"The Grisham"

My literary diet has taken a junk food twist. After several months of exhausting classical literature, I was ready for a snack - a modern novel.

It is always with some trepidation that I embark upon a novel. I have rather high standards when it comes to the arts and entertainment, so the marriage of the 2 in fiction novels provides a marked potential for disappointment. I've left a scattering of unfinished novels in my wake over the last few years. Gratuitous anything, typically qualifies a book for a quick return trip to the library.

In the same way I coaxed the family out for a long walk on a cold and rainy Thursday evening, by promising I would "treat" them to a snack while we were out, so I was coaxed through to the end of some rather weighty tomes by the promise of some refreshment I had borrowed from the Walnut Creek Library.

The high calorie, high carbohydrate, high sodium sidetrack I just finished was one of John Grisham's books in his "The _______" series. Or maybe all of his novels start with "The"? I won't disclose the actual book, since I don't necessarily recommend it. Yes, I just said that I don't recommend a book that I just finished and enjoyed. Think about that one and come back when you're ready.

Similarly, I frankly don't recommend any of his novels to be digested as pure and mindless entertainment. One should always read with eyes wide open and pen in hand, if necessary. Even those authors I respect most, I find fault with upon occasion. Those I respect most are lauded to fellow readers, while those with works less compatible with my world view are held closer to vest. If it requires much sifting and skipping, then I will likely let you find it on your own lest you hold me responsible for your inability to sift and skip.

Grisham, though brilliant in his own genre, is by no means the same caliber writer as John Bunyan, John Milton, or Leo Tolstoy, and maintains a paradigm wherein the morals, ethics, and basic principles whereby his character's lives are lived often differ diametrically from that of those who are intentionally writing from a Biblical world view.
That is not to say that Grisham is a foreigner to Christianity, as is evident from his portrayal of all variations of practice and pretext that fall under that label. It could even be said that he possibly bears a deeper understanding as an informed outsider than do many of those I interact with inside what is considered Fundamental Christianity. However, that doesn't mean that he communicates his plots, creates his characters, or controls the outcomes of his real to life situations with the objective of glorifying his Creator. We forgo that expectation when consuming secular works, leaving such high standards for the judgment of works created by those claiming the privileges of a Christian faith. And rightly so.

This particular story had a rapidly moving plot, colorful characters, and a perspective on morality that was compatible with my own. Not all of his novels meet these criteria. It was for those misgivings that I tentatively opened the cover, but I was soon drawn in, and thus found myself anxiously anticipating the ending.

As is typical of Grisham, the ending was not as expected. Though disappointed, I recognized the didacticism that saturated the plot and was contentedly relieved to disassociate with fictitious characters and their contrived dilemmas. In his "Afterward", he artfully exposed his agenda for the unobservant without offending the astute.

In short, Grisham is a skillful secular author with insight and creativity that can be enjoyed and appreciated by a reader armed with an adequate store of good judgment.

Pilgrim's Progress Part 2

Well, I spoke pretty highly of John Bunyan's account of Christian's travels along the narrow path toward the Celestial City. And right rightly so.

I then started what I hadn't expected - Part 2. It sure seemed like Christian's story was wrapping up quickly in comparison to what remained of the book. The Celestial City is the end right?

How is it that I have lived in literary ignorance of the second journey recorded by Bunyan? Christians' wife Christiana, after having abandoned her husband to remain in the city of Destruction, finds conviction and a conscience upon learning of the exploits and end of her estranged.

A second recorded journey ensues where Christiana and her 4 sons in repentance and anticipation likewise endure hardship on the long narrow path toward the bright city where her husband awaits.

I don't know if a stroke of regret brought Bunyan back to this story, or if possibly his readers demanded resolution for Christian's widow, or if part 2 was integral to his initial plot. Whatever the case, the plot in part 2 develops far more slowly as the former adventures of her now beloved are expanded upon at each turn, adding to the dialogue and enhancing the didacticism intrinsic to the previous narrative. The roving allegory of Christiana, her companion Mercy, and the 4 young men is thus layered atop that of the now epic journey of her husband.

In a word, Part 2 can become tedious. I don't say that in a completely negative sense, though at times I'm hesitant to return to the reading during long passages of reminiscence by some former acquaintance of the pilgrims of Part 1. Fortunately, the pilgrims of Part 2, the crowd of whom grows rather large by the end of the story, navigate their own adventures, thus making the steady though languid flow bearable in all but my most overstimulated moments.

