A novel conversion

I recently read Charlotte Mary Yonge's popular 1853 novel, The Heir of Redclyffe, a book that was instrumental in Abraham Kuyper's conversion to Christian orthodoxy. I have just published a piece in Kuyperian Commentary on this book: A Novel Conversion. Here is an excerpt:

While not great literature, Yonge’s best-selling novel is nevertheless compelling in that it is suffused with faith in Jesus Christ as mediated by the institutional church. Even as the characters navigate the intricate proprieties of Victorian England and incur guilt through various sins of commission and omission, the church is there for them, making up the mostly implicit backdrop for all their activities.

While Christendom has fallen into disrepute in recent decades, there can be no doubt that something has been lost in its decline. We can no longer hold our neighbours to the standards of a gospel to which they do not adhere, except in so far as its teachings continue to exert a vestigial influence on them. Our society validates the authentic self and the personal quest to find it, irrespective of the damage it may inflict on our communities and interpersonal relationships. If Christendom has declined, it has not made our society any less religious. Instead, it remains deeply religious, with its allegiance now focussed on the socially fragmenting idol of the ego and its desires.

Read the entire piece here.

Taking the Bible Seriously in Scholarship

Peter Schuurman, Executive Director of Global Scholars Canada, has just posted on his blog a short essay that I wrote titled, Taking the Bible Seriously in Scholarship. An excerpt:

The typical research university today is a multiversity that sees scholars virtually imprisoned within the confines of their respective disciplines and methods, incapable of understanding the larger reality of which these are part except in terms of that discipline. Not only is cross-disciplinary dialogue not encouraged at such institutions; it may be implicitly discouraged as scholars keep ploughing within their respective ruts, unaware of what their colleagues are doing elsewhere. As such, it is not surprising that an entire discipline may be captured by an ideological vision while other disciplines remain blithely unaware of it. The humanities may be in the grip of a postmodern historicism, while the social sciences may pay homage to behaviourism.

A biblically Christian worldview is well positioned to compensate for the compartmentalization we see in the secular academy. After all, our most basic confession as Christians is that our world belongs to God, which has huge ramifications for our task as academics. If God has brought into being an orderly creation subject to his laws and norms, we can come to our respective fields of scholarly endeavour confident that they find their place within an integral whole sustained by God himself through Jesus Christ.

Read the entire essay here.

Friendship, the University, and Politics

Last week I was privileged to be a part of an online Global Scholars conference, "Friendship That Makes a World of Difference - A Cross-Canada Virtual Conference", subtitled, "Exploring Faith and Friendship in the Academy." My colleague at the University of Lethbridge, John von Heyking, presented a keynote address, titled, "Christian Faith and Friendship in the Academy." John's address and my response have now been posted below:

Serving God in a Global Academy: Brazil update

Next month I will be revisiting my work with Brazil at an online event sponsored by the Oak Centre for Studies in Faith and Culture. The announcement follows:

Inklings Conversations – Fall 2021 

(Wednesday Nov 10^th   from 4:00 – 5:30)

 

Serving God in a Global Academy:  

An Update on Developments in Brazil

A conversation with David T. Koyzis,

Global Scholar, Politics & International Affairs   

 

Join by Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89445407581

 

October newsletter

My latest Global Scholars Canada newsletter has been posted here: OCTOBER 2021 newsletter.

A Vietnam War memory

When I was in elementary school in Illinois, my grade five teacher organized a letter-writing campaign to soldiers then serving in Vietnam. Whether all of them wrote back to us I can no longer recall more than half a century later. But I recently found the letter my GI had sent me, dated May 1, 1966, and I've posted it below:

A humiliating defeat

My latest Christian Courier column assesses the recent American military loss in Afghanistan, which recalls to mind the Vietnam fiasco: A humiliating defeat. An excerpt:

When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, many of us had hoped that the U.S. had learnt its lesson from a quarter century earlier. And what was that lesson? Make sure that any foreign military involvement clearly defends legitimate American interests, know the country and its people where your troops are stationed, and keep the goals realistic. Among other things, this rules out nation-building.

Unfortunately, the George W. Bush administration, once its troops were on the ground in Afghanistan and later Iraq, succumbed to idealistic dreams of reshaping these countries into stable constitutional democracies. Unfortunately, a successful democracy is dependent on two major factors: first, a cohesive sense of nationhood, and second, supportive political traditions. Both were absent in the two countries. This practically guaranteed that the wars would become quagmires with no easy exit.

Read the entire column here.

Canada more divided than ever

First Things has published my brief postmortem on last week's federal election here in Canada: Canada more divided than ever. Here is an excerpt:

Earlier this year there was no sign that the other parties, including the Conservatives, New Democrats, Bloc Québécois, and Greens, were ready to bring down the government. Nevertheless, like his predecessors before him, Trudeau decided that parliament had become dysfunctional—because it was not following his every wish and was doing what a parliament ought to do, namely, holding the government accountable for its actions. So last month Trudeau went to the newly appointed governor general, Mary Simon, and requested an early dissolution of parliament—something no governor general has refused since 1926.

Trudeau wanted to try for another majority government so he would have a freer hand. Canadians saw through this immediately, and his standing in the public opinion polls began to slide. At that point he looked set to lose his gamble and possibly even his government. But when Canadians went to the polls this week, they delivered their verdict: more of the same.

Read the entire article here.

September newsletter

My Global Scholars Canada newsletter has been posted here: SEPTEMBER 2021 newsletter.

At last!

Christian Courier has published the story of my recently completed Genevan Psalter project: At last! An excerpt:

This more systematic method enabled me to work through the remainder of the Psalms at a faster pace than I had anticipated. Thus, by the middle of August, I had completed the remaining unfinished psalms, at last reaching 150, thereby exceeding the target I had set for myself in the Reid Trust proposal.

