Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Jim Forest’s Eyes of Compassion: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh - Review by Ron Dart

Ron Dart with Jim Forest

Jim Forest’s Eyes of Compassion: Learning From Thich Nhat Hanh

Orbis Books, 2021

Review by Ron Dart

When I was working for Amnesty International in the 1980s, I began a correspondence with Jim Forest (who was working for Fellowship of Reconciliation at the time) that continues to thrive and flourish. I also began in the 1990s a correspondence with Thich Nhat Hanh (certainly not as extensive as the one I have had with Jim over the decades). So, it was a delight and joy to meditatively read the much more extensive journey of Jim with Thich Nhat Hanh in Eyes of Compassion. The subtitle is apt indeed--Learning From Thich Nhat Hanh. I suspect Nhat Hanh has also learned much from Jim Forest. Such experiences do knit people together well and wisely.

Eyes of Compassion threads together about 70 short reflections on the journey of Thich Nhat Hanh and Jim’s pilgrimage with him. The period of time covered, obviously, cannot ignore the American involvement in Vietnam and the role of many seekers of justice and peace in the USA (and elsewhere) doing what they could to support Buddhist peacemakers like Thich Nhat Hanh (and other Buddhist monks and nuns inspired by his life and writings). There is a sense that this short book, replete with touching and telling back-white photos, is also a recounting of both dark times and those who were light-bearers in such a tragic period of history. Each of the short reflections (and they are just that) needs to be quietly sat with to fully appreciate their time tried wisdom and insights.              

The kindly and thoughtful, personal and tender, “Introduction” by Mobi Warren is well worth many a read. I mentioned that the many photographs in the book speak much about Jim and Thich Nhat Hanh’s journey together, but the many sketches in the book have both abundant literal and symbolic significance. In short, the combination of text, photos, and sketches makes this missive of a book an entrée of sorts into the deeper meaning of eyes, seeing, compassion, friendship, justice, and peacemaking—well worth the journey of understanding.

Amnesty International has a logo that states “Better to Light a Candle than Curse the Darkness”. There is a definite sense in which Jim Forest and Thich Nhat Hanh have been candles in such darkness and Eyes of Compassion: Learning From Thich Nhat Hanh highlights how they (and many others mentioned in the book) have been such flickering yet consistent and enduring lights.       

Thich Nhat Hanh has, for many in the West, become a symbol (like the Dalai Lama) of the Buddhist meditative and mindful way but few know about the nature of his more personal journey that Jim so thoughtfully recounts. And, as the notion of “Engaged Buddhism” has become prominent, compassion became even more essential as a corrective to the legitimate demands of justice. This seemingly small book is not so small when understood in its deeper meaning and significance. Do read and inwardly digest—much nutrition indeed for soul and society.

Fiat Lux

Ron Dart

Antigone & the Vaccine Polarization - Ron Dart

Whose God? Deconstructing False Images (from Irenaeus to C.S. Lewis) - Ron Dart & Bradley Jersak

C.S. Lewis & the Last Battle: Whose Version of Aslan (God)? 
by Ron Dart

Of Heretics, Kings & Foxes
by Bradley Jersak

Louis Markos' "Myth Made Fact" - Review by Ron Dart

Louis Markos, Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes (Classical Academic Press, 2020).

There can be little doubt that the challenge, burden, and vocation of Louis Markos has been to make it abundantly clear that classical western mythology (and philosophy), like the Jewish heritage, is an apt and significant preparation for the coming of Christ and Christianity. There has been, sadly so, a tendency within some forms of Christianity, to demean and caricature Classical Greek and Roman thought and set it in opposition to Jewish thinking. Such a collision and clash between Athens and Jerusalem, the Academy and the Church, gratefully so, has not been the dominant approach to faith and learning within historic Christianity, but such an approach has done much to shape and define a tendency and leaning within substantive parts of protestant and evangelical Christianity. There has been a desperate and definite need to overcome such simplistic ways of understanding the Athens-Jerusalem tensions that post-apostolic and patristic Christianity engaged in, thought through, and lived forth. It was this more nuanced dialogue by classical Christians with their Classical heritage (always discerning the wheat and chaff, gold and dross) that, in most ways, created Western Civilization and the best of Christian Humanism.

It is to the credit, therefore, of Louis Markos that he has given himself, in an attentive manner, to ponder how the early church interacted with the Classical Tradition and the perennial relevance for those of us today who live, increasingly so, in a post-Christendom, post-Christian and post-structuralist context. The publication of From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics (2007) and From Plato to Christ: How Platonic Though Shaped Christian Thought (2021) are but two of a variety of books birthed by Markos that insightfully and intricately weave together the nuanced relationship of Classical philosophy and literature as a form of common grace and general revelation. It is, though, with the publication of Myth Made Fact: Reading Greek and Roman Mythology through Christian Eyes (2020) that we are taken on a deeper dive into the richness and fullness of, mostly, Greek myth and the relationship of Greek myth to both Jewish thought and the emerging Christianity of the Bible and classical Christian thought and culture.

