist and to embrace neighborliness. Indeed, the Word of God opened the way for the nation of Uganda to be forged. When evangelists from Buganda (in central Uganda) traveled to tribes in the east, west, and north, a new day dawned in our country. Instead of being armed with spears, they came armed only with the Word of God. Instead of a message of war and destruction, they delivered a message of Good News from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As the Bible came with the authority of Christ, it revealed a God that is greater than the evil spirits and the kingdom of darkness that controlled so many people’s lives. In Uganda, the Bible has grown into a cherished source of authority that is central to Christian faith, practice, and mission. For all God’s people, obedience to this Bible is the source of confidence, abundant life, and joy. It is an absolute treasure that no one can take away. Isaiah, later quoted by Peter, wrote, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:8; 1 Pet. 1:24-25). The grass on which our cattle feed, the grass from which our roofs are thatched—all this withers. But the Word of God has withstood the test of time. The Bible is at the heart of our Anglican identity, and we Ugandan Anglicans joyfully submit to its life-giving and transforming authority.

With this knowledge of the centrality of the authority of Scripture in Anglicanism, therefore, we understand ourselves to be in the mainstream of Anglicanism—from Thomas Cranmer to John Stott. The evangelical tradition in the Church of England produced William Wilberforce, whose lifelong mission to eradicate slavery and the slave trade liberated our people. It produced Charles Simeon, who inspired the beginning of mission societies that shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with us and many others. It produced Bishop Tucker and other missionaries, who risked their lives to come to Uganda. These and many more Anglican evangelicals brought us the legacy of the Protestant Reformation in England. Their commitment to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture has continued among us to this day.

I am struck by the role martyrdom has played in the revival and growth of the Church of Uganda. Many of us remember the death of Archbishop Janani Luwum at the hands of Idi Amin in 1977. Ten years ago my friend Paul Marshall brought the plight of persecuted believers before a complacent west. At one time the heirs of the English Reformation read Foxe's Book of Martyrs, a collection that has fallen out of favour in an ecumenical age but that served for generations to confirm Tertullian's ancient maxim that “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” I can testify from experience that martyrdom is not much mentioned today in the Anglican Church of Canada, which may go some way in explaining its current state.

Orombi's piece should be required reading for every Anglican and Episcopal bishop in North America. Imagine how the ACC and TEC would grow and flourish if they could manage to catch Orombi's vision. Pray God that by his grace this might happen.

Irene Keesmaat

This is rather short notice, I recognize, but I have just learnt that area artist Irene Keesmaat, a former colleague of mine at Redeemer, will be exhibiting her works at the Edinburgh Square Heritage and Cultural Centre in Caledonia, Ontario, beginning this evening with an opening reception from 7 to 9. I have linked to Irene's website in my sidebar.

A working holiday

Our family just returned from travels to the US, where I managed to visit 5 states, one territory and three airports in the space of slightly more than a week. Two weekends ago we drove from Hamilton to Chicago, passing through Michigan and Indiana on the way. We visited family on both sides. On monday, 2 July, we visited the Brookfield Zoo with my sister-in-law and her young family. I had not been there since 1983. It's definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the Windy City.

On tuesday through thursday I was in Washington, DC, to speak to the annual Civitas Summer Leadership Seminar, sponsored by the Center for Public Justice. The title of my talk was "Beyond Ideological Thinking," in which I spoke about liberalism and its alternatives. It was an enjoyable and stimulating event.



The following day our group was privileged to tour the White House, which I found to be far smaller and less impressive than I had long envisioned it in my mind. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating place, with portraits of various presidents and first ladies covering the 2-century-old walls. There were portraits of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, prompting me to wonder whether these would have to trade places if the latter becomes president.



I did not visit the Capitol building, home of the United States Congress, but I was able to photograph it from a distance. This was taken from the roof of the building housing the CCCU's American Studies Program.



Wednesday was, of course, the Independence Day holiday, so in the evening our group walked down to a spot where we were able to view the fireworks on the National Mall, which had been temporarily evacuated earlier in the evening due to a tornado warning.

Licence plates typically carry a state motto, such as New Hampshire's notorious LIVE FREE OR DIE. The District of Columbia is not a state, and as such it has no voting representatives in Congress. Thus the DC plates carry this slogan in protest:



When I first told Theresa I would be going to Washington, DC, she heard Washington, BC, assuming I was travelling once again to Canada's westernmost province. When I corrected her and she asked what the DC stands for, I responded: "the District of Columbia," to which she retorted knowingly: "I thought the C must stand for Columbia!"

Thursday afternoon I returned to Chicago and family. While in the air, my plane grazed the top of a terrific storm, which we saw from above. The thunder clouds were impressive, but the turbulence was a bit unnerving.



At the weekend we drove to Hillsdale, Michigan, home of Hillsdale College, a small undergraduate university well known in politically conservative circles in the US.



Hillsdale sells bricks to alumni, parents and supporters for $150 each to be placed in its Alumni Walk, which extends through the centre of the campus. Here are some typical examples:





Outside the Dow Center on the Hillsdale campus is a plaque containing a selection from Thomas Paine's Dissertation on First Principles of Government. Paine was anything but a conservative, but he somehow managed to slip by Hillsdale's gatekeepers with an extremely unBurkean sentiment:



We arrived home to Hamilton on monday. As usual, it's good to be back.

Redeeming time

Chuck Colson writes about time here: A New Perspective on Time, and here: How Big is Your God? Reading these so soon after the "untimely" death of one of my students prompts me to publish my own reflections on the subject.

