Happy Birthday Put Up Thy Sword!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of “Put Up Thy Sword!”. 12 months ago I had moved into my new house in Stratford, and had taken up a full-time position at Stratford District Council. I was moving into a new era in my life - that of being a Stratfordian; and after a few months of silence on the blogosphere I decided that with it would come a new era in blogging.

I had earlier retired my first blog, Agri-Christian NZ, as a result of my taking something of a philosophical silo in order to reevaluate a few ideas. Agri-Christian had been staunchly and proudly fundamentalist, but a number of factors had caused me to review this position.

One of the major themes of my first blog was an emphasis on fundamentalist models of masculinity and femininity. This meant that homosexuals copped a lot of flak, as did feminists of both the male and female variety. In early 2006, however, I dated a young feminist woman who provided a very sharp and fair critique of my position. About the same time my long-time adversary on the topic of homosexuality, Scott Stevens of Happyclappinghomos.com, wrote an essay comparing my views to those of Adolf Hitler. This also exposed some difficulties with the fundamentals of my worldview.

Most significantly, by February 2006 I had realised the futility of holding to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. The same friend who challenged me on my view of femininity challenged me on these views.

I held that I knew the scriptures to be authoritative because their words so clearly resonated with what I felt in my spirit. Yet I was challenged that the resonance was perhaps more closely connected to my own insecurities about being a man, and in relation to women, than they were with the spirit of God. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that such insecurities probably did account for much of that resonance. I realised that resonance itself was insufficient as an indicator for truthfulness, and that such views on ethics and social roles must be grounded in comprehensive study and reflection on the nature of what it is to be human.

So significant was this paradigm shift that I could no longer wholeheartedly identify with Agri-Christian NZ. I realised that I was no longer happy to be considered a fundamentalist, and began to prefer the term neo-conservative (I have more recently warmed to paleoconservative rather than neoconservative).


Another major theme of Agri-Christian NZ had been my emphasis on agrarianism as the only viable political economy, a worldview inherent to and secretly yearned for by all people – even the most decorated Cuba Street metro. While I still had a strong suspicion this was true, I recognised that by emphasising it I was isolating a lot of friends and readers. Furthermore, by March 2006 I was working two jobs as a full-time professional environmental planner. I was advised that in July I would have a full-time position in Stratford, and began to realise that my near future lay in an urban environment, with a strong interest in urban matters. This was in contrast to my earlier aims in returning home of getting straight into full-time farming. An agrarian emphasis would no longer be appropriate for an urban-dwelling environmental planner with a professional interest in urban environments.


The issues of epistemology (fundamentalism vs paleoconservatism) and environmental planning went on to be themes undergirding many of my posts in Put Up Thy Sword! However, the major theme that everything I write comes back to is indicated by the name of my blog; that of submission to a God of love. But, more than that, the name Put Up Thy Sword! encapsulates a number of sub-themes relating to this overarching theme of love and the outworking of love in the life of A. J. Chesswas.

In “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” I provided a theological explanation for why I chose that name. That reason was the importance of love and forgiveness. My experience of spending a year visiting every single church in my home town, my decision to become an Anglican on January 1st, 2006, and my involvement in various theological and ethical debates, illustrated this all too clearly to me.

I prefer not to air dirty laundry, but the fact is the church I grew up in, when I returned to Stratford in 2005, had in the 6 years I was away split three ways, and some of those involved would not even speak to each other. I found it impossible to reconcile this fact with Jesus’ challenge that if we fail to forgive a man their sins God will not forgive our sins. I had a fair idea who was probably in the right and who wasn’t, but because I didn’t want to be seen to be taking sides I was hesitant to join any of the three congregations.

So I made it my resolution to visit every other church in Stratford that year. Yet one thing became clear to me – most of these churches defined who they were by how they were different to other churches. By doing so they were effectively putting a stumbling block between them and other believers. Again, I found this impossible to reconcile with the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

Interestingly, two years before my return I had begun to develop a strong affection for traditional churches, at the same time I was humbling myself further before the lives and examples of those who had gone before me. Around the same time I also very randomly, or from God’s perspective, sovereignly, bumped into another young man from Stratford when I briefly visited a Redline conference for an evening. I recognised this man as a fellow Stratfordian and spoke with him, and he told me he was part of the Anglican Church, and that he wished God would move there as he was at that conference. I told him I was glad to have met him, and maybe we would reconnect again because I knew God was calling me back to Stratford. While I was spending 2005 visiting the various churches of Stratford, however, this friend was on the other side of the world helping with a Camp America programme.