Myth Made Fact is front-loaded with endorsements and accolades (Foreword and Preface) that legitimate the larger rehabilitation and renovation project of Markos. The “Introduction” by Markos, “More than Balder”, sets the larger aims and goals in an apt and appropriate context and setting. In short, Markos is not only interested in Greek and Roman myth (he is also interested in comparative mythology) as a form of scholarly archival and museum research. He is much more committed to recovering and representing many of the perennial truths in Greek and Roman mythology that are applicable today for soul formation and a renewal of the classical virtues.

Myth Made Fact brings to frontstage 50 classical myths that reach across the ridges of time, the 50 myths divided, wisely and discerningly so, into six parts: 1) Journeys and Origins, 2) Platonic Myths, 3) The Four Great Heroes, 4) The Tragic House of Thebes, 5) The Tragic House of Atreus and 6) Love Lost and Found. Each of the myths retold is combined with a section that deals with “Reflections” and “Applications”. Markos, in these “Reflections” and “Applications” threads together passages from the Bible and larger historic events that bring to life the myths and compare-contrast them with Biblical stories.

There is, therefore, an ongoing and discerning approach, a careful weighing of Biblical, Classical myths and classical Christian reflections on the relationship between Classical myths, the Bible, and Classical Christianity—such a method evokes much in the longing heart, mind, soul, and imagination.

There has been a tendency within some forms of Christianity to be focused on the Bible and ignore how Christianity, post-Gospels, Paul and catholic epistles interpreted and applied their faith in a classical civilization (many of the early Christians who were not Jews from the 2^nd to the 7^th centuries were trained in classical literature). The dilemma of such an approach to Christianity (memoricide as a serious problem) means many modern forms of Christianity lack a minimal understanding of why most early Christians found classical myths, philosophy, literature, and theology attractive and valuable as a stepping stone to their commitment to Christianity. Myth Made Fact walks the extra mile to explain and articulate why immersion in classical myth, literature, and philosophy can enrich and deepen our understanding of Christianity. This has been the historic approach of Christianity and the recovery of such an approach is taken wisely and well in Myth Made Fact. This is also, as Markos rightly notes, why the modern mythmaking of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars (each and all drawing from classical myths) have such an abiding appeal.  

Myth Made Fact is brought to a fit and fine end with the “Epilogue: Beyond Greece and Rome” and “Appendix A-B-C” that are portals of sorts that point the way to yet further trails to take on the Classical myth-Christian journey pathway. In short, the waymarks are ample, the challenge being one of going on the journey. I might also add that in this hefty tome there are some fine paintings that illuminate and richly illustrate the myths in a visual manner.

There has been, in the last few decades, a decided movement to explore the often forgotten classical heritage of Christianity in our age that tends to be rootless, fragmented and divided (both in the church and world). It is this recovery and renovation project that is part of a larger attempt to halt the deterioration of faith and culture in a context that has no anchor or moorings. Louis Markos is, rightly so, playing a significant role in this larger project and his work in classical myth and literature (often ignored in such a rehabilitation process) should be welcomed and applauded, Myth Made Fact but one pillar in the cathedral of this rebuilding effort.

Ron Dart            

Paul Zizka's "Aloft: Canadian Rockies Aerial Photographs" - review by Ron Dart

Ron Dart

Paul Zizka, Aloft: Canadian Rockies Aerial Photographs (RMB, 2021).

There are photographic books on the Canadian Rockies worthy of a few scans and there are superb books on the Canadian Rockies—such is Aloft. The title and subtitle offer the curious the visual nature of this bounty of a book. The photographs are, indeed, taken from above the Rockies and the photographer is very much aloft, the “Introduction” by Zizka worthy of a reflective read (as are his visual gifts).

The photographs taken reflect all the seasons in the Canadian Rockies and track the varied faces and forms of the Rockies in a sort of ordered journey, Rundle Range and Three Sisters near Canmore taking the lead and initial bow, Mount Assiniboine area stepping on stage to strut its sheer beauty. Then, it’s to Banff, Lake Minnewanka, Sulphur Mountain, Mount Louis and Mount Norquay ski hill bounties not to miss.  The photographic journey turns northward to Castle Mountain, Sunshine Meadows (summer and winter on display), Bourgeau Lake, Shadow Lake, Storm Mountain and Shadow Lake Lodge next on the Rocky Mountain and Taylor Lake aloft tour. It was inevitable, of course, on the photographic overview of the Rockies that Lake Louise and Moraine Lake would be next to visit, their expansive and epic-like grandeur worthy of multiple meditative moments. Those who have lingered and trekked in the area are amply rewarded by photographs of Eiffel Lake, Sentinel Pass, Lake Agnes (tea hut ever-present), Temple, Victoria-Lefroy and Louise Ski Hill, of course. Lake Louise freezes in the winter and the shoveled Lake near Chateau is cleared and turned into rinks to skate on (many pleasant memories of skating on Louise in winter). Zizka has eloquently captured the golden beauty of the alpine larches in the early autumn, Abbot Hut above the higher tea hut suitable for many a night stay (such tales to be told from Abbot Hut). The photographic pilgrimage continues to the ever-charming Lake O’Hara region with its rich and layered history, Yoho, many trails done there and Takakkaw Falls a place not to miss (many a night spent sleeping at the base of it). The turn is then made, ever aloft, to Kootenay National Park, the Icefields Parkway the journey ever northward from an aerial perspective, Bow Lake highlighted (treks taken from there worth the doing as is kayaking on the lake), Peyto Lake frontstaged (the starting point for the Wapta Traverse).