When I was a child I developed a strong sense of the irreversibility of time's passage. Although one genre of science fiction is preoccupied with the notion of time travel, and though there seems to be something, if Einstein is to be believed, to the possibility of accelerating or slowing the passage of time, it remains impossible to reverse the process. This is perhaps why we are so fascinated by the likes of Back to the Future, the cinematic tale of an adolescent who returns to the days of his parents' youth and manages to rewrite the history of his own family.

When we regularly visited my grandmother's house in Milan, Michigan, nearly half a century ago, I recall seeing there a photographic portrait of my great-grandmother. She had died seven years before my birth, and I regretted that I had no memories of her, as did my mother and grandmother. I wished that I had known something of the world before I came along and would love to have experienced backwards time travel. My early fascination with the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railroad — revived during my second year at Notre Dame — was also rooted in the desire to experience a defunct interurban railway that had come to an end before conscious memory. In short, backwards time travel, if it were possible, held out the tantalizing possibility of reversing death and recovering something long gone.

Those who are in Christ are promised eternal or everlasting life. We human beings cannot begin to comprehend what this will mean. Scripture speaks in metaphors and highly symbolic language, especially in the apocalyptic books. There are, however, many Christians who, following Augustine, assume that eternity is a state somehow outside of time. Remember the lyrics of the old gospel hymn:

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound,
and time shall be no more. . . .

Will time really cease to exist? Is eternity a static, timeless condition, as popular theology would have us believe? I will not speculate as to God's relationship to and experience of time, since that falls outside of what he has revealed to us. Yet with respect to his image-bearers I believe this can be affirmed: if time is the good creation of God, then it makes more biblical sense to confess that in the new heaven and new earth being prepared for those who trust in Jesus Christ's salvation, time will be redeemed, not abolished. Eternity is thus not stasis on the ancient Greek model, but an everlasting age to which we will be summoned at Christ's return either from the grave or from our earthly, albeit mortal, lives.

Summorum Pontificum

It's finally happened: Pope approves wider use of Latin Mass. Here is the text of the Pope's letter.

Republished article

My piece on Preparing for Leadership has been picked up by Christianity.ca.

Another 50th anniversary


A half century ago today my favourite interurban railway abruptly ceased passenger service after 55 years of business. The Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railway began in 1902 when the original line was built between Chicago and Aurora, powered by electric third rail. In the next few years lines were extended to Elgin, Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles, all communities located along the Fox River. The lines branched out at my home town of Wheaton, the centre of operations and the location of the shops. Though most interurban railways were little more than trolley lines running alongside rural roads between towns, the CA&E was built to the standards of the steam lines and could thus attain higher speeds. While most interurbans flourished in the first two decades of the 20th century, only to founder after the Great War with the advent of the automobile, the CA&E, along with two other Chicago area interurbans, survived much longer, effectively becoming a suburban commuter line.


The CA&E was a precarious enterprise from the 1920s on, and it went through more than one receivership and reorganization over the decades. The Second World War years saw an increase in ridership, but ten years later it was struggling to remain afloat. In 1953 its entrance into Chicago over the Garfield Park elevated line was terminated to make way for the construction of the Congress (later Eisenhower) Expressway. Passengers from the Fox Valley suburbs had to get off at suburban Forest Park and transfer to the "L" for the remainder of the trip to Chicago. This was the final blow to the CA&E. Ridership plummeted and management petitioned to abandon passenger service. Permission finally came in the late morning of wednesday, 3 July 1957. Service was suspended a few minutes after noon, stranding passengers in the Loop, forcing them to find other ways home that evening. Freight service limped along for another two years. I recall seeing a CA&E freight train crossing Roosevelt Road in Wheaton when I was quite small. The railway was abandoned altogether in 1961.

A few CA&E cars are still operating at various railway museums around the United States, most notably the Fox River Trolley Museum and the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM). The CA&E right-of-way is now the Illinois Prairie Path, a recreational trail for jogging, hiking and bicycling. Here is a look at restored CA&E cars in action at the IRM:


Incidentally, the cessation of passenger service on the CA&E occurred only three days after my baptism.

Five years ago, to mark the occasion of the CA&E's centenary, I composed a song, titled The Great Third Rail Rag, after one of the railway's many nicknames. It is written in the style of Scott Joplin's rags, which were popular in the first years of the 20th century.

Baptism and the christian life


Today marks the 50th anniversary of my baptism. Through this sacrament I was received into the body of Christ at Westminster Orthodox Presbyterian Church, then in Westchester, Illinois, but now located in nearby Indian Head Park.

When I was younger I did not treasure this day as I do now. In fact, in my teens I worshipped, along with my family, in a baptist church that did not recognize the validity of my baptism at all. Nevertheless I have come to follow Calvin in believing that our baptism, far from being diminished or invalidated by our inability to remember it, is a sign of our union with Christ for the whole of life into eternity. This union is effected entirely by the grace of God, which comes to us even before we are aware of it.

As always, the Heidelberg Catechism puts it very nicely indeed:

Q. How does baptism remind you and assure you that Christ's one sacrifice on the cross is for you personally?

A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing and with it gave the promise that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul's impurity, in other words, all my sins.

Four years ago, at my request, the members of the session of Westminster Church were kind enough to make up and send me a baptismal certificate, based on their minutes from 1957.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).

"Craig Vanderveen is home! boo-yah."

With great shock and sadness I post the following announcement from the President of Redeemer University College, Dr. Justin Cooper:

We are saddened by the tragic news of the death of Craig Vanderveen on Thursday evening, June 28. While visiting his family in Manitoba, he and a friend were killed in a car accident while traveling to Winnipeg to see his grandfather. Further details of the funeral and any contact information will be provided when it becomes available. In the meantime, please pray for the Lord's grace and comfort for family and friends, particularly those in the Redeemer community who knew and worked with Craig.

