Calvinist Man Vs. Enchantment

And: The Election Draweth Nigh; The Year They Queered Capitalism

Gave my friend Loretta an early copy of Living In Wonder — she took it with her on vacation to the Caribbean!

Just woke up from a twelve-hour sleep. Left Birmingham to fly off to do a couple of media hits before going back to Budapest, checked into the hotel, fell into bed about 6pm for a nap … and just woke up twelve hours later. It’s hard being a Famiss Arthur, I tell you what. At least I had a handful of gummi bears to eat before I hibernated.

There’s a new review from a PCA elder and former head of Models For Christ up at The Gospel Coalition. It’s mixed to negative. He seems really put out that I cite the Reformation as a key event in disenchantment. For example:

Dreher…He makes it clear that, in his mind, Protestantism simply isn’t enchanting enough. Dreher argues that the Reformation contributed to disenchantment by undermining a sacramental vision of the universe. Nature doesn’t have to be a sacrament to be enchanting. Notably, his account of the supposed disenchantment of Protestantism largely ignores the supernatural claims of charismatics and Pentecostals, not to mention the less extravagant experiences of spiritual reality of many Reformed Christians.

It goes on like that. He doesn’t engage the actual argument. He doesn’t seem to have understood my argument. Nature is not a “sacrament” to anybody. I don’t know why he ignored the extensive definition of “enchantment” I gave, and … well, anyway, he seems angry that I found Protestantism deficient in any way at all, so didn’t like that book. Okay.

I had hoped to make clear that I’m not saying that Protestants (or anybody else) don’t love Jesus enough, or don’t live lives of impressive, even saintly, fidelity. I do sincerely believe that, and expect to meet Christians of all traditions in heaven, if I make it. The point of my book is to speak specifically to the meaning of enchantment. You simply aren’t dealing with historical reality if you don’t grapple with what Protestant theology did to our understanding of metaphysics.

It is semi-fair to say that I largely ignore the supernatural claims of Pentecostals — semi-fair, because it’s true I didn’t focus on how they do spiritual warfare, except in the case of Tammy Comer’s deliverance. I didn’t deal with them in the book because Pentecostals, though open certainly to things like spiritual warfare, do not share the pre-modern metaphysical view of the Christian church — and that, not demon-fighting, is the core of re-enchantment. I do wish I had spent some time on the enchantment one experiences in the writing of Wendell Berry, an unchurched (as far as I know) Protestant who lives beautifully in wonder.

The reviewer concludes, “Contra Dreher, the West may actually need another Reformation to escape the disenchantment of our age.” I’d like to see him run that by a historian, especially Brad S. Gregory, whose book The Unintended Reformation discusses what the Reformers wanted to achieve, versus what actually happened. It is true, per Gregory, that the Reformers did not mean to “disenchant” the world, in the way that I mean in the book. But, as Gregory says, that’s what happened, for reasons they did not foresee.

The TGC reviewer is just not dealing with what my book defines as “enchantment.” The Reformation, in part, was about reclaiming a more visceral Christianity from what the Reformers saw as the corruption, the rote formalism, and even the superstition of the Roman Catholic system. Of course they had many good points! No argument there. But fighting to purify Christianity, as admirable as it might be, and to re-invigorate it, is not the same thing as re-enchanting it. The argument I make in Living In Wonder is that re-invigorating it in this time and place — a very different society than Europe in 1500! — depends on re-enchanting it.

But then — and I don’t at all say this as an insult — Calvinists like this reviewer are the kinds of Christians who are least likely to understand or accept the claims in Living In Wonder. And, contra the TGC reviewer, it has nothing at all to do with how well or faithfully Calvinists pray (a topic on which I have no opinion, other than to say I guess they pray as well as anybody else). As I said at Beeson Divinity School the other night, I am up front in the book with my Orthodox beliefs, and if this book convinces someone to come to Orthodoxy, terrific. But that’s not why I wrote the book. I expect the overwhelming number of Christians who read this book not to come to Orthodoxy; I wrote it in large part because I sincerely believe that the Church of the East has some spiritual treasures to share with our brothers and sisters of the West, that can help them through this time of great trial. I believe Orthodoxy is the truest and best way to find your way to unity with Christ. But Christ is the main thing. He’s the only thing.