The didactic asides and perpetual allegory are the marks of the progress of these pilgrims. Bunyan allows no blade of grass, ray of sunshine, pit, or stone to go unscrutinized for its pedantic potential. With that understanding and a willingness to ride the swells of this literary tide, the story can be appreciated much the way a sermon is appreciated - not exclusively for the vessel of plot, but rather for the power that drives the vessel forward.

I was moved to introspection many times, and would set the reading aside to muse on a principle expanded as I had never seen before. Both Part 1 and Part 2 could, I believe, stand alone. However, I recommend the whole as a discipline for any believer. I was improved by Bunyan's labors, and as stated in his closing poetic arguments, such was the purpose of his labors.

"...This book is writ in such a dialect

As may the minds of listless men affect:

It seems a novelty, and yet contains

Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains.

Would’st thou divert thyself from melancholy?

Would’st thou be pleasant, yet be far from folly?

Would’st thou read riddles, and their explanation?

Or else be drowned in thy contemplation?

Dost thou love picking meat? Or would’st thou see

A man i’ the clouds, and hear him speak to thee?

Would’st thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?

Or would’st thou in a moment laugh and weep?

Would’st thou lose thyself and catch no harm,

And find thyself again without a charm?

Would’st read thyself, and read thou know’st not what,

And yet know whether thou art blest or not,

By reading the same lines? O then come hither,

And lay my book, thy head, and heart together."

From: Pilgrim's Progress - THE AUTHOR'S APOLOGY FOR HIS BOOK

Revisiting a Classic

John Bunyan
"If you release me today, I will preach tomorrow"

Bec and I were reading a piece of literature, which I will comment on at a later time, wherein was listed a handful of books recommended as mandatory reading for children. Among those books was the long neglected Pilgrim's Progress. The compilation had "allowed" for a condensed version though I decided that if I was going to attack it, it would have to be in its original form as written in the 17th century.

I had felt for a long time that I was above this piece of literature, encouraged by my recollections of watered down adaptations for children. The link between the story and reality appeared far too tenuous even for my young mind. Those picture books had caught the drift, but, I believe completely missed the point. What had been lacking in the full color caricatures parsed out for children was the depth of the dialogue and brilliant use of the English language found in the original work. The Pilgrim's Progress was, so far as I can tell, never intended to be a child's story. In relegating it as thus the efficacy of this classic has been marred.

An unabashed allegory of the Christian life, this work is easily mishandled by well meaning tutors seeking a convenient cudgel wherewith to temper young minds.

John Bunyan intuitively warns at the end of Christian's pilgrimage in the conclusion to Part 1...

Now, reader, I have told my dream to thee,

See if thou canst interpret it to me,

Or to thyself, or neighbor: but take heed

Of misinterpreting; for that, instead

Of doing good, will but thyself abuse:

By misinterpreting, evil ensues.

Take heed, also, that thou be not extreme

In playing with the outside of my dream;

Nor let my figure or similitude

Put thee into a laughter, or a feud.

Leave this for boys and fools; but as for thee,

Do thou the substance of my matter see.

Put by the curtains, look within my veil,

Turn up my metaphors, and do not fail.

There, if thou seekest them, such things thou’lt find

As will be helpful to an honest mind.

What of my dross thou findest there, be bold

To throw away, but yet preserve the gold.

What if my gold be wrapped up in ore?

None throw away the apple for the core:

But if thou shalt cast all away as vain,

I know not but ‘t will make me dream again.

Bunyan no doubt suspected the misuse of his allegorical work and sought to preclude the very damage that was done to my understanding of the complex personifications of virtue and vice in his characters. Bunyan was no slack. He suffered under the Anglican church, even to imprisonment, for his resolve to handle the Word of Truth in a manner consistent with it's very teachings. What he created in the The Pilgrim's Progress is a timeless piece of literature that gives a face, a gait, and a demeanor to concepts, attitudes, and characteristics in such a way that forces the reader to reconsider the effects of those elements in his own life.

I for one, thought long and hard about the conversation that Christian had with Faithful in an aside regrading one Talkative as they traveled. Talkative's speech was seemingly noble and certainly heavenly, leading Faithful to assume good character in his companion. However, Christian knew of Talkative and held him in less high esteem and explained his rational to Faithful...