With resurrection hope,
President Cooper

Craig was a double major in political science and business at Redeemer, and he managed to take every course I teach. He was a bright student with a promising future ahead of him. He had planned to graduate in December and thus had one more semester to go. He was president of Student Senate this past year, past managing editor of the Crown, and was involved in a variety of other activities. He was respected by his peers and his professors, and he would have been a strong contender for next year's Faculty Award.

He was working at Redeemer over the summer months. The last time I saw him was around two weeks ago when we passed in the hall. He recently returned to his home province of Manitoba, where last evening's accident occurred. The heading for this post is taken from the last thing he wrote in his facebook profile on sunday.

We will miss you, Craig. We look forward, by God's grace, to seeing you again at the resurrection.

Addendum: Craig's funeral will be 10 am, Wednesday, July 4, at the Carman Canadian Reformed Church, Carman, Manitoba. No visitation is planned.

Guid tae see ye

Good news. Wikipædia is now available in the Guid Scots Tongue.

Another Byzantine-rite Calvinist?

Judging from her comments on the OrthodoxyToday.org Blog, I think "Nancy L" may have fallen under the influence of the 17th-century Ecumenical Patriarch Cyril Lucaris. Moreover, it seems we are both alumni of the same undergraduate institution.

Patriarch still 'Ecumenical'?

A few years ago an Ontario provincial court claimed the competence to judge what is and is not Catholic doctrine. Now a top Turkish court has ruled that the Ecumenical Patriarch's use of the title ecumenical has no legal standing. Will the Patriarchate now follow the unwelcome precedent of its Jerusalem counterpart and allow itself to be hamstrung by the country's political rulers? Or will it defy precedent and declare that a government has no jurisdiction over ecclesiastical titles?

Conservative environmentalists

For some odd reason concern for the environment has come to be associated with those conventionally styled "leftists." Here's evidence that not all professed conservatives are willing to concede such concern to their opponents: Conservative Principles and the Environment. Author John R. E. Bliese writes:

In the often quoted words of Edmund Burke, society is "a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born." Therefore, we have obligations and duties to future generations. We have no right to trash the earth in an orgy of consumption and leave our children and grandchildren a polluted and depleted planet. The idea of "sustainable development" is a perfectly conservative one. We have a moral obligation to design our economy in such a way that we can produce our goods without reducing the ability of the planet to support future generations.

Anglican news

Although this story has received the lion's share of the press coverage of the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod, a more basic problem faces this historic church body: Anglican Church 'fiddling away while Rome is burning'. Though some media reports give the church a membership of 2 million, thus making it one of Canada's largest denominations, the reality on the ground is much different:

In 2005 the Anglican Church of Canada's House of Bishops was handed an internal study that said the church was losing 13,000 members a year, and that membership lists had shrunk by 53 per cent from 1961 to 2001.

Although several million Canadians identify themselves as Anglican on census questionnaires, the number of active Anglicans is far fewer and falling. Between 1961 and 2001, Anglican parish lists plunged from 1.36-million members to 642,000.

What is the cause of this haemorrhaging of the church's lifeblood? If a church has a weak grasp of the saving power of the gospel, people eventually will no longer bother with it. If it can manage only to become "ever more welcoming and inclusive" without calling members to live biblically faithful lives, it should not be surprised if many parishioners find little reason to tear themselves away from their newspapers or golf games on sunday mornings. One is struck by the irony of a church trying to be all things to all people while effectively alienating increasing numbers by failing to make any significant demands on them.

The Martyr of Mosul

Three weeks ago yesterday a 35-year-old Chaldean priest, Fr. Ragheed Ganni, was martyred in Mosul, an ancient city with historic christian roots in northern Iraq. Once numbering between 1.5 and 2 million, Iraq's Assyrian Christians have declined dramatically in numbers since 2003 to only around 500,000, most apparently having fled the country. Patrick Buchanan reports on The Martyr of Mosul. Sandro Magister has further details on this young servant of Christ and his courageous dedication to his parishioners: The Last Mass of Father Ragheed, a Martyr of the Chaldean Church.

The notoriously truculent Buchanan draws political implications from this martyrdom, holding responsible "the men who conceived this misbegotten war." Although I am sympathetic with Buchanan's point, I believe that Magister's response of gratitude is more in keeping with that of the historic church for the past two millennia:

Dearest Ragheed, together with a heart which cries in pain, you leave us your hope and your certainty. By taking you, they aimed to wipe out the hope of Iraq’s Christians. Instead, your martyrdom nourishes and gives new life to your community, to the Iraqi Church and the Church throughout the world. Thank you, Ragheed!

Going fishing

On saturday I joined my good friend Michael Glockner for a fishing excursion to a pond up in Milton. Michael is an avid fisherman, and he was kind enough to provide the gear. This was the first time I had been fishing for probably more than four decades, and I found it quite enjoyable.


Michael and me at the trout pond

I used to go fishing with my father as a boy, but I didn't remember ever having caught any fish, so when I caught one this past weekend, I naturally assumed that it was the first time ever. It wasn't. Talking to my parents later in the day, I learned that my childhood fishing ability was apparently better than my current capacity to remember it. In fact, my dad reminded me that on one occasion I caught three fish. I was so proud of them that I didn't want to eat them. Once they were cooked and on the table for supper that evening, he had to tell me they were market-purchased fish so I wouldn't go hungry. I don't recall this episode myself, but then again I have had a lot on my mind since 1965!


