Until recently, I did not know there is such a thing as an anarchist anthropologist. David Graeber, who died a little over a year ago, was perhaps the best known of those in the fellowship of anarchist anthropologists. Now posthumously, Graeber with co-author David Wengrow, an archaeologist, have just published a book that has attracted the attention of reviewers and columnists. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, a 700-page tome, is apparently as ambitious as its title suggests.

Drawing from research and insights gathered by archaeologists and anthropologists anarchist and otherwise, the authors argue that things did not have to turn out the way they have. We could have been much happier than we are.

The New York Times recently published an essay adapted from the book. The headline tells the story: “Ancient History Shows How We Can Create a More Equal World.” In the essay Graeber and Wengrow argue that the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was mistaken when he contended that humans are born inherently noble and good only to be corrupted by inherently unjust and inequitable social systems and institutions. Oh, they agree with Rousseau about our inherent goodness, they just don’t think systems and institutions have to be unjust and inequitable. Noble savages can be noble city dwellers. They insist that we have created just and equitable systems and institutions suited to our just and egalitarian natures before and that we can do it again. Continue reading →

The word “flat” as a descriptor for Indiana is understandable, but not altogether accurate. Compared to Colorado with its Rockies, the Sierra Nevada of California, or the Cascades of Oregon and Washington, the terrain in Indiana is pretty flat. As we are settling into our second year in Indiana, however, we are enjoying the little bit of un-flatness of at least our corner of the state. Geologists tell us the glaciers that carved the Great Lakes extended into northern Indiana and as they receded they left the terminal and lateral moraines which became the hills around us. They are not high hills, certainly not mountains, but rolling hills and hundreds of small lakes, great in their own way.

More flat than hilly, our neighborhood still has a bit of rise and fall in the landscape. You notice it when you are out walking or, especially, when you are running. You push a little harder on the small hills and run just a tiny bit faster on the slight downhills.

There is a hill – if you can call a few yards of upward slope a hill – on my morning running route. I’d be embarrassed to point it out to my jogging friends in California or Oregon, but I notice it as I am trotting along. Just a little hill that requires a little extra push. I make it to the top every time. Continue reading →

Is that the best post title ever or what? Semi-Pelagianism is a soteriological heresy and I am not sure the children’s board game Chutes and Ladders is primarily concerned with instruction in soteriology, but still it makes for the best post title of all time.

As our children grew older, we (Becky) decided to save some of their toys and games for that someday when we might have grandchildren around the house. Well, that someday has arrived and what a good decision it was to hang on to some of those games and toys. Old Legos are better than new Legos, and there is something about a vintage doll that makes her all the more precious. The boards on old board games are sturdier and the spinners on the dials are still spinning well after all these years.

Among the games we saved is Chutes and Ladders. Continue reading →

Becky and I recently watched “Maid,” a ten-part series on Netflix. The program has been well reviewed, and Netflix says it is currently its third most watched series. In an odd way “Maid” is a happy-ever-after American success story told in the dark and dreary tones of our times. And lest this be taken as a recommendation or endorsement, it should be noted that foul language and decadent behavior is pervasive in the film.

“Maid” tells the story of Alex, a twenty-something woman raised by abusive and dysfunctional parents who ends up in an abusive and dysfunctional relationship with her boyfriend Sean who is the father of her two-year daughter. When Alex finally escapes the suffocating life of the single-wide mobile home she shares with Sean, she finds herself homeless and unemployed with only her mentally ill mother and once-abusive and now born-again father to turn to. So she turns to herself.  She goes to work for Value Maids, a local house-cleaning service whose owner cheats her at every turn out of the money she is owed. We follow Alex through the crazy-making world of social services, the reality of life in a domestic violence shelter, and the seemingly impossible task of finding decent childcare for her daughter. For every good decision Alex makes, we see a heart breaking bad decision with its devastating consequences for Alex and her daughter.

Spoiler Alert: As the story ends, Alex, with the help of a high-end lawyer whose house she cleans, begins to move out of the old patterns of her dark and dreary past into a future that holds bright promise. Continue reading →

I have a friend who, like me, posts some of what he has been thinking about to his website and email program every Friday. Unlike me, a lot of people read what he says. My friend’s thoughts are must-read for me every Friday.
 
This past Friday my friend used an article he had recently read to launch into his own reflections on the same subject from his own experience and to which his own experience was particularly relevant. I guess you could say that his topic was pandering, though my friend did not use the word and it can sound harsh. Let me explain. Acknowledging the widely accepted fact that many evangelical Christians leaders have worked to curry favor with and gain influence among — pandered to — those on the political right and its ascendant nationalism, the original article looked also at a smaller number of evangelicals who seem to pander to the cultural left with its dominance of the media and the arts.
 
My friend, who knows about such things, wrote of the thrill of being mentioned, quoted, or, best yet, published by the New York Times or the Atlantic magazine. There is a certain delight in the approval of the right people even if we disagree with the right people on many important issues.
 
My initial reaction to my friend’s post was, “Yes, me too.”  I like to be liked and no more so than by people who appear to be smart, informed, and sophisticated. The white wine and season tickets to the symphony crowd. The elites. It’s gotten me into trouble. The first of the two winters of despair in my pastoral ministry had to do with the elites turning on me when my appreciation of good literature and fine arts (and white wine) did not extend to an appreciation of their vaguely universalist and barely Christian theology. No, I did not recant, but their rejection stung. Continue reading →