The aerial overview maintains a northwards flight, Saskatchewan and Athabasca Glaciers illuminated, crevasses noted and Mount Athabasca (climb worth the effort) duly noted, tourist trips part of the photographic package. Jasper National Park, rightly so, comes into attractive and compelling hue, Fortress Lake, Hooker Icefield and Chisel Peak but tasters and teasers. But, to Jasper and Edith Cavell, Fairmont, Chevron and Ramparts, Tonquin Valley and Amethyst Lakes photographs not to miss (nor, in the Rockies, treks not to miss). Humber Provincial Park is given its prominent places as is Mount Alberta and the ever attractive Maligne Lake, Mt. Robson and Berg Lake next on the agenda as Jasper is left behind.

There is much more that could be said about this photographic and aerial overview of the Canadian Rockies, but for those who have done many of the trips in the area, skated, skied, trekked, hiked and climbed many of the peaks, Aloft is a memory massager and reminder of the vast, compelling, immense and perennial appeal of the Canadian Rockies. Aloft is certainly worth the purchase and the photographs, descriptions and vividness of the tour a journey not to miss.

montani semper liberi

Ron Dart                       

Good News! Ron Dart's "The Beatitudes: When Mountain Meets Valley" is back in print

The contemplative tradition within the West tends to define the spiritual journey in three phases: purgative, illuminative, and unitive. This classification tends to ignore the fact that the contemplative journey has substantial political, social, and economic implications as well. Many modern mystics have recognized this failure in understanding and defining the contemplative pilgrimage. That is why a fourth stage has been added: transformative. It seems to me that the Beatitudes embody all four phases: purgative, illuminative, unitive, and transformative. This makes perfect sense, of course, Jesus understood the waymarks of the mature and integrated faith journey, and the Beatitudes best embody such a path between peak and valley.

This missive is a brief reflection and commentary on the rip-rap steps that make up the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes can tell us much about the deeper meaning of the time-tried path to the eternal peak. They can also ensure that we do not lose our footing as we traverse the slopes where mountain and valley meet.

Stephen Hui's "Destination Hikes" - Review by Ron Dart

Review of Stephen Hui, Destination Hikes In and Around Southwestern British Columbia (Greystone Books: Vancouver, 2021). Foreword by Cecilia Point

I have before me a few first edition books (collector’s items I assume) that were pioneering guide books in their day: Mt. Garibaldi: Vancouver’s Alpine Playground (1922) by Don Munday, a signed edition of Dick Culbert’s 1960s A Climber’s Guide to the Coastal Ranges of British Columbia, a splendid 1967 copy of Glenn Woodsworth’s A Climber’s Guide to the Squamish Chief and Surrounding Areas (signed by the superb climber and search and rescue legend Tim Auger—we spent some lovely time in Lake O’Hara many a year ago) and the many editions of 103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia by, initially, David/Mary Macaree, then Jack Bryceland. The more recent stepping on the stage by Stephen Hui has enriched and enlarged, updated, and revealed yet a greater variety of more and less demanding treks to take.

The publication of Destination Hikes In and Around Southwestern British Columbia is a fit and fine companion to Stephen’s earlier book, 105 Hikes In and Around Southwestern British Columbia. The style of both books is much the same, but this new book adds to the possibilities of trails yet to take and destinations yet to see. The book is divided into four regions: 1) Hikes North of Vancouver, 2) Hikes East of Vancouver, 3) Hikes West of Vancouver and 4) Hikes South of Vancouver (in the United States). Each hike is replete with superb photographs and headings that include distance, time, elevation gain, high point, difficulty, maps and trailhead. Photographs also include a variety of animals, waterfalls, scenic sights, thick forests, carpeted forest floors, signs, alpine flowers, wooden cabins, richly coloured clouds, and various types of glaciers. There are also many “Stop of Interest” sections that make a trip to the mountains yet more attractive and worth the effort in doing. Stephen, rightly so, makes it clear that for those keen to take to the mountains (shorter or longer trips) preparation and precautions are needful and necessary—he has a fine few pages that cover the basics of outdoor rambling so that one and all return safely and in good form.