Struggling to hold aloft
my catch of the day

Saturday evening I grilled two rainbow trout on the outdoor grill, and Nancy and Theresa and I had a nourishing picnic dinner. The following day Theresa came up with her own rendition of her daddy's excursion:


Daddy and 'Uncle' Michael fishing for
rainbow trout

Song of the Three Youths


I have posted on my Genevan Psalter website my most recent song, a metrical versification of the Song of the Three Youths, variously known also as the Song of the Three Holy Children or simply the Song of the Three. This marvellous hymn of praise is traditionally ascribed to Daniel's three companions from within the fiery furnace after they had been cast there by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. It does not appear in the Hebrew canon, but it is found in the Septuagint and later translations based on it, where it is inserted into the third chapter of Daniel. Though not strictly regarded as canonical by Christians of the Reformation, it has nevertheless found its way into the church's sung canticles, as found in the Book of Common Prayer and the Lutheran liturgy. Both text and tune I wrote earlier this week. The tune I have titled BENEDICITE, after the Latin name for the canticle, Benedicite Omnia Opera.

This morning I was privileged to examine an ancient edition of the Geneva Bible published in England towards the end of the 16th century. Following the text of the Scriptures itself is a section with liturgical resources, in which the Benedicite finds an honoured place. Indeed it deserves to be known and sung widely by all Christians of every tradition.

City cracks down

A few weeks ago the city of Hamilton placed this sign on the sledding hill down the street from us:



As you can see, there has been 100 percent compliance thus far.

Victims of Communism

Chuck Colson reports on the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial Park in Washington, DC, dedicated to the one-hundred million victims of this failed political illusion: The Utopian Nightmare. Here is a prototype of the statue rising above the park, which is apparently modelled after the goddess of democracy built by the Tiananmen demonstrators in 1989:



To my mind this statue perhaps too closely resembles Vera Mukhina's overwrought monument to socialist realism, Worker and Kolkhoz Woman:



On the other hand, I am inclined to think that the monument unveiled in Prague five years ago to commemorate communism's victims is more appropriate, evoking the sheer terror of the régimes it spawned. Click on the photo below, look at it carefully and see what you think:

Free Aghia Sophia


This remarkable report comes from Greek News:

Athens - A nascent international initiative to restore the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul as a place of worship for all the world's Christians was outlined here on Thursday by veteran Greek-American political leader Chris Spirou, less than a week before a public hearing is scheduled on the religious monument's condition at the US Congress.

Spirou, a noted New Hampshire Democratic leader and long-time activist for Greek national issues in the United States, said the organisation he heads up (Free Agia Sophia Council of America) will present evidence showing the "violation" of Eastern Orthodoxy's most renowned basilica over the past 554 years. . . .

The hearing, to be held by the joint Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC), marks the first time that Congress will hear testimony on the situation concerning Hagia Sophia.

What are the chances of Turkey taking action on this issue? Slightly worse, I would judge, than the chances of the proverbial snowball in the infernal regions. Spirou's efforts might be put to better use if he were to focus instead on persuading Ankara to permit the reopening of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Theological School of Halki, the success of which is considerably more likely.

Seeking unity

Could the head of the Church of Cyprus help to bring reconciliation between the Papacy and the Moscow Patriarchate? His Beatitude, Archbishop Chrysostomos II of New Justiniana and All Cyprus thinks so and has offered his services in a visit to Rome last saturday.

Praying through the psalms: translations

In recent days I've been reading through Miles Coverdale's translations of the Psalms according to the schedule prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. I am just old enough to have grown up with the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, so the Elizabethan English is not altogether foreign to me. When I do run into something incomprehensible, I am sufficiently familiar with the psalms to know what is being said in most cases. From a literary standpoint, Coverdale's translations seem somewhat less polished than the KJV's, including such redundant constructions as "Most Highest," which would be regarded as grammatically incorrect nowadays.

We English-speakers are, of course, blessed — or perhaps cursed? — with a plethora of translations of the Bible. The downside to this is that, lacking a standard translation comparable to the old KJV, scripture memorization has taken a beating over the past generation or two. The advantage is that reading different translations of the same passage can give one an insight into its meaning. However, what do we do when two translations obviously conflict? Here's Psalm 7:4-5 from the Revised Standard Version:

if I have requited my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,
let the enemy pursue me and overtake me. . . .

Here, however, is the same passage from the New Jerusalem Bible:

if I have repaid my ally with treachery or spared one who attacked me unprovoked,
may an enemy hunt me down and catch me

Nearly every other English translation follows the RSV's interpretation, but the NJB footnote says this:

The text must not be watered down as in the versions. . . ; the morality of the Gospel is yet to come.

Someone versed in Hebrew would be better able than I to determine which is the correct rendition.

All in the family

Blood is thicker than water — even for plants, who, it seems, may fall prey to aphids, but not to sibling rivalry.

More Greek dancing

Riverdance has nothing on these young men performing the Cretan pentozali and thereby demonstrating that, if sport builds camaraderie in North America, dancing does so amongst the Greeks:



Bravo, λεβέντες μου! And here is that famous scene from the 1964 film, Alexis Zorbas, or Zorba the Greek, in which Anthony Quinn teaches Alan Bates to dance the hasaposerviko to Mikis Theodorakis' electrifying music. As a child, I must have heard this, including the dialogue at the beginning, countless times on our family's LP soundtrack of the film.



This afternoon Theresa and I were dancing and, after watching the above footage a few times, she did a pretty good approximation of Zorba's dance. Opaaa!

Power intrinsically corrupt?

Lord Acton famously wrote that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," a statement frequently quoted and all too often accepted at face value. I like Mark Earley's clarification:

But remember this: power corrupts, but power itself is not necessarily corrupt. God has given power to the state to be used to restrain evil and maintain order. It is the use of power, whether for personal gain or for the state’s ordained function, that is really at issue.

