Quote of the Week: David Neff

Jaroslav Pelikan, an important historical theologian who became [Eastern] Orthodox late in life, once told me, ‘You evangelicals talk too much about Jesus and don’t spend enough time thinking about the Holy Trinity.’

–David Neff ed., “The Fullness and the Center,” Christianity Today (July 20, 2011) 41.

Top Ten Patriotic Actors List

If you’re new to my blog, then be forewarned that I love top ten lists. This particular list combines my interest in World War II and American actors whose performances I have enjoyed and appreciated over the years.

I have great respect for those servicemen who, like my father, fought in the bloodiest war in human history—World War II. I also grew up watching far too much TV. For the most part, these actors were TV stars rather than movie stars. But besides being fine actors, all of these men served in World War II, with most seeing front line action. In other words, these men were American patriots before they became famous.

The list below includes their branch of service in the United States Armed Forces during World War II and the TV or movie role that I remember them from best.

In alphabetical order only:

1. Don Adams (1923–2005), US Marine Corps, Get Smart
2. Eddie Albert (1906–2005), US Navy, Green Acres
3. James Arness (1923–2011), US Army, Gunsmoke
4. Ernest Borgnine (1917–), US Navy, McHale’s Navy
5. Charles Bronson (1921–2003), US Army Air Corps, The Magnificent Seven
6. Charles Durning (1923–), US Army, Everybody Loves Raymond
7. Buddy Ebsen (1908–2003), US Coast Guard, The Beverly Hillbillies
8. Alan Hale Jr. (1921–1990), US Coast Guard, Gilligan’s Island
9. Brian Keith (1921–1997), US Marine Corps, Family Affair
10. Jack Klugman (1922–), US Army, The Odd Couple

Quote of the Week: John Keegan

The Second World War is the largest single event in human history, fought across six of the world’s seven continents and all its oceans. It killed fifty million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind or body and materially devastated much of the heartland of civilisation.

– John Keegan, The Second World War (New York: Penguin, 1989), 5.

Is America Really the “Great Satan”?

I wrote this article just a few days after 9/11 (though it had to wait until the first quarter of 2002 to be published in the RTB magazine Facts for Faith). As this month marks the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, I thought it would be a good time to revisit this piece.

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Extremist Muslim leaders like the late Ayatollah Khomeini and now the infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden are fond of referring to the United States as “the great Satan.” In the Bible the name “Satan” refers to the powerful angelic creature who stands as the evil enemy of God. To identify America as Satan raises several important questions. Do all Muslims agree with this radical assessment of America? What do Muslims like bin Laden actually mean when they make this accusation? How could anyone come to view America this way? And is there any objective rational justification for such a viewpoint?

Historically, the monotheistic religion of Islam is the youngest of the great world religions, emerging six centuries following the rise of Christianity. Presently considered by some scholars as the fastest growing religion in the world, Islam’s strong intellectual tradition includes notable contributions in the fields of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and literature. In fact during the early Middle Ages, Islamic culture experienced an intellectual and cultural renaissance through its revival of classic literature while Europeans lived in both intellectual and literal caves.

Traditionally, Islamic culture has maintained a high degree of literacy. As with the Jewish and Christian traditions, one must be literate to read the sacred book, which for Muslims is the Qur’an. With great irony, the present-day rise of Islamic fundamentalism disregards this need for literacy, thereby threatening Islam’s place as a contributor to Western civilization.

Today’s Islam is not a purely monolithic religion. Certainly not all the world’s estimated 1.2 billion Muslims think alike, just as not all the world’s estimated 2 billion Christians (Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants) think alike. Historically, Islam is divided into two major branches. Sunni Muslims (almost 80% of Islam) represent traditional or “orthodox” Islam and emphasize the written traditions (Qur’an, Hadith). This branch seeks a consensus of Islamic thought.

The Shi’ite Muslims (almost 20% of Islam) represent Islam’s largest minority sect and emphasize individual authorities called Imams over consensus. The major dispute between these two branches historically centers on the issue of religious authority. The question of who should be considered the legitimate successor to Muhammad (AD 570–632), also known as the prophet of Allah (literally translated “the God”), lies at the core.

Islam involves moderates and extremists on both political and religious grounds. The Sunnis historically distinguish between civil and religious authorities; however, the Shi’ites combine the two roles of mosque and state. One reason for the current growth of Islamic fundamentalism may be that many Islamic countries, as totalitarian theocracies, deny their people basic civil rights—such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. Thus, Islamic fundamentalist propaganda deeply shapes the view of America held by many millions of Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere. Many Muslims around the world therefore lack an objective view of America.

