Hanging Out in American Babylon

Since my entry into the blogosphere a few months ago, I’ve noticed quite a few Christians, especially seminary students, who seem to struggle with the idea of “dual citizenship”–i.e., balancing their identity as both Americans and Christians. As they react to what they see as a too close alliance between the cross and the flag among those on the Christian Right, their tendency is to resort to Platonic dualism and “either/or” solutions. In other words, choose whom you will serve, cross or flag, but never both.

As with most things,”there is nothing new under the sun.” Anxiety over the relationship and responsibilities of God’s people to state is an old concern, predating the church itself. Not only are there clues to this ancient dilemma available from scripture, but from tradition and church history as well. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, has plumbed the depths of the nature of church and state in his article, Our American Babylon, and turned out a very balanced treatment of the issue:

“We Christians are a pilgrim people, a people on the way, exiles from our true home, aliens in a strange land. There is in all the Christian tradition no more compelling depiction of our circumstance than St. Augustine’s City of God. Short of the final coming of the Kingdom, the City of God and the earthly city are intermingled. We are to make use of, pray for, and do our share for the earthly city. Here Augustine cites the words of Jeremiah urging the people not to fear exile in Babylon: ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its peace you will find your peace.'”

“The argument, in short, is that God is not indifferent to the American experiment, and therefore we who are called to think about God and His ways through time dare not be indifferent to the American experiment. America is not uniquely Babylon, but it is our time and place in Babylon. We seek its peace in which we find our peace as we yearn for and eucharistically anticipate the New Jerusalem which is our pilgrim goal. It is time to think again–to think deeply, to think theologically–about the story of America and its place in the story of the world. Again, the words of St. Augustine: ‘It is beyond anything incredible that God should have willed the kingdoms of men, their dominations and their servitudes, to be outside the range of the laws of his providence.'”

I highly recommend this article for all, especially those who are currently struggling with these weighty matters.

On a different note, why is it that for the past 25 years, the writings which have nourished me the most and been the most critical in my ongoing spiritual formation have been almost exclusively the product of those hailing from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican traditions?

I guess figuring out the answer to that question will be one of many things which will occupy my thought as I continue to hang out in American Babylon.

17 Comments

  1. contratimes

    Very, very well done. Thanks.

    BG

  2. Derek Jenkins

    I know, I really, really know, just how you feel.

    Can I recommend a few more?

    Have you read Chesterton on Aquinas?

    Flannery O’Connor’s Habit of Being is a must.

    Walker Percy’s posthumously published Signposts In A Strange Land (and his unforgettable Chestertonian Lost in the Cosmos) is full of his wry, and often sardonic humor.

    As they were great friends and kindred spirits, anything by Belloc is worth it. He has the same large spirit and robust intellect and breadth of vision. Chistopher Dawson is magisterial in history. And try Evelyn Waugh’s life of Campion.

    I learned from Lewis long ago that the great novels are an education, not in knowlegde, but in wisdom. Bloy, Bernanos, Mauriac, Claudel, and Peguy are the brilliant heart of the French Catholic literary revival of the early twentieth century.

    Try Bernanos’ Diary of a Country Priest, Mauriac’s Vipers’ Tangle, Peguy’s The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc, and Claudel’s The Satin Slipper for a start.

    Etienne Gilson’ work in the history of philosophy is fabulous.

    Louis Bouyer, Karl Adam, Johan Mohler, are incomparable defenders of the Faith.

    Balthasar and his Aesthetics may be the greatest of them all. The beginning of wisdom is wonder.

    Perhaps you can give us a top ten list of works that have most impacted you or are your favorites or some such?

  3. mike the eyeguy

    BG–

    Your kind words and encouragement add fuel to the fire. Thanks.

    Derek–

    When I wrote that question, I knew I was leaving an opening for you the size of a Mack truck!

    Thanks so much for your list. I have enjoyed what you’ve recommended so far and these new additions should keep me busy for, what, a few years? 😉

    A list of favs…ok, here goes, but no certain order mind you:

    1) Mere Christianity–Lewis
    2) Orthodoxy–Chesterton
    3) The Everlasting Man–Chesterton
    4) The City Of God–Augustine
    5) Screwtape Letters–Lewis
    6) A History of the Church–Eusebius
    7) Evangelical Is Not Enough–Thomas Howard
    8) Anything by Flannery O’Connor
    9) The Francis Schaeffer Trilogy
    10) Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail–Robert Webber
    11) The Purpose Driven Life–Rick Warren

    Just joking about #11…

  4. extremist

    Great article. Thanks. I should accept reading assignments from you more often. 🙂

  5. mike the eyeguy

    Ex–
    Glad you enjoyed it. Fr. Neuhaus is always a good read–a whole lot of intellect with a little dash of sardonic wit thrown in for good measure.