I would expand on this, because it has relevance beyond political life. All of us, as God's image-bearers, are gifted with various capacities (i.e., power) enabling us to fulfil the responsibilities of the authoritative offices in which God has placed us. These capacities are not in themselves corrupting. However, like everything else in God's good creation, they are capable of being misused by sinful human beings. It's not the power as such that corrupts; it's our own rebellious nature that does so. Acton's saying might be closer to the truth if turned around: Human sin corrupts the otherwise legitimate use of power.

Pontic music

Three years ago I wrote of The fate of the Pontic Greeks, that is, those Greek Orthodox Christians who inhabited the southern shores of the Black Sea for nearly 2 thousand years prior to their treaty-mandated expulsion after 1923. Although I grew up hearing and singing Greek music, especially δημοτικά τραγούδια (folk songs) familiar to generations, it was less than a decade ago that I encountered the distinctive Pontic Greek music via this page maintained by Leigh Cline of Toronto.

As a child I learned to dance the καλαματιανό (kalamatiano), with its distinctive 7/8 time signature. Typical examples follow immediately below:


These are familiar to anyone attending one of the numerous Greek Orthodox church festivals held throughout North America during the summer months. However, one is less likely to see something like this at one of those festivals:


The music of the Pontic region boasts such distinctive instruments as the 3-stringed kemenche, played much like a western viol. It has a close relationship to the music of the surrounding cultures, especially that of the Caucasus, Iran and central Asia, and it may even have ancient Celtic roots. The Pontic Greeks are one of any number of displaced communities around the world who have brought their culture, including their music, with them in an attempt to maintain their distinctiveness in exile.

Amazing likeness



Theresa D. C. Koyzis

Proof positive that children tend to idealize their parents.

Lukashenka lauded

The man known as Europe's last dictator is being honoured by the Orthodox Church with its highest award for laymen, the Order of St. Grand Prince Vladimir Equal-to-Apostles. This is the second such ecclesiastical award conferred upon the saintly Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the President of Belarus. Why this award now? It seems Lukashenka has made a "considerable contribution" to the development of interchurch and interstate relations. Might this include a certain charism for quashing domestic political opposition and antagonizing neighbours?

Anglican identity

The bishops of the Church of England are making a long overdue proposal to secure for itself and for the other churches in communion with it a stronger confessional identity: Anglican 'rule book' proposed. At first glance it sounds good, but the old cliché about closing the barn door after the horses have left would seem to have some relevance here. My question is this: Why not simply reaffirm the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion?

Putin speaks

This interview with President Vladimir Putin is must reading for anyone with an interest in the politics of the Russian Federation and its relations with its foreign "partners." It will also likely be required reading for my students in POL 265 this autumn. An excerpt:

Of course, I am a pure and absolute democrat. But you know what the problem is? Not the problem, a tragedy, a real tragedy. The tragedy is that I am alone. I am the only such pure democrat. There are no such other democrats in the world. . . . After the death of Mahatma Ghandi, I have nobody to talk to.

Well, that is reassuring. It seems I've been too hasty in labelling poor Volodya "Stalin Lite."

Preparing for leadership

The Work Research Foundation's Comment is beginning its second annual series aimed at university-bound young people with an article by yours truly, titled: Making the most of college: Preparing for leadership. A brief selection:

If you are at a university where the larger questions of right and justice are posed, and where discussion of them is encouraged, throw yourself into the dialogue. Ask your own questions and consider thoughtfully the questions of others. Be daring and don't be afraid to put forward your own ideas. That's what you're there for. From my own time at Redeemer, I've discovered that a Christian university can provide an especially fertile ground for nurturing such discussions. This is because students are often given the tools to see through reductionist explanations — say, Marxism, Freudianism and Darwinism — for the complex phenomena of God's world. But it may also be that Christians are more aware than others of participating in an ancient tradition of reflection and a larger conversation that started long before they were born and will continue long after they are gone.

On the other hand, if you are at a university where the study of politics is narrowed to what can be addressed by the scientific method, then discussion of the larger questions is not likely to be encouraged. In fact, it might be actively discouraged, and you may find yourself being advised to switch to the study of philosophy or religion rather than politics. If this is your situation, it will be up to you to round up like-minded fellow students and to jump start the conversation with them on your own time. I know from personal experience that sometimes meeting regularly with an extracurricular discussion group, especially when accompanied by a shared meal, can be more life-changing than the formal courses offered by the university.

Psalms in wartime


As a lifelong aficionado of old books, I have made a point of visiting the local antiquarian bookshops while travelling. During a visit to Prague in what was then still called Czechoslovakia in November 1976, I found more than one such shop and purchased a number of volumes dating from the 19th century. One of these was a metrical psalter and hymnal published in 1900, a scanned photograph of which can be found on my Genevan Psalter website.

Another volume dates from 1845 and contains the New Testament and Psalms translated into the Czech language. (Years later I was struck by the irony of my having taken a Bible out of a communist country!) The print is in the old German blackletter and the text uses an older spelling (with "w" for "v", "j" for "i", &c.). The frontispiece (shown above) indicates that this edition was intended for use by "Evangelical Christians of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions," i.e., by Lutheran and Reformed Christians.