The 55 hikes included in Destination Hikes do, as the subtitle suggests,

point to “Swimming Holes, Mountain Peaks, Waterfalls and More”. The “More” opens up more enchanted trails worth the trekking. 19 of the hikes are north of Vancouver, 20 of the hikes east of Vancouver, a mere 7 of the hikes west of Vancouver and another 9 hikes south of Vancouver (in the state of Washington). So, the bulk of the hikes in this timely beauty and bounty of a well-crafted book are north and east of Vancouver.

The Foreword by Cecilia Point is a keeper not to miss. Cecilia has an evocative way of inviting those keen to take to such sacred and time tried 1^st Nations landscapes to realize many have gone before them and their footprints still remain for those with eyes to see and hearts to feel. The Foreword is, indeed, worth a few meditative reads and much inward digesting.

The “Overview Maps” (pages 30-37) are well worth the pondering as plans are made for trips into the backcountry and means of evaluating the expectations and demands of such trips, mountain weather, and group dynamics, always, of course, the variable and unpredictable elements in any mountain and rambling trip.

I have done most of the trips that Stephen so well describes and there can be no doubt that Destination Hikes is a must-have book for those eager to take to the mountains, alpine lakes, peaks, ridges, and much else in southwestern British Columbia and further southward into Washington. The book also provides most of the information needed for safe trips there and back again and continues the unfolding journey

of solid and reliable guidebooks for those interested and committed

to mature trips into the bounty of beautiful British Columbia.

Montani Semper Liberi

Ron dart                     

Erasmus in Review: Two Works - Ron Dart

Robert D. Sider (edited), Erasmus on the New Testament, (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 2020).

Mark Vessey (edited), Erasmus on Literature: His Ratio or “System” of 1518/1519, (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 2021).

Erasmus was too good a humanist to live only in the past.

—P.S. Allen

The name of Erasmus will never perish.

—John Colet

Erasmus has published volumes more full of wisdom
than any which Europe has seen for ages.

—Thomas More

I am halfway through the Ratio Verae Theologiae of Erasmus, loving the clarity and balance of his Latin, his taste, his good sense, his evangelical teaching. If there had been no Luther, Erasmus would now be regarded by everyone as one of the great Doctors of the Catholic Church. I like his directness, his simplicity, and his courage. All the qualities of Erasmus, and other qualities besides, were canonized in Thomas More.                                                        

Thomas Merton

Erasmus has often not been treated the best in both 16th-century Reformation-Renaissance history, thought, and religion, or the centuries that followed. The Roman Catholic Church put his writings on the Index at Trent and many Protestants have uncritically bowed the knee to Luther’s rather volcanic and reactionary rebuttal to Erasmus’ Freedom of the Will (1524), in the rather feisty The Bondage of the Will (1525). Both Roman Catholics and Protestants, therefore, in the religious and culture wars of the 16^th century did not know how to cage this wild bird. Erasmus tended to transcend the tribalism of both the Roman Catholic and variations of Protestant clans and Sanhedrins. And yet it was Erasmus, more than anyone else, in his various translations and annotations of the New Testament, who raised substantive questions about serious mistranslations (and the theological-pastoral implications of them) of Jerome’s Vulgate. The main translations by Erasmus of the New Testament in 1516, 1519, 1522, 1527, and 1535 did, as the saying goes, lay the egg that Luther hatched. It was in these, increasingly so, translations, commentaries, and annotations that Erasmus distinguished himself as one of the most significant scholars of the first half of the 16^th century. The recent publications of Erasmus and the New Testament (2020) and Erasmus on Literature (2021) do need to be read together as companion tomes on Erasmus’ layered and nuanced approach in how to read, interpret and apply the text of the New Testament. In fact, both books walk the extra mile to highlight the all too obvious reality that Erasmus should not have been marginalized in his age and ethos or our context. But, it is to these two books worth the reviewing we now turn.

A.M. Allchin's "Participation in God" - Review by Ron Dart

A.M. Allchin, Participation in God: Forgotten Strand in Anglican Tradition (Morehouse-Barlow, 1988).

Arthur Macdonald “Donald” Allchin (1930-2010) was one of the most significant Anglican theologians of the 20^th century, and his ever deeper probes into the classical vision of contemplative theology and the Anglican way are pointers not to miss. Significantly so, there has been a troubling tendency within the historic Anglican way to ignore the theology of theosis or, in sum, “God became man so humanity would be divinized (or deified)”. Participation in God reclaims such a vision as embodied in the historic Anglican way.

Allchin highlighted, in his “Introduction”, how two important Anglican writers on spirituality missed this core notion of deification: Thornton’s English Spirituality (1963) and Moorman’sThe Anglican Spiritual Tradition (1983). Allchin’s three lectures, delivered in 1983-1984 in the USA, probes the aberrant read by Thornton and Moorman and turns to significant post-reformation Anglican Divines in their read of deification. The initial lecture discussed Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrewes, the second lecture lingered with Charles Wesley and Williams Pantycelyn, and the third and final lecture E.B. Pusey and the Oxford Movement are covered. The final and summary chapter articulates “The Co-inherence of Human and Divine”. Needless to say, the Patristic Tradition ethos ever informs such insightful lectures turned book.

