God And Politics Revisited

The RPCNA denominational magazine, RPWitness, is publishing a series of articles over the next several months about the political view often called National Confessionalism.

I was invited, as a representative of neocalvinism, to be on the panel of respondents for the "corollary blog" to that series, entitled De Regno Christi. Some of the other contributors are heroes of mine, such as D.G.Hart and David VanDrunen. I'm the youngest and most inexperienced contributor, and perhaps way out of my league (shhh, our little secret), but I'm totally thrilled.

This is my first post, and at the very least I think I can squeeze in one post a month on a Lordsday (as a devotional exercise) when I'm not thesis writing.

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Of Apples And Oranges
an excursus on varieties of self-knowledge and my thesis progress

After giving myself a "jump-in-the-deep-end" crash course on Lonergan, I began to outline points of comparison between his view of self-knowledge and Dooyeweerd's. It soon became apparent to me that each thinker addresses self-knowledge primarily in the context of their respective transcendental approaches to knowledge overall. So, that was about two-and-a-half months ago. I've done more reading and thinking since then, of course.

I developed my outline further, and came up with my main (prospective) conclusion, namely, that the difference in BL's and HD's views of self-knowledge may be accounted for in terms of difference in religious position with regard to each transcendental method. (If that doesn't make any sense to you, don't worry about it. I haven't arrived at the punch-line yet.) So, I was feeling pretty good about everything up to that point. However, in the back of my mind there was this nagging dark spot, like I was missing something important.

Then I read Lonergan's 1974 lecture Self-transcendence: Intellectual, Moral, and Religious. He begins by distinguishing self as substance from self as subject. I got distracted for quite a while on the issue of Death of the Subject, and how HD answers the problem, and trying to think through BL's approach to it. This was a mistake, because it turns out not to relate directly to my actual thesis. I wrestled myself free from that rabbit trail when BL's statements about religious self-transcendence began to pose a difficulty for how I had been conceiving of his view of self-knowledge so far. That's not so important in itself at the moment (although it may turn out to be decisive for my conclusion, but we'll set it aside for now).

The upshot of this was that it caused me to focus on what BL might be saying about self as substance. He didn't elaborate much on that in the aforementioned lecture, but I began to compare what I knew of his substance idea with what HD says about substance and selfhood. Eventually, I realized that in all my notes and outlines, I hadn't actually provided for discussing what view these guys have of the actual "Self." I had only been paying attention to what they say about knowing the self, and had left their view of self per se out of the outlines! Oops. "But, easy enough to correct," I thought. And I wondered how in the world I could have overlooked something so seemingly basic.

Well, turns out it's not so easy to correct. You see, around the same time, I came across a philosophical encyclopedia article on self-knowledge. The thing that jumped out at me was the primary division between views that address self-knowledge in terms of knowledge of ones own "characteristics," particularly ones mental states (cognition, etc), and views that address knowledge of the self per se. And it occurred to me that this is the sort of difference we have between BL and HD. Then I realized this was probably exactly the point my thesis supervisor, Dr. Geertsema, was getting at a month ago when he tried to direct me in explicitly considering the question of what effect the respective contexts of each transcendental method has on each view of self-knowledge, and whether or to what degree that context is in some way determinative for either view. I could cry. This insight was so obvious, staring me in the face the whole time, and I couldn't see it. Lonerganians around the world can have a good chuckle (sorta an inside joke).

So, now I'm looking for apples to compare with apples, and oranges to compare with oranges, because presently I've got an apple and an orange, and the number of interesting things one can say in a Masters thesis about how these are not comparable is fairly limited. No doubt, contrasts are important (my prospective conclusion is basically a contrast), but I need to draw the lines of "same fruit" contrasts, if you know what I mean. In any case, I thank the Lord for bringing me this far. Continue to pray with me, as I work to avoid irrelevant kiwis and try not to slip on anymore bananas; as I work to find the contrasting fruit (and root) ideas of relating varieties.