Bin Laden, though a Sunni Muslim by birth (born in Saudi Arabia), possesses an extremist mentality. His terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, blends a radical political agenda with a militant approach to Islam. They promote a platform designed to bring about a jihad (“holy war”) against so-called enemies of Allah. In this scheme, America stands as enemy number one—the “great Satan” who must be destroyed.

What could possibly generate such hatred toward America? Why would anyone call for an attack killing thousands of American citizens, mostly civilians, in the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and on United Flight 93? The following dogmas motivate Al-Qaeda’s desire for a holocaust within the boundaries of the United States.

1. Zionism promotes the establishment of an Israeli state. Bin Laden incites anger with the view that Western colonial and imperialist powers (the United States and Great Britain) took Islamic land away from Palestinians and gave it to Islam’s enemy, the Jews. The Israelis espouse different religious beliefs and simply represent an extension of a greater evil, that evil being America.
   Extremist Muslim beliefs regarding the Israeli-American relationship take two different forms. In one interpretation Muslim extremists hate America because America helps Israel. The other explanation declares that Muslim extremists hate Israel because Israel is America’s puppet. This agenda characterizes Israel as a demon and America as the great Satan.
2. Viewed as a colonial/imperialist nation, America flexes its power and imposes its will and political ideas on innocent Islamic people. America unduly exercises economic and political influence on autonomous Islamic nations and thus weakens their Islamic identity and independence.
3. Al-Qaeda views the West, and particularly America, as embracing a decadent philosophy of life, especially in the area of moral values. They fiercely resent the West’s permissive view of sexuality. In addition, followers of bin Laden deplore American democracy and the freedoms it offers, especially the freedom and equality afforded to women.
4. Bin Laden recognizes Islam’s decline as a world power. He wants to restore militant Islam to a place of dominance on the world scene. However, his organization knows that against America’s military might, they are stymied. In light of this frustration, they choose terror, the only effective tactic they can conceive.

These four dogmas reflect a tortured interpretation of the facts and a fractured and inadequate worldview. Imaging America as the great Satan conveniently ignores America’s remarkable altruistic actions over the past hundred years.

America entered World War I in 1917, not for colonial or imperialist purposes, but to defend democracy. The United States’ involvement proved a determining factor in the allies’ ultimate victory. President Woodrow Wilson sought not the spoils of war, but rather to promote democracy among America’s former enemies.

Prior to entering World War II, America sent millions of dollars worth of weapons and goods to England and the Soviet Union in the Lend-Lease policy to aid them in the war against Germany. The United States then entered World War II in 1941 to counter the tyranny and oppression of the Axis powers—Germany, Japan, and Italy. Again this action proved the decisive factor in the Allies’ victory. Following World War II, America emerged as an undisputed superpower. With more than eleven million men in arms, a three-ocean navy, and the only nuclear weapons on Earth, if America had indeed pursued imperialist goals it could have oppressed and devoured virtually any nation.

Instead, through the Marshall Plan, America spent billions of dollars rebuilding Western Europe and restoring Western Germany to positions of political and economic stability. The same type of aid went to Japan. America gave billions of dollars, shared technology, provided a market for Japanese goods, and defended Japan from potential enemies.

Germany and Japan both became thriving democracies. In the past twenty-five years, these nations have risen to the status of industrial giants, competing with America in terms of GNP. Surely America sees that its best interests lie in rebuilding former enemies, enabling them to become viable alternatives to totalitarianism and ensuring no need to fight them again. But what would Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, or Osama bin Laden have done in America’s position?

America has shown a great deal of goodwill specifically toward Islamic countries in the last twenty years. The United States helped Afghanistan defend against the raw aggression of the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and early 1980s. America drove Saddam Hussein’s invading Iraqi forces out of Kuwait and protected a vulnerable Saudi Arabia in the Gulf War during the early 1990s. In Somalia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, America intervened by sending goods and military forces to protect Muslims.

Though admittedly far from perfect, America is a decent and generous country. In light of this goodness, if America is indeed the great Satan, then the Devil has converted.

Quote of the Week: A. J. Hoover

When a man undergoes persecution, contempt, beatings, prison, and death for a message, he has a good motive for reviewing carefully the grounds of his convictions. It is extremely unlikely that the original disciples of Jesus would have persisted in affirming the truths they affirmed if Jesus hadn’t actually risen.

–A. J. Hoover, The Case for Christian Theism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), 234.

The Importance of Christendom’s Historic Creeds

My favorite part of the Sunday service at my church is collectively reciting the Apostles’ Creed and receiving the Lord’s Supper (communion). In my church’s liturgy (form of public worship), these activities occur weekly. Since many Christians come from non-liturgical churches and are unfamiliar with the creeds of Christendom, allow me to introduce the role that the creeds have played in the Christian faith and why they should be highly valued.

