Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

The Swords and the Snake - a tale - Ron Dart

The Swords and the Snake

 

A tale was once told of a boy who wandered far from home, and as the boy slept under an ancient tree (which some say had no beginning) a snake coiled itself 'round his body.

 

The boy awoke as his breath was near the end and his head and body were about to be drawn into the ravenous body of the snake. The initial passivity of the boy and what seemed his inevitable end gave way to a burst of determined energy and life. He managed to draw out the small Swiss knife he carried about for years and as he did so, the knife became a sword, and after many swings of the sword, the head of the snake was cut off.

 

But the snake, like the hydra of old, had many heads and with the cutting off of each head, two more grew. The weariness of the battle wore the boy down and defeat seemed nearer each tragic moment. A horn was sounded in the distance and many valkyrie-like women arrived who knew the mere cutting off of the serpent's head was not enough. Many ancient swords were used and driven deep into the snake-hydra's body and heart. The boy was gathered and enfolded into the arms of the time tried warriors and brought to their home high in the mountains for months of healing. 

Ron Dart on Canadian Conservatism (High Red Toryism) with Cornelius Christian

Certainty, Uncertainty and Wisdom: The Christian Tradition - Ron Dart

For now we see through a glass darkly
1 Corinthians 13:12
St. Paul

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.

In Memoriam
Alfred Lord Tennyson      

Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise

Shakespeare                       

1. The Gnostic Temptation                   

We are living through yet another acute phase in the culture wars. The content does differ in many ways from previous ages however the means of engaging the hot button issues has a long line and lineage. The obvious and presenting issues tend to sharply divide the cultural Marxists, social justice warriors, woke ethos, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, street activists, progressive leftist leaning liberals and new atheists from the alt-lite-new right, reactionary right, free speech leanings and various types of traditionalists and nationalist conservatives. Those who would toss paint on historic statues and pull them down inevitably birth reactionary law and order types. One extreme births the opposite.  Although the issues priorized and interpreted bring both tribes into inevitable collisions, both clans assume the sheer rightness of their positions and tend to demean the other and, worse yet, rhetorical flame throwing is common and cancel culture dominates. This obstinate and committed position of uncritical and uncriticized certainty is at the heart of the gnostic temptation of the simplistic and ideological left and right (and can be found within many religious communities also past and present).

There is a tendency to think Gnosticism was only an early church heresy in which spirit was opposed to matter, mind to time, the higher and eternal the good, time and history to be transcended as being evil. There is some truth, of course, in such a historic read of Gnosticism as a  challenge to the early church, but deeper than the content is the gnostic way of interpreting our all too human journey. The Gnostics, like the Manicheans, reduced complex reality to black-white categories, interpretations were right-wrong, truth-falsehood, certainty-uncertainty was the way of deciding who was in-out in the tribe and inner ring. The simplistic dualism cannot be missed. The gnostic way of seeing and interpreting spiritual realities (they saw themselves as the enlightened ones, the church more subordinate and of lesser insights) was one of certain knowing (gnostic tends to mean knowing of a higher and more certain level) that cannot be doubted. It is this gnostic appetite and desperate need for certainty that very much dominates the newest scene and act in the ongoing human drama of contentious issues in the culture wars, political correctness the new secular creed and dogma, those who differ branded as heretics to “the Cause”.    

I will briefly linger, using Eric Voegelin as a guide, on how the gnostic way is as much with us today as it was in the early decades of the church, the content different, the need for certainty the same. When Gnosticism is secularized, the certainty theme remains even though the literal gnostics of history vanish. Voegelin, in his updated notion of Gnosticism, The New Science of Politics and his smaller yet nonetheless poignant missive, Science, Politics and Gnosticism can be a valuable pointer on clarifying much on the perennial nature of Gnosticism. But, let us briefly return to the Patristic and Creedal era of the early church and ponder how they deftly avoided the gnostic temptation as a way of knowing and being.