It seems like the TGC guy’s approach was to get mad that I found any fault at all with Protestant theology, and in his anger, to cease to read with discernment what I wrote. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly expect criticism from Protestant reviewers, which is totally fair, given their priors. But it’s great to get a review from a Protestant reader like theologian Brad East, writing in Christianity Today, who doesn’t fully agree with my book, but definitely grappled with its argument.

By the way, happy publication day to Prof. East, who today releases his new book The Church: A Guide To The People Of God.

Solène’s Interview

Solène Tadié, who covers religion for EWTN/National Catholic Register, from Europe, is one of the most impressive religion journalists I’ve ever met. Here’s a link to an interview she did with me for the Register. Excerpt:

You’re not soft on Reformation and Enlightenment, which, according to you, gave rise to the phenomenon of disenchantment, with the advent of scientism and other derivative ideologies in the West. The first theorists of the concept of disenchantment, Friedrich Schiller and Max Weber, both of whom came from a Protestant culture (and in Schiller’s case also from the Enlightenment) were undoubtedly ahead of their time in anticipating the excesses of their societies. What is your fundamental criticism of these currents? 

The history of the West over the last 500 years has been one of a steady disenchantment of the world. The philosopher Charles Taylor asks: Why was it hard to imagine in the year 1500 that God does not exist, but today it is hard to say that God does exist? The answer is disenchantment — that is, the gradual loss of the idea that there is a dimension beyond the material. Catholicism and Orthodoxy preserve a strong form of sacramentalism — the idea that the spiritual in some mysterious sense interpenetrates the material — but most Catholics and most Orthodox don’t live that way.  

We see this in the widespread acceptance of abortion, even among many Christians. Next comes euthanasia, which is spreading, and in transgenderism. These are gateways to transhumanism — the merging of man with machine — and the abolition of humanity. Ideas have consequences. If we do not reclaim, and fight for, the idea that matter matters, then we are going to collapse into this neo-gnosticism. All of this is happening very fast, and it is discouraging to see so few Christian leaders, clergy and lay alike, talk about it. John Paul II did. So did Benedict XVI. But it seems that most Christians are either clueless, or indifferent.  

Catholics, as you also mentioned, often avoid talking about angels and demons for fear of being superstitious, even the most orthodox of the faithful. Padre Pio nevertheless lived through the century of “the death of God” and atheistic totalitarianism, working numerous miracles. Is today’s West even less conducive to the emergence of such saintly figures than it was in the 20th century?

Ten years ago, I would have thought so. The New Atheism was popular then, and so many young people were leaving the Christian faith. The number of ex-Christians continues to grow, especially among the young, but there has been a significant and unexpected change. Atheism is mostly dead among the young — but they aren’t coming back to Christianity. They are going to various forms of the occult, as well as taking up using psychedelic drugs.

Why? Because they are desperate to have an experience of transcendence, of mysticism. They need to have an experience that tells them that there is more to life than mere materialism. As concerned as we should be about this development, it also offers us Christians an opportunity. It will continue to be hard — harder than ever, maybe — to convert people by using reason. But [we can make inroads] if we talk about the miracles of Padre Pio and others, if we talk about approved Marian apparitions, if we talk about the reality of spiritual warfare in the stories of people like the late exorcist Gabriele Amorth, and Father Carlos Martins, the popular American exorcist whose podcast The Exorcist Files is not only entertaining, but has lots of strong practical advice. 

Read it all.