The elevated ideal of deification is often seen as the bailiwick of the Orthodox way but given the historic Anglican-Orthodox dialogue and the fact both traditions draw deeply from the best of the Patristic way, it is quite predictable that the notion of theosis would be held in common by both---such is the deeper meaning of sobornost that Allchin understood so well, his engagement as a catholic Anglican with the Orthodox central to his vocation. As the deeper and more perennial meaning of theology, soteriology, and anthropology is more maturely embraced by the Christian Tradition, the integrative and high vision of true Christian Humanism will be realized, theosis the portal into such an expansive reality.

There are few good and readable overviews of the doctrine of deification but Participation in God: A Forgotten Strand in Anglican Tradition is definitely one of them. Such a compact missive corrects a certain read of the Anglican way that has tended to shrink Anglican contemplative theology to the smallest circle turns. We should be grateful to Allchin for his life and prolific writings. Participation in God a superb entrée to Allchin’s life and thought.

Fiat Lux

Ron Dart

"The Inklings and Culture" - Review by Ron Dart

Monika B. Hilder, Sara L. Pearson & Laura N. Van Dyke (eds.), The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the Inklings Institute of Canada (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020).

There has been, within Canada, a committed history of interest in the Inklings. My mother was faithfully involved with the Toronto group that published Pilgrimage: The Toronto C.S. Lewis Society (a magazine on Lewis and the Inklings in the 1980s-1990s, final edition 2009). The Canadian C.S. Lewis Journal: The Inklings, Their Friends & Predecessors that closed shop Autumn 2001 (lasted almost 30 years, 100 publications) was, in its last decade, published on the West Coast. But, it was with the founding of The Inklings Institute of Canada at Trinity Western University that a more mature and integrated vision of the Inklings came into being. The publication of The Inklings and Culture is the well-birthed child of such fine parenting.

The fact I took in Lewis and the Inklings with my mother’s milk, and, in some small way, contributed to The Inklings and Culture, means my decades-long journey (from the earliest years) was amply rewarded by heeding and reading the many and polyphonic voices in this well-tuned Inklings symphony.

The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the Inklings Institute of Canada is, indeed, a harvest and feast of a read. The tome is divided into 4 parts and 27 chapters. Each part is packed with insights and probes that make for creative reads and varied interpretations of the pure gold of Inklings life and thought: Part I: Literary Influences, Part II: The Christian Imagination, Part III: Artistic Responses, and Part IV: Contemporary and Theological Issues are not to be missed.

Most of the Inkling worthies step on front stage (MacDonald, Lewis, Sayers, Chesterton, Williams, Tolkien, and Barfield – some more obviously Inkling than others) and other lesser-known writers and artists who historically anticipated or had affinities with the Inklings in direct and indirect ways (Charlotte Bronte, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Anna Sewell, Bede Griffiths, and Reinhold Niebuhr are also mentioned and discussed).

Lewis decidedly leads the pack of articles with 15 of the 27 reflections dedicated directly to him, whereas Tolkien is featured in 5 articles and Sayers in 3 of the essays. MacDonald, Chesterton, Williams, and Barfield are momentarily on stage. But, there can be no doubt that Lewis is the main actor that speaks his speech well – not trippingly on the tongue as some do. The quality of essays and themes covered are of a high level and not to be missed. There can be no doubt that Hilder, Pearson and Van Dyke have done Canada well in their harvest of scholarship. The Canadian Inklings children have now matured as well-rounded, comprehensive, and creative adults, the table spread a bounty not to miss, much nourishment in the feast. I might also add that Hilder’s “Introduction” and Van Dyke’s “Chronology” makes the tome a greater, grander and fuller bounty not to miss.   

There can be no doubt those who anticipated the Inklings (MacDonald, Chesterton) and the Inklings did, in their unique way, unconceal, and by doing so, reveal a mother lode of mythic, imaginative and literary gold within the Western and Christian Tradition that had been somewhat concealed by a hyper form of right of centre Enlightenment rationalism and scientism. It was this healthy and full-bodied Christian romanticism and humanism that was the genius of the Inklings and why their presence ever persists to inform, instruct and point the way to finer and fitter trails worth the taking. There can be no doubt that The Inklings and Culture is Canadian scholarship at its evocative best and the impact of such a hefty tome will linger for many a decade and be a library from which future Inkling scholars will turn to slake a deeper thirst, the wine full-bodied and palette tasty.

Ron Dart           

"The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship" - review by Ron Dart

Monika B. Hilder, Sara L. Pearson & Laura N. Van Dyke (eds.), The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the Inklings Institute of Canada (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020).

