The Nature and Dignity of Love (and Reason)

Last fall, I discovered a relatively unknown Cistercian monk of the 12th century (a friend and contemporary of Bernard of Clairvaux) named William of St. Thierry. He quickly became one of my absolute favorite theologians, and I wrote a major research paper on him for my Medieval Spirituality class at GCTS. Here is an excerpt from his work, On the Nature and Dignity of Love, in which he explains how he sees love and reason working together to lift us into deeper relationship with God. As far as I know, this is an idea completely original to William.

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"The sight for seeing God, the natural light of the soul therefore, created by the Author of nature, is charity. There are, however, two eyes in this sight, always throbbing by a sort of natural intensity to look toward the light that is God: love and reason. when one attempts to look without the others, it does not get far. When together they help one another, they can do much, that is, when they become the single eye of which the bridegroom in the Canticle says: 'You have wounded my heart, O my friend, with one of your eyes.'
In this they labor much, each in its own way, because one of them - reason - cannot see God except in what he is not, but love cannot bring itself to rest except in what he is. What is it that reason can apprehend or discover in its every attempt, about which it is bold to say: Is this my God? Reason is only able to discover what he is to the extent it discovers what he is not. Reason has its own set paths and straight ways by which it progresses. Love, however, advances more by its shortcomings and apprehends more by its ignorance. Reason, therefore, seems to advance through what God is not toward what God is. Love, putting aside what God is not, rejoices to loose itself in what he is. From him, love has come forth and it naturally aspires to its own beginning. Reason has the greater sobriety, love the greater happiness.
Nevertheless, as I have said, when they help one another - when reason teaches love and love enlightens reason, and reason merges into the affectus of love and love lets itself be confined within the limits of reason - then they can do great things. But what is it they can do? Just as anyone who progresses in this cannot progress and learn this except through his own experience, so also it could not be communicated to an inexperienced person. As it is said in the Book of Wisdom: 'In his joy the stranger shall not meddle.'"

The Man Who Was Thursday

The text speaks for itself, from pg. 89 of my edition:

"Do you see this lantern?" cried Syme in a terrible voice.  "Do you see the cross carved on it, and the flame inside?  You did not make it.  You did not light it.  Better men than you, men who could believe and obey, twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire.  There is not a street you walk on, there is not a thread you wear, that was not made as this lantern was, by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats.  You can make nothing.  You can only destroy.  You will destroy mankind; you will destroy the world.  Let that suffice you.  Yet this one old Christian lantern you shall not destroy.  It shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it."

G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday

On the Rich and the Poor

And one more tender morsel from Chesterton's Heretics...