Christian: ...This man is for any company, and for any talk; as he talketh now with you, so will he talk when he is on the ale-bench; and the more drink he hath in his crown, the more of these things he hath in his mouth. Religion hath no place in his heart, or house, or conversation; all he hath lieth in his tongue, and his religion is to make a noise therewith.

Faithful: Say you so? Then am I in this man greatly deceived.

Christian: Deceived! you may be sure of it. Remember the proverb, “They say, and do not;” but the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Matt. 23:3; 1 Cor. 4:20. He talketh of prayer, of repentance, of faith, and of the new birth; but he knows but only to talk of them. I have been in his family, and have observed him both at home and abroad; and I know what I say of him is the truth. His house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savor. There is there neither prayer, nor sign of repentance for sin; yea, the brute, in his kind, serves God far better than he. He is the very stain, reproach, and shame of religion to all that know him, Rom. 2:24,25; it can hardly have a good word in all that end of the town where he dwells, through him. Thus say the common people that know him, “A saint abroad, and a devil at home.” His poor family finds it so; he is such a churl, such a railer at, and so unreasonable with his servants, that they neither know how to do for or speak to him. Men that have any dealings with him say, It is better to deal with a Turk than with him, for fairer dealings they shall have at their hands. This Talkative (if it be possible) will go beyond them, defraud, beguile, and overreach them. Besides, he brings up his sons to follow his steps; and if he finds in any of them a foolish timorousness, (for so he calls the first appearance of a tender conscience,) he calls them fools and blockheads, and by no means will employ them in much, or speak to their commendation before others. For my part, I am of opinion that he has, by his wicked life, caused many to stumble and fall; and will be, if God prevents not, the ruin of many more.

In following the extended narrative excerpted above, I was forced to consider my own speech and that of others around me. As was no doubt intended, I was able to easily apply this allegorical figure with vibrancy to my relationships.

Bunyan could have easily chosen common names such as "William" or "John" or "Michael" and then allowed the reader to interpret from their actions the typology intended. Instead a far more direct approach was taken, leaving no doubt about the disposition of the new character. What this adds or detracts from the narrative is closed for debate. What remains is a great read and an opportunity for sincere introspection.

I enter into Part 2 of his book with a far greater appreciation and a far different expectation.

Coming to the End of - War and Peace

Author of War and Peace

Do you think, If I were to grow a beard like his I could compose such outstanding literature? It may be worth a try.

Alas, like Sampson, I suppose the potency of the works is not at all attributable to the characteristics of the shell, but rather are the manifestation of a far deeper source.

After reading nearly 360 chapters of Tolstoy's War and Peace, I am pressed by the notion that I am little worthy to be commenting on such an amazing work of literature. I don't use the word "amazing" lightly. I am spellbound as I totter along the path of logical thought laid out by this brilliant author. In the epilogues to the book, which are no less a part of the whole than are the Bill of Rights a lesser part of the Constitution, Tolstoy seems to be expanding the philosophy behind the narrative of the previous books and chapters. I could not do him or his work justice with a description of, nor do I recommend any person attempt to glean the full import of the philosophical essays without the aid of the overarching narrative. Likewise, I fall short of even a coherent synopsis of his essays.

Therefore I am left to simply quote the the following passage which stands alone well enough in sagacity and clarity, but hopefully will impel the curious to a full consumption of this classic work. (I nearly said "full digestion," but chose rather consumption, being the first step in the essential process of nourishment, since I acknowledge humbly that to digest this material would require me to eat Borscht, grow a large beard, and read through it many more times.)

From:

War and Peace - Epilogue 2, Chapter 8

"Only in our self-confident day of the popularization of knowledge- thanks to that most powerful engine of ignorance, the diffusion of printed matter- has the question of the freedom of will been put on a level on which the question itself cannot exist. In our time the majority of so-called advanced people- that is, the crowd of ignoramuses- have taken the work of the naturalists who deal with one side of the question for a solution of the whole problem.

