Justice Alito is on record having said he would like our nation to be more godly. I would too, although I suspect my idea of what that means may not be the same idea as his. A more godly America would place godly virtues above all other measures of national success in public, private and political life. But what are the characteristics of godly virtues and do they require a particular religious faith if they are to be attained?
As a Christian, I am convinced that in Christ Jesus the way of godly virtues is made clear and that it fulfills all the laws and prophets of Hebrew Scripture. At the same time I am deeply suspicious that some people proclaiming to be Christians have something different in mind. It seems that they mean adherence to a particular definition of Christianity that centers on adherence to imagined social norms of the mid 20th century which they call biblical. The first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans suggest there is something of the more godly way that has been known and followed by some pagans. By reason and common thought they contemplated nature including human nature. I imagine Paul was thinking of Plato and the Stoics, and maybe even peasants who discerned something of the godly way in the cycles of agriculture.
God’s Spirit can make herself known to whomever she likes and in whatever way she chooses. We who know and follow God incarnate in Christ Jesus are confident that what is known only in part by non-believers who live in godly ways is made more fully known to us directly by God Almighty as we know God in Jesus, the Word of God made flesh. Jesus declared the fundamental, incontrovertible principles of what it means to live godly lives. But he left it to us to discern how to apply them in places and among the people where we are. He left it to us to become disciples, to be life long learners, to examine how to live our own lives more closely following in his way. He declared that God’s Spirit would be with us always and everywhere to guide and guard us, but not dictate or coerce. He declared that our eternal life in God’s presence is not a reward for being good, but our destiny as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death that is life. On the way we are to love God, love ourselves, and love our neighbors as Jesus taught and demonstrated. It is love that fulfills the terms of virtues God delivered through the prophets and interpreted for us by Jesus, They are grounded in healing, restoration, reconciliation, and living in peaceful harmony with others. It is a peaceful harmony that doesn’t require unanimity, nor can it be imposed on others by those in power. Godly virtues may be without number, but Paul suggests they include: “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.” (Gal. 5)
There is something to be learned from Plato and Stoics about what that means for the Christian way of life. They emphasized the need for mature adults to become the masters of their passions, subordinating them to reason and reflection on what is good and right. They were suspicious of emotions having control over behavior. Passions like lust, anger, egoism, self righteousness, and such destroyed a good life. Paul said the same thing. Passions exist. They are part of who we are. They are not bad in themselves but destructive when we allow them to control us.
It brings me back to Alito and what the way of a more godly nation might be. Yes, we need to become a more godly nation. But that does not mean imposing a rather corrupted brand of Christianity on the public through legislation, schools and courts. It does mean Christians, especially their leaders, must be bolder in public proclamations of classical virtues explored through two thousand years of prayerful discernment leading ever closer to godly justice. Today we must be bolder in displaying respect for other religious traditions, especially when we share understanding about civic virtues that are the foundation of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
A more godly nation is one where godly virtues are taught, known, practiced by Christians who do not confuse them with social norms, which may or may not be virtuous. It’s a nation where history is taught honestly without embarrassment. It’s a nation where civics and classical virtues are taught in well funded public schools. It is a nation where the health and well being of the community goes hand in hand with preserving individual rights, and every individual understands thier obligation to the common welfare. In the United States more than any other nation, it means living in peaceful harmony and mutual respect for and between people of diverse cultures and ethnicities.
Finally we in the classical tradition of Christianity must turn our attention away from defending the church and toward a more vigorous proclamation of the Good News, inviting all to join us as followers of Jesus Christ without condemning those who take other paths. We need more public theologians and preachers who communicate effectively with the people in the language of the people. What is proclaimed in the pulpit must be practiced in public. I think we talk too much to ourselves and too little to others. We put worthy effort into speaking truth to power, and little effort into speaking hope to to those who need it most.
What follows below are comments by Prof. Davis, and old friend who has been a valued conversaiton partner of over twenty years.
I want to comment on these concluding sentences:
“We need more public theologians and preachers who communicate effectively with the people in the language of the people. What is proclaimed in the pulpit must be practiced in public. I think we talk too much to ourselves and too little to others. We put worthy effort into speaking truth to power, and little effort into speaking hope to those who need it most.”
First, does the phrase “the language of the people” assume that “We, the people” in today’s America all share a common language? One way to answer would be to ask, Is there a shared sense of the “common good” in today’s America?
The absence of a confident “Yes, and it is…” is rooted in the growing substitution of zealous tribal outrage for genuine self-confidence. Zealous tribal outrage compensates for despair at heart. Whereas genuine self-confidence follows from being faithful at heart to something more important than yourself. The pervasive mistake today is to think that zealous loyalty to this or that sectarian tribe can be that “something more important” rather than itself being despair at heart.
So if we ask, “Who are those most in need of hope?”, look first to the zealous outrage of those “speaking truth to power.”
For what the children of the elite proclaiming their loyalty to Hamas to free Palestine and the millions of Americans who fervently believe that only Donald Trump can save America from itself share is a fantastical “hope” meant to save them from their own despair at heart.
Can the Episcopal Church learn how to speak out to such shared despair from the confident depth of Jesus’s own day-by-day faithfulness? Is there a “language of the people” today that can inspire turning to hearken to the hope at the heart of Jesus’s everyday faithfulness?