The Psalms are, of course, of special interest to me, especially the various ways they are used in the course of the liturgy or by individual believers at prayer. Two days ago, while paging through this section, I discovered something I hadn't before noticed. The owner of this volume at the beginning of the 20th century, whose name seems to have been Karel (spelt "Carl" in the handwritten name at the bottom of the page opposite the frontispiece) Lány, read through the Psalms at the pace of one psalm per day (except for Psalm 119), taking time to mark the date at the top of each. (Might it have been this Karel Lány?) He started with Psalm 1 on "1./8.", i.e., 1 August 1914, and continued until he read Psalm 150 on "18./I. 1915", i.e., 18 January 1915.

The timing may not have been incidental. Lány lived in Austria-Hungary, whose heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, had been assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June. Tensions had mounted after that, with Austria-Hungary issuing an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July and declaring war five days later. This quickly brought the other European powers onside of either Austria or Serbia, with battles beginning and intensifying into the autumn and winter months. It seems rather likely that Lány — apparently a Lutheran or Reformed Christian living in the predominantly Catholic Czech provinces — turned to the Psalms as the Great War was breaking out.

Perhaps he had a son of conscription age and was concerned for his safety should his country go to war. As a member of a religious minority (and with Hungarian origins at that), he may have sensed how fragile his country's unity really was at the outset of what proved to be the defining event of the 20th century. One can only imagine the subsequent history of this little book. It is possible that Lány lived into the nazi and communist eras, when atheistic régimes made it costly to maintain a public witness to the faith. After Lány's death, the volume may have passed down to his children and grandchildren who were perhaps less appreciative of its significance, selling it to an antiquarian bookseller, whence it came into my hands three decades ago. Of course this can only be speculation.

One thing is certain. While the Battle of Tannenberg was raging to the north between Germany and Russia, Lány read these words from Psalm 27:

Though a host encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent,
he will set me high upon a rock.

A nonmarxist sartorial flourish


Note the neckwear (click to enlarge)

Pentecost and Psalm 104

A little over two decades ago I wrote a hymn text titled simply A Hymn for Pentecost, which I have just posted on my Genevan Psalter website. Here is the text:

O Spirit of God, descend as a dove,
alight on our hearts, fill them with your love.
As once the apostles were touched by your flame,
so rest upon us that new life we may claim.

O Fount of our faith, come, grant us your grace
that we might believe and so find a place
within your blest Kingdom, as promised to all
whom God in his mercy has chosen to call.

O Breath of true life, breathe into our pleas
the words that we dare to speak on our knees;
for we are God's children and heirs of his love,
therefore may we call on our Father above.

O Source of all strength, make us to be bold,
as oft you inspired your prophets of old.
Now give us the courage plainly to declare
your life-giving message to all who will hear.

O Counsellor, come: our spirit renew,
and guide your elect in paths that are true.
O lead us through shadows that darken our way
that we may walk joyfully into the day.

Text copyright © 1985 by David T. Koyzis

The tune I chose was OLD 104TH, composed by Thomas Ravenscroft for his Whole Book of Psalms, published in 1621. I had recently heard a recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on the Old 104th Psalm Tune, which was my introduction to this melody. My choice was influenced by the ancient tradition appointing the singing of Psalm 104 on the feast of Pentecost.

There appears to be a curious relationship between Ravenscroft's 104 and the Genevan Psalter's tune for the same psalm. The metre (10.10.11.11) is identical save for two things: (1) That of the Genevan melody is double that of Ravenscroft (10.10.11.11.10.10.11.11), and (2) the internal stresses are quite different. In Ravenscroft's Psalter this text is joined to his tune, as sung by the choral ensemble in Vaughan Williams' Fantasia. Yet it seems that in the Scottish Psalter of 1635 the Genevan melody was used, as indicated here. I personally find it more difficult to sing "My soul, Praise the Lord, speak good of his Name" to the Genevan tune than to Ravenscroft's, which better fits the text. Yet my own assessment was obviously not shared by many Christians in the 17th century.

There is obviously a story to be told about the relationship between these two tunes, but I don't know whether anyone has ever looked into it. It could, I suppose, make up a chapter in someone's dissertation, if there's a graduate student somewhere interested in pursuing the topic.

So soon?

Only weeks after the recent provincial election in La Belle Province comes this: Opposition to Quebec budget may trigger snap election. If so, then it seems to me that the new Lieutenant Governor might be within his constitutional authority to refuse dissolution of the National Assembly, either requesting Premier Jean Charest to negotiate further with the ADQ or the PQ, or summoning the leaders of the other two parties to see whether they might be able to form an alternative coalition government. Voters shouldn't have to go to the polls every few months, much less weeks. It's time for heads of minority governments at federal and provincial levels to recognize that they cannot continue to govern as if they had a majority.

Church hostage to its own canon law

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem is still in a state of uncertainty after the Kingdom of Jordan withdrew its recognition of Theophilos III as patriarch. "Church law dictates the Patriarch must have the blessing of the Holy Land's ruling powers — Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel." So change the law already!

Tehran supports Cyprus

It is good to know that Iran, under its beneficent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a force for peace and justice in the region: Iran supports fair settlement of Cyprus problem. The Nobel committee should keep this in mind for future reference.

Fountain of youth in Canada

This is good news for us middle-aged folk: Exercise 'reverses' muscle ageing. And to think it all started here in Hamilton.

Skillen on Turkey

The latest contribution to the Center for Public Justice's new Root & Branch series is by James Skillen and titled, Watch Turkey! Skillen analyzes the current debate in that country as one between two religions: Islam and Kemalist securalism. He has fairly kind words for the current prime minister and would-be president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). These, he believes, are advancing, not an islamist establishment, but public pluralism:

[T]he AKP has demonstrated that it is not necessary for citizens to believe in secularism in order to enjoy full citizenship in the republic. In essence, the AKP is putting something new into practice, different from both monopolistic secularism and monopolistic Islam. We might call it public pluralism through which people of all faiths, including both secularists and Muslims, are given room to live out their faiths in public life without any one of them being allowed to monopolize the political arena.

