My area of focus is theology and to be even more precise, pastoral theology, which makes my assessment of political debates infinitely less interesting. But since there are at least two witnesses eager to hear my thoughts, here it goes with all the zeal I can muster:
As far as the debate, it was a hopeless display of testicular dis-fortitude. And that’s all I have to say about it. Thanks for listening.
Now, what I really wish to communicate since I have you captive is that we are functioning in a priestly phase of history. While I don’t subscribe to the particularities of all Dreher’s proposals, I do subscribe and have for a long time to the idea that postmillennially speaking, we are young in our history, and somewhere between 5-10,000 years from the age of wisdom of history where Christendom will enfold civilization into one happy kumbaya experience. Until then, we will function in a priestly format with glimpses of prophets and kings around us, but by and large we will breathe priestly air for a long time.
And by the priestly phase of history, I mean the phase of history where we inculcate biblical grammar into the programming system of every little child. Adults also carry this task of reading big books, familiarizing oneself with big ideas of historical tradition, and seeing the Bible through new eyes. But it’s not the economy, it’s the children, stupid! It seems crazy to think about this, but the finest thing your children can aim for is the task of a loyal churchman: one faithful to his vocation and tribe. That’s it. If he is not a faithful church member, his ambitions are filthy rags.
So, to begin this indoctrination, we really need to think deeply about the education of our children and what worship they will subscribe to in coming years. Big people need to think about ours as well, but some of us are already forming and reforming our strategies and depending how old we are, we are having either a hell of a time doing it, or struggling our way to the throne each Lord’s Day. If you don’t want your children and their conversations to remind you of last night’s episode of “Dumb and Dumber,” choose the nobler things; or as the ancients would say, “the permanent things.”
Practically, every time your son writes some jumbled sentence on a text message, tell him that he knows better. If your 16-year old daughter puts a picture of herself on Instagram showing over 70% of her body, tell her that her body belongs to Jesus and not to the overly energized teens staring at her skin on-line. If your college son decides to sleep-in on a Sunday because he had a late night at a friend’s house, teach him the lesson of the gods who thought they could get away with murder. Just don’t let these things happen. While they may appear minor, these are habits that endanger the soul of future priests.
Begin young and begin big. Be a happy tyrant when they are little so that you can be a fuzzy-bear libertarian when they grow up. But do not wait to inculcate ideas. Begin the conversations early and often. The priestly stage of history compels us to memorize facts and ideas, which will come in quite handy when we transition to prophetic and kingly phases of history. The priests shall inherit the earth, the prophets shall proclaim the king’s message, and the kings will speak wisdom to the nations. While we are living in this priestly domain, study to show yourself approved. Get up each morning with your prayer book ready to go and a psalm to sing. Priests love heavenly grammar.
