Turkey Unveiled - a history

  I just finished reading Nicole and Hugh Pope's Turkey Unveiled; and as a history of republican Turkey it is quite informative. Not only is the book very readable, it has about it a sense of Turkey and Turkish thought, including using key Turkish words to highlight important cultural values. One of the beauties of the book is that it expresses a deep understanding of Turkish culture that is understandable to those from a Western culture at the same. A sample quote:

...Turkey is in a category all its own. One reason for the West's difficulty in coming to grips with the country is that Turkey was never colonized and has never truly shared its history with one of the great European cultures.

a Summary of Christian Divinity - my most recent project, finished

  This evening I completed a project that I have been working on for some time, editing a 250-year old Russian Orthodox systematic theology. It's now available on Amazon. I've been working on this in my spare time over quite a few months. Several factors joined together to push me towards this little project. First, I enjoy learning through editing - I've done this for 3 or 4 other books, though I've only put two of the others on Amazon's publishing platforms. This method allows me to get to know a book well. Second, I have been seeking to learn more about the Christian tradition (Orthodoxy) in the East since shortly over the last 2-3 years; I knew incredibly little about it before that.  Third, I have wondered if a theological system crafted in cultures more inclined towards an honor-shame paradigm would differ substantially from the legal/justification bent of Western theological thought.

 The answer to this final question seems to be that, yes, Orthodox theology makes greater use of biblical honor-shame themes than its Western counterparts, but it doesn't neglect the legal themes. For examples, 'Mediator' is used more often than 'Redeemer' when speaking of Christ (13 times to 6), yet 'reconciliation' is used somewhat less often than 'justification' in the text. 

 In many areas, particularly the central ones of Christ and salvation, Platon's words would be indistinguishable from a modern evangelical writer's. At the same time, in areas of church liturgy, he will often be less clear about the biblical basis for his assertions. Platon is very concerned about the practical dimensions of his theology; he often speaks pastorally, giving possible applications for real life as well as pointing out daily evils that he sees in the society he serves in. Below are some of my favorite thoughts from the work which I think any Christian may appreciate.      

"The love and mercy of God to all his creatures, but particularly to man, is greater than we are capable of comprehending." 

"For though we ought, by all means, to do good works; yet at the same time we are to place our hope of salvation alone on the mercy of the Savior." 

"He showed in what the real happiness of man consists; and this he placed in poverty of spirit, in tears and humility, in meekness and mercy, amid persecution and reviling, which was altogether contrary to the wisdom of this world." 

"The worship of God is the testifying of our internal subjection of spirit before God." 

After a discussion of the ten commandments:

"Notwithstanding, though we should make even so great advances in fulfilling the commandments of the Lord and whatever degree of progress we may make in virtue, yet, when we consider that all this is the fruit of divine grace and that all our virtues are mixed with imperfections, we have not the least cause of self-exaltation, but rather to keep in continual remembrance the words of the gospel, "When ye have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." 

"However, some will perhaps say, what, are we then to fall into despair? Certainly, if you continue to look up to yourselves for help. But when we reflect on the inexhaustible goodness of God and on his infinite wisdom, then we are comforted by hope, and our fears are dispelled; and in this hope we ought frequently to join in the words of Isaiah, 'Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.'"

By the way, I'd be happy to send you a pdf of the book if you would like it.

Previous post about this book

humor from the young

'If math were food, I would never eat.' - a student

"There's not many things to forget about you." - a daughter, speaking to someone in an imaginary world [Is this an insult or a compliment?]

The evil silent ones, like 'sword'

 As I have taught English, and as I have watched my daughter try to learn to read English, I have become aware again of the ridiculousness of evil - and nearly omnipresent - silent letters lurking surreptitiously in the undergrowth of English orthography. I say 'again' because I am quite sure that I was very aware of these entrapping oddities years ago as I tried to aquire the art form called reading.

 I do not say that these letters have no purpose for certainly with sufficient instruction the English spelling system can be learned. Indeed, in the case of vowels often the silent letters can give clear meaning. For instance, plumber could become plumer, but then it would be pronounced differently - so, it would need to be plummer. So, some silent letters can make sense, but there are the other, too...