The result of my efforts is not literary elegance. Some of the Psalms are rhymed, but not all. In fact, reading some of them without the music will not suggest that we have crossed from prose into verse, but they definitely fit the Genevan tunes, conforming strictly to their somewhat irregular metres.

What will I do with all this? I hope to find someone to publish my collection so as to disseminate knowledge of the Genevan Psalter, not only among English-speaking Reformed Christians, but among other Christians unfamiliar with the liturgical use of the biblical Psalter.

Read the entire article here.

The second Brazilian edition: Visões e Ilusões Políticas

Last week I finally received four copies of the second Brazilian edition of Political Visions and Illusions from InterVarsity Press.

The choices before us

Christian Courier has posted a second online article of mine in the run-up to the federal election: The choices before us. An excerpt:

As is generally the case, there is no obvious choice that is more Christian than the others. While the Liberals and the New Democrats are usually stronger on care for the poor and vulnerable in our society, their dogmatism on the so-called social issues, such as abortion, euthanasia and gender issues, makes them suspect to followers of the older faith traditions. Similarly, while Conservatives often, but not always, manifest a greater appreciation for the diversity of nonstate communities in Canada, they can just as easily appear insensitive to marginalized groups and to the physical environment.

Voting one way or the other will not usher in God’s kingdom, nor would we expect it to. We will thus likely vote in one of two ways: either for the party we think will do the least damage to the country, or for the best features of one party while hoping and praying that they will outweigh its negatives.

Read the entire article here.

Teoclub interview

Last evening I was interviewed by Jean Francesco in a live stream over YouTube on the subject of my Political Visions and Illusions. Much of it was in Portuguese, and Francesco translated my end of the conversation for the sake of his listeners in Brazil. The occasion was an online meeting of the Teoclub, a group of Brazilians interested in discussing theological matters.

WeeklyTech podcast interview

I thoroughly enjoyed my recent conversation with Jason Thacker of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention on the subject of my book, Political Visions and Illusions: A conversation with Dr. David Koyzis on political ideologies and the Christian worldview.

Trudeau's gamble

Canadians will be going to the polls next month, and many of us think that there is little reason at this point to do so, because the current government has been in office for under two years. Christian Courier has just posted an article of mine on the forthcoming federal election: Trudeau's gamble. An excerpt:

Trudeau may lose his gamble and retain only a plurality of seats in the Commons, prolonging his frustration for another four years. Or he may lose even more than that and suffer outright defeat at the hands of Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives.

If that happens, will O’Toole bring a different spirit to his office? Will his government, whether majority or minority, be less willing to employ the tactics of Harper and Trudeau for partisan advantage? While Trudeau may be in a gambling mood, I am not: I wouldn’t bet on it. The temptations that come with political power are often too great, even for someone with good intentions and promises of reform.

Read the entire article here.

Wesley Seminary conversation

Two days ago I was privileged to spend an hour with doctoral students at Wesley Seminary in Marion, Indiana. These are students of Dr. Aaron Perry, who has had them reading my Political Visions and Illusions. May God bless them as they continue to minister to his people in parish settings.

Genevan Psalter interview

This morning I was interviewed by the Rev. Uriesou Brito, pastor of Providence Church, Pensacola, Florida, on the subject of my recently-completed Genevan Psalter project:

COVID fatigue

My August column has been published in Christian Courier, titled, COVID fatigue. An excerpt:

Quite honestly, I am weary. The past nearly two years have been difficult for so many of us. Our daughter lost three of her grandparents, and we’ve not been able to visit my widowed mother during that time. Last month we drove up to spend a few hours with a dear friend who co-owns a brewery north of Toronto. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, sitting on a patio drinking beer in the sunshine. A taste of normality went down along with the drafts.

In my current work with the Psalms, I have noticed how many contain this plaintive phrase: “How long, O LORD?” (Psalms 6, 13, 35, 74, 79, &c.) This question has been on so many of our lips over the past year and a half. I feel numb these days, as if I’m watching all this happen to someone else. I’ve wept very little, somewhat to my surprise. Perhaps this is a natural coping mechanism that has surfaced to enable me to get through each day. Patience is not something which comes easily to me. But patience is what we all need at present.

Read the entire article here.

Cyprus: History, Politics, and Culture

I have posted a new page devoted to Cyprus: History, Politics, and Culture, which can also be accessed in the list of pages in the right sidebar. My father was born in the island over 90 years ago, and we still have extended family there. Cyprus has a colourful history as a crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean region and a pawn of competing empires. The original of this page was posted at my former website fifteen years ago, and this page is an edited version of the earlier one.

Liturgy and archaic language

In light of the recent Motu Proprio of Pope Francis limiting the use of the extraordinary form of the Latin mass, I thought I would repost something I wrote for First Things a dozen years ago: Liturgy and archaic language. An excerpt:

I myself am of two minds about updating liturgical language. As an heir of the Reformation, I believe it is generally best for Christians to worship in a language they can easily understand. Even the most conservative protestant congregations have largely abandoned the King James Version of the Bible, substituting instead the New King James Version or possibly the English Standard Version. Most other churches now use the NIV or the NRSV. There is good reason for this, since we all should wish to see God’s word proclaimed in comprehensible form.

At the same time, it would be a pity if English-speakers were to lose their grasp of the Elizabethan forms altogether. Who would the Copts be if they were to lose their ancestral Coptic language? Or the Maronites without Aramaic? Without Church Slavonic would Russians be forced to change, say, the cities of Volgograd and Kaliningrad to Volgogorod and Kaliningorod, just so people could continue to understand their meaning?

Read the entire piece here.