My first trip took me to Calvin University for two back-to-back conferences: the annual Kuyper Conference and the biennial Henry Institute Symposium. I usually make it a point to attend the latter, although this year marked the first time I've attended since 2019, the year before the pandemic. Such events present a valuable opportunity to catch up with friends and acquaintances in my own and related fields, and these two conferences were no exception. You can read more about them here: Calvin University visit. A transcript and video of the Kuyper Lecture, for which I served as a respondent, can be accessed at the Center for Public Justice's website. Among those I was pleased to see were philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff, whom I've known for a long time, and Emily Brink, who chaired the committee that compiled the 1987 Psalter Hymnal, which includes my own metrical versification of Philippians 2:6-11.
I had a week between trips, and then on the 15th I drove to Grove City College in Pennsylvania, where I spoke on "Citizenship as a Calling: Christian Citizenship in a Fallen World," adapted from the second chapter of my forthcoming Citizenship Without Illusions. This was the first time I had visited Grove City, and as much as I saw there left a favourable impression. My great friend and former colleague Russell D. Kosits began teaching there last year, and I was pleased to see him again. More details about my visit can be found here: Grove City College stay. The weather was beautiful during my time there, although I was told that that part of Pennsylvania typically sees more overcast days than Hamilton sees in a year.
Two days after I returned from Grove City, our family drove to Hillsdale, Michigan, for a family event, and we just returned home last evening.
I have begun to go through the manuscript of my next book to collect keywords for an index. As this is a shorter book than my Political Visions and Illusions, I expect that the index will be briefer as well. However, I understand that there will be another index for the scripture passages quoted.
I will briefly mention three more publications of mine that recently appeared: a chapter in the T & T Clark Handbook of Neo-Calvinism, titled, "Political Theology"; an Easter meditation, titled, An enduring hope; and a retrospective on our late prime minister: Mulroney's contested legacy.
Finally, as I woke up this morning, I learned the sad news that Christian economist Bob Goudzwaard died two days ago at the age of 90. I was privileged to learn personally from Goudzwaard in 1980 as a graduate student at Toronto's Institute for Christian Studies, and I count him a major influence on my own thinking. He is one of three significant persons who shaped my own approach to life in general and to political life in particular, as I indicate in the preface of Political Visions and Illusions. I will shortly be publishing a tribute to Goudzwaard. Stay tuned.
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3 comments:
I read Bob Goudzwaard's books, Capitalism and Progress, Idols of our Time, and Beyond Poverty and Afluence a long time ago. They had an infuence on how I thought about government and politics, my political involvement aand voting. Notwithstanding the critiques of civic nationalism in your writing, When I was in Scotland In 2014-15 I voted for the Scottish National Party and went on marches for independence. I no longer support independence because of the wokeness and ineptness of the Scottish Government and parties in Parliament.
When I moved to Wales in 2016 I suported Plaid Cymru, the Welsh independence party. I no longer support Welsh indeendence because of their wokeness. A new First Minister was recently appointed. I wrote to him urging him to prevail on his government to abandon Queer theory and Critical Race Theory as the ideological basis of their policies. Their declared purpose is to queer the nation, especially the children in the education system. The fact that I address "The Powers That Be", owes something to Bob Goudzwaard and to you.
I loved your versification of Philippians 2:6-11, and loved to sing the hymn. The tune, Jerusalem, raised some hackles in me because of Blake's English nationalist lyrics. It is, however, a lovely tune. The English hymn used to be in the Chruch of Scotland hymn book. That used to bother me. Why would the Church of Scotland have a hymn about an English myth in it's hymn book? Nevertheless, I loved your hymn, and regret that I did not bring a grey Psalter Hymnal with me to Wales.
Bill, I am interested in your take on the Scottish and Welsh independence parties. I personally think that dividing an existing polity is fraught with difficulties which may make independence more trouble than it's worth. I've never worked out a theory on the subject, but if division needs to come, it should be done because the existing unity is evidently perpetuating a serious injustice. But deciding when that has occurred is the tricky part.
As for my "Christ Who Is in the Form of God," it's matched with Joseph Holbrook's pedestrian tune, BISHOP, in the grey Psalter Hymnal. I agree that matching it with JERUSALEM is rather jarring. I personally wanted it paired with Orlando Gibbons' SONG 34, which is the very first tune in the Scottish Psalter of 1929. The Mennonites and others have followed my wishes. But the Christian Reformed Church, which published the '87 Psalter Hymnal, has moved on to a red volume, Lift Up Your Hearts, which, I'm sorry to say, places less emphasis on the Psalms.
I've written a rather long reply to your request for my take on Scottish and Welsh independence. I hope it's acceptable.
Both Scotland and Wales were independent from England until Wales was conquered by the English in the 13th century, and Scotland and England united under the Treaty of Union in 1707. The Treaty and the Acts of Union in both the Scottish and English Parliaments did not create a complete union. The majority of the people were against it, and the Burghs were against it and petitioned the Scottish Parliament not to enter the Union. The treaty was signed by both parties and both parliaments passed its Act oof Union. The English army was amassed on the border to ensure that the vote went “the right” way. Scotland retained its independent Justice system, Ecclesiastical system, and Educational system. The Governments of both countries were dissolved and a new Government of the United Kingdom was formed.
The Scots regarded the Treaty and the Act of Union as Constitutional documents. The English regarded them its Acts as acts of English Common Law. To the Scots they were inviolable except by a constitutional procedure, but the English considered that they could be changed by any parliament of the UK. There was an attempt to repeal the Acts of Union quite soon after they were passed, but I don’t remember the year, and I do remember that it failed be very few votes.
Violations of the Treaty and Acts began in 1708, the year after the UK was formed. An appeal was made from a judgement of the Court of Session, the highest civil court, to the House of Lords. The Lords agreed to receive it. This was unconstitutional and caused much consternation in Scotland. In 1711 the UK Parliament passed the Patronage Act giving landowners the right to appoint Parish Ministers in Scotland, in contravention of the Presbyterian principle that congregations should choose their minister.
In Scotland there was regular marriage and irregular marriage. A Regular Marriage was formed by a couple making vows in the presence of a Minister and having the marriage registered. "The three forms of irregular marriage recognized as legally valid in Scotland were, marriage constituted per verba de praesenti which required “some present interchange of consent to be thenceforth man and wife, privately or informally given,” marriage per verba de futuro subsequente copula which was constituted “by a promise of future marriage without any present interchange of consent to be husband and wife, followed at a subsequent time by carnal intercourse” and marriage by cohabitation with habit and repute."
Two of the forms of irregular marriage were made illegal by the UK Parliament in 1939. This was considered an unjustified interference in Scots Law. Marriage by Cohabitation and Repute, however, continued to be legal until 2006 when the Scottish Parliament made it illegal. Civil Partnership became legal in 2005 but did not replace it because Civil partnerships were registered. Irregular marriages were not registered. Sometimes this caused problems on the death of a spouse when questions of inheritance arose. Then the remaining spouse would have to go to court to have the irregular marriage validated.
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