Monday, December 22, 2003
Sobering thoughts.
Last week, I read a post by R. Albert Mohler that I had to think about all week before writing about it. His entry for December 12 discussed the impact of Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings and thoughts on the secular relativism that has eerily overtaken our country.
What is it that Christians view as the number one anti-Christian attitude among those who do not believe? That one's destiny is solely governed by one's self. And Mohler leads off his analysis with a quote from Emerson, "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." Certainly, that is the mantra that many of the cults of self-sufficiency chant.
Emerson was not viewed as a quack or extremist in his time. He was born on May 25th, 1803 in New England, part of an America that hadn't been a country for long. He was recognized in his lifetime as the "preeminent scribe and preacher of America's solitary self- a self freed from all traditions, authority and claims to truth." - Mohler
A self-proclaimed agnostic and literary critic, Harold Bloom has said, "Emerson is closer to us than ever on his 200th birthday, " and that Emerson "remains the central figure in American culture and informs our politics, as well as our unofficial religion, which I regard as more Emersonian than Christian, despite nearly all received opinion on this matter."
What did Emerson contribute so much to the way of thinking that has permeated the thought and academia of this country? His speech to Harvard students in 1837 stated that the "scholar must be absolutely free and unfettered by external authority. Free should the scholar be, free and brave." Emerson acccused the American academics of being too reliant on European philosophy. And he deftly summed that thought up by accusing the spirit of the American freeman as timid, imitative, and tame.
Emerson was determined to reverse this course, and indeed, it happened. Emerson began as a Unitarian preacher, and later rejected Unitarism and Christianity. He made a speech at the Divinity College at Harvard where he declared each of the ministers-in-training "a newborn bard of the Holy Ghost," and implored them to "cast behind you all conformity, and acquaint men at first hand with Deity."
To Emerson, believing this means that to know Diety is to throw out all organized religion, including Christianity and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He claims that Christianity, in the central figure of Christ, is an "exaggeration about the person of Jesus."
How does Emerson's philosophy translate into what society and our government has become? It is now the shape of the worldview that we see Emerson's view of self-reliance and authority of self. We see in the "Church" now a rejection in some of Biblical authority and an injection of self-government apart from God. It is Emerson's vision of casting off authority, even that from God Himself. And Emerson's influence could have given fuel to the tumultuous sixties, where official rules and law were rejected everywhere, and the rise of the self-reliant and "back to nature" movements began. Is it any wonder then that cultish religions began to spring up, unencumbered by Biblical mandate, and simply choosing its philosophy by picking one attribute from this religious group and this attribute from that group? It is Emerson's rejection of all matter of organizational worship, and relying solely on the self-man.
Mohler writes that Emerson and his intellectual peers sought to replace the doctrine of Original Sin with the concept of humanity reborn in every individual. He demanded to stand alone, rest on his own two feet and look only to the god within. The only constraints put on him would be those he puts there himself and accepted by himself. This view of humanity -- not the Biblical doctrine -- would be the dominant view in modern America.
It's hard to imagine that such a domineering view would take hold in America and its Christian tradition, and it might be argued that a society need to move forward when people challenge authority. We as Christians know that the "buck stops" at the Lord God, who is the supreme authority. There is no doubt that people are born with sin, and need a savior because they cannot save themselves, that is clear. We remember the birth of the Christ child in reverent terms, because even the wise men, the shepards, and King Herod all recognized the value to the Jews of a King, without realizing that he was the God-man, the Son of God who came to save us. It is sin that causes us to rebel, to usurp authority. And it is hard to imagine how, a scant sixty years after the birth of this country, that Emerson's views became the worldview that shapes our governments today.
I wish you, the gentle reader, peace from God this season that we remember the birth of Christ, who came to save us.
|
Last week, I read a post by R. Albert Mohler that I had to think about all week before writing about it. His entry for December 12 discussed the impact of Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings and thoughts on the secular relativism that has eerily overtaken our country.
What is it that Christians view as the number one anti-Christian attitude among those who do not believe? That one's destiny is solely governed by one's self. And Mohler leads off his analysis with a quote from Emerson, "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." Certainly, that is the mantra that many of the cults of self-sufficiency chant.
Emerson was not viewed as a quack or extremist in his time. He was born on May 25th, 1803 in New England, part of an America that hadn't been a country for long. He was recognized in his lifetime as the "preeminent scribe and preacher of America's solitary self- a self freed from all traditions, authority and claims to truth." - Mohler
A self-proclaimed agnostic and literary critic, Harold Bloom has said, "Emerson is closer to us than ever on his 200th birthday, " and that Emerson "remains the central figure in American culture and informs our politics, as well as our unofficial religion, which I regard as more Emersonian than Christian, despite nearly all received opinion on this matter."
What did Emerson contribute so much to the way of thinking that has permeated the thought and academia of this country? His speech to Harvard students in 1837 stated that the "scholar must be absolutely free and unfettered by external authority. Free should the scholar be, free and brave." Emerson acccused the American academics of being too reliant on European philosophy. And he deftly summed that thought up by accusing the spirit of the American freeman as timid, imitative, and tame.
Emerson was determined to reverse this course, and indeed, it happened. Emerson began as a Unitarian preacher, and later rejected Unitarism and Christianity. He made a speech at the Divinity College at Harvard where he declared each of the ministers-in-training "a newborn bard of the Holy Ghost," and implored them to "cast behind you all conformity, and acquaint men at first hand with Deity."
To Emerson, believing this means that to know Diety is to throw out all organized religion, including Christianity and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He claims that Christianity, in the central figure of Christ, is an "exaggeration about the person of Jesus."
How does Emerson's philosophy translate into what society and our government has become? It is now the shape of the worldview that we see Emerson's view of self-reliance and authority of self. We see in the "Church" now a rejection in some of Biblical authority and an injection of self-government apart from God. It is Emerson's vision of casting off authority, even that from God Himself. And Emerson's influence could have given fuel to the tumultuous sixties, where official rules and law were rejected everywhere, and the rise of the self-reliant and "back to nature" movements began. Is it any wonder then that cultish religions began to spring up, unencumbered by Biblical mandate, and simply choosing its philosophy by picking one attribute from this religious group and this attribute from that group? It is Emerson's rejection of all matter of organizational worship, and relying solely on the self-man.
Mohler writes that Emerson and his intellectual peers sought to replace the doctrine of Original Sin with the concept of humanity reborn in every individual. He demanded to stand alone, rest on his own two feet and look only to the god within. The only constraints put on him would be those he puts there himself and accepted by himself. This view of humanity -- not the Biblical doctrine -- would be the dominant view in modern America.
It's hard to imagine that such a domineering view would take hold in America and its Christian tradition, and it might be argued that a society need to move forward when people challenge authority. We as Christians know that the "buck stops" at the Lord God, who is the supreme authority. There is no doubt that people are born with sin, and need a savior because they cannot save themselves, that is clear. We remember the birth of the Christ child in reverent terms, because even the wise men, the shepards, and King Herod all recognized the value to the Jews of a King, without realizing that he was the God-man, the Son of God who came to save us. It is sin that causes us to rebel, to usurp authority. And it is hard to imagine how, a scant sixty years after the birth of this country, that Emerson's views became the worldview that shapes our governments today.
I wish you, the gentle reader, peace from God this season that we remember the birth of Christ, who came to save us.
|