    Talk about reading assignments, check out the one Derick gave me!

  6. K. Rex Butts

    Mike,

    Just thought I would let you know I stopped by to read your thoughts.

    Rex

  7. mike the eyeguy

    Thanks, Rex, please stop by again anytime. I enjoyed the conversation over at Occasional Outbursts.

    “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
    Proverbs 27:17

  8. contratimes

    Mike the Private Eye Guy,

    You have scored a comment from Rex, who has never blessed my site with a single salutation! Your gentle persuasion is to be commended. He, like you, has always been a perfect gentleman with me. However, I think somewhere along the line I offended him.

    Just wondering, but are you a subscriber to “Touchstone?” I notice that you linked to them at Occasional Outbursts. Well, if you are a subscriber, did you read December ’05?

    Peace.

    Gnade

  9. mike the eyeguy

    BG,

    Rex strikes me as a classy guy and I doubt he was offended by anything you said unless for some reason he takes issue with gentlemanly discourse and repartee.

    I don’t currently take Touchstone, but I do read it along with First Things online on occasion. I really should subscribe to the print editions since there’s nothing like the portablility and feel of the real thing.

    Also, if I weren’t such a cheapskate, then I wouldn’t have been deprived of the article “Interrogatory Prayer” by one Bill Gnade which appeared in the December ’05 Touchstone but is not (much to my chagrin) available online!

  10. contratimes

    MTEG,

    You busted me! Here I try to be subtle so no one might accuse me of gratuitous self-promotion! And then you go and do a Touchstone search and behold, you find my first magazine article.

    I just was wondering what you thought, had you read it.

    Peace!

    Go, J.J.! (That’s Jimmie Johnson, right?)

    Gnade

  11. mike the eyeguy

    BG–

    I would love to have a chance to read your article and give it some thought. Any chance that the publisher sent you any extra reprints of the article to share with your pauper friends down South?

    And,yes, two “J.J.s” happen to hit it big the same day–good for both of them!

  12. hermit Jeremy

    I realize that this is very well past the discussion, but I like to not cause too much controversy.

    I am in the midst of reading the Neuhaus article… and the difference between the seminary student (I believe you to be refering to GKB) and this… is that he (like I) is not American. Oh, to the extent that he has lived here since college and that his parents attended college in the US, he could be. To the extent that he grew up until college and it seems that his family is largely South African, he is not American.

    It is a strange thing to grow up without a country… to be an outsider where you are (and now I speak of me) because you are American… yet, to not be fully American when you come home: in part because you don’t know the cultural references, in part because you’ve been inculcated in the history of another (or various other nations) during critical moments of identity fashioning.

    here are two rants on the matter:

    http://www.hermitsrock.com/article/to-the-lighthouse

    http://www.hermitsrock.com/article/political-history

    you don’t have to read them… but the main gist is when you grow up seeing the bad side of the US and are a unitedstatsian… there’s a lot of “stuff” you have to work through. despite really loving the “freedoms” it provides.

    plus, growing up moving around, teaches you that everyone loves their country just as much as unitedstatsians do, and often they purport very similar reasons and maintain similar hopes about their own madre patria, as the spanish so nicely puts it… mother fatherland.

    i’ll come back and bore your eyes off some more when i finish the article.

    and, i’ve got some ideas re: catholic thinkers… but i’m afraid i’m pushing the bounds of your generosity.

  13. hermit Jeremy

    sorry, should’ve been like me 🙂

  14. Mike the Eyeguy

    That’s ok, you’re not pushing the bounds of generosity. I always enjoy a “good think” that takes me down unfamiliar paths.

    Yes, I have often considered the “alien” status of GKB as being a large factor in his very overt anti-Americanism and have tried to read his posts in that context. Nevertheless, there is such a thing as being a “good guest” when one is living under someone else’s roof. I dare say it would be poor form for me to live in somewhere like South Africa and constantly and incessantly play the loud, ignorant American caricaturing the culture and history of my host country and hell bent on perfecting it according to my particular view.