There has been, within Canada, a committed history of interest in the Inklings. My mother was faithfully involved with the Toronto group that published Pilgrimage: The Toronto C.S. Lewis Society (a magazine on Lewis and the Inklings in the 1980s-1990s, final edition 2009). The Canadian C.S. Lewis Journal: The Inklings, Their Friends & Predecessors that closed shop Autumn 2001 (lasted almost 30 years, 100 publications) was, in its last decade, published on the West Coast. But, it was with the founding of The Inklings Institute of Canada at Trinity Western University that a more mature and integrated vision of the Inklings came into being. The publication of The Inklings and Culture is the well-birthed child of such fine parenting.

The fact I took in Lewis and the Inklings with my mother’s milk, and, in some small way, contributed to The Inklings and Culture, means my decades-long journey (from the earliest years) was amply rewarded by heeding and reading the many and polyphonic voices in this well-tuned Inklings symphony.

The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the Inklings Institute of Canada is, indeed, a harvest and feast of a read. The tome is divided into 4 parts and 27 chapters. Each part is packed with insights and probes that make for creative reads and varied interpretations of the pure gold of Inklings life and thought: Part I: Literary Influences, Part II: The Christian Imagination, Part III: Artistic Responses, and Part IV: Contemporary and Theological Issues are not to be missed.

Most of the Inkling worthies step on front stage (MacDonald, Lewis, Sayers, Chesterton, Williams, Tolkien, and Barfield – some more obviously Inkling than others) and other lesser-known writers and artists who historically anticipated or had affinities with the Inklings in direct and indirect ways (Charlotte Bronte, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Anna Sewell, Bede Griffiths, and Reinhold Niebuhr are also mentioned and discussed).

Lewis decidedly leads the pack of articles with 15 of the 27 reflections dedicated directly to him, whereas Tolkien is featured in 5 articles and Sayers in 3 of the essays. MacDonald, Chesterton, Williams, and Barfield are momentarily on stage. But, there can be no doubt that Lewis is the main actor that speaks his speech well – not trippingly on the tongue as some do. The quality of essays and themes covered are of a high level and not to be missed. There can be no doubt that Hilder, Pearson, and Van Dyke have done Canada well in their harvest of scholarship. The Canadian Inklings children have now matured as well-rounded, comprehensive, and creative adults, the table spread a bounty not to miss, much nourishment in the feast. I might also add that Hilder’s “Introduction” and Van Dyke’s “Chronology” make the tome a greater, grander, and fuller bounty not to miss.   

There can be no doubt those who anticipated the Inklings (MacDonald, Chesterton) and the Inklings did, in their unique way, unconceal, and by doing so, reveal a mother lode of mythic, imaginative, and literary gold within the Western and Christian Tradition that had been somewhat concealed by a hyper form of right of centre Enlightenment rationalism and scientism. It was this healthy and full-bodied Christian romanticism and humanism that was the genius of the Inklings and why their presence ever persists to inform, instruct and point the way to finer and fitter trails worth the taking. There can be no doubt that The Inklings and Culture is Canadian scholarship at its evocative best and the impact of such a hefty tome will linger for many a decade and be a library from which future Inkling scholars will turn to slake a deeper thirst, the wine full-bodied and palette tasty.

Ron Dart           

     

Robyn Wrigley-Carr's "Music of Eternity: Meditations For Advent With Evelyn Underhill" - review by Ron Dart

Robyn Wrigley-Carr, Music of Eternity: Meditations For Advent With Evelyn Underhill (SPCK: London, 2021).

Advent is one of the turning points in the Christian liturgical year and such a turning season does welcome deeper reflections on the meaning of the faith journey. Evelyn Underhill understood this turn to inner depth in a substantive way and the role of Advent in such deeper dives for the eternal pearl. Robyn Wrigley-Carr has once again produced a masterpiece of insight and wisdom in her heeding and hearing the way Underhill internalized the music of eternity in her Advent reflections.

Music of Eternity has a compelling and apt “Introduction”, by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell. In fact, Music of Eternity will be his Advent book for 2021—high praise indeed for such a beauty of a primer on Underhill and Advent. But, there is much more worth pondering as we pass through the portal of Music of Eternity into the sanctuary of Underhill and Advent, Robyn being the Beatrice of sorts.

Music of Eternity is divided into 4 sections: 1) Prevenience: Welcoming God’s Coming (God Is), 2) Advent: Awaiting God’s Coming (Christ Is Coming), 3) Emmanuel: Recognizing God’s Coming (Christ Comes), and 4) Holy Living: Embracing God’s Coming (God Has Come). Each of these main sections are broken down into smaller bite-size pieces in which the meaning of Advent is probed in an ever fuller and more mature way and manner. Needless to say, the 4 sections correspond to the 4 weeks of Advent. In each of the sections, Robyn weaves together quotes from Underhill on Advent with her significant thoughts on the perennial relevance of both Advent and Underhill for us today on our all too human journey. The “Prologue” by Robyn is worth many a meditative read just as the “Epilogue” (Come, Lord Jesus) and Appendix (Editing the Excerpts) makes for a fine finale to Music of Eternity. There is, also, at the end of each meditation section thoughts “For Discussion” and a “Prayer”.