John 8: The Perennial Challenge of the Sanhedrin-Pharisees: Truth and its Fragments by Ron Dart

John, the Contemplative Theologian
John 8 and the Perennial Challenge of the Sanhedrin-Pharisees:
Truth and its Fragments by Ron Dart

Professor Ron Dart gives his fifth lecture in a series of lectures titled John: Contemplative Theologian. In this lecture, Dart expands his discussion on the challenge of interpretation and the tendency for humans to form Sanhedrin's who strenuously defend a given interpretation, often times to the peril of the essence of the tradition itself. Hence, there is a need for a degree of humility in our given interpretation that finds a middle way between relativity and certainty. Dart couches the lecture in the Greek word used for truth in this context, aletheia (ἀλήθεια), and contrasts it with the Greek word used for stone in this context, lithos (λίθος), to illuminate the message of unconcealing and openness to Being.

The Alpine Guide: A Parable - Ron Dart

Once upon a time, there was an Alpine Guide who had spent a delight of a day under the blue canopy on a generous summit. The early afternoon joined him and he began the lengthy descent to the valley floor. He met on his way downwards a variety of people and groups winding their way to the upper ridges. Each and all told the Guide they were going to spend the day on the mountain top and take the chair lift down.

The Alpine Guide told them there was no chair lift down, they were starting too late in the day, it was a long journey to the peak and the weather was deteriorating. Most ignored what the Guide said and he continued the remainder of his journey to the village in the valley.

Dusk, then dark, inevitably brought the day to a close, winds whipped up, the cloud ceiling dropped low, whiteout conditions prevailed and a late-season snowstorm buried the mountain in white.

Search and Rescue teams were sent out searching for those on the mountain. Few were found, most perished. And, sadly so, some Search and Rescue members also died.

Ron Dart

Barry Morris's "A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness" - Review by Ron Dart

A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness: 
Dynamics, Challenges, and Ambiguities of Success
in Urban & Community Ministries

Wipf & Stock: Eugene: Oregon, 2020

Barry Morris

Barry Morris is one of those rare yet needful ministers who not only have been faithful to urban and community ministries, but, equally significant and importantly so, he has judiciously wed substantive theology to such a vision and lived out such a knitting in inner-city urban and community ministries. This, the most recent book by Barry, fleshes out in greater depth and detail, his ongoing reflections on these multilayered issues.

A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness begins with a thoughtful and engaged meditation on the challenges that will confront those who dwell in the midst of such a commitment. Then, true to form, Barry ponders three possible areas worth the turning to for wisdom and insights: “The Toronto Christian Resource Centre”, “Victoria BC” and “Vancouver BC’s Streams of Justice”. This timely and timeless book of sorts concludes, rightly so, with lessons learned from such in the trenches of urban life and an anatomy of “What Constitutes Success in an Urban Ministry?” The answer, needless to say, does hold before the reader and those in the thick of urban ministry a legitimate and perennial question mark. How, indeed, is such success to be measured within such a lived reality and is the notion of success a word worth using in such a context?

The three sites that Barry visits (Toronto, Victoria, Vancouver), although different in many ways, share certain affinities in their obvious challenges and each of these chapters does significant dives into the more demanding details of such lived communal realities (ideals held high but never easy to maintain over the longer journey).

Chapter four is particularly pertinent to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver area. There can be no doubt that Grandview Calvary Baptist Church (GCBC) has been at the forefront of being a public-prophetic witness at a variety of levels: educational and activist. The Streams of Justice (SoJ) group that has faithfully attempted to embody grassroots activism has, in many ways, significant affinities, as a Baptist congregation, with Tommy Douglass and Martin Luther King. Jr. Barry, to his credit, reveals to the interested reader, the journey of GCBC-SoJ as they have, in their faithful way and manner, lived an honest yet imperfect witness in the inner city of Vancouver (downtown Eastside a focus).    

The title of the book speaks much as does the subtitle. The urban church (particularly the urban church that works with those on the margins) is meant to be faithful but faithful in a way that is both public and prophetic—certainly not an easy vocation. And, the subtitle, rightly so, sums up such a reality---being dynamic, ongoing challenges and multiple ambiguities, success always, in many ways, protean and ambiguous, transient and fragile. There are, of course, many successful churches (if success is measured by numbers), but to be a successful public and prophetic church is yet a deeper challenge---much more maturity needed indeed. When success is measured not by numbers but by ethical and prophetic integrity, the numbers do dwindle to the faithful few (who are so often tempted by the demon of failure---a consistent tempter).

