Tomorrow is Canada Day, a federal holiday once known as Dominion Day. It celebrates the day in 1867 when the Dominion of Canada was established by bringing together in a federal union Canada West (Ontario), Canada East (Québec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Typical Canada Day celebrations include parades and fireworks. From our vantage point on the Niagara Escarpment, we can see multiple fireworks displays in various cities in our region.
Dear Global Scholars support community:
In my newsletter last Friday, I indicated that I would have news about a donor challenge to support my work with Global Scholars Canada.
Two weeks ago I was issued a challenge by an anonymous potential donor. Up until Dec. 31, 2021, they will match every dollar raised over and above last year's funds up to $8,000. If a particular donor gave $200 last year, what counts this year for purposes of matching is what he or she gives above the $200 amount. All new donations from people who have not previously given count towards the total. This means that if someone gave $500 last year and gives $800 this year, $300 of that will be matched by the donor. A new donor who gives $1,000 this year will in effect be giving $2,000 in total.
Don't worry about alerting Global Scholars to how your donation is affected by this challenge: our accountant will be conscientious in assuring that all qualifying donations are properly matched.
GSC's page for giving can be found here. Once you are in the page, scroll down to the heading marked DONATION DETAILS, and then choose one of the options under FUND. Americans may donate through our sister organization in the US. If you cannot afford to give, please do continue to pray for my work.
In closing I would like to express my gratitude to this anonymous donor for encouraging additional support for my transnational vocation.
Yours in the service of God's kingdom,
David
When I’ve read Chronicles in the past, I’ve sometimes thought that they are redundant, simply repeating what the books of Samuel and Kings had already recounted. In the larger biblical narrative, it feels as though the story, which thus far has been smoothly told from Genesis to the exile, is suddenly interrupted by an apparently unnecessary flashback, taking us all the way back to, well, Adam, the first human being. Then we are treated to a long series of proper names, some of whom are familiar but most of whom are not, leaving us wondering what relevance they could possibly have to the larger story of salvation. What harm would have been done by leaving them out and simply skipping from 2 Kings to Ezra?
In fact, the two books of Chronicles are most important. In the Jewish Bible they come at the very end of the collection, functioning as both recap and capstone, leaving the reader with a sense of expectation and hope. In the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, the books are called Paraleipomenon, which implies that the material therein supplements the books of Kings. Yet the Chronicles do not merely fill in the gaps in other books. The Chronicler brings to his work a distinctive emphasis which makes it more than just another historical account.
You can find the conversation here. I will warn you that this took place at 7.10 am, when I am not exactly in top form. But I will let the listeners judge for themselves.
And now in London, Ontario, a young man appears deliberately to have attacked an immigrant family from Pakistan with his vehicle, killing all but one person, a nine-year-old, still in hospital. It is suspected that they were targeted because they were Muslims.
As part of our publishing efforts, IVP seeks to expand the ministry of the books we publish to reach people around the world by sublicensing rights for specific languages, countries and/or formats.
We are pleased to inform you that Political Visions & Illusions (2nd Edition) has been contracted for publication in the Spanish language by Teología para Vivir S.A.C. Translations typically take 18-24 months (sometimes longer) to release. We'll be sure to send you copies of the translated edition once they arrive.
Congratulations on this good news!
Good news indeed! This means that the book will soon be available in all three of the major western hemispheric languages. Spanish is spoken by some 400-500 million people, making it one of the most spoken languages in the world. The largest Spanish-speaking countries in order are Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, the United States, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, and many more. May God use this forthcoming translation to advance his kingdom in the hispanophone countries.
Yesterday afternoon I discussed my work with Global Scholars Canada for a series sponsored by the Oak Centre for Studies in Faith and Culture here in Hamilton. The title was Serving God in a Global Academy: A Look at Developments in Brazil. Clicking on the link will bring up the PowerPoint presentation I used for my talk.
To my delight several of my friends and contacts in Brazil joined us remotely for the occasion. I appreciated their questions, which I did my best to answer. Que Deus abençoe o povo brasileiro!
Last week I was interviewed by Jonas Madureira, of Edições Vida Nova, on the occasion of the release of the second Brazilian edition of Political Visions and Illusions. Most of it is in English with Portuguese subtitles. Here is the interview below:
Koyzis’s reliance on Herman Dooyeweerd’s modal analysis theologically grounds Koyzis’s interpretations and critiques in a theology of creation. But, strangely, Koyzis makes nothing of the cross. He mentions redemption often, and speaks of the redemptive narrative of the ideologies as they contrast with the Christian redemptive narrative. But the Christian redemptive narrative, centered on the cross, plays no role in Koyzis’s own political critiques or positions. This is an especially odd omission, and even more so given that theologians of many Christian communions have long recognized a profound political meaning in the cross. A theology of creation and a theology of sin are necessary for a Christian critique of political ideologies, but they are not sufficient. Without a politics that is informed by and centered upon the cross, an understanding of politics may be religious, but I wonder how exactly it would be distinctively Christian.