I just want to slide this into the Living In Wonder section of today’s newsletter: a clip of an American Orthodox choir singing the Easter troparion (“Christ is risen from the dead/Trampling down death by death/And on those in the tombs bestowing life”) using an Appalachian melody. It’s so, so beautiful:

The Election Draweth Nigh

Don’t know how it seems from where you sit, but having been in the US these past few days, it feels like this election is moving towards Trump. I say that with hesitation, because I know I’ve been hanging out with conservatives. Still, the sense I get from watching and reading media is that he has the momentum. The McDonalds stunt has the left and Never Trumpers fuming ackshully:

Oh for pity’s sake. You have to laugh. This reminds me of how the left freaked out over George H.W. Bush campaigning at a flag factory in 1988. Those dopes didn’t realize what Ronald Reagan knew: that in an era of visual media, the images carry the meaning. This right here was the whole point of the Trump thing:

What does that icon convey to the masses: that Trump is one of us; he loves McDonalds, unlike those snooty Democrats. Because you know, whatever else you might say about Trump, he truly loves McDonalds. This is brilliant political theater.

Saw this clip this morning. I’m with my fellow pro-lifers who are disappointed that Trump has backed away from a strong pro-life line, though as I’ve said, it’s crazy for us not to realize that most Americans aren’t with us, and to adjust to that reality. But if you were thinking about not voting Trump because he is not pure on abortion, I invite you to watch this clip:

Yes, Trump is softening the GOP’s abortion stance. But Kamala is hardening it, and sharpening the party’s teeth. I wish we had the luxury of withholding our votes to teach the GOP a lesson. We do not.

Today the NYT is out with an interview with John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, in which Kelly says El Trumpo is fascist. Excerpt:

In response to a question about whether he thought Mr. Trump was a fascist, Mr. Kelly first read aloud a definition of fascism that he had found online.

“Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” he said.

Well. John Kelly saw a lot of Trump up close, so like it or not, we have to pay attention to him. I don’t see how we who plan to vote for Trump can deny that the man has little respect for traditional democratic, constitutional norms. So why do the Democrats’ and their media allies’ shrieking “He’s a threat to democracy!” fall so flat?

In short, because what “democracy” means to them (and their Never Trump Republican allies), as well as their allies in Europe, is pretty much “do what we tell you, and nobody gets hurt.” Martin Gurri, the retired CIA analyst who never voted Trump, is doing so this time because he is alarmed by what the Democrats have become: “the party of control.” If you read my book Live Not By Lies, about the rise of soft totalitarianism, you can see what Gurri means. I talked about this in my most recent European Conservative column.

The Dems and the Never Trump GOP establishment really think they are the normies … but that is the problem! They are so bought into their vision of themselves as the Good Guys that they don’t see how undemocratic, and indeed contemptuous, of the people they have become. To cite only one example: these “anti-fascists” of the Biden Administration applied unethical pressure to WPATH to deny science and remove every barrier to changing the sex of little children. That is barbaric! They ought to be in damn prison! They sacrificed the bodies of children and the children’s chance for a normal life!

But see, Trump is the fascist.

You won’t often see the words “Bret Stephens had a great column today,” but the NYT neocon really did; I’ve used one of my gift links to unlock it for non-subscribers. He says if Kamala Harris loses, the main culprit will have been “the way in which leading liberal voices in government, academia and media practice politics today.” Excerpts:

The politics of name-calling, which happens every time Trump’s voters are told they are racists, misogynists, weird, phobic, low-information or, most recently, supporters of a fascist — and, by implication, fascists themselves. Aside from being gratuitous and self-defeating — what kind of voter is going to be won over by being called a name? — it’s also mostly wrong. Trump’s supporters overwhelmingly are people who think the Biden-Harris years have been bad for them and the country. Maybe liberals should try to engage the argument without belittling the person.

And:

The politics of selective fidelity to traditional norms. Liberals fear, with reason, the threat Trump poses to the institutional architecture of American government. Yet many of the same Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court, eliminate the Senate filibuster, get rid of the Electoral College, give federal agencies the right to impose eviction moratoriums and forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt without the consent of Congress. They decry Trump’s assaults on the news media while cheering the Biden administration’s attempt to strong-arm media companies into censoring opinions it disliked. And they warn of Trump’s efforts to criminalize his political opponents, even as they celebrate criminalizing him. Hypocrisy of this sort doesn’t go unnoticed by people not fully in the tank for Harris.

