I had reservations about iMonk the first few times I read him, but he’s grown on me, and the first time I downloaded his podcast and heard that Kentucky accent in my headphones (there’s really nothing that sounds quite like a Kentucky accent), I was a fan.? This post struck me as fitting for my season of Dante-reading; like myself and Mr. Spencer, Dante saw the value in having a Virgil around to make sense of the Inferno and to help explore Purgatory.? He’s not adequate to Paradise, ultimately, but that doesn’t negate his role before then.? In his post iMonk cautions against theological traditions that shun those human goods that God has given us as gifts:
Many Evangelicals see a frightening and dark world. They are suspicious of art, music, literature and the imagination. Books are dangerous. Culture- be it high or low- is of little value. Those evangelicals who are not of that mindset know full well what the arguments are: How is this serving the glory of God? What is the value of this activity as compared to theology or worship? What is any of this when compared to God?
The reformed doctrines of depravity and corruption are applied to everything, and the only answer is God. But can the world of being human gain and keep its significance in and through the glory of God, or must it give way to the glory of God? That discussion seems to be going on in many different ways and places, with varying levels of helpfulness.
I am sad to say this, but there is a point at which the relentless God-centeredness of some believers makes them into the adversaries and almost the enemies of much that is good in human life. They become the enemies of normal, especially in the lives of young people, creative people and people who feel that life in this world is good and shouldn?t be devalued by religion.
Such hyper-suspicion, of course, is a species of the problem that I see in Luther’s De Servo Arbitrio, and despite my own early suspicions of the iMonk, his use early in the post of the phrase “Christian humanism” makes me think that he and I are in fact on the same page here.
[update: I don't know if this is Dantean or not, but iMonk has another post that advises Christians, in lieu of going to various lobbying and litigation groups, to talk to their neighbors.? Good stuff.]