A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness is a fine and needful companion read to Barry’s earlier must-read books: The Word on the Street (1991) and Hopeful Realism in Urban Ministry (2016). As mentioned above, Barry is one of those rare yet needful people who both are in the centre of the demanding fray yet also have the wits to reflect and ponder what makes for a meaningful exegetical and theological way to journey forward and onward. There are activists who tend not to think too deeply and intellectuals who never play chess games with ideas but rarely enter the fray. Barry, to his credit, has lived such a trying tension, and, in many ways, A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness reflects such a tightrope walk well done.

Ron Dart        

Water to Wine: Johannine Hermeneutics & the Alexandrian Tradition (part 2) - Ron Dart

Water to Wine: Johannine Hermeneutics & the Alexandrian Tradition - Ron Dart

Wesley Seminar Podcast - Ron Dart on Jordan Peterson & "The Map of Our Life"

Wesley Seminary Podcast · #140 Ron Dart: The Map of our Life

Lauren Southern and Cloistered Virtues - Ron Dart

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but  slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat

John Milton
Areopagitica

We are living (nothing new about this) in the midst of yet another series of intense culture wars. The liberal progressives have their Sanhedrin and ruling ideology that brooks little or no opposition. Much of this tribe holds the reins of power at universities, culture, media and political parties of the center-left. This liberal Orthodoxy has a certain way of interpreting history and contemporary events that reflect the ideological premises of liberalism. The conservative clan is often seen as the polar opposite of the liberal tribe and many of the hot button issues in the cultures are held high by them, such a clan, cannon loaded, firing multiple shots across the liberal bow. Needless to say, such opposite positions on virtually most issues can be confusing for those seeking some sort of compass to guide them in the heat of the culture wars, slinking out of the race an indulgent and narcissistic pose and posture—it takes deep courage to remain in the fray when the dust and heat overwhelm the soul, mind and imagination. The treatment of Jordan Peterson, in the last few years, illuminates, in utmost clarity, the nature of the culture wars and treatment of those who go into the lion’s den of liberal orthodoxy—Sanhedrin can be quite vicious, heresy and heterodoxy still very much alive.

There are those who uncritically bend the knee to the progressive left just as there are many who uncritically genuflect to the conservative right. There are many who begin on the left, see the dilemmas of it and turn to the right. There are others who begin on the conservative right, then turn left. Such transitions often still reflect the need to belong to a tribe with some sort of certainty but the content simply shifts even though the need for certainty does not.  William Wordsworth, as a young man, idealized the French Revolution only to distance himself from it when he saw the once oppressed oppressing others (left going right). Martin Buber, when young, for a short period of time, joined Theodore Herzl in his Zionist ideology (right going left) only to part paths with him when he realized powerlessness once attaining power creates other victims. St. Paul, once an aggressive persecutor of Christians, changed his mind and came to see things differently (persecutor becoming persecuted). Wordsworth, Buber and St. Paul once took positions that they came to see as questionable and grew into deeper, more nuanced and thoughtful ways of approaching complex human reality (both the inner and outer life)

Lauren Southern has been on quite a public political journey for the last five years. I have journeyed with her on some parts of such a pilgrimage. The fact that universities, media, higher culture and center-left political parties embody and reflect (often quite uncritically) a programmed ideological agenda that often silences legitimate questions or opposition (and many come to see this) means that, in reaction, many turn to an idealized version of the political right. Jordan Peterson, for example, reflects a perspective that dares to critique liberal orthodoxy (and is caricatured and dismissed regularly and routinely for doing so). This does not mean he is an uncritical fan of the ideological right (alt-new or lite right).  Lauren Southern, in the last five years, has certainly been on the front stage as a significant activist of the far-right and she has seen it for what it is in a way few have or ever will see. The cloistered virtues of those who retreat from the fray or into ideological tribes (of the right or left) were, for a time, Lauren’s temptation and addiction of sorts (Lauren’s bent more to the right). But, like Wordsworth, Buber, and St. Paul (I could mention many others) Lauren has come to see the human journey is more complex than formulas, clichés and slogans that distort reality and reduce political positions to homogenous and sanitized comic book versions of life in which either-or melodramas dominate rather than thoughtful and meaningful human dialogue.