"To summerize, our slum fiction is quite defensible as aesthetic fiction; it is not defensible as spiritual fact.
One enormous obstacle stands in the way of its actuality. The men who write it, and the men who read it, are men of the middle classes or the upper classes; at least, of those who are loosely termed the educated classes. Hence, the fact that it is the life as the refined man sees it proves that it cannot be the life as the unrefined man lives it. Rich men writes stories about poor men, and describe them as speaking with a coarse, or heavy, or husky enunciation. But if poor men wrote novels about you or me they would describe us as speaking with some absurd shrill and affected voice, such as we only hear from a duchess in a three-act farce. The slum novelist gains his whole effect by the fact that some detail is strange to the reader; but that detail by the nature of the case cannot be strange in itself. It cannot be strange to the soul which he is professing to study. The slum novelist gains his effects by describing the same grey mist as draping the dingy factory and the dingy tavern. But to the man he is supposed to be studying there must be exactly the same difference between the factory and the tavern that there is to a middle-class man betwen a late night at the office and a supper at Pagani's. The slum novelist is content with pointing out that to the eye of his particular class a pickaxe looks dirty and a pewter pot looks dirty. But the man he is supposed to be studying sees the difference between them exactly as a clerk sees the difference between a ledger and an edition de luxe. The chiaroscuro of the life is inevitably lost; for to us the high lights and the shadows are not a light grey in that life any more than in any other. The kind of man who could really express the pleasures of the poor would be also the kind of man who could share them. In short, these books are not a record of the psychology of poverty. They are a record of the psychology of wealth and culture when brought in contact with poverty. They are not a description of the state of the slums. They are only a very dark and dreadful description of the state of the slummers."
"One might give innumerable examples of the essentially unsympathetic and unpopular quality of these realistic writers. But perhaps the simplest and most obvious example with which we could conclude is the mere fact that these writers are realistic. The poor have many other vices, but, at least, they are never realistic. The poor are melodramatic and romantic in grain; the poor all believe in high moral platitudes and copy-book maxims; probably this is the ultimate meaning of the great saying, 'Blessed are the poor.' Blessed are the poor, for they are always making life, or trying to make life like an Adelphi play. Some innocent educationalists and philanthropists (for even philanthropists can be innocent) have expressed a grave astonishment that the masses prefer shilling shockers to scientific treatises and melodramas to problem plays. The reason is very simple. The realistic story is certainly more artistic than the melodramatic story. If what you desire is deft handling, delicate proportions, a unity of artistic atmosphere, the realistic story has a full advantage over the melodrama. In everything that is ligth and bright and ornamental the realistic story has a full advantage over the melodrama. But, at least, the melodrama has one indisputable advantage over the realistic story. The melodrama is much more like life. It is much more like man, and especially the poor man. ..."
"And if we wish to lay a firm basis for any efforts to help the poor, we must not become realistic and see them from the outside. We must become melodramatic, and see them from the inside. The novelist must not take out his notebook and say, 'I am an expert.' No; he must imitate the workman in the Adelphi play. He must slap himself on the chest and say, 'I am a man.'"

More G.K.

So I'm really diggin' this book by Chesterton. Here's some more good stuff...

The truth is, that all genuine appreciation rests on a certain mystery of humility and almost of darkness. The man who said, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed," put the eulogy quite inadequately and even falsely. The truth is, "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall be gloriously surprised." The man who expects nothing sees redder roses than common men can see, and greener grass, and a more startling sun. Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall possess the cities and the mountains; blessed is the meek, for he shall inherit the earth. Until we realize that things might not be, we cannot realize that things are. Until we see the background of darkness we cannot admire the light as a single and created thing. As soon as we have seen that darkness, all light is lightening, sudden, blinding, and divine. Until we picture nonentity we underrate the victory of God, and can realize none of the trophies of His ancient war. It is one of the million wild jests of truth that we know nothing until we know nothing.

On Philosophy and Truth

This passage, from the introductory chapter of G.K. Chesterton's book, Heretics, speaks for itself by weaving together the need for philosophical truth in everyday practice. I love Chesterton's work, and I am eagerly looking forward to reading the remainder of this book!

"Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, 'Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good ----" At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmedieval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, and their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we have discussed under the gas-lamp, we must now discuss in the dark."

A Free Society of "Slaves"

Stephen Lawhead, one of my favorite authors, has written a fantasy series called The Dragon King Saga. It is made up of three books - In the Hall of the Dragon King, The Warlords of Nin, and The Sword and the Flame. The following is a conversation between the two main characters of the story, Quentin and Toli. Quentin begins his journey as an acolyte in the High Temple; Toli is from a race of people known as the Jher (whose culture is very similar to that of Native Americans). Toli is my favorite character...

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"The Jher believe that every man is responsible for his own life. The Jher are free -- I am free -- we do not suffer any to be masters over us. But a Jher may take a master if he chooses."

Toli's voice rose and the lines of his face began to ease as he continued. "For a Jher to take a master, to serve him in all to the death - this is the highest honor. For to serve a worthy master accounts the servant worthy. Few of my people ever find an opportunity as I have found." He spoke this last part as a boast, his eyes sparkling. "A great master makes his servant great."

"But the danger..."

"He who serves shares his master's portion - danger, death, or triumph. If the master receives honor, so his servant receives much greater honor."

"But I did not ask you to be my servant."

"No," he said proudly. "I chose you."