They say and write and print that the soul and freedom do not exist, for the life of man is expressed by muscular movements and muscular movements are conditioned by the activity of the nerves; the soul and free will do not exist because at an unknown period of time we sprang from the apes. They say this, not at all suspecting that thousands of years ago that same law of necessity which with such ardor they are now trying to prove by physiology and comparative zoology was not merely acknowledged by all the religions and all the thinkers, but has never been denied. They do not see that the role of the natural sciences in this matter is merely to serve as an instrument for the illumination of one side of it. For the fact that, from the point of view of observation, reason and the will are merely secretions of the brain, and that man following the general law may have developed from lower animals at some unknown period of time, only explains from a fresh side the truth admitted thousands of years ago by all the religious and philosophic theories- that from the point of view of reason man is subject to the law of necessity; but it does not advance by a hair's breadth the solution of the question, which has another, opposite, side, based on the consciousness of freedom.

If men descended from the apes at an unknown period of time, that is as comprehensible as that they were made from a handful of earth at a certain period of time (in the first case the unknown quantity is the time, in the second case it is the origin); and the question of how man's consciousness of freedom is to be reconciled with the law of necessity to which he is subject cannot be solved by comparative physiology and zoology, for in a frog, a rabbit, or an ape, we can observe only the muscular nervous activity, but in man we observe consciousness as well as the muscular and nervous activity.

The naturalists and their followers, thinking they can solve this question, are like plasterers set to plaster one side of the walls of a church who, availing themselves of the absence of the chief superintendent of the work, should in an access of zeal plaster over the windows, icons, woodwork, and still unbuttressed walls, and should be delighted that from their point of view as plasterers, everything is now so smooth and regular."

A final thought:

The first paragraph stated, "Only in our self-confident day of the popularization of knowledge- thanks to that most powerful engine of ignorance, the diffusion of printed matter- has the question of the freedom of will been put on a level on which the question itself cannot exist."

If thus was the opinion stemming from the the keen intellect of a man living over 100 years ago in eastern Europe seeing the influence of the 400 year old printing press, what shock would that same mind have faced in today's culture at the "popularization of knowledge" vomited out in the name of "reality", "news", and "information" through 42" LCD screens and 15.5" monitors?

______________

"While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:

“ Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
“ He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
John 12:36-39

Abandoning the Battle

1 Peter 5:8-9
(... resist him steadfast in the faith...)

For reasons yet enigmatic to historians, Moscow in 1812 was surrendered to the invading French as its inhabitants fled north east to St. Petersburg and all other points north. Then, in a fateful lumbering lurch Napoleon's hoard collapsed wearily onto the vacated couches of Moscow. Like a workman weary from a day's energies the grenadiers fell into a languid pose only a few short months shy of a bitter Russian winter. This repose was their demise.

Tolstoy painstakingly describes the ruin of this adamant force through both essay and narrative in the second half of his timeless work; War and Peace. The following is from one of those essays:

"Though tattered, hungry, worn out, and reduced to a third of their original number, the French entered Moscow in good marching order. It was a weary and famished, but still a fighting and menacing army. But it remained an army only until its soldiers had dispersed into their different lodgings. As soon as the men of the various regiments began to disperse among the wealthy and deserted houses, the army was lost forever and there came into being something nondescript, neither citizens nor soldiers but what are known as marauders. When five weeks later these same men left Moscow, they no longer formed an army. They were a mob of marauders, each carrying a quantity of articles which seemed to him valuable or useful. The aim of each man when he left Moscow was no longer, as it had been, to conquer, but merely to keep what he had acquired. Like a monkey which puts its paw into the narrow neck of a jug, and having seized a handful of nuts will not open its fist for fear of losing what it holds, and therefore perishes, the French when they left Moscow had inevitably to perish because they carried their loot with them, yet to abandon what they had stolen was as impossible for them as it is for the monkey to open its paw and let go of its nuts. Ten minutes after each regiment had entered a Moscow district, not a soldier or officer was left. Men in military uniforms and Hessian boots could be seen through the windows, laughing and walking through the rooms. In cellars and storerooms similar men were busy among the provisions, and in the yards unlocking or breaking open coach house and stable doors, lighting fires in kitchens and kneading and baking bread with rolled-up sleeves, and cooking; or frightening, amusing, or caressing women and children. There were many such men both in the shops and houses- but there was no army."

And thus continues the trend ultimately decimating the French forces, not as a result of battle, but poignantly in the very absence of a confrontation with the enemy. When the disciplined companies abandoned their purpose, they fell predictably into an individualistic mob demonstrating the true nature of humanism and moral decay. They were never again assembled into any resemblance of their former glory.