In October 2005 I visited St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in New Plymouth, as I was working 5 minutes down the road at New Plymouth District Council. I picked up a copy of the latest Diocesan magazine and began to flick through it. I opened the magazine to the third page and one particular article, a joint effort by both of the diocesan Bishops, caught my eye;

“Via media isn’t always an easy road”

“This Via Media (the middle way) is a noble calling, and it requires nerve to stay calm when all around you are loosing their heads, diving into ditches on either side of the road, unable to stay on the straight path of fearless enquiry and adventurous faith. Anglicans are not ashamed to embrace the middle way, for when that path is examined humbly and prayerfully, it is found to be the lonely path that Jesus trod between the conflicting categories of wonder worker and political hero.”

“The radical re-formed thinking of the Reformation precipitated by Henry VIII in 1534 eventually reoriented the church in England, introducing it to a Reformed head with a Catholic heart. This came from a scholarly return to the study of the Bible and its application to both individual and Christian community life: justification by faith for the individual and early Church principles for ecclesiology and society.

This common prayer book shaped an Anglican principle that has been with us ever since, that what Anglicans pray together, is what they believe: you will find our beliefs expressed in the way we worship and the words we use, “Lex Orandi, lex Credendi”.

The protestant and catholic themes present within the ambivalent Church of England of the 16th century were finally resolved forever by Queen Elizabeth I in her settlement of 1559 where she achieved a balance of both. This Elizabethan settlement involved keeping
liturgies, sacraments, the three-fold ordinal, and the creeds, but finally pruned back the tangles of the medieval church. This was a middle way (via media).”


This article touched me significantly. In a world where so many church congregations are built upon division and conflict, here was a church with a tradition of balance, love and unity, whose leaders valued this tradition so much that they could recall the history of the church through this framework, and a history glorious indeed. A history bound up in the very cultural and ethnic identity I cherished so deeply. “A Reformed head with a Catholic heart,” sounded perfect!

I can identify that moment as the turning point in my conversion to Anglicanism. This was also the climax in my conversion from a Protestant mindset to a Catholic one.

I had long known that great reformers such as Luther and Wesley were not Protestants in the modern sense of the word. For although they protested, they never sought to establish a new church independent of the Catholic Church, for Luther, or the Anglican Church, for Wesley. Indeed, even the early Christians began in the context of the Jewish temple, and expected to convert Jews from within the system as a result of their examples. It was only when they began to be persecuted and killed that they fled, and even then the likes of Stephen were willing to face death rather than give up on the people of God.

Of course there remained the issue of the Anglican Church’s maintained independence from the Roman Catholic Church. As I said to Lucyna in a recent email, if I’d had a personal connection in some way with a Roman Catholic I just might have gone down that path.

It is interesting that the Anglican and Catholic Churches often talk about entering into deeper levels of communion. But, to be honest, I do think there are a number of elements of Catholic theology that still need renovation, given that Arminianism still pervades its catechism, as do the doctrines of purgatory and the immaculate conception, the requirement for priests to be celibate, and their views of grace and salvation being administered exclusively and always by sacrament and apostolic succession. After all, true unity in the spirit is always preferable to formal or institutional unity. Still better, though, when you can find degrees of both in the same context. And if there are any lines the church should be divided along then geographical, linguistic, cultural and ethnic lines seem most appropriate. Why should one people group be made subordinate to another? Why should England be subordinate to Rome?

I had given myself the entire year to make my decision, and decided to stick to this plan; that one of my New Years Resolutions would be my decision on which particular church to join. Over the next three months my fellow Pentecostal Anglican friend returned and it became clear that this was where God wanted me.

This decision to embrace the Anglican way also had an impact on my approach to life and thought, and of course to blogging. One thing I value about Anglican thought is that it is not bound by fundamentalism or biblical inerrancy, and all philosophical and ethical matters are considered subject to reason, tradition and experience. Unfortunately this means that, because this epistemological approach has not yet matured in the Anglican Church, we do suffer the existence of liberals and the dreadful ideas they promote. However it is clear that Christological, soteriological and theological orthodoxy (Nicenian theology) has a strong and healthy future in the Anglican Communion of New Zealand, and that the Anglican Church is well positioned to provide a context of love and unity for the growth and ministry of the Christian church.


