Life long learning?

This week I read "The Niebuhr Brothers for Armchair Theologians", or to be more exact the parts on Reinhold Niebuhr. His brother Richard had some different views and I do not want to get myself mixed up between the two, working out what Reinhold is saying is enough for me at the moment!

These types of books can be very helpful as they give an overview of someones life and thinking. You can also see how someones thinking has evolved in the course of time. This is certainly true of Reinhold Niebuhr, and towards the end of his life he wrote, "Man's Nature and His Communities", a collection of essays where he revisits and even revises some of the ideas he had developed in earliest writings.

There can also be a problem with such books if once read people think they are now an authority on the subject. As it is said a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.  It can lead to picking the part you like to support opinions that you may have. In modern times it seems that both Democrats  and Republicans in America have cited his thinking to support one position or another.

One of the reasons I am probably finding reading Niebuhr hard going on occasions is because what he writes is not just opinion, but based on careful thinking, experience and a deep understanding of humanity. Before expressing an opinion on a subject it is perhaps wise to find out as much as we can about it and even have some experience of it.

In "The Road to Wigan Pier" what Orwell writes is based on just such experience. Early on in the book he describes going down a coal mine in the 1930s. Now I have been down a coal mine a few times at museums but it was nothing like what Orwell describes. What I learnt from his description was that even before getting to the coal face the miners had to walk/crouch/crawl at least a mile along the narrow tunnels. Orwell finds the experience exhausting and likens the effort needed in doing this to climbing a small mountain before and after a days work. He makes the comment that it is only because miners work so hard that others can lead the comfortable lives that they do. This is because at the time everything in an industrialised nation depended on coal. Today coal is not as important in this way in Britain, but there are still people like those miners of old, perhaps in different parts of the world, who work very hard so that we can lead comfortable lives.

Loving God

We thank you for the gift of learning. 

For those who teach us in different ways.

We thank you for all the different resources

there are to help us learn.

Help us to use what we learn to grow

into the people you want us to be.

When we have the gift of 

knowledge and understanding,

 guide us to use it wisely, 

for the good of others 

and not for selfish ends.

Today we pray for people across

the world who work so hard

so that we can live in comfort.

We especially pray for justice

in the work place so that all 

may have a fair days wage for

a fair days labour.

As the Methodist Conference meets

over the next few days;

we pray that your spirit will guide

it in the decisions it has to make

and uphold those in 

positions of responsibility.

This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ

Our Lord and Saviour.

Amen

Individuality

I have just finished reading "Burmese Days" and have to say that I did not find many of the characters particularly endearing, in fact I did not find any of them endearing! I am not sure that Orwell wants you to. What he shows is the bigotry of colonial rule as he sees it based on his own experiences in the colonial police. It seems to me that the British characters in the book, with perhaps one exception, do not think that there is anything wrong with the way they are living or what they think and say. When people are like this then it is probably very difficult to get them to change, especially if such change might mean they lose some of the power they have, or perceive they have. When this power is threatened the "like minded" often stick together to defend their privileges and anyone who breaks ranks is criticised. This is in fact what we see in the story. It is as if each individual puts aside their individualism for the common cause. Now when the common cause is a just one that can be seen  laudable, but what if it isn't? And who is to say what is and is not a just cause?

In the first volume of "The Nature and Destiny of Man" Niebuhr explores human nature. Early on he looks at individuality critiquing the standpoints of Naturalism, Idealism and Romanticism. I have to admit that takes a bit of careful reading and I do not think I have grasped it all but this comment of Niebuhr's seems to make sense to me:  "Without the presuppositions of the Christian faith the individual is either nothing or becomes everything"1.

I think that this is worth reflecting upon. As individuals we are all important to God, but how do we express that individualism? Is it always in the way God intended? How far does our Christian faith help us to be the individuals God intends us to be?  In fact will we ever be those individuals in this life?

Moving on........

I am setting myself the challenge of reading two Orwell books at the same time. " Keep the Aspidistra Flying" is Orwell's third novel and starts off in a bookshop, "The Road to Wigan Pier"is his account of working class life in the industrial areas of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s.

Gracious God

We give you thanks for a world

where individuality means so much diversity.

Help us to be the individuals 

You have called us to be;

Help us to be thankful for others

as individuals;

Help us to guard against a 

selfish individualism that only sees what 

we want to see.

We pray for those in need today;

The hungry, the homeless, the lost and the lonely.

For those who are persecuted 

because of who they are, or what they believe.

We ask that your spirit of love and reconciliation 

may flow into those places that need it; 

so that all may live in peace and dignity.

Amen

1. Niebuhr Reinhold: The Nature and Destiny of Man Vol I: Human Nature . Louisville Westminster John Knox Press . 1996 p92

Human Nature?