Katie Ward Knutson

I count it a privilege to have skilled friends in the arts. Recently, I've been enjoying Knutson's work.

Perhaps you're an artist, somewhere out there, reading this... and you feel isolated and unsupported and misunderstood. Well, if it means anything, I hope you keep at it, keep creating. This world needs more artists. I believe that.

American Goes To Parliament

On Wednesday I visited the Hague, got a nice tour of parliamentary buildings, and spoke with a Representative in the "Tweede Kamer" (second chamber) from the CDA. I would have preferred to also meet with CU folk, but they have a comparatively small staff and simply couldn't spare the time. In the afternoon, I was in Utrecht and met with reps from the Christian Trade Union Federation (CNV-NL). I like those guys a lot, and hope to keep in touch. They have a historical connection with the CLA-USA, I think.

The weather was terribly stormy and chilly --a bit of hail and the hardest rain I've seen in the Netherlands-- but I managed to avoid getting soaked.

In other news, one of my heroes, Michael Farris of Patrick Henry College, has been in the media a bit lately. Listen to his FreshAir interview here. In my youth I was enamored with Terry Gross (perhaps I was under the false impression that she was critical and bohemian, rather than a plain ole establishment lefty), now I just listen to hear her sound incredulous when speaking to or about bible-believers.

Don't Ask... Just Yet

This morning after church, a friend showed me this t-shirt someone gave him. It says "Don't ask me about my thesis." I had to laugh, as that's pretty much my sentiment, but I will report on my progress soon enough.
I was reminded of a few other t-shirts I've seen and admired: 1, 2.

I'm happy to report that I will have a version of my paper on Sphere Sovereingty published in the June issue of Griffin's View, the Vrije Universiteit LLM journal of international and comparative law. This will be my first genuine academic publication. I'm quite excited about it. The journal has received some serious professional recognition, at least in the Netherlands, so I'm curious whether my views will get any attention. I would be surprised. The bulk of the paper is the same (ie, explicating Dooyeweerd's conception), but I wrote a new conclusion, applying Sphere Sovereingty to state legislation and "social responsibility" in general.

Speaking of things political, David Koyzis alerts us to Chris Erickson's Christian Democratic Union site. As I comment on Koyzis' post, I think if one knows something about William Jennings Bryan (other than his racism, prohibitionism, anti-evolutionism, and relation to the Wizard of OZ), then imagining such a view in the U.S. context --a view that may otherwise seem to be a European or Latin American political phenomenon-- will be easier. Despite the willingness of some Kuyperian-influenced political thinkers (eg, CPJ) to align themselves with the outlines of the so-called Christian-Democratic approach, I find the inherent Statism (socialism) in such views utterly untenable and opposite the principles of genuine neocalvinism.

update : Check out Philosophia Reformata, the journal of the Association for Reformational Philosophy. Once again, thanks to Steve Bishop! The Nederlanders don't know it yet, but we're plotting to take over the entire organization. The good news of Reformational scholarship has been keep hidden by the "Dutch Mafia" for far, far too long.

Friends Are Good

My 33rd birthday is tomorrow (3 May). However, this morning I received a large care package with lots of goodies, cards, and gifts... and photos of a party some friends held back home in my honor. Absolutely fantastic! What a wonderful present!

The love of friends is real encouragement, and I'm so thankful for it.
I consider it a privilege to be associated with these good folk.

update: this was a very nice gift too --Joe Carter of evangelical outpost and managing editor of World Magazine's blog WorldViews offers his endorsement, saying "Gregory Baus is one of the best popularizers of [Herman Dooyeweerd's] thought *... Baus is wickedly smart and destined to become one of the most influential philosophers in neocalvinism."*

And thanks to Steve Bishop for putting my paper on Dooyeweerd's Societal Sphere Sovereignty into pdf format. Now you can read the footnotes.

another update: It was recently pointed out to me that while this year I turn 33, that Cornelius VanTil (also born 3 May) turns 111, making the distance between CVT and myself the same as between Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Make of it what you will.