The name “Put Up Thy Sword!”, as well as encapsulating my identity as a peace-loving Anglican, also expressed something else very dear to me: my identity as a Stratfordian. The quote comes from Romeo and Juliet, when Benvolio pleas with the servants of Capulet and the servants of Montague to cease their fighting. The same Romeo and Juliet play out the window scene from our glockenspiel clocktower three times a day.

I was no longer going to emphasise the agrarianism of my previous blog, but the importance of the local community, and of loving thy neighbour, remained of paramount political interest to me. Further, I am a big fan of history, and of literature; particularly Shakespeare. I think it is a treasure that our town takes its name from the birthplace of the great English bard. By naming my blog “Put Up Thy Sword!” I declare my love for Stratford-upon-Patea, and for English history, culture and identity.


Highlights

52 weeks and 163 posts later I celebrate one year of “Put Up Thy Sword!” It is a year that has seen my attention shift from the politics surrounding Election ’05 back to my first love of theology. An overview of the year’s topics reveals a number of common themes.

The first month and the last month both included discussions about evangelism, and also concerns about the growing acceptance of pornography in society. Both August ’06 and July ’07 saw me vent my wrath towards the antics of Mr. Steve Crow, firstly in reponse to the Boobs on Bikes parade, and latterly regarding his involvement with the New Plymouth RSA. I also took part in the “Boobs on Bikes” debate at David Farrar’s blog, where his three posts on the topic amassed a total of 745 comments altogether, including 411 comments on “A Police Ruling I Don’t Disagree With”!

Indeed, there is a common link between pornography and evangelism. For as long as people try to shut people who call it as it is out of the debate on morality – people like Bishop Brian Tamaki and myself – then we may as well give up hope of ever reaching this nation with the gospel. If we can’t talk about sinfulness and morality then why would Jesus’ promise to return to judge the wicked, and grant eternal life to the humble, hold any appeal to anyone?

Some might say that my confrontational approach re: Steve Crow contradicts my “Put Up Thy Sword!” ethic. However this is not a debate about ethics that are relative, or about political power. Pornography is Crow’s sword, a destructive device employed to exploit the weak and the vulnerable. It is indeed time for Crow to put up his sword and face his maker.


In August I began the “Stratford Biography of the Week” feature, in which I featured articles I had written for Wikipedia. For some reason, after 11 articles, this feature fell by the wayside. There are still plenty more articles to feature, and yet more to write. Perhaps we will see a return of this in time.

Later in August I produced a pearler: “Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged”, addressing the common accusation against Christians who demand repentance from sinners. Sadly no-one commented on it.

September saw Helen Clark go head-to-head with the Exclusive Brethren for the second time, a battle I always find particularly intriguing. As a result I wrote a number of posts sticking up for the Brethren. The Labour Party was experiencing all sorts of problems at this time, including the Philip Taito-Field saga and the overspending problem. I still think we are a banana republic for letting them buy the election like that.

My favourite post from September was “The Faith of Our Fathers”, while I also gave people an insight into the farming life with “Animal Hospital”. My most troubling post was “Abortion”, which given the lack of any comments I assume was as troubling to its readers.

In October I posted the popular “Who is Really Christian? Baptism and the Grace of God”, finding a middle ground between Lucyna’s Catholic perspective and Ashley’s Protestant perspective in true Anglican fashion.

The same month I posted about the then proposed National Statement on Religious Diversity, having got wind of it through my position at Council. I went on to play a role in coordinating and chairing a meeting to consult with various faith community leaders from across the Taranaki region. This was a very interesting and inspiring experience, and over the following seven months I regularly discussed the statement as it progressed through the consultation and through public debate in the media.

Not long after the Proposed Statement was made public, the Labour Party made religion a major focus of their annual conference, and Professor Paul Morris, author of the statement, told the conference that Labour was closer to the gospel than right-wing parties. In “Is the Labour Party’s Socialism Christian” I argued that while there is consistency between some Socialist principles and Christianity, the Labour Party’s application of these principles is so ineffective and perverted that a vote for National is still preferable.