The recent release of Lauren’s “Why I Left, Why I’m Back” sums up, in less than 20 minutes, her reasons for leaving her right of centre commitments and her feeling her way forward to the next step of the journey. The fact Lauren has been much more public than most (certainly no cloistered virtue now of right, retreat or left) means, with this recent video, the progressives are out for her head again and the right feels betrayed by her. But, thoughtful people (unlike brittle ideologues) see and in their deeper seeing, change their minds and in changing their minds, bring greater light and less heat to our culture wars. Do watch this video by Lauren and post reflective comments.

amor vincit omnia

Ron Dart              

Robyn Wrigley-Carr’s "The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill" – Review by Ron Dart

He footed it well and she answered him handsomely

—Bunyan

Much significant work has been done on the life and prolific writing of Evelyn Underhill (certainly one of the most significant writers on the mystical life in the first half of the 20^thcentury), but the research done on the impact of Baron von Hugel on Underhill has tended to be leaner, thinner and less developed. The sheer beauty and brilliance of this recent book by Robyn on Underhill is the way the close and symbiotic relationship between von Hugel and Underhill is carefully and thoughtfully tracked and traced. The fact that Eugene Peterson wrote a rather lengthy “Foreword” to the book, carefully noting his significant indebtedness to von Hugel, should alert the curious and interested in learning more about von Hugel: both Underhill and Peterson (and many others mentored into greater depths of the faith journey by this multilayered director of sorts).

Robyn, to her well-researched credit (her PhD done on von Hugel), does a chapter by chapter round dance between von Hugel and Underhill, photos of both of them, like welcoming portals, inviting us to see and hear them. This compact and rewarding read of a book is divided into six enticing sections (I read the bounty in two days—hard to turn away from it).  As mentioned above, Eugene Peterson did the incisive “Foreword.” Once done, the plane leaves the tarmac.

1) “Introducing the Baron” makes for a pleasant overview of his engaged and careful life, a life that modeled a broad and truly catholic vision and vocation.

2) “Introducing Evelyn Underhill” answers chapter one handsomely, von Hugel having footed it well in the previous chapter. Those with some background in Underhill’s pilgrimage through time will find this a lovely refresher chapter and those new to Underhill a fine primer.

3) “The Baron’s spiritual formation of Evelyn Underhill” brings the two dancers together, the nature of the eternal dance and steps to be learned and revealed well and wisely.

4) “Motherhood of souls: Evelyn the spiritual director” ponders how Underhill picked up the torch offered her by von Hugel and rethought and restated much of his insights in a more accessible way and manner, Underhill no uncritical devotee of von Hugel, the best of him internalized by Underhill as a mother of souls.

5) “Motherhood of souls: Evelyn the retreat director” moves the discussion from Underhill as a prolific writer on mysticism and directee of von Hugel to the practical and regular giving of retreats by Underhill (something von Hugel never did). The finale or “Afterword” to The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill brings together (dance steps learned well and wisely) the way Von Hugel, Underhill and Peterson have formed, in many ways, Robyn’s emerging vocation and charism, a variety of passages from Peterson’s books and emails to Robyn from Peterson included to end the book, Robyn being a student of Peterson when she studied at Regent College in the days when Peterson was there. I might also add the copious “Notes” and “References” make this a book worth many a meditative read and inward digesting.

It might have been interesting to ponder, given the years that von Hugel (1852-1925) and Underhill (1875-1941) were alive and active in the English context, how they understood the catholic relationship between contemplation, church, ecclesial ecumenism and substantive public and political issues that Anglican Divines such as F.D. Maurice, Charles Gore, Percy Dearmer and Conrad Noel embodied. I might add that there is a brief but touching correspondence between Underhill and C.S. Lewis, initiated by Underhill in her waning years before Lewis had waxed.