The term creed is derived from the Latin word credo, meaning “I believe.” Creeds are considered authoritative pronouncements that set forth the central articles or tenets of the historic Christian faith. While the most famous of creeds were developed during church history, specific statements in Scripture have also been used as creeds.

For example, in the Old Testament the Israelites used the Shema as a creedal expression of the unity and uniqueness of Yahweh: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). In the New Testament, several passages are used as protocreedal statements during apostolic times. The apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 10:9 about confessing “Jesus as Lord” was certainly used as an early Christian creedal confession. The use of creedal expressions, therefore, stands on a solid biblical base.

In many cases these biblical statements were used as models for the formal creeds developed later. The four formal creeds used in church history include: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Creed of Chalcedon.

The creeds were written with several purposes in mind. First, they corrected various heresies (profound doctrinal deviations from Scripture) that had arisen at that time. For example, the Nicene Creed was written to combat the Arian heresy that denied Christ’s full and unqualified deity. The Creed of Chalcedon countered heresies that challenged the biblical teaching concerning Christ’s human and divine natures in one Person (Nestorianism and Eutychianism). Thus, creeds have a direct apologetics significance by helping to both define and defend the faith.

Second, the creeds affirm essential Christian truth. The Athanasian Creed, for example, affirms the truth of the Trinity, Christ’s incarnation, resurrection, ascension, second coming, and final judgment. Creeds, therefore, have an appropriate and critical use both in Christian instruction as well as in worship services.

Creeds also help us identify what is essential doctrine from peripheral points. For example, the creeds do not discuss disputable areas in eschatology (the study of last things) such as the rapture, the tribulation, or the millennium. Rather, the creeds simply state—as does the Nicene Creed—the central issue (which in eschatology is that “He [Christ] shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end….and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen”).

The creeds draw attention to a common, historical Christian heritage (“mere Christianity”) and, thus, help believers avoid being too narrow in our presentation of the faith. Because the creeds are summary expressions of biblical truth, they are authoritative. However, like any statements written by imperfect men, they are to be subjected to the supreme authority—Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15–17). Unlike the Bible, creeds are not inspired or inerrant; and they were never intended to replace Scripture.

Nevertheless, the creeds do reflect how the early church interpreted Scripture and how they understood in particular the nature of God (the Trinity) and the person and nature of Jesus Christ (his divinity and humanity). Therefore they have remained a crucial guide for the church in affirming doctrinal truth, refuting error, and encouraging doctrinal instruction among the faithful.

For further study on the creeds and their importance, I recommend the following resources:

• Gerald Bray, Creeds, Councils, and Christ
• Jaroslav Pelikan, Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition
• Robert Bowman, Orthodoxy and Heresy
• Kenneth Samples, Without a Doubt (see chapter 4)

Looking Back on 9/11

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This historic event and its aftermath continue to stir up questions about topics such as the problem of evil and conspiracy theories. Below, I’ve provided links to podcast episodes and articles discussing these issues. As we mark this important anniversary, I’d encourage everyone to take a moment and reflect on September 11 and how it has affected our country.

• The Problem of Evil: “Apologetics Challenges: The Problems of Evil and Conspiracy” (podcast); “The Problem(s) of Evil” (podcast series)

• Conspiracy Theories: “Thinking through Big Government Conspiracy Theories” (article); “Why do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories?” (webcast)

• Aftermath: “Justice and the Death of Osama bin Laden” (article)

Ten Historic Christian Theological Texts

Throughout history, these theological books have impacted both the church and the world. I chose these works in order to provide a broad scope of historic Christian thought, although I do not necessarily agree with every point these authors make. But whatever your branch of Christendom or denominational attachment, I do encourage you to consider these books for your theological reflection. In historical order only:

1. Athanasius, On the Incarnation
2. Augustine, Confessions
3. Anselm, Cur Deus Homo
4. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
5. Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will
6. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
7. Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections
8. John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection
9. Benjamin Warfield, Inspiration and Authority of the Bible
10. J. I. Packer, Knowing God

(The links to Amazon.com are provided for your convenience and are not meant to endorse any particular version of these books.)

Quote of the Week: Alister McGrath

The doctrine of the Trinity can be regarded as the outcome of a process of sustained and critical reflection on the pattern of divine activity revealed in Scripture, and continued in Christian experience. This is not to say that Scripture contains a doctrine of the Trinity; rather, Scripture bears witness to a God who demands to be understood in a Trinitarian manner.

–Alister McGrath, An Introduction to Christianity (Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell, 1997), 193.