The highlight of November was my post “The Privacy of Our Parts”, in which I lamented the lack of respect and dignity people have towards sexuality, even among the churches. David Farrar typically took an interest in this post with “Bad Women!”, leading to 115 comments on his blog. November was also known as Movember, for various reasons, and was the month John Key was elected National Party leader despite my lobbying for Bill English.

In the New Year I posted nine resolutions. I have kept three of them – less alcohol, no smoking unless an incredibly special occasion, and being contented with singleness. Although these could be disputed, and I think I might have had one cigarette, generally they have been a success. Resolutions 1-4 (daily prayer, running, praying for people, and pure thinking) have been successes at times, but with lapses, but I am optimistic. I have had no success on Resolution 8 at all (savings), however I seem to have stumbled across a solution to the problem of money. Resolution 9 (fingernails) is something that could be worse, but I would rather not touch them at all. Anyone got any bright ideas?

As well as enjoying the summer weather, the New Year saw me revisit another favorite topic of mine – that of identity as a New Zealander of British ancestry. In February I responded to a critique of the church for excluding homosexuals with “Where have all the homosexuals gone?” I also provided a theology of smacking in light of the approaching debate of the Section 59 Bill, with "The Consolation of Smacking", before deciding that blogging would be the subject of my lenten fast for 2007, given its addictive propensity. This freed me up to devote my time and attention to preparing for the Eltham Easter Camp ’07 which I had the privilege of running.

After Easter I noticed a definite maturity in the quality of my blogging, as I began to tackle classic evangelical topics like “The Christian Testimony” and “You Must Be Born again”, as well as challenging traditional evangelical approaches to soteriology and the scriptures with “No Man Comes to the Father But By Me”, “Making Sense of Faith”, “A Middle Ground Between Evangelicalism and Universalism” and “Some Would Call it Soteriology”.

The aim of these later posts was particularly towards illustrating the internal consistency and reasonableness of the Christian religion, and tempering evangelicalism with a more reasonable understanding of soteriology. I did this with a particularly atheist and universalist audience in mind. These posts, to use an atheist euphemism, evolved into the discussions taking place with Ian Luxmoore at "A Servants’ Thoughts" as we speak, including the 87-comment post “Atheism is Becoming More Like Christianity”, and also at Ian's blog, particularly "On the Origin of Religion".

During this time I also posted on the Anti-smacking bill, with a response to the Anglican Bishops’ Statement on the Bill. The Anglican factor also emerged in relation to the National Statement on Religious Diversity in “Anglican Fundamentalism”, and in June when I posted “The Anglican View on Homosexuality With C. S. Lewis” to prepare myself for a consultation on the topic at Te Kuiti. The article was also posted in “Anglicans All”, where a vigorous 22-comment discussion took place.

Another June highlight was “Is Inerrancy Necessary”, a discussion involving fellow ex-Christian fellowship president Scott Mackay and vice-president Joe Harper, while the highlight so far for July has been my latest response to the Atheist debate; “The Yahweh Hypothesis: Case Study”. A sign of the times, and a topic I am still very much interested in, was “Living in a Post-Privacy Age”.


Statistics

When the labels are tallied up we find that, despite my best intentions to the contrary, politics came out on top of theology, with 41 posts vs 33. “Personal" was next with 20, followed by “Taranaki” with 19, and, surprise, surprise, “Christianity and Sex” with 16. “Biography” and “Religion and Politics NZ” came in close behind with 15, “Stratford” and “Paleoconservative” followed this with 14, and "National Statement on Religious Diversity" with 13. This was the top 10.

The top 20 looked like this:

1. Politics (41)
2. Theology (34)
3. Personal (20)
4. Taranaki (19)
5. Christianity and Sex (16)
6. Biography (15)
7. Religion and Politics NZ (15)
8. Stratford (14)
9. Paleoconservative (14)
10. National Statement on Religious Diversity (13)

11. Stratford Biography of the Week (12)
11. Family Values (12)

13. Labour Party (9)
13. Pornography (9)
13. Evangelism (9)

16. Agrarianism (8)
16. Labour Party and Christianity (8)
16. Moral Philosophy (8)
16. Music (8)

20. Christian Mission (7)
20. Environmentalism (7)
20. Soteriology (7)