There can be no doubt that the cross is central to the Christian faith. For centuries people have erected crosses inside their church buildings and on top of steeples. People have worn precious metal crosses around their necks, bishops wear weighty pectoral crosses over their regalia, and congregations have carried crosses in procession on feast days. As St. Paul has written, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). Without Christ's death on the cross, we are still in our sins. Unless Christ had died, we would have to bear the penalty for our sins. As those who have been redeemed by the power of the cross and Jesus' subsequent resurrection, we sing hymns such as In the Cross of Christ I Glory and Lift High the Cross.
Inklings Conversations – Spring 2021
(Wednesday June 2nd from 4:00 – 5:30)
Ø Serving God in a Global Academy: a Look at Developments in Brazil, A conversation with David T. Koyzis,
Ø Global Scholar, Politics & International Affairs June 2nd Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/
Back in 1976 James W. Sire published a book called The Universe Next Door, subtitled, A Basic Worldview Catalog, in which he treated the different visions that animate the lives, not just of individuals, but of entire communities. Beginning with Christian theism, Sire went on to explore deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, eastern pantheistic monism, the new age, and, in later editions, postmodernism, Marxism, and Islam. This may not have been the first worldview book ever published anywhere, but it definitely filled a need at the time.
Yesterday I was privileged to speak to a large group of young people, staffers for the organization Alvo da Mocidade, or Target Youth, the Brazilian counterpart of Young Life. I talked about my own life, my faith journey, and my book, Visões e Ilusões Políticas, which was just released in a second edition. I spoke at the invitation of my great friend Gabriel Lazarotti, who visited me in Canada a few years ago. At least one hundred people were in attendance, primarily from Belo Horizonte, the sixth largest city in Brazil. My principal translator was Gabriel Chaves, assisted by Diego Baião.
Ontem eu tive o privilégio de falar a um grande grupo de jovens, funcionários da organização Alvo da Mocidade, a homóloga brasileira do Young Life. Falei da minha própria vida, da minha trajetória de fé e do meu livro Visões e Ilusões Políticas, que acaba de sair em uma segunda edição. Falei a convite do meu grande amigo Gabriel Lazarotti, que me visitou no Canadá há alguns anos. Estiveram presentes pelo menos cem pessoas, principalmente de Belo Horizonte, a sexta maior cidade do Brasil. Meu principal tradutor foi Gabriel Chaves, auxiliado por Diego Baião.
I heard that you like very much Brazil and the Portuguese language! Are you following the local news? How do you read the Brazilian political landscape now?
I absolutely love Brazil and its people! As someone of Greek Cypriot parentage, I easily embrace friends when I see them. Brazil is an entire country of people who do the same thing! In this respect I find the social distancing mandated by the current pandemic deeply frustrating. I look forward to a return to normality. And I hope I will one day be able to return to Brazil and hug everyone I meet!
As for the Brazilian political landscape, I think the biggest issues are threefold: (1) the endemic corruption that has marred political life for decades; (2) the confidence people place in would-be political saviours in the presidency; and (3) the global pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Brazil. I believe these three elements are interconnected. This is where political ideologies play a role. If we are viewing reality through one of the lenses distorted by a false redemptive narrative, we will err in our proposed solutions to contemporary political and social ills. Furthermore, it may be that basic political reforms, along with an enduring change in public attitudes, are needed to break the hold of would-be Napoleonic figures in the public imagination.
As the good news of Jesus Christ continues to spread among Brazilians, let us pray that they will increasingly look to him for their salvation and scale back their expectations of political leaders. At the same time, imagine a Brazil where a public justice movement is in a position to elect candidates to congress and to the presidency. A movement dedicated to stamping out corruption and bringing integrity to the political process. Ora et labora! Pray and work to make it happen.Learn Portuguese, take out a subscription, and read more here.
É bom saber que os brasileiros estão lendo a segunda edição do meu livro!
The book's translator was Leandro Bachega, who is a doctoral student at the Universidade de São Paulo. I am grateful for the hard work he put into this.
I look forward to receiving the author's copies soon. And I pray that this second edition will be a blessing to the people of Brazil, whom I have come to love greatly over the years. Eu adoro o povo brasileiro! Que Deus os abençoe!
How and why is liberalism failing? Primarily because liberalism, as a centuries-old political philosophy, is rooted in a defective understanding of the human person. Liberalism ignores the person’s rootedness in local communities and their myriad customs and influences, replacing that rootedness with an inordinate allegiance to state and market, the instruments of our supposed liberation.Read the entire article here.
As Deneen sees it, the United States as a whole was established on liberal principles, and these have developed over the past nearly two and a half centuries in ways consistent with liberalism’s underlying presuppositions but inconsistent with a healthy social fabric. However, the overwhelming dominance of liberalism has been masked by the recent superficial polarization of the national political landscape into two factions.
Indeed, our most vociferous conflicts have pitted classical liberals, with their affection for a free market and small government, against progressive liberals, who view government as an instrument for the expansion of individual autonomy.
I have changed the photograph and link in the right sidebar from the first to the second Brazilian edition of Political Visions and Illusions.
Aqui está a descrição do livro:
As ideologias políticas não são uma mera questão de governança. Elas são intrínseca e inescapavelmente religiosas. Elas reúnem inúmeras crenças sobre a natureza da realidade, dos indivíduos e da sociedade, e formam uma visão coletiva do que é o bem comum. O problema é que as ideologias políticas são também visões idólatras.
