St. Maximos' Hut I'm coming out.....or, why I am a libertarian Christian

In Renovation of the Heart Dallas Willard writes:

"The revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continuously a revolution of the human heart or spirit. It did not and does not proceed by means of the formation of social institutions and laws, the outer forms of our existence, intending that these would then impose a good order of life upon who come under their power." (p.15)

When I first read this I thought, "wow, since I've devoted most of my life trying to understand social institutions and laws, I guess I've wasted my life. I need to leave political science immediately."

But then I thought about it .... if Jesus's revolution is about a revolution of the heart, if its not about external control to induce good behavior, then it has implications for social institutions.

Social institutions should impose as few limitations as possible on the choices individuals make. If the heart is to be changed it is to be changed in an environment where people are free to make their own mistakes. Free to be challenged by the mistakes others make. Free to have an opportunity to learn and grow in such an environment. And free to be able to turn over their freedom to Christ and become a slave to righteousness.

This is not the world we live in, which suggests there are changes to be made in our social institutions. And studying the conditions underwhich changes in social institutions occur may not be a comple waste of time.

Please tell me what you think.... I don't want to waste another moment.

(link)

Bryan Morton (mail) (www):

The first time I saw the scene in "The Matrix" where Neo must chose the pill which will forever expose the truth or the pill which will forever hide it from him, it struck me how much that is like learning about libertarianism. The world looks very different now. I can clearly see in every human interaction, the desire of those who believe that the initiation of force is a legitimate means to personal, social, political and economic goals, and those few who do not. There is a wealth of information on libertarianism and the relationship between it and Christianity. I'd be happy to provide you with a list of sites and books on this subject.

BryanDMorton@bellsouth.net
LibertarianChristians.Org

4.26.2007 5:14pm

Chris (mail):

Gnostic is as gnostic does. It is not surprising that Dallas Willard holds a version of he "Jesus and me" position which has necessarily animated a good deal of that school of evangelical protestantism. Having spent years in various groups of this sort, their position is largely defined by the groups from which they have split; they are necessarily a-historical and anti-institutional. Since people are sinful, it is inevitable that any sizable institution will offer plenty of evidences of corruption. Yet we ARE formed by our relationships -- especially those that have an enduring, organized (read institutional) nature. Dismissing institutions because the human beings that comprise them regularly fail is foolish. Institutionalizing behavior is how we attempt to help it endure beyond the momentary inspiration; it is how we organize ourselves and our efforts in order to have a lasting effect. This does not contradict or limit the work of the Holy Spirit in anyway, since this is how God made things. We are meant to be embodied - on a personal and corporate level.
This perspective finds expression in the rejection of sacramental liturgy in their corporate worship. The result is not freedom from structure, just bad structure where the ancient structures and organization of our efforts are replaced by "what suits us," with all the fingerprints of our own egos.
Whether worship, the body or the corporate body (institutions) the rejection or dismissal of the body at various levels has always been primarily a gnostic move in which the primary goal is to replace those elements of society that are not subject to my wishes. In this, the evangelical and the secular share a common impulse, even if the intention is very different.
While I keenly believe in and support free markets and minimalist government, institutions in this world must - of necessity - do what works in this world. The trick is to maintain sufficient constraint while supporting maximum freedom. In this way, it is rather like a hockey game: too little refereeing and the players take it upon themselves to enforce fairness - and the games descends into perpetual fighting. Too much and the game is simply quashed. Even so, it will always be messy.
If our institutions are to protect the vulnerable from the predatory (whether foreign or domestic), they must have power. The genius of our institutions was these they were so well distributed, decentralized and dispersed that concentration was difficult and wide involvement was supported. God help us if our founders had not institutionalized these efforts. It was their genius to recognize the self-destructive nature of "mob-ocracy" that led them to prefer the more mediated institution of representative republican government. While the pendulum has seemed to have swung to the extreme (can we really regulate chaos out of existence?), we are in greater danger of foolishly dismissing the baby (institutions) because we have failed to distinguish it from the bathwater of coercive regulation, to our own peril.
Pardon the long answer. A crypto-gnostic perspective is destructive. Keep fighting the good fight.

8.5.2007 3:02pm

H West (mail) (www):

This is great stuff. Since becoming Orthodox, I would change Dallas' quote to: 'The revolution of Jesus. . .does proceed by means of the formation of 'The Church'. . .' I had the opportunity a few years ago to listen to Dallas in a more intimate setting than most. I heard several discussions between he and a group of pastors who are banging their heads against walls, trying to figure out how to move their churches in the direction of 'spiritual formation.' These people are ACHING for Orthodoxy, but they don't realize it. While I was listening to the discussions, I was also taking classes at a local Orthodox church and reading a lot about Orthodoxy. I was hearing them ask all the questions from one side, while I was also listening to all the answers from another! That information is neither here nor there, other than to say that I really like Dallas Willard and, in some ways, I get a bit sad when I read his stuff because I think, 'if only he knew. . .'. Moving on, I don't think you're wasting your time at all so keep going. One of the many social institutions that is currently squashing my freedom is the grocery store. My husband and I have 5 kids and one income. Let's just say that, compared to many in our 'social class', we are low on the cash flow. However, I would prefer not to shop at Wal-Mart or any other mega- grocery store, but I would also prefer to buy local and/or organic food. I suppose that this is just one example, though, of how our modern suburban society/lifestyle doesn't support large families. Another 'social institution' that squelches our freedom around here is the community sports league. I could go on. . .My question to you is, what are some specific 'social institutions' that you think inhibit human freedom and how do they do it? My other question is how does (or should) the Church function as a social institution? Should it be an example of an institution that fosters human freedom? Does it? Here's an interesting thought on one aspect of freedom: 'It is a great privilege to be able to let one's mind dwell on the everlasting, which is above and beyond all the most splendid achievements of science, philosophy, the arts, and so on. At first the struggle to acquire this privilege may seem disproportionately hard; though in many cases known to me the pursuit of freedom for prayer became imperative. Prayer affords an experience of spiritual liberty of which most people are ignorant. The first sign of emancipation is a disinclination to impose one's will on others. The second- an inner release from the hold of others on oneself. . .Man is made in the image of God, Who is humble but at the same time free. Therefore it is normal and natural that he should be after the likeness of His Creator- that he should recoil from exercising control over others while himself being free and independent by virtue of the Holy Spirit within him. Those who are possessed by the lust for power cloud the image of God in themselves. . .Spiritual freedom is a sublime grace. Without it there is no salvation- salvation revealed to us as the deification of man, as the assimilation by man of the divine form of being.
-Archimandrite Sophrony
Keep studying, please. I want to know what you come up with!

8.13.2007 9:19pm

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