The thing to watch in Turkey now, with the upcoming July election for president (the only office not yet won by the AKP), is whether the AKP government can maintain popular support for public pluralism and an open democratic society. Will the more radical Islamists support such a society in which they have more room to express themselves but cannot dominate? And will radical secularists, including the military leaders, accept a system that gives believing secularists continued access to political life but no longer a monopoly on government, the military, and the bureaucracy? If so, Turkey may well be developing a model that could have potent significance for other Muslim countries, for religiously diversified countries such as India and Indonesia, and even for Western countries such as France and the United States.

Those with experience of Turkey, whether direct or indirect, might be forgiven for doubting the plausibility of such a happy outcome. To secure the agreement of both radical Islamists and radical secularists for a new public pluralism would be a considerable task that runs counter to both post-1920s republican and pre-1920s Ottoman history. It is unclear whether Erdogan is up to it or whether the military would even allow it. Nevertheless it would unquestionably be an improvement over the status quo.

Victoria Psalter


What better way to spend Victoria Day than to page through a copy of Owen Jones' The Psalms of David, "with permission dedicated to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria," also known as the Victoria Psalter. Jones (1809-1874) was an architect and ornamental designer who served as a superintendent of works at the Great Exhibition of 1851. His 1856 Grammar of Ornament had an influence on subsequent architects and designers in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1862 he published the Victoria Psalter, a chromolithographed illuminated psalter with colours limited to red, blue and gold. The text of the Psalms is that of Miles Coverdale's translation, as found in the Book of Common Prayer. The 150 Psalms are divided into 30 groups so as to be said or sung over a 30-day period. Each day is further divided into two for morning and evening prayer. The Psalm at the beginning of each group is preceded by chant tones, as can be seen by clicking on the image above.

I recently purchased a reprinted edition of this Psalter, published in 2002 by North Parade Publishing. For those who like illuminated manuscripts, this is worth purchasing, especially at the discounted price offered at Chapters. However, there are flaws in this edition. The dedicatory pages are in reverse order. It suffers from the lack of a comprehensive introduction to Jones and the Psalter. The dust jacket has two brief paragraphs on the inner flaps, but one of these manages to confuse this Jones with another Owen Jones by citing the latter's birth and death years. It further has him visiting the Middle East 9 years after his own death! The other flap claims that Jones created his Psalter at 79, an age he again never lived to see. These evident defects may explain the discount. Still, if one ignores these, the book is a visual feast.

For those wishing to explore further the tradition of illuminated manuscripts, check out the considerably more ancient — and more visually stunning — Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels.

UK PM to be RC?

Rumour has it that the soon-to-be former British Prime Minister, Mr. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, will take the plunge and swim the Tiber once he has left office. We shall see.

Put away your skates

This sounds like something out of science fiction: Distant, hot world mostly ice: scientists. If you tried to play hockey on this ice, not only might your skates melt, but the pressure would get to you too.

Ecclesial reconciliation

The longstanding schism between the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia is no more: Russian Orthodox Church Reunites After 80-Year Split.

Is the Social Gospel Christian?

On the centenary of the publication of Walter Rauschenbusch's Christianity and the Social Crisis, Joseph Loconte offers a hard-hitting assessment of the impact of the Social Gospel on the churches in North America: Christianity Without Salvation.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

For the first years following Confederation in 1867, Canada had no federal supreme court, though it had the right to establish one under section 101 of what was then called the British North America Act. Not until 1875 was the Supreme Court of Canada set up, and even then it was not technically supreme. Those dissatisfied with rulings of this court could appeal one more level to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. After the Statute of Westminster of 1931, however, Canada was authorized to abolish such appeals which it did in 1949. Probably the most famous Privy Council ruling for this country was the 1929 "Persons" case, which established that women are persons under the law and thus eligible for Senate appointments.

Gradually most Commonwealth countries have abolished appeals to the Privy Council, including New Zealand as recently as 2004. However, appeals of cases decided before then have continued to make their way across two oceans to London for final decision. In what is apparently its last decision relevant to New Zealand, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has thrown out the murder convictions of David Bain, thereby calling into question the justice system of that country. Many New Zealanders see merit in cutting one more tie to the United Kingdom. However, the Campaign for the Privy Council is not persuaded, as indicated in the group's press release: Bain Decision Vindicates Privy Council Appeals. Supporters argue that "however good the New Zealand judiciary might be, there is nothing to equal an independent outside body to ensure quality control." Prime Minister Helen Clark defends the decision to abolish appeals and believes that access to a local Supreme Court may actually facilitate the appeal process.

PQ in turmoil, part 2

Bonjour, Gilles? Mais non.

True North a dieter's paradise

They've finally discovered why efforts at weight loss are so famously successful in this country: Canada's odd low gravity a relic of the ice age.

And now today's headlines. . .

Here are some stories that were either not covered by the media or not deemed of sufficient importance to make the front page.

While thursday's March for Life in Ottawa was reported by the National Post, a Google News search reveals that few others paid attention to it. Footage of the march has been posted on Youtube but will likely not be seen on television. Joanne (True Blue) surveys media coverage of the event. Several Anglo-Catholic Ninjas (one of whom I taught a few years ago) were in attendance as well.

That same day my esteemed colleague, Deani Van Pelt, at a public event at Redeemer, presented the findings of a study exploring Ontario's Private Schools: Who Chooses Them and Why? The study was a collaborative effort amongst Van Pelt, Derek J. Allison and Patricia A. Allison of the University of Western Ontario, and was sponsored by the Fraser Institute. A report on this appears in the Ottawa Sun. Congratulations to Van Pelt and her associates.