Quentin shood his head. "What about your people?"

"They will know and rejoice for me." Toli's face beamed with pleasure.

"I do not understand," complained Quentin, though he did not much mind his lack of understanding.

"That is because your people are brought up to believe that serving another is a weakness. It is not out of weakness that one serves, but out of strength."

God's All-Powerful Force

I find it wonderfully profound that no person, government, military force, or financial sum can prevent a Christian from carrying out the work to which Christ calls him/her. The tongue is untamable - therefore, we can always proclaim the message of Christ. There are always poor and oppressed people in the world, so we can always take action on their behalf in order to care for their needs. Since Christ is always with us, we can always teach others to do what He has commanded. There's only one way to stop Christians...the world must kill us. But how interesting - when the world kills Christians, the inevitable outcome is that more people believe and confess Christ. Two millenia of Christian history prove this. So Jesus is truly unstoppable after all...

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Excerpts from The Local Church in World Evangelism, by Daniel K. Davey

"A candid appraisal of the involvement of Western Christianity in world missions is anything but complimentary. Whether through arrogance or ignorance, Western local churches are giving less to mission work than they did ten years ago, and they are committing fewer of their members to cross-cultural ministries. In short, Christians in the West are losing interest in reaching other nations with the gospel message of Jesus Christ."

"Sjogren and Stearns state that already a 'fundamental shift' has taken place in world missions. While the United States continues its decline in its world evangelization efforts, many other countries in the Eastern Hemisphere are rising to take its place both in raising monies and sending missionaries."

"The truth is, because Christ is living within the body, it is virtually unstoppable - all it can do is increase and develop [Eph. 4:12-15]. ... Christ's objective is clear - to reach every nation with His teachings. ... Now, without restriction, He has 'universal sovereignty,' which He will exercise from this moment [i.e. - the giving of the Great Commission] forward."

"There are many ways to dissect this strategy [Matt. 28:18-20] of Christ. As one carefully studies the passage, however, a dominant word appears and ties the entire passage together. The key word in this passage is [pas] and is usually translated, 'all.' Christ's strategy can be understood by studying the four usages of [pas]: [pasa exousia] (all authority), [panta ta ethne] (all the nations), [panta eneteilamein humin] (all things I comanded you), and [pasas tas hemeras] (all the days)."

"Christ's absolute authority over the earth grants His disciples access to their nation as well as to any population group in the world. In other words, Christ's authority makes the phrase restricted access people groups insignificant. This means the disciples and the future church have every right to speak the gospel message any place on the globe."


This article is one chapter in the book, Missions in a New Millenium: Change and Challenges in World Missions, W. Edward Glenny and William H. Smallman, gen. eds. (Kregel, Grand Rapids, 2000)

Let the Nations be Glad!

This is the title of a popular book by John Piper about the subject of Christian world mission. It is an excellent work and one I enjoyed reading very much. Consider the following quote, which I found to be the most profoundly beautiful and moving passage in the whole book (pg. 216).

"I infer from this that the beauty and power of praise that will come to the Lord from the diversity of the nations are greater than the beauty and power that would come to him if the chorus of the redeemed were culturally uniform. The reason for this can be seen in the analogy of a choir. More depth of beauty is felt from a choir that sings in parts than from a choir that only sings in unison. Unity in diversity is more beautiful and more powerful than the unity of uniformity. This carries over to the untold differences that exist between the peoples of the world. When their diversity unites in worship to God the beauty of their praise will echo the depth and greatness of God's beauty far more exceedingly than if the redeemed were only from a few different people groups."

This paragraph invokes in my mind more wonder about the majesty, artistry, and beauty of God than the whole rest of the book combined (that is not to say that the rest of the book is bad - it's excellent).

On Hospitality

I am reading Introducing African Women's Theology, by a Ghanian woman named Mercy Amba Obuyoye. Here are a few excerpts from chapter seven, "Hospitality and Spirituality." I find her words extremely enlightening, because they reverberate deep truths regarding Jesus, the Gospel, the human condition, and the socio-economic reality of today's world.