I have been fond of Evelyn Underhill for many decades and read Baron von Hugel also, but this is the best book to date that threads together, in a well-woven tapestry, the impact of von Hugel on Underhill and the way Underhill internalized the best of von Hugel and passed the gift and torch on to others, including C.S. Lewis, Eugene Peterson and Robyn Wrigley-Carr—many thanks to Robyn for such a charmer of a book.

Perhaps a fitting adieu to the review might best be summed by Bob Cratchit’s response to the fine feast his wife prepared for the family Christmas dinner:  “A triumph, my dear, another triumph.”

Ron Dart                            

The Bells of Banff

Gordon Nickel's "The Quran with Christian Commentary" - Review by Ron Dart

The Quran with Christian Commentary: 
A Guide to Understanding The Scripture of Islam
Zondervan Academic, 2020
Gordon D. Nickel

There has been centuries-long engagement between Christianity and Islam, and there have been many ways of both belief-faith traditions doing their best to make sense of one another. There has been the “conflict tradition” in which differences are held high and discord dominates. There has been the “dialogical tradition”, so near and dear to interfaith types, in which some form of unity and concord is the ideological bent (neither side wanting to offend one another in an era and ethos of pluralism). The approach to both traditions can be to focus on the founders or the history of these heritages (and a comparison and contrast between them). There are those on the political right who mostly see Islam as a religion of violence and terrorism. There are those on the progressive left that only seem to see the moderate and peaceful side of Islam. Needless to say, both tribes go cherry-picking with the facts they chose to bring forth as evidence. There is, also, an approach that compares and contrasts the two sacred texts (Bible and Quran). It is this approach that is used by Gordon Nickel in The Quran with Christian Commentary.

The study of the Quran, like a study of the Bible, can be done in two ways: uncritically devotional or textually critical. The textually critical (the Christian Tradition has lived with this approach for a few centuries) can lead to a dismissal of the text as interesting yet irrelevant or illuminate how the text can be read in a more informed and nuanced manner. The devotional approach is often quite uncritical (and when legitimate questions are asked, the questioner is seen as the problem).

Gordon Nickel (who has spent much of his mature life studying both the Quran and Islamic history with some of the best scholars in the world) brings to his study of Islam and the Quran both an appreciative yet critical reading of the 114 Suras. There is a tendency, by Christians, to either focus on the negative verses-suras in the Quran or, as some Muslims and Christians do, ignore and subordinate such verses-suras through the use of “abrogation”. Nickel’s, to his thoughtful and informed credit, walks a judicious middle way, between textual demonization and devotional hagiography. The close reading of the 114 suras (with many thoughtful comments and reflections) highlights contentious texts within the Quran (that Muslims grapple with and attempt to interpret and apply) and those suras-verses in the Quran which seem to deliberately misread and misinterpret both the Jewish and Christian sacred texts. The fact that Nickel’s consciously examines and probes both dilemmas makes The Quran with Christian Commentary a tome worthy of many a meditative and challenging read.

It is only in the last few decades that North America has had to deal with Islam. Most in North America have virtually no understanding of the origins of Islam, the Quran, Islamic history and the diverse forms of Islam in the world today. The fact that Islam is the 2^nd largest religion in the world has a significant presence in the world (increasingly so in North America) means that deliberate ignorance of both the Quran and Islam is a sort of cloistered virtue, a putting of the head into the sand, an ignoring of a growing cultural reality that will continue to be a pressing issue ever more so as we move forward into the future. The fact the Quran is the foundation and authoritative text for Muslims means that any minimal engagement with Muslims means a thoughtful read of the text is imperative. Gordon Nickel has provided both such a text (using the translation by A.J. Droge) and, more importantly, his multiple reflections and commentaries are pure gold. Gordon, as any good thinker should, walks the judicious middle way between a negative approach to the text or a devotional one—the attempt is to truly understand what the Quran is saying and, at times, ask critical questions about what is said (and the implications of it).