    Having said that, GKB certainly has the right to say whatever he wants, and others to call him out and challenge him. Free speech is extremely cool–what a country!

    BTW, I am not a republichristian. As I pointed out to GKB on another occasion, I was refraining from the Pledge of Allegiance in chapel at Harding when he was still in diapers. I will say the Pledge on other occasions besides “church,” although it has never been one of my favorite things to do. Yet, every morning I wake up and go to work for the United States Goverment and I am very proud to do my part to move that great behemoth along, hopefully doing my part to insure that she does more good than harm in my little corner of the world.

    For me, the American Babylon metaphor works well (Daniel has always been a hero of mine). I’m not convinced it is limited by one’s nationality, but I’m open to alternative views. I promise I’ll give your posts a close look when I more awake than I am now. 🙂

  15. hermit Jeremy

    oh there really is no need to read them; 🙂 they are more autobiographcial ramblings. and really, i went back and read both and only the second one, the one entitled political history is appropriate to the topic at hand. yet, even it might be too tangential and autobiographical for you to worry about reading.

    i found his essay to be quite thought-provoking and i agree with a lot of it… could we turn this into a creedal statement and make all christian bloggers, right, left and center memorize and recite it before every post?

    here are some late night disjointed thougts…

    i think that the church, at large, on the one hand, too often does not separate itself from politics to proffer a real critique of corrupt practices and power. too often we let right/left, democrat/republican rhetoric keep us from coming together in God’s name to be the Church, the Kingdom of God on earth.

    also, i think that american intellectuals and academics (they are not the same thing, though many academics might want all to confuse the two), have, in a way, let down america by swinging too far to a critique of american faults. that said, i think that for this experiment to continue in a healthy manner, it should be critiqued, even fiercely. however, somewhere along the way, we stopped existing as a civil society. i fear that the morality that chesterton, and before him de tocqueville, spoke of, and the intense civic involvement and sense of ownership that the frenchman noted, are no longer with us. we have let national politics supersede local politics and, in doing so, allowed pugilistic debate rather than action determine our politics. i could go on, but now i’m in a ranting ramble.

    i acknowledge that i am more an anti-american than an american… though, i do have on my reading list, and will get to sometime after Leviathan, Augie’s City of God… maybe he will help me to think through something that tend to see in a more Manichean light than he.

    and, i’ve largely commited the sin of repeating in my own words those of someone more elegant and thoughtful than i.

  16. Mike the Eyeguy

    I appreciate your thoughts, especially the reflections on civility. Yes, public discourse has gone the way of the dogs in so many instances. When I started blogging after Katrina, I immediately tried to gravitate toward thoughtful and challenging but ultimately gracious voices, and I determined to become the same to the best of my ability.

    Could it be that the intense civic involvement, sense of ownership and the working together for the greater good are still alive and flourishing in enough places to help carry the experiment along? I hope so, and I think my own community for the most part manages to do that, although certainly not perfectly. I have been a part of enough community and civic endeavors over the years to see some very diverse folks bumping up against each other but ultimately setting aside their differences long enough to move important projects forward.

    That sort of scene which I’m privileged to witness from time to time gives me hope. Perhaps it is not as commonly seen in large cities or in academe. But there you are (same as me, every morning), standing in a garden full of weeds, given the charge to do your part in your little corner of the garden to spruce things up as best you can.

    I have the feeling that you’re trying to do that to the very best of your ability and “thinking things through” is an important part of the process. The problem is that so many have stopped doing that altogether, or more sadly, never started in the first place.

    I read both your posts, BTW. LA history is not a strong suit of mine, and I enjoyed reading your perspectives. As you say, American history is inextricably bound with LA history. I’m afraid for most of us (myself included) that fact has eluded us, and we’ve only received distorted snippets from the usual suspect sources.

    FWIW, see my lighthearted take on my own “personal politics,” in my post, The Paradox Party. Part of my strategy for dealing with the insanity is to try not to take it too seriously. Denial perhaps, but effective!

    BTW, I will probably be over your way for some soccer come Labor Day weekend. If you’re in town that weekend and could possibly join me near the touchlines, I would consider it an honor and a privilege.

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