"The argument will be that our baptism into Christ compels us to see a new humanity, free and tuned into mutual sharing of gifts and a sustaining community."

"...without women's tenderness and hospitality, security at home would be impossible, for as [Ebenye Mbondo] claims, 'The other sex is not so committed to such things'. Mbondo glorifies women's role in the home as those who make 'life more poetic', but admits that paradoxically, they are also the ones who are the object of violence and intimidation. So she does introduce the element of the exploitation of hospitality."

"In the turmoil of Africa, refugees are received in the 'modern' camps for the masses, but the small groups that arribe meld into the local population, especially if they have the same language. Homes are still open to refugees. Some are given land to build and even decide to stay on when the crisis that drove them out is overcome. It is when the scale becomes overwhelming that camps become inevitable. So then what we are dealing with is the inevitable modification of cultural practices to respond to the exigencies of the changing times and circumstances."

"Thus hospitality is given a religious meaning, and linked with the ancestors, Christ and God. It is seen as inherent in being African, as well as in adhering to a religion that derives from the Bible. Mary, they say, played host to God and became 'Theotokos', mother of God. Thus Christian women are linked in a special way to hospitality."

"Nevertheless this ideal of women is not asserted naively. Lwamba describes how rich women pass by poor women with babies in arms without so much as throwing a glance, while poor women would often give. ... The women also observe that people in power are often heartless, and so cannot be hospitable. They enrich themselves without thought for the poor."

"Hospitality is linked with economy. Hospitality can establish lasting friendships and alliances, where there is reciprocity. ... We are aware that providing hospitality can be risky, but then, did God not take a risk to hand over this beautiful earth to human beings? There are multifarious aspects of hospitality that call for examination; in this chapter we limit ourselves to the relaiton between hospitality and parasitism, hospitality and sexuality, and gather the thoughts together under hospitality as a lifestyle. We do all this in the context of how the word is understood and practiced in Africa."

"...Africans are unanimous that hospitality is a fundamental African value. ... But hospitality, in the African tradition, only hopes for reciprocity should the need arise. ... Life is our most valuable asset, so preserving life and prolonging life is a way of life in Africa. The parados is that this makes us vulnerable. Hospitality is built on reciprocity, openness and acceptance, but to open one's self to the other is always a risk. ... But the guest is always expected to leave a blessing behind."

"'Openness and acceptance of the other remains a positive quality in Africa. Hospitality,' says Rose-Zoe Obianga, 'offers opportunity for friendship and is a force for renewal. Mary and Joseph received the Christ-child and the world was never the same again. Africans welcomed Europeans and European values, but the element of reciprocity was mnissing.'"

"As with the instructions given in The Didache, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania linked hospitality with work and economic productivity: 'Treat your guests as guests for two days, and on the third day, give them hoes.' That is, put them to work doing whatever you do to sustain your hospitality. Hospitality demands that we teach not only life-skills but also specifically economic skills in order to prevent dependence and parasitism."

"The parallels and examples from the Bible are many but the basic theme of women is that God's hospitality to us, our claim to being in the image of God, points us to the practice of love as God's love is in us. Therefore, Obianga concludes that in our days African Christians do not exercise hospitality solely because it is a fundamental virtue of our African traditional society, but also and, above all, because it is derived from our faith in Jesus who for is the way, the truth and the life."

Law #46: Life isn't always fair.

Right now I'm reading Madeleine L'Engle's The Genesis Trilogy, which is a collection of theological musings on the book of Genesis. I love L'Engle's work because she is ruthlessly creative and unconventional - I have never read another author where I can read one page and think that she is incredibly right and two pages later think she is incredibly wrong (but most of the time I think she's right). It's very refreshing! In the second book of the series, entitled A Stone for a Pillow, Mrs. L'Engle struggles with the concepts of forgiveness and grace. I believe she has it right, and I am struggling to learn both. Here are a few select quotes from the third chapter - all of which speak for themselves, but work beautifully together to explain the frailty of our human condition and desperate need for God...