The Bibliography at the beginning of this almost 700-page tome is more than worthy of note and significance. Those who are serious and seek to mature in a thoughtful Christian and Jewish engagement with Islam and the Quran will find some of the finest books offered to them in the Bibliography. I might add that Gordon has published a variety of articles and books on Islam, his most recent books being The Gentle Answer to the Muslim Accusation of Biblical Falsification (2015) and Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur’an (2011). I might add, by way of conclusion, I have had Gordon speak in some of my classes in lower-upper levels of Islam (often more Muslims than any others in the classes). Gordon’s lectures, insights and answers to Muslim queries went step for step with many of the objections of Muslims from both Sunni and Shia backgrounds (none of the students knowing Classical Arabic and the Quran in the depth and detail Gordon did).

There can be no doubt that The Quran with Christian Commentary is a sura by sura thoughtful portal into facing the text and possible interpretations of it. Such an approach is both willing to face the difficult passages but do so in a gentle yet honest and responsible manner. This is a book one and all should have as a mentor of sorts into Quranic studies. If Gordon’s approach were followed, a more meaningful encounter between Christians and Muslims would shape the future dialogue.

Ron Dart          

Our “Spiritual War-Work” in the Age of COVID-19 - Robyn Wrigley-Carr

1st published in "Stimulus"

During World War 2, the British, Anglican, mystical theologian and spiritual director, Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), encouraged a small “Prayer Group” to pray for world leaders, calling it their “spiritual war-work.”[1]

Our current pandemic has often been referred to as a “war,” yet a battle against an invisible enemy that is somehow uniting us all in our common humanity—regardless of nationality, race, gender or sexuality. The language of “war” when referring to COVID-19, has caused me to reflect upon Underhill’s insights—written during our last world war—as a challenge to our Christian response to this current global health crisis.

During World War 1, Underhill contributed to the war effort through writing and translating guide-books for Naval Intelligence. But towards the end of that war, Underhill (in her words) “went to pieces.”[2] The reality of war with the death of two close cousins on the front was too much for her abstracted mysticism. By 1919, Underhill sought the spiritual nurture of Baron Friedrich von Hügel (1852-1925). Underhill tells us that “somehow by his [von Hügel’s] prayers or something,” he “compelled” her to “experience Christ … it was like watching the sun rise very slowly – and then suddenly one knew what it was.”[3] Thereafter, Underhill’s writings became Christocentric and Trinitarian, focusing upon the “spiritual life” and our response to the triune God as the Church.

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Myth, Modernity & Mr. Peterson - Mark Bauerlein with Ron Dart

The latest installment in an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. On this episode, Ron Dart, editor of the recent volume Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson, discusses Peterson’s work from a Christian perspective.

 

Ron Dart's (ed.) "Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson: A Christian Perspective" - Review by Brad Jersak

Reflective Review of Ron Dart (ed.), Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson: A Christian Perspective (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 210 pages.

It may well be that the tide of Dr. Jordan Peterson’s rise as a social phenomenon has crested and begun its wane. After a long career as an academic and therapist, we witnessed this fascinating Canadian become a major media celebrity-villain, uber-selling author, and then recede into treatment to overcome his dependency on prescription medication. While his opponents might wish him the worst, the man is an expert on improving resiliency, so I wouldn’t plan for his exit prematurely.

The truth is, Jordan Peterson is more than a polarizing influence: he’s a living Rorschach test. I learn almost nothing about him by reading his fans or opponents. But I can certainly infer a fair deal about them. And frankly, it got old. One couldn’t even mention him on social media without a firestorm of devolving shitfits. How’s that for a mixed metaphor? Having actually read the man’s books and listened to his lectures, I would argue that Peterson says almost nothing that validates his alt-right sycophants or arms his far-left critics. He did, however, serve to hold the mirror up to fascist groupthink on both ends of left-right spectrum ideology. And, well … yawn.

While his recovery and the pandemic give us a breather from the hyperbolic blowhards, it’s a treat to read a calm and scholarly work that reflects on Peterson’s real thought. Ron Dart has edited a fresh collection of essays titled Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson. Ten clear-minded assessments without a hint of slather or anxious body odor.