In chapter fourteen of “Burmese Days” Elizabeth is taken on a hunting trip into the Jungle by her neighbour John Flory. As they set off she expresses the hope that they will find and shoot a leopard and it is obvious that she is really excited at the prospect of shooting something, even though she has never fired a gun before. As they make their way through the Jungle they shoot some birds, with Elizabeth proving “a natural” after an initial miss. Then news comes that a leopard has been spotted. The party go in search and when they find  it both Flory and Elizabeth shoot at it  and it is killed. Elizabeth is obviously delighted with how things have turned out.  

But why was she? What was it that made a young woman who had never held a gun
before let alone shoot one  become so elated about killing another creature?
It made me wonder whether there is something in human nature that makes the
ability to kill a possibility. Perhaps the story of Cain and Abel is making this
point in some way (Genesis 4: 1 - 15).

Throughout history, and even today, the ability of people to kill has resulted in much evil
through oppression and war. The difficult question is what do others do when this happens?

How do you oppose a person or group that is prepared to kill to get their own way? 
For Christians this has always been a difficult question and has resulted in views
like the just war. I remember that the idea of the just war came up once in my
Latin class at school as we looked at Roman ideas. Our headteacher who was
teaching our small group simply said “ no war is just”.
He had been in WWII and was a POW of the Japanese. 

If this is true how do we respond when war is forced upon you?  When evil seems to be
taking over things? When others seek to kill you and all you stand for? Maybe that same
part of human nature that makes killing a possibility is also what enables people 
to use force, and even killing to oppose such evil. Maybe this is what made it
possible for so many to fight against such tyranny in two world wars,
perhaps against their “better nature”.

In my reading of Niebuhr I am finding that he explores issues around questions on human
nature and I hope to be able to increase my understanding of his thinking and how
relevant it still is today, as I delve deeper. 

In the meantime more of Burmese Days awaits.

Loving God

Today we continue to pray for

all those affected by the Coronavirus.

May your hand of comfort and blessing 

be upon them and their loved ones.

We give thanks for all those using their gifts and skills

seeking to combat the virus,

and pray for those scientists working so hard 

to find treatments and a vaccine.

Lord terms like fighting against the virus 

and war on covid 19 seem so common at the moment.

In our time of concern  about what is happening in our country,

help us not to forget those parts of the world that are ravaged by war,

and  those in refugee camps displaced by war;

where the  effect of coronavirus could be devastating.

We hold these people and places up before you and pray for

their protection and for peace.

Amen

A grain of sand?

As I read on in "Burmese Days" I am getting to know the character of  Elizabeth a bit better. It seems that Orwell is using her to express some of the prejudices that he saw during his time in Burma. The impression you get is that she thinks everything white and British is superior to everything else. When taken to a local Burmese festival she is made welcome by the local people and they even bring on the star act early especially for her; when taken to a Chinese shop she is made welcome by the owner who brings out the best tea to share with her. In both cases she is repelled by what she sees and experiences and walks off in disgust, no thought for others or the welcome she was given. This attitude is not just reserved for those she meets in Burma, it seems when in Paris she had just as much contempt for all foreigners.

It is also an attitude expressed by other characters especially when there is a move to allow a non European to become a member of the exclusive European Club. Those with power and privilege are often resistant to any changes that might reduce this.

As Orwell is publishing "Burmese Days" Niebuhr is making social comment as well on these lines.
He talks about human anxiety playing a role in human action. Anxiety about what might happen to you can lead to actions that are not always good. He also says that those who want to challenge social injustice and change the world for the better should expect opposition from those who might lose out as a result. In order to get change some form of confrontation may well be necessary as those with power are not just going to hand it over. In "Moral Man and Immoral Society " published in 1932 he observed:
" the white race in America will not admit the Negro to equal rights if it is not forced to do so". 1

It seems that the question of prejudice and equal rights is just as much an issue today as when Orwell and Niebuhr were writing back in the 1930's.  Many across the world have been appalled at the death of George Floyd and protested in various ways against the injustice and prejudice they see and feel.

If Niebuhr is right then opposing such injustice and prejudice will bring its own opposition and even confrontation of some sort.

We might feel that there is not much we can do about all of this; we might feel that our actions are like a grain of sand on the seashore, easily washed away by the prevailing tide. This might be true but it could also be true that from such grains castles of hope are built.

Gracious God

Today we pray for all those

across the world who are suffering 

from injustice of any sort.

We pray that your spirit of

love will work in the hearts

of all people, so that all people 

can live in dignity with respect

for each other.

We thank you for the diversity

of culture and life across Your world.

Help us to rejoice and celebrate this.

In those times when we fall short

in showing Your love, forgive us 

and open our eyes afresh to the truth 

that we are all created in Your image.

Amen

1. Niebuhr R, Moral Man and Immoral Society ( Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press 1932) 253