  So, in solidarity with those seeking to decipher the sinister silent-letter riddles, I submit these repeat offenders and request the improvement of the English language through the abandoning of this ridiculousness.

half

know

clothes

gnat

built

sword

answer

castle

comb

hour

subtle

debt

bee

plumber

island

four

caught

vineyard

could

psychology

Often more usefully, these may also be silent:

any vowel 

doubled letters 

'A world of languages' - VISUALIZED

  As a student of language, I'm not sure which statistics in the graphic below are the most amazing... (See all 4 charts.)

1.  Chinese as a larger language group than the next three largest ones combined.
2.  English having nearly 20 times the number of language LEARNERS as any other language.
3. India for having 5.5 of the most widely spoken languages in the world.
4.  America for having the fourth highest number of living languages in the world - still a nation whose strength is her immigrants.

Source: https://cdn3.scmp.com/sites/default/files/2015/05/27/languages.png (click to enlarge)

  I also didn't realize that Spanish was the second largest natively spoken languge in the world.

Reflections from my time in Africa

 My recent trip to Senegal and Gambia flooded me with many new, and old, experiences and gave me many potential ponderings for deeper learning and understanding.  At some level, it might be interesting to talk about the surface experiences that were so similar to my childhood in Suriname - crossing rivers by ferry, tropical architecture, delicious mangos and bananas, and even the same cookies, at times.  (In fact, they even had Zwan... in the little cans!)

Ferry Crossing to Banjul

 Then, there were the abnormal experiences that I got to have: seeing a canon from 1895 still guarding a river crossing, being on national (Gambian) tv and in the papers, drinking water out of bag, seeing the sky turn orange from the dust of the Sahara, etc.  But simply mentioning those and giving a few pictures, probably fulfills their usefulness in my life narrative.  

Sahara in the Sky

Bag of drinking water

Canon at the Saloum River crossing in Senegal

Back end of the canon, marked 1895

 But, especially in light of current social topics in the USA, another point has caused me to ponder: the constant awareness of difference, created by skin tone. Often being white felt like a liability - particularly when it facilitated 'economic selection' towards us (higher prices). Yet the fact of the matter is that at the end of day, no matter how tight our budget was, it was able to deal with those prices. The disadvantage to us was minimal, though not marginal. But more disturbing than those higher prices was the fact that I was associated with a culture which is seen to be reaching over the globe and, intentionally or not, displacing older cultures and stirring trouble between the traditional and the modern - between values and self-gratification, morals and utility. Being automatically identified with this hegemony-grasping culture was far more troubling.

 With great honesty, a group of students dramatized for us the struggles they each face as they decide whether to follow older ways or not, to live within or abandon the morals and beliefs that have bound their cultures together for generations, or to respect or reject their elders. And the villain in the drama is a culture - maybe not a person or country per se, but a culture or system of thought that drifts in from the West and is most naturally identified with my country of birth.  So, now, simply because of skin tone, I am associated with a system which I largely reject.    

 What if these points had stretched on from 2-3 weeks into generations - different treatment, wrong assumptions? What if our ability to deal with the higher prices were stripped away, and we had to live more expensively simply because of who we are?  What if we were not honored guests of respected citizens? What then? Who would have spoken for us? Who would have cared for what we had to offer? Who would have listened to us?   

a view in Bakau, Gambia

Pessimist: one who sees the medicine in every spoonful of sugar

Pessimist: One who sees the medicine in every spoonful of sugar

Notes:
1.  These people often consider themselves realists.
2.  This definition arouse from accusations against this blogger.

Scatter together - thoughts on multiplication, image bearing and witness

  A series of connections arcing across the narrative of Scripture have caught my attention recently as I again read Genesis. In Genesis 1, God the Creator makes man and woman in His own image and charges them to 'be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth...' The idea being that God's image as reflected in the woman and man would be multiplied and magnified all across the creation. Obviously this purpose is not fulfilled by the couple who violate God's Law and are sent away from their specially-prepared home. At this point though, they do begin to multiply, but now it is a disfigured image which is spread.  And indeed, the corruption grows till the earth is 'filled with violence' (instead of with God's image). So God eradicates all but a single family whom He saves; they too are are tainted, however, they also look to His grace and promises of deliverance. (ch. 6)  After destroying the accumulated humanity, God commands this family to 'be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth' - again.  The point? Last time it was filled with the wrong thing - not people reflecting their Creator. 

  This pattern can be seen repeatedly through Scripture in small cycles and large; and indeed, we can see it continuing today in ways and with names both expected and unexpected. Because essentially this is the same task that Jesus Christ left to those who loved and followed Him when He left - 'Go everywhere, make more people who follow in my ways from every type of people there is...' And this command, like the original, is a communal command: no one goes everywhere or fills the earth by his or her self.  But a seeming paradox lies at the heart of this command - 'scatter as a community!'