At the same time, the peace isn’t boring. I’m very intrigued by what Christians make of Peterson’s elusive faith and his non-denial denials thereof. Unlike C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, there’s no chance that the Evangelical tribe will be able to project themselves onto his thought to co-opt him for their agendas. Yet ironically, who else has reinvigorated interest in the Bible and tempted millennials to re-examine faith in Canada more than Jordan Peterson? Ex-church agnostics were filling large halls to hear him ramble on about archetypes in the Book of Genesis for endless hours. Now that was newsworthy. I’ll say it: for good or ill, Jordan Peterson has been, by far, the most effective evangelist in our nation for many decades. A striking accomplishment for someone who is self-consciously agnostic and heterodox. But that’s part of the appeal, no?    

Back to the book. I may as well drop the table of contents here:

Contents

    “Introduction” by Ron Dart

1. “Jordan Peterson and the Chaos of Our Secular Age” by Bruce Ashford
   
   
2. “Jordan Peterson the Counter-Revolutionary: Marxism, Postmodern Neo-Marxism, and Suffering” by Hunter Baker
   
   
3. “Language and Freedom: Jordan Peterson as Champion of Free Speech (and Freedom from Compelled Speech)” by Alastair Roberts
   
   
4. “Myth, Memoricide, and Jordan Peterson” by Ron Dart
   
   
5. “Archetypes, Symbols, and Allegorical Exegesis: Jordan Peterson’s Turn to the Bible in Context” by T. S. Wilson
   
   
6. “Jordan Peterson’s Genesis Lectures: Interpreting the Bible between Rationalism and Nihilism” by Laurence Brown
   
   
7. “The Image of Christ: Jordan Peterson as Humanist” by Esther O’Reilly
   
   
8. “Professor Peterson, Professor Peterson: What Is Your View on … Science and Religion?” by Esgrid Sikahall
   
   
9. “A Kierkegaardian Reading of Jordan Peterson” by Stephen M. Dunning
   
   
10. “Being and Meaning: Jordan Peterson’s Antidote to Evil” by Matthew Steem and Joy Steem

Myth and Meaning is well-written, thoughtful, and transcends the tired rhetoric, propaganda, hagiography, and misinformation that’s made “the historical Peterson” harder to locate. Each of the authors approaches their topic from within their own wheelhouse and applies their expertise to coolly interpreting a facet of his thought where they may be as competent or more so than he is. I found the book charitable and “true” if there’s such a thing in our age. I mean that its affirmations and critiques, whether accurate or mistaken, were consistently thoughtful and, more importantly for Peterson, in good faith. He deserves at least that. Everyone does.

I won’t annotate each chapter, but I would like to express enthusiastic kudos to Ron Dart for orchestrating this impressive ensemble. And I especially want to laud T.S. Wilson’s work in his chapter on “Archetypes, Symbols, and Exegesis.” It outshone the essay I had hoped to contribute on “Peterson’s Affinities to Patristic Interpretation.” Ron had kindly invited me to the table at a time when I knew I was unable to pull together something worthy of the volume. But I’m gratified that Wilson far exceeded the very best I could have offered. Well done, Taylor!

The secondary literature on Peterson is already expanding exponentially and will no doubt continue to grow. But unless readers are planning to accumulate a large collection, for my money, Dart et al’s Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson would be my go-to first recommendation.        

Ron Dart - A Christian Perspective on Jordan Peterson (with Chase Replogle)

Via PASTORWRITER.com

Chase Replogle interviews Ron Dart about Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson:

https://pastorwriter.com/episode/ron-dart/

Ron Dart teaches in the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He has authored or coauthored thirty-five books that deal with the interface between literature, spirituality, and politics, including The North American High Tory Tradition and Christianity and Pluralism.

He joined me today to talk about a recently released book for which he served as editor and contributor. The books is Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson: A Christian Perspective.

Ron Dart, Jordan Peterson, Roger Scruton & Paul VanderKlay: Nuances within Conservativism

"Myth & Meaning in Jordan Peterson" - Ron Dart

COVID-19 & the USA - Ron Dart

COVID 19 has spread with much rapidity from China through countries in Europe (Italy, Spain, France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany being ravaged the most) to the USA. But, in the recent posting by Worldometer, the USA has now passed, in deaths, the most tragic places in Europe. 

 

The deaths in the USA  are now nearing 21,000.

Why do you think the USA has been pummeled the hardest?

Much to ponder on this Western

Easter Sunday. 

 

Ron Dart