Right. “Fascist” my big fat redneck butt. The Atlantic has a big piece out now attributing vile things to Trump, e.g., praising Hitler. Maybe they’re true, maybe they aren’t — but I don’t believe a thing an institution like The Atlantic says, because I think they really will say anything to take Trump down. In any case, yeah, I think Trump is a man of low character, generally. But I don’t fear him in power. I truly fear the Democrats and their Cheneyite allies. Like many of you readers, I’m old enough to remember when the Democrats held Dick Cheney to be the great archvillain of American politics. Now he and his daughter Liz are their big allies. That says less about the Cheneys and more about what the Democrats have become.

One more thing, as an example: the Democrats and their corporate allies are all down with debanking the Deplorables. Do you think people ought to have their ability to use a bank taken away from them if they get on the wrong side of power? If we move to a cashless society, as we are fast doing, that will mean that they no longer have the power to buy and sell. Don’t you get it? This is what the Democrats (and some Republican allies) are for! Melania Trump was debanked. I hope that if he becomes president, Trump gets Congress to pass legislation banning debanking, except in rare cases (e.g., proven terrorist connections).

The Year They Queered Capitalism

That’s a chart from this John Burn-Murdoch piece in the Financial Times, in which he tracks the politicization of corporate leadership in the US and UK. He finds that senior management is well to the left, which means that woke capitalism has not been mere insincere virtue signaling … and that it is likely here to stay (he says).

In The Benedict Option, I mentioned the landmark event of the 2015 showdown in Indiana, when a coalition of national corporate powerhouses forced the legislature and Gov. Mike Pence to repeal a state version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which the woke capitalists considered to be anti-LGBT. That was the Waterloo of social conservatism, because it marked the first time Big Business got involved in the culture war. It was like bringing the United States into World War II, in terms of deployment of raw power. The Burn-Murdoch chart shows that 2015 was in fact the decisive year, when capitalism got queered.

It is taking a while for conservatives to understand it, given the Reaganism in our DNA, but we had better get it: the State is the only defense we have against corporate cultural predation. Who else will defend you and me against the woke capitalists? The State, in the form of the Biden Administration, is entirely on the woke capitalists’ side.

‘Black Lives’ Grifter

Remember Black Lives Matter? Remember when failing to endorse it could mean social or professional suicide for some people? Well, I tell you, I am just shocked to discover that it was all a massive grift. From The Free Press today:

Think back for a minute to 2020, when George Floyd was killed by police, and the tens of thousands of people on the left who protested despite Covid-19, wrote “Black Lives Matter” in the middle of roads, and took over a handful of downtowns in places like Minneapolis and Seattle. Think back to the panicked response by corporations that vowed to do better by black America, revved up their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and threw millions of dollars at BLM. Think back to the presidential race, where defunding the police was a top issue. 

Here we are now, with DEI programs in retreat, corporations no longer willing to make political statements, and the left more obsessed with Israel than police reform. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris compete to be the law-and-order candidate. And BLM four years later? It looks like little more than a hustle.

The latest proof point came earlier this month when Tyree Conyers-Page—a.k.a. Sir Maejor Page, the 35-year-old former leader of the BLM chapter of Greater Atlanta—was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for money laundering and wire fraud. Pocketing the $450,000 raised from 18,000 donors to “fight for George Floyd” and the “movement,” Page spent lavishly on himself, splurging on tailored suits, nightclub bar tabs, an evening with a prostitute, and, as he texted to a friend, “a big-ass cribo” that he bought in Ohio after he “won the lottery.”

Read it all. It’s comprehensive. Truly, separating a guilty white liberal from their money has to be the easiest trick in the world.