I might add by way of a kindly criticism that it might have been valuable if some attention had been paid to Underhill’s more political and peace writings in the book, Advent and Underhill, in their time and ethos, certainly in the thick of tragic war and peace issues.  

It would be somewhat remiss of me to ignore the evocative cover on the book. The obvious music of eternity that permeates the creative cover cannot be missed, each image more than a welcome to the senses to address the soul about Advent and yet a further journey. The winter blue sky, snow on the ground, flakes of white falling and yet flowers blooming (eidelweiss) from the snow, birds in song and an empty path and bench welcoming one and all to the journey. The courage needed to take the next invitational step forwards and onwards, to sit on the bench and listen, the path in the winter season a gift if understood aright. Such is the meaning of Advent, Underhill’s offered music and Robyn’s interpretive gift of Underhill and Advent, a letter from eternity. Can we hear the music?

Ron Dart          

"Israel, Palestinians, Middle East Politics, USA-Canada" - Ron Dart (CIVL Radio Interview)

CIVL Radio (UFV Abbotsford) interviews Ron Dart on "Israel, Palestinians, Middle East Politics, USA-Canada." Audio only.

Ron Dart CIVL Interview 2

Download Ron Dart CIVL Interview

Why Humans Need Tradition - Loren Southern interviews Ron Dart

"The Gospel According to Hermes" by Ron Dart, Bradley Jersak, et al

New Book Release: The Gospel According to Hermes
Intimations of Christianity in Greek Myth, Poetry and Philosophy

by Ron S. Dart and Bradley Jersak

with Simon Oliver, Wm. Paul Young, and Abp. Lazar Puhalo

AVAILABLE NOW!
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Description

Tertullian famously asked, “What hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?”

Perhaps the title of this work will raise the question, “What hath Hermes to do with Christ?”

Quite a lot, as it turns out, by way of comparison, contrast, illustration, and prefigurement. Hermes, herein, represents far more than a particular figure in Greek mythology. Hermes functions as a placeholder, symbolizing the legacy of ancient Greek myth, poetry, and philosophy—and also the layered hermeneutics that classical Greek education contributed to both Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Scriptures, and the development of their theology, doctrine, and ethics.

Despite the unfortunate but popular assumption of a Jewish-Greek dualism among many scholars since Adolf von Harnack, the stubborn and happy fact is that the New Testament itself already demonstrates a profound integration of the Hellenized Judaism established in Alexandria. The first Christian theologians were not contaminating some imaginary pure Jewish Christianity with Greek accretions.

Rather, our authors will propose and demonstrate the confluence of both great streams in the development of the New Testament Scriptures, patristic theology, and hermeneutics. This collection of essays is but a faint echo of Simone Weil’s formidable work, Intimations of Christianity Among the Ancient Greeks, and is certainly inspired by her insights. 

Table of Contents

Preface: Bradley Jersak, “What hath Hermes to do with Christ?” / 7 

FROM HERMES TO PLATO 

1. Bradley Jersak, “Pushing Back: Greek Thinking vs. Jewish Thinking is a Dualistic Error” / 11 

2. Simon Oliver, “The Role of Plato in the Development of Christian Theology” / 25 

FROM HERMES TO JOHN 

3. Bradley Jersak, “Descensus: Hermes, Hades, and Christ” / 33 

4. Ron Dart, “Water to Wine, Johannine Hermeneutics, and the Alexandrian Tradition” (part 1) / 51 

5. Ron Dart, “Water to Wine, Johannine Hermeneutics, and the Alexandrian Tradition” (part 2) / 63 

6. Wm. Paul Young, “Fish Pi: Gospel of John (21) and Archimedes” (153)” / 75 

FROM HERMES TO THE PATRISTICS 

7. Ron Dart, “Heraclitus, Aeschylus, and the Jewish Zeus” / 85 

8. Ron Dart, “Augustine, the Inklings, Myth, and Hermes the Trickster” / 93 

9. Ron Dart, “Homerian Epic, Patristic Christian Tradition and Spiritual Formation” / 99 

10. Lazar Puhalo, “Nous: The Concord of Gnosis, Theoria, and Theosis” / 109 

FROM HERMES TO THE 20th CENTURY 

11. Ron Dart, “C.S. Lewis and Hermes: Greek Myth and Till We Have Faces” / 119 

12. Ron Dart, “Thomas Merton’s The Behavior of Titans – Sixty Year Review” / 127 

13. Ron Dart, “Owls, Hegel, Castalians, Classical Myths, and T.S. Eliot” / 134 

14. Bradley Jersak, “Pythagoras, Plato, and Christ: A Cruciform Cosmology of Consent” / 141 

BEYOND HERMES 

15. Ron Dart, “Servant Leadership in the Public Square: Four Markings” / 167 

Authors / 172 

Stephen Leacock: Walking the Tightrope Between Nationalism and the Market Economy - Ron Dart

