Andrew Engelhardt

Help Me Read and Understand Alasdair MacIntyre

2011-02-22T21:47:56-06:00

I've gained a new appreciation for fiction (specifically, science-fiction) since graduating from seminary. These books have impacted my thought and intellect far beyond what I ever considered to be possible. But I've sensed a longing over the past few months to tackle some of the texts that I was never able to tackle while studying in seminary. One of those books is Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. It's difficult to think of a professor that did not mention this book during a lecture, or a syllabus that did not have it included under the recommended readings section, or a required text that did not reference it as foundational to their own argument. Nevertheless, I was somehow able to make it through the entire program without ever having read it.

I picked the book up and began reading shortly after Christmas, but today find myself only on page 32 of 278. It's frustrating. I can't tell if the issue is that it really is a very challenging book, or if I am just un-practiced in following logical argument or the niche language of moral philosophy (also contributing is the little eight month old who takes up most of the "reading time"). Either way, I need something to assist me in understanding MacIntyre's work and have decided that I once again need to utilize writing on this blog as a method for processing. Also, I hope that this does not turn out to be a stale outline or summary of MacIntrye (or at least what I take MacIntyre to be saying), but instead has some type of practical insight for what we are trying to do in Westmont.

MacIntyre begins by setting up a fictious scenario in which the natural sciences are blamed for devastating natural disasters. The general public therefore riots and destroys all traces of the natural sciences (laboratories burnt down, physicists lynched, books and instruments destroyed). Years later, a group of people attempt to revive the sciences, but all they are left with are fragments:

a knowledge of experiments detached from any knowledge of the theoretical context which gave them signifiance; parts of theories unrelated either to the other bits and pieces of theory which they possess or to experiement; instruments whose use has been forgotten; half-chapters from books, single pages from articles, not always fully legible because torn and charred (1).

MacIntyre's hypothesis is that "the actual world which we inhabit the language of morality is in the same state of grave disorder as the language of natural science in the imaginary world which I described" (2). The moral arguments that we find ourselves obsessed over (i.e. - just war, abortion, equality) are incommesurable. These arguments are largely circular, for they attempt to grasp rationality, even though the dominant emotivist culture allows no space for the rational (only feelings or attitudes). This is the situation we find ourselves in today: a time filled with mere remnants of moral language/argument, without the narrative that makes moral discourse actually possible.

Is Marriage (today) a sign that MacIntyre is correct?

The first 30 pages are packed, and I am sure that I have misunderstood much. It is exciting material though. While watching the news the other day, I saw a segment in which an interviewer was asking people on the street whether or not they thought marriage should be abandoned in our culture, given the shockingly high divorce rates. The responses varied, but the majority of people wanted to hold onto marriage as a cultural practice.

From the little I understand of the book so far, marriage seems to be a clear sign that MacIntyre is correct. The vows spoken to one another in a marriage bind two together in a commitment: specifically, a type of commitment that is for all of life. Yet, marriage as a cultural practice cannot account for why two people should stay together through "good times and bad, in sickness and in health."

Anyway, I had to spend a few moments writing down some thoughts about the book so far and what I understand MacIntyre to be getting at. For those of you who have read it, feel free to correct me where I have misunderstood, clarify MacIntyre's assertions, or offer advice on how to grasp the remainder of the book.

Uncle Tom's Cabin and Advent

2010-12-07T21:29:27-06:00

Uncle Tom’s Cabin has more heroes and more villains than any book I have before read, and, for the most part, the characters are consistent with one of these two roles. Two of the most endearing and beloved characters – Tom and Eva – are clearly both heroes in the story. The reader grows to love Tom: a character who is unrelenting in his willingness to sacrifice his own self, security, and safety for that of others and for his Lord Jesus Christ. But the reader also falls in love with little Evaline St. Clair: a young girl who is sickened by the inhumanity of slavery and is willing to do something about it. Little Miss Eva is constantly seen playing with those whom her culture dictates as less than human.

There are so many things that could be said about this book (and so many have already – Abraham Lincoln attributed the beginning steps to emancipation to this narrative), but one scene in particular grasped my attention this Advent season. If you have not read the book, and you plan to in the future, you may not want to read on. Otherwise, please reflect with me on this Advent image.

Chapter 26

Tom, at last, would not sleep in his room, but lay all night in the outer verandah, ready to rouse at every call…"You know it says in Scripture, 'At midnight there was a great cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh.' That's what I'm spectin now, every night, Miss Feely, - and I couldn't sleep out o' hearin, no ways."

"Why, Uncle Tom, what makes you think so?"

"Miss Eva, she talks to me. The Lord, he sends his messenger in the soul. I must be thar, Miss Feely; for when that ar blessed child goes into the kingdom, they'll open the door so wide, we'll all get a look in at the glory, Miss Feely."

We have here the image of Tom waiting, without regard to image or comfort, outside of little Eva’s room , all so that he might get a glimpse of the bridegroom comin’ at Eva’s death. Compare this with the reading from Romans 13 from Advent 1:

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹²the night is far gone, the day is near.