Scatter together!

 Actually, we see this problem in the succeeding story in Genesis: after the great destroying flood and the re-creation, humanity decides to build a city and a tower to improve their own image and to prevent their being 'dispersed over the face of the whole earth.' (ch. 11) In other words, they were working aginst the very things they had been designed and commanded to do. As humans, we'd rather cluster and try to look good ourselves. And as God intervened this time, He used their word disperse instead of His word fill when He spread them on the earth. 

 Jesus' followers still have the same tendency towards anti-dispersal, collective-image-improving clustering instead of the communal, divine-image-reflecting earth-filling to which we have been called.

  If we are to carry out the original task, we must become like Abram who was told that he would become a 'great nation.' (Gen 12) This wasn't all that odd at the time (age 75), since his father had fathered at least one son at age 70. (Gen 11:26)  Yet as time went on, Abram's body and his wife's passed from possibility to impossibility; and while Abraham noticed, his faith in the promise not only didn't weaken, it grew, 'as he gave glory to God.' (Romans 4:18-21) If we would continue in this original work of filling the earth with image bearers, we will often have to look beyond what we see, like Abraham. We will have to look to the God who promised that it would be so someday, and we will have to trust that He can raise up image bearers from stony hearts - children to Abraham, 'the father of all who believe without being circumcised' and 'the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.' (Rom 4:11-12)

  May we together live the united, earth-filling life of reflecting the Creator's image, following His sent Savior. 

Gambia, observations in life and beauty

The Gambian students that I have gotten the chance to interact with and teach in the last three days have impressed me (positively) more than any other class I've ever been in. They were selected by their schools to come for extra training, and the twelvish schools have been beautifully represented. Dozens of high school students living, studying, learning, and teaching together with little more than some teacher guidance and peer accountability.

While they were selected primarily for their academic abilities, the students displayed really strong leadership qualities, an unexpected depth and breadth of life skills, and, maybe most significantly, the motivation to continue pushing forward in their education. With just a few days of experience in The Gambia, I have caught the students' contagious expectation that they will be able to help their country grow and achieve greatly - their dreams are big, but their work ethic, consistent focus and passion for creating a chain of positive change makes me dare to dream with them.

At the same time, the two organizations that organized this summit have worked together beautifully. The EDGE Institute from the US partners with various organizations to help bring educational tools to bear in places where they would usually be unavailable. The point of this is to catalyze improved education, not simply to provide a bit of help nor alternatively to be an indefinite prop. Thus, the second part of this year's summit in The Gambia is sharing with teachers here. Sharing is the key word, for as I tried to express above, the students were really significant contributors to the summit, so we can expect the same from their teachers.

EDGE's Gambian partner in this summit was Side by Side Organization. It has been great getting to work with their members both individually and as an organization. They have been incredibly gracious in their help to us, but more significantly we have seen the value that they provide to students here and the great respect they are given in return. As an organization of young people, run by young people, and for young people, they showcase a beautiful model of servant leadership raising up more servant leaders.

In this first 20% of our trip, I have found myself to be deeply privileged to be here, getting to keep learning my teaching craft in this very different setting. If this all sounds like a promotional bit, that's perfectly ok (though not necessarily the point) because I'd be more than happy to recommend The Gambia, EDGE or Side by Side.

Afraid of what?

  I came across this poem again tonight, and was reminded of it.  Soon the one who introduced me to this poem will 'feel the spirit's glad release' and 'pass from pain to perfect peace.' As he so often reminded us, those who have gone before have said, 'NOT AFRAID!'

Afraid? Of What?

by E. H. Hamilton

Afraid ? Of What?

To feel the spirit's glad release?

To pass from pain to perfect peace,

The strife and strain of life to cease?

Afraid - of that?

Afraid? Of What?

Afraid to see the Savior's face

To hear His welcome and to trace

The glory gleam from wounds of grace?

Afraid - of that?

Afraid? Of What?

A flash, a crash, a pierced heart;

Darkness, light, O Heaven's art!

A wound of His a counterpart!

Afraid - of that?

Afraid? Of What?

To do by death what life could not -

Baptize with blood a stony plot,

Till souls shall blossom from the spot?

Afraid - of that?