{"id":2682,"date":"2010-05-26T11:13:48","date_gmt":"2010-05-26T19:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2010-05-26T11:13:48","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T19:13:48","slug":"the-hardest-other-culture-to-learn-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2010\/05\/26\/the-hardest-other-culture-to-learn-from","title":{"rendered":"The Hardest Other Culture To Learn From"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"James<\/a>
\nAfter see\u00ading a favor\u00adable men\u00adtion by Andy Nasel\u00adli<\/a>, I read a fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading inter\u00adview<\/a> with Tom Net\u00adtles, a schol\u00adar who wrote a biog\u00adra\u00adphy of the Bap\u00adtist leader James Boyce.<\/p>\n

The inter\u00adview\u00ader asked Dr. Net\u00adtles, \u201cHow would you respond to some\u00adone who said he would nev\u00ader read your book for the sim\u00adple fact that James P. Boyce was from the South and owned slaves?\u201d<\/p>\n

As a min\u00adis\u00adter to col\u00adlege stu\u00addents, I was curi\u00adous to see what he would say. Young peo\u00adple today are often eager to learn from every cul\u00adture but our own for pre\u00adcise\u00adly the rea\u00adsons implic\u00adit in the ques\u00adtion. The virtues of ear\u00adli\u00ader Amer\u00adi\u00adcan or Euro\u00adpean lead\u00aders are often swamped by their vices, and so col\u00adlege stu\u00addents seem unable to appre\u00adci\u00adate the oth\u00ader cul\u00adture that is our past. And they are par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly prone to judge dead Chris\u00adtians harsh\u00adly. <\/p>\n

Dr. Net\u00adtles\u2019 answer is amaz\u00ading:<\/p>\n

I would try to resist the pro\u00adduc\u00adtion of a long list of insults to the intel\u00adli\u00adgence of one so big\u00adot\u00aded, nar\u00adrow-mind\u00aded, unthink\u00ading and hyp\u00ado\u00adcrit\u00adi\u00adcal as even to think such a thing. Employ\u00adment of such a prin\u00adci\u00adple would shut one off from the study of the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment, vir\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly all of the ancient cul\u00adtures, Greek dom\u00adi\u00adnance of the intertes\u00adta\u00admen\u00adtal peri\u00adod, the Roman Empire, the his\u00adto\u00adry of Eng\u00adland until the first half of the nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry, the his\u00adto\u00adry of colo\u00adnial Amer\u00adi\u00adca, the lives of Thomas Jef\u00adfer\u00adson, George Wash\u00ading\u00adton, the entire ante-bel\u00adlum South and so forth. If one believes that the union of church and state has brought untold suf\u00adfer\u00ading and evil to both church and state as well as soci\u00adety in gen\u00ader\u00adal (which I do), and feels that avoid\u00ading the doc\u00adu\u00adments pro\u00adduced in that con\u00adtext is a moral neces\u00adsi\u00adty for a Chris\u00adt\u00adian and that aware\u00adness of their view\u00adpoints on the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy, pol\u00adi\u00adtics, phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy, and soci\u00adety are rep\u00adre\u00adhen\u00adsi\u00adble and unwor\u00adthy of the intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal and spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal life of a Chris\u00adt\u00adian (which I don\u2019t), then avoid the study of the Ger\u00adman Ref\u00ador\u00adma\u00adtion, the Eng\u00adlish Ref\u00ador\u00adma\u00adtion and all west\u00adern medieval cul\u00adture. Bring to void any ben\u00ade\u00adfit from the study of Augus\u00adtine, Anselm and Aquinas. Know noth\u00ading of the City of God, the Proslo\u00adgion, and the Sum\u00adma. If one stud\u00adies his\u00adto\u00adry and gains inter\u00adest in per\u00adsons and nations sim\u00adply on the basis of per\u00adson\u00adal moral approval of the sub\u00adject or the era in which he lived, he prob\u00ada\u00adbly can find jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion for the study of noth\u00ading and spend his life con\u00adgrat\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading him\u00adself that he is igno\u00adrant of every\u00adthing. But if one wants to see the oper\u00ada\u00adtions of the mind of a high\u00adly gift\u00aded, intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly and moral\u00adly dri\u00adven per\u00adson, whose flaws are obvi\u00adous and will not hurt us and whose strengths are mas\u00adsive and will inspire and help us, then go for Boyce.<\/strong> If one wants to see the way in which the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal and bib\u00adli\u00adcal com\u00admit\u00adments tran\u00adscend the abil\u00adi\u00adty of any indi\u00advid\u00adual to facil\u00adi\u00adtate the moral, intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal, and spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal lofti\u00adness engen\u00addered in the study of divine rev\u00ade\u00adla\u00adtion, study Boyce. If one want to see how that same com\u00admit\u00adment, nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless, rais\u00ades a com\u00admon sin\u00adner such as we all are to uncom\u00admon heights of self-sac\u00adri\u00adfice inspired by a vision of the divine glo\u00adry, study Boyce. If one wants to see how Chris\u00adt\u00adian char\u00adac\u00adter con\u00adstant\u00adly nour\u00adished by increased knowl\u00adedge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ can inter\u00adrupt the nat\u00adur\u00adal ten\u00adden\u00adcy to bit\u00adter\u00adness and resent\u00adment and seething hos\u00adtil\u00adi\u00adty fos\u00adtered by the crush\u00ading destruc\u00adtion and snarling ridicule of deeply-held con\u00advic\u00adtion and unfet\u00adtered com\u00admit\u00adment to a cause and trans\u00adform the soul to the sweet\u00adness of a rec\u00adon\u00adciled and rec\u00adon\u00adcil\u00ading pos\u00adture of mind, study Boyce.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Empha\u00adsis mine.<\/p>\n

Wow. So yeah, learn from the past. Even dead slave own\u00aders were not with\u00adout some wis\u00addom and virtue. And remem\u00adber \u2014 your descen\u00addants will judge you far more harsh\u00adly than you imag\u00adine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After see\u00ading a favor\u00adable men\u00adtion by Andy Nasel\u00adli, I read a fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading inter\u00adview with Tom Net\u00adtles, a schol\u00adar who wrote a biog\u00adra\u00adphy of the Bap\u00adtist leader James Boyce. The inter\u00adview\u00ader asked Dr. Net\u00adtles, \u201cHow would you respond to some\u00adone who said he would nev\u00ader read your book for the sim\u00adple fact that James P. Boyce \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cThe Hard\u00adest Oth\u00ader Cul\u00adture To Learn From\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rants-opinions-and-general-contrariness","category-resources-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-Hg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2682"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2691,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions\/2691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}