Uncle Tom knew that he would see something remarkable. He was living in a state of anxious expectation, hoping to merely get a glimpse of the glorious life to which his friend Eva was journeying to. How much more for those of us who believe that this kingdom has already come? Do we not walk everyday with the hope of the reconciling/redeeming work of a Savior?

The image of Tom lying outside of Eva’s room in eager expectation is engrained in my mind as an image for Advent this year. Advent traditionally invites us into dual hope: a remembered hope that Israel had for its Messiah to come, and a hope for the final coming of the kingdom of Christ in the future. Let us also hope to see the door of heaven opening up here and now, as we seek to share with the poor, the oppressed, and the widow that “the kingdom of God has come near.”

Missional Learning Commons 2010

2010-12-01T15:20:32-06:00

I often hear suggestions of podcasts or lectures to listen to, but rarely take the time to actually listen to them. Given the monotony of the data entry required at the job for the time being, I was able to listen to the Missional Learning Conference audio files in their entirety throughout the day (each lecture is only 12 minutes long). Although your time would not be wasted listening to any of the lectures, a few stood out to me:

Jon Berbaum on Desiring the Kingdom - Audio
Cyd Holsclaw on Discipleship Backstage - Audio
Mark Van Steenwyk on Discipleship in the Shadow of Empire - Audio
Dave Fitch on Leadership is Submission - Audio

The Light of a Living Gospel

2010-11-08T18:41:04-06:00

"This, indeed, was a home,--home,--a word that George had never yet known a meaning for; and a belief in God, and trust in His providence, began to encircle his heart, as, with a golden cloud of protection and confidence, dark, misanthropic, pining, atheistic doubts, and fierce despair, melted away before the light of a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thousand unconscious acts of love and good-will, which, like the cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, shall never lose their reward." Uncle Tom's Cabin 138-139

Gaining An Appreciation For Novels: Suggestions?

2010-10-19T23:49:18-05:00

I have had the opportunity to read many wonderful books over the past few months, and surprisingly, the majority of them have been novels. Reading used to be an event of the day: a blocked out two-three hour retreat spent marking the books' margins and jotting down notes. Since Lydia has been born, reading is a filler in the few down times and before bed. Therefore, novels and narrative based writing have seemed to fit the availability, and I have thoroughly enjoyed each that I have read recently.

The first is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. The character development in this book is incredible. You are invited into the lives of four brothers who, although share the same father, have entirely different worldviews as a result of entirely different childhoods. It is a classic novel on the dilemma of human thought and response to one's surroundings. I found that I both loved and hated things about the brothers, as well as the secondary characters and the abusive father. Dostoyevsky raises issues of faith and culture, sin and forgiveness, love and hatred, and lies and truth. It's a book that someone could read twenty times, and each time find a new story within the story.

While many were introduced to this novel in high school (or earlier), I did not hear of it until reading Stanley Hauerwas' A Community of Character. Hauerwas uses Richard Adams Watership Down to illustrate the importance of memory and remembering for a community's politic. I was most intrigued by the forward to the book, where the author says something to the extent of, "No matter how my book has been used in political theory, it was originally written as a children's tale for my daughters." Yet it does not take long to see why this book is used in political theory courses, as it traces a community of rabbits as they journey from one strange community to the next. I must note that this book has given an image to leadership within the church that I had been unable to envision before. As someone who feels many of the missional church postures, I have been an advocate of flattening leadership without the loss of leadership. While this sounds good in theory, I had not seen it enacted all-too-often and I had not an image of what this "relying on the gifts of one another" might actually look like. Watership Down provides this image, as we watch the rabbit-community's reliance upon one another: reliance upon the visionary rabbit, the thinker-rabbit, the storyteller-rabbit, and the strong-rabbit. Each rabbit had a role in the community that was essential for its survival, yet not one rabbit was privileged above the rest, or had a right to say, "but the buck stops here!"

Most recently I have finished Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. This book was recommended by many close friends, and upon learning that it was a story about magic in Europe, I became even more intrigued (I seem to be a sucker for these types of books, whether it be Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings). This book is filled with layers. At times I thought it was about the power of esoteric knowledge to create those who are elite and those who are common. While this hooked me for awhile, I then became frustrated that this book provided neither an epic-storyline reminiscent of other fantasy novels, nor a darkness that often accompanies these types of books. But then it made me think about theology, and how we too-often approach theology as a language of the elite, enclaving ourselves as a group of those "inside" and leaving everyone else "outside": this book smacks this arrogant posturing as we see magic come back to the everyday lives of individuals and England as a whole. Finally, the final third of the book provides the type of epic tale that I had hoped for all along.

I could easily write essays on each of these books and the impact that they have had on my thoughts over the past few months. While it is easy to think that I am missing something by not focusing on non-fiction works, I have been blessed to be growing through the truthfulness and impact of good storytelling. Maybe what I have needed for a long time is immersion into fiction. The knowledge that I have long-pursued resides in facts and truths, which when understood, can then be enacted upon and heralded to the world: the story is thus the result of having our facts correct. But as I continue with many of the post-modern sentiments and seek to live amidst and among people whose lives are stories, I realize that stories are not the result, but the only way that we can know anything.

So with all that said, anyone have any suggestions for some good novel reading?