Going overseas to what was once the heartland of the christian faith in ancient times, three Christians were murdered by Turkish nationals last month at a bible publishing house in the city of Malatya in east-central Turkey. This latest atrocity follows other attacks on Christians in that predominantly muslim but officially secular country.

Finally, Christians in Baghdad are being forced by Sunni insurgents to flee their homes and neighbourhoods. Sadly, American-led troops appear to be unaware of the Christians' plight and are thus doing nothing to stop it.

All of these stories deserve more publicity than they have received thus far.

Swimming the Tiber

Here is a name that, admittedly, I had not known before, but this news is making waves in evangelical circles: Evangelical professor becomes Catholic. Christianity Today's David Neff interviews Francis Beckwith about his reconversion and the unexpected reverberations. Here's Beckwith himself on My Return to the Catholic Church. All of this reminds me of the fuss made over Tom Howard's reception into the Roman Catholic Church back in 1985. After reading such stories, I keep coming back to this question: Why Rome and not Constantinople?

PQ in turmoil

Au revoir, André. Bonjour, Gilles?

Canada's established religion

If, as Melanie Philips puts it, human rights is a religion for a godless age, then this edifice must be its temple: Human rights museum details unveiled. The magisterium for this new faith will be located in Winnipeg. Of course every ecclesial establishment must have its own website. Just how many Canadians can be expected to make the annual hajj to the holy city on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers is unclear.

Is it just coincidence. . .

. . . or is there a genuine medical reason why my shoes are considerably more comfortable since my appendectomy? Just curious.

And now from Paris. . .

The tough guy goes to the Élysée Palace: Sarkozy wins French presidency amid decades-high turnout. Socialist opponent Ségolène Royal tries to remain upbeat after her defeat.

Fixed election dates

It is rare for a sitting government to make a change that would limit its ability to act, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper has done just that with this overdue constitutional reform: Bill setting federal elections every 4 years about to become law. Now if only we could adopt proportional representation on the federal level.

Tallis' famous theme


One of my favourite pieces of music is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, written by the famed English composer in 1910. I fell in love with this magnificent work 25 years ago while studying for one of my written comprehensive exams at Notre Dame. The “theme” in the title is a tune composed by the Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis for Archbishop Matthew Parker’s Psalter to which a versification of Psalm 2 is set. In most hymnals it is given the title THIRD MODE MELODY, because it’s in the phrygian mode, and it is sometimes paired with Horatius Bonar’s text, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say. In the Christian Reformed Church’s Psalter Hymnal a metrical version of Psalm 62 is set to it.

The tune itself doesn’t seem especially strong, at least at first. There’s not much movement in the first half of the melody, which sneaks up on the listener hesitantly with a chant-like quality. But there’s something compelling about it, all the same. Like most music of the period, it lacks a regular time signature, yet it’s in the double common metre ubiquitous in English psalmody and hymnody. Above all it is an “ecclesiastical” tune, breathing the spirit of the church’s liturgy.

In the hands of Vaughan Williams this tune takes on an unforgettably haunting quality. The Fantasia is played entirely by strings, and the composer even employs parallel fifths, which defy musical convention but work wonderfully to heighten a sense of awe and mystery. When the piece finally brings us back to the original tune, we recognize that we have been on a remarkable musical journey – perhaps into a nearly forgotten past of some four and a half centuries ago. On more than one occasion this piece has left me with moist eyes. Listen for yourself below:



One can nearly picture the peaceful nobility of the English countryside in the composer’s swelling cadences. I myself tend to associate it with another tranquil landscape, viz., that formed by the land along the Illinois Prairie Path, where I rode my bicycle during that summer of a quarter century ago.

Remarkably, Vaughan Williams seems to have considered himself an agnostic, despite his having contributed so much to the music of the English church. Who does not love to sing For All the Saints, set to his whimsically (un)named SINE NOMINE? Incidentally Vaughan Williams was the grandnephew of Charles Darwin.

As for Tallis' THIRD MODE MELODY, here is another elaboration composed by the late Texas composer Fisher Tull in 1971, Sketches on a Tudor Psalm. This has a quite different feel to it. While Vaughan Williams' Fantasia is written entirely for strings, Tull's Sketches are for brass band. This gives the piece a less tranquil and more dynamic and agitated flavour, as underscored by the discordant tonality and energetic percussion. There are echoes of Vaughan Williams in a very few of Tull's phrases. Here is a description of Tull's work:

Sketches on a Tudor Psalm is based on a 16th Century setting of the Second Psalm by Thomas Tallis. The original version was in the Phygian mode with the melody in the tenor voice. A modern adaptation is still used today in Anglican services. The introduction sets the harmonic character by emphasizing the juxtaposition of major and minor triads. The theme is first presented by solo alto saxophone, continued by horns, and followed by a fully harmonized version from the brass. The variations begin to unfold in an Allegro section with a melody in the clarinets that was constructed from the retrograde of the theme. Fragments of the theme are selected for rhythmic and melodic transformation. Finally, the opening harmonic sequence returns in highly punctuated rhythms to herald the recapitulation of the theme beginning in the low woodwinds and culminating in a full-scored setting of the climactic measures. A coda continues the development as the music builds to a triumphal close on a major chord.

Finally, soon after discovering Tallis' tune, I wrote a metrical versification of Psalm 25 to be sung to it, along with my own arrangement of the melody. I will not claim it to be the equal of Vaughan Williams' or Tull's efforts, but it is intended to return it to its original use, namely, as a setting for a psalm.