"Stephen Leacock was part of that curious and perhaps indigenously Canadian species which has been given the name of “Red Tory”                        

- Alan Bowker     

"Many writers have asserted that there is a common ground between conservatism and socialism; perhaps the most frequently cited similarities are an organic view of society, distrust of pure individualism, and a willingness to use the state to assert the rights of society, as distinct from the interests of powerful individuals. When both ideologies have legitimacy within a political culture, a  hybrid known as the Red Tory may emerge."                

- Ian Robertson   

"At McGill, as at Ottawa Collegiate, I was blessed with exceptional teachers. Stephen Leacock, head of the Department of Economics and Political Science, was one of the most brilliant men I have ever known….He was an ardent Conservative (though, also, like Sir Sam Hughes, a fierce Canadian nationalist."

-Eugene Forsey 

"Leacock was a great writer—one of the greatest we have ever  possessed."

-Robertson Davies

Leacock’s Historic Context  

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) lived through a period of Canadian political and economic history in which two economic theories dwelt both in tension and in a confrontational mode. Canada was still very much part of the British Commonwealth ethos in Leacock’s maturing years, the notion of free trade was waxing, Canadian nationalism was emerging and many were the Canadians that supported closer economic integration with the United States. Where did Leacock stand in these conflicting theories (and their application) and why?

Leacock is mostly remembered in Canada and beyond for his many compact books laced with humour, political commentary ever-present. But, Leacock taught in the Department of Political Economy all of his academic life at McGill University. The larger economic questions were front and centre for Leacock in his maturing years, hence it is quite apt and significant, when doing his PHD at the University of Chicago, his thesis was entitled The Doctrine of Laissez Faire and completed in 1903. Needless to say, Leacock’s use of “doctrine” made it abundantly clear, that the economic battle had become a new religion of sorts, forms of orthodoxy, heterodoxy and heretical positions the new sacred reality for many.

Tradition, traditions, traditionalism - Ron Dart

Tradition, traditions, traditionalism

Human Rights: Comedic and Tragic Realities

Problems with Tradition

Homer's Epic Poems, Classical Christian Tradition & Spiritual Formation - Ron S. Dart

Augustine, Lewis/Inklings, Myth & Hermes the Trickster - Ron Dart

"Herakleitos, Aeschylus & the Jewish Zeus" - Ron Dart

P.S. It is interesting that Herakleitos was from Ephesus and the notion of the "Logos" was front and centre to Herakleitos -- and then St. John and Mary the mother of Jesus settled in Ephesus. John begins his major book with the "Logos." There is, therefore, an obvious link between Herakleitos and John, with "Logos" as the core and hub for both of them. Even T.S. Eliot begins the "Four Quartets" with 2 aphorisms from Herakleitos. 

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago, and Thomas Merton - Ron Dart

Part I

Joy and woe are woven fine
A clothing for the soul divine…
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.

—William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”

The year 2020 signals both the sixtieth year since Boris Pasternak died and the one hundred thirtieth year since he was born (1890-1960). There is much to the literary and political life in the midst of Stalinist Russia that Pasternak endured and wrote about, but this two-part article will focus on Pasternak himself, his epic novel, Doctor Zhivago, and Thomas Merton.                                

In the 1980s I was on staff with Amnesty International and for a time was chairperson of Group 1 Amnesty International in Canada. When Amnesty International began in 1961, the organization had adopted a variety of Prisoners of Conscience (POC) and one of the women highlighted in Persecution 1961 was Olga Ivinskaya (1912-1995). Ivinskaya has been seen by many as the Larissa (Lara) character in Doctor Zhivago, just as Ivinskaya’s daughter, Irina, can be seen as Larissa’s daughter, Katya. The fact that Olga Ivinskaya played a significant role in getting Doctor Zhivago published in English in 1958 meant she was suspect by the Russian State and the KGB. When Pasternak died in 1960, Ivinskaya was arrested and given an eight-year prison sentence and her daughter a shorter sentence. Irina was released from prison in 1962 and Olga in 1964. It was not until 1988 that Gorbachev rehabilitated Ivinskaya’s reputation.

The ongoing relationship between the novel Doctor Zhivago and reality has been told from various angles, including Olga Ivinskaya’s own book, A Captive of Time: My Years with Pasternak (1978), and in a more updated version, Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago by Anna Pasternak (2017). Moscow has Ears Everywhere: New Investigations on Pasternak and Ivinskaya by Paolo Mancosu (2019) is another treatment of the subject. There are decided points of convergence and overlap between Doctor Zhivago and Pasternak’s layered life. But to the novel I now turn.

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This article was first posted in Radix Magazine