As a follower of Jesus Christ we face the same peril. How many times have I grieved for the spiritual ruin of a friend who, once evidently contending for the faith, has in times of ease and repose settled too deeply into perceived peacetime comforts? How many times have I moved from Christian soldier to marauder? Though at moments the cannon fire dies down and the enemy recoils, we are fools to forget that the battle exists around us. That is our reality, and our relationship to this created space and time. We exist within a battle. If at any time we acquiesce to the weakness of our flesh and expose an apathetic - or worse, arrogant - flank to our enemy, then an advance against our moral battle lines should not be unexpected.

Photo from here.

A Present Help

I turned on the radio while driving through Concord this morning to be greeted by an apathetic female voice listing off the news stories of the day. "The four Americans being held by Somali pirates were killed earlier this morning..." was all I heard. I quickly turned off the radio and stared blankly through the windshield at crystal clear skies not unlike those in the internet thumbnail photo behind the smiling faces of Jean and Scott Adam adrift on the S/V Quest.

Only yesterday I had been reading the developing story of their plight, the U.S. warships monitoring the situation, and the compelling fact that they were known to be Christians carrying Bibles to distribute in oppressive lands. One story even went so far as to state the relative insignificance of the Bibles and their faith to the situation since, "...the pirates...are not hardline Islamists." We may never know whether the Bibles played a role in their unlikely demise or not.

But the Bibles made a difference to me. I had breathed a prayer for them upon hearing the first accounts, and then breathed another more plaintive prayer upon learning of the repulsive resolution. Repulsive to me.

Was this course of events repulsive to the Master of the seas as well? The foul filth of a fallen planet must always be repulsive to the Creator. Yet I'm certain he was was not repulsed by the chain of events, and much to the contrary, was very near and faithfully present there.

My girls were both on the verge of illness Sunday morning, and I'm recovering from a knee injury, so I held church with my 7 year old in the living room while Bec went on to church. We read Psalm 46.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
³ Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

I took time to work the various angles of "present," "fear," "refuge," and "strength" in order to coax these pertinent truths through a 2nd grade mind.

I couldn't help thinking of these verses as I pondered that fateful final voyage for the Adams. Their "earth was removed" and their "waters roared," and some would say that God was not "a very present help" in their trouble. Humanity is chronically short sighted.

This wealthy couple from beautiful Santa Monica, California, aboard a beautiful Yacht must have left a fortune behind. What wonderful people and what tragic loss. Such wealth abandoned.

But the wealth, the wonder, and the yacht were not lost to pirates. It seems they were not even the property of the Adams. Rather, as should be the case in the lives of all Christians, the material forfeiture and submission of life must have occurred long before the pirates were first spotted on the horizon. It seems the Adams had already passed the possession of these on to Another. Their possessions and their mission were in the hands of their Present Help.

When God is our strength, our refuge, and always present, and when we have submitted the charts and direction of our life to the Master, it should be a small step indeed through the gates of heaven.

I firmly believe the Creator was present on that yacht, and with Him the peace that passes understanding.

Tolstoy on Politicians

Count Feodor Rostopchin - governor of Moscow and historical fool, found himself alone in a world not unlike that in which many politicians find themselves - created for and by themselves. Leo Tolstoy describes the conflicted position Rostopchin has established and was thus abandoned into, as the Russian capitol is emptied in anticipation of Napoleon's anticlimactic entrance. The Count is utterly disconnected from those whom he should be leading. To this, Tolstoy provides the following insight:

"In quiet and untroubled times it seems to every administrator that it is only by his efforts that the whole population under his rule is kept going, and in this consciousness of being indispensable every administrator finds the chief reward of his labor and efforts. While the sea of history remains calm the ruler-administrator in his frail bark, holding on with a boat hook to the ship of the people and himself moving, naturally imagines that his efforts move the ship he is holding on to. But as soon as a storm arises and the sea begins to heave and the ship to move, such a delusion is no longer possible. The ship moves independently with its own enormous motion, the boat hook no longer reaches the moving vessel, and suddenly the administrator, instead of appearing a ruler and a source of power, becomes an insignificant, useless, feeble man."

War and Peace Part 11, Chapter 25