"The glorious message of Scripture is that we do not have to be perfect for our Maker to love us. All through the great stories, heavenly love is lavished on visibly imperfect people. Scripture asks us to look at Jacob as he really is, to look at ourselves as we really are, and then realize that this is who God loves. God did not love Jacob because he was a cheat, but because he was Jacob."

"If God can love Jacob - or any single one of us - as we really are, then it is possible for us to turn in love to those who hurt or confuse us. Those we know and those we do not know. And that makes me take a new look at love."

"Unfortunately, as many of us move on in chronology, we tend to stay stuck in the 'It's not fair!' frame of mind, which, for the adult, is crippling. It takes great courage to live in a world where fairness simply doesn't play a part, and hasn't, since Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And one of Satan's most successful ploys is his insistence that things ought to be fair. The good should be rewarded; the bad should be punished. If we think forensically and earn enough merit badges everything will work out just as we would like. But that is not how grace works."

"And in my own life I was struggling to accept the fact that justice was not going to be done. I did not have to be exonerated over that spilled secret. I did not have to know who told, and then allowed me to be blamed. I had to let go thoughts of justice and vindication, and live with the situation as it was, as lovingly as possible. Which was not very."

"It takes more maturity than many of us possess to want the monstrous criminal to repent, saying to God and to us, 'Forgive me. I am horrified at what I have done. I am sorry, sorry, and I will never do it again. With your help I will turn my life to love.' "

"It is a taint in human nature to like to see someone else do wrong so that we can affirm our own righteousness. My own wish to find out who had told the secret was a part of this taint. I was well aware that, as my friend Tallis points out, we cannot afford the luxury of hurt feelings. My head could get that all straight, but there was still hurt in my heart."

"Ernest L. Boyer, Jr., in A Way in the World, writes, 'Forgiveness is, then, a renewal, and for love to grow it must be renewed every day. This renewal is not one that seeks somehow to return to the past, to live with the bitterness of disappointment of the expectation of a future that never was.'
To carry a grudge is to live in the past. That hit home. It helped me to move into the present so that there might be hope for friendship to be reborn.
Boyer continues, 'Both of these - the past that is now gone and the future that never was - are illusionary worlds. Forgiveness frees a person to live in the reality of the relationship's present.' "

"Forgiveness which leads to welcoming, with open arms, the forgiven ones to the party, comes less from an act of the will than from a gift of grace. Sometimes prayer open the door to this gift.
Prayer is most real when it moves away from forensic demands, from a crime and punishment, eye-for-an-eye thinking, and into an open and vulnerable listening. It is not so much talking to God as being quiet and focussing on listening, so that perhaps we will be able to hear if God has something to say."

"I am not burdening myself with a lot of guilts which are impossible for me to resolve. But to separate myself from the suffering of the world is disaster. If I call myself 'good' is that not separation?
Jesus said,

'Why do you call me good? Only my father is good.'

Aren't we supposed to be good? Do we always have the wisdom to know what good is? If we truly understand what Jesus was saying, we know that what matters is not moralism, but undersanding that God with infinite grace can work goodness through us. Goodness is of God; we cannot make ourselves good through an act of will."

"If I am ever good, it is not because I am trying to be, but because goodness is for a moment offered me as a gift of sheer grace. Jesus made it very clear that goodness comes from God, not from [God's] creatures."

"What has happened to our country in the past quarter-of-a-century would be incomprehensible to my grandparents, but it has all happened and is happening. We need to be aware of it, and to try to listen to God for what our part is in trying to change it, to bring terrorism to compassion, greed to generosity, lust to love. We don't have to succeed, single-handedly, in reforming the world, or in improving the morals of those around us by our own goodness. God-Within-Us-in-Jesus did none of these things."

"If I am true in my living to what I proclaim in my writing it is because of grace, not virtue. It has little to do with denomination. I pray for grace, knowing that it is not mine to grasp; it is a gift of love."



My prayer, Joel's prayer, is this: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."