Baus In Berlin

Here are a few photos of me from Easter weekend (click to enlarge). You'll notice it was still a bit cold there.

In this first one I'm at the Schiller monument. I liked this guy behind me at the base more than the statue of Schiller himself. He seems so thoughtful, like maybe he's thinking about how Bernard Lonergan and Herman Dooyeweerd compare on the topic of knowing the Self. Or maybe he's just wondering where he can buy some cigarettes.

Next I'm at the Huguenot Church in Berlin. There were a bunch of people sitting around on either side at cafe tables when I stopped in my tracks and started shouting for Paula to get the camera. My friends asked what was the big deal. I said, "this is Calvin!" And all the people drinking coffee started whispering to each other, as though they were discussing among themselves who in the world Calvin might be and why this American tourist was so excited to be photographed with a plaque of him.


This is at Checkpoint Charlie. Facing east I presume.


This is Hannah Arendt Street, near the stunning Holocaust Memorial, a massive field of granite monoliths.


Here I'm gazing at a bit of the old wall displayed at Potsdamer Platz.


Here I'm fantasizing about the quaint life I never had as an U-bahn kioskman.


This gorgeous Kruezberg district Italian and Arab owned joint was a serendipitous find.


Here I'm at an autobahn exit with a sign to Hannover, the halfway point.


And yes, I did smile during this trip. Quite a bit. Just not in any photos. Sorry.

Easter In Berlin

Three friends, Marthe, Heleen, and Paula, invited me along to Berlin for the weekend. Marthe arranged a ride Friday afternoon from Amsterdam to just south of Berlin, then we hitched into the city and met Heleen and Paula at the Brandenburg Gate around midnight. The hostel at which we hoped to stay was booked up, so we found accommodations elsewhere, but we got in for our final evening and loved it.

If you're ever in Berlin, the Circus at Rosa-Luxemburg Platz is excellent. It's a classy and mature atmosphere. Large, clean, comfortable rooms with a good cafe downstairs. Only 18euro a night. Marthe abandoned us for some other adventure on the second evening, but she footed my entire bill anyway (since I had initially said I couldn't afford to go with).

With Heleen as our guide, we wandered about and saw major landmarks; Checkpoint Charlie, the Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, etc. I particularly liked the Gendarmenmarkt. (When I get the pictures, I'll post them). I brought my books and did some studying. We even went bowling! One can hardly beat German beer and a game of 10-pins for a good time. I relished the goulash soup, and finally had a decent schnitzel. I didn't get my fill of spaetzle, I'm afraid to say.

We met some very nice people at the hostel and stayed up til early Monday morning playing cards, and billiards, and chatting. Monday early evening Paula and I went out to a gas station in the southwest of Berlin near the autobahn and started thumbing it. We made a sign, and smiled enthusiastically (tips here). Eventually, we were on the road.

We had four rides and it took us 12 hours to get back to Amsterdam. Much thanks to Mike the naturopath, Michel the military helicopter pilot, Gregoire the civil engineering student, and the last gentleman who took us the farthest when our spirits were lowest and whose name I was too exhausted to even ask. You all made my first European hitchhicking experience a blast. And thanks to dear Paula, whose charm and German skills made things go smoothly.

MP3s Blossoming

Though not here in the Netherlands I'm afraid, the T.U.L.I.P.s are ever in bloom.
URCNA blog Semper Reformanda and Sinners&Saints offer podcasts on the basics of a biblical understanding of salvation.

Or you can cut to the chase, and read up on the L.

Gnostics in Bizzaro World
Irenaeus (and DeMar) on the Gospel of Judas

The Gospel of Judas is actually old news. While a Coptic-language version of this 'gospel,' dated around A.D. 300, was found in the Egyptian desert in 1970, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, debunks it in one of his writings around A.D. 180.
Like so much would be scholarship today, liberals are a day late and a dollar short.

Read DeMar's full article here.