The Linnean Society

*Written the day before yesterday*

So, I went to the Linnean Society today. For a meeting. Yup, that is the same meeting where Darwin and Wallace first presented the idea of evolution to the world on July 1, 1858. It is also a place where Darwin and Wallace stare down at you from now-famous portraits.
The meeting was really interesting for a lot of reasons. Here are just some of them:
-I've almost always talked about science and the pursuit of science from a Christian perspective. It was fascinating, and a bit somber, to hear high level discussion about the purpose of science with no higher metanarrative to appeal to for common ground. This really stunted discussion in ways that were totally alien to me. Actually, even in fairly common ways, there were problems that were unfamiliar. For example, a big deal was made by several people about the necessity of not creating a huge distinction between organism and environment, because both are part of a bigger system. They kept saying how even the word "environment" was problematic because it excludes the observer (us) from it as well. In my head, I was thinking, "In a Christian context, we just call the whole thing 'the Creation' and are done with it. Totally not a problem."
-At one point in the meeting, the moderator asked "Is there anyone here who does not agree with the basic theory of evolution?" and absolute silence prevailed. Afterward, a young German scholar, knowing I was a theologian said "Why didn't you speak up?" I ended up on a familiar topic (being a Christian and accepting evolution) from a completely different side than I am used to!
-I also realized I just don't know a lot of about science itself. A day full of unknown terms and graphs of impressive but also impregnable data left me quite exhausted. I really AM a theologian, apparently. Apparently, my questions are theology questions too.
-Victorians knew how to build awesome buildings. Apparently, we have forgotten. And if we had gates like these to go through on the way to learning, we might be more impressed with it.

*Written today*
Yesterday, I went through the British Museum, which was as awesome as always. I am amazed, though, that the best museum in the world can also manage to have the very worst gift shop. OK, so there is one cool gift shop, but everything in there was over 100 pounds, and that was not helpful! But the "average joe" one was not cool.
I also met a Canadian woman, identified by her MEC bag. That felt good.
This is a great country though, and I am really enjoying being here!

I think I am starting to settle in here too. At the very least, I am starting to look instinctively to my right when I am crossing the street. Apparently, all those months in Thailand of training have not gone entirely to waste, since it took me at least a month and a half to get used to the change of direction there!
Tomorrow, I begin the journey out to Exeter, so keep thinking of me, as I finally finish this "transition period" that I count as starting July 28th when I left for Chicago!

Arrived

Well, I'm here now. Most of me does not believe I am here for real, but then, I am only in London and not out to Exeter yet, so there is a valid sense of "not being here for real." Either way, it is very nice to have come and found Jim, the long-time Anglican studies chaplain at Regent, who just arrived to start on his PhD about a month ago. He and his wife and 2 year-old son are hosting me in North London (Muswell Hill) which is really nice.

I went to get a converter plug for my computer yesterday, and definitely managed to get the wrong one. So, I finally have power for my computer, and thus also for my iPod, which is great.

Also, my one pair of jeans ripped on the plane. I knew they were going, but figured that simply replacing them in Edmonton was too easy. I said to myself "Self, it will be a good excursion for you to shop in England." I didn't expect to have to do it on the first day though! So, with some direction from Amber, I found a bunch of thirft shops, and managed to get a great pair of jeans for cheap (£7) and they were even hemmed to the right length, which NEVER happens. So that was quite a gift.

Today I am just hanging around the neighbourhood. Tomorrow, I will head out on a proper downtown London adventure. I am trying to decide between the British museum and a walk around the downtown core. I'm guessing the museum will win out... but we shall see!

The best conversation ever...

Person #1: Do you know what is absolutely amazing?
Me: No. What?
Person #1: Cell phones! It is amazing that I can pick up the phone and call my sister across the world in like 3 seconds! Amazing! In fact, it is the power of God! And do you know, people don't understand that! The power of God! There is no way human technology could do something that fast!
Me: Yeah, it is pretty cool. Although, I believe the radio waves and electricity move at the speed of light, so there really is more than enough time for the signal to go around the world...
Person #1: No way! It is the power of God! No humans could do that!!
Me: Well, I suppose I would say that God has put regularities in the world that could account for cell phones... That is the power of God...
Person #1: No way! No way human technology can account for that! Do you know what else?
Me: No...
Person #1: Airplanes! People say airplanes fly by... metaphysics... and stuff... but it is the power of God! And people just don't understand that! Nobody could make one fly by itself.

At this point I'm standing in absolute awe of this person... unsure if I can hold back the laughter that is slowly killing me inside.

Me: So, what about birds? Birds fly naturally.
Person #1: Birds! Birds are light! Airplanes weigh thousands of pounds! There is just no way... and people don't understand this!
Me: Umm... OK.
Person #1: Have you met "Person #2"?
Me: No. Hi, Person #2! How are you?
Person #2: Good, I guess.
Person #1: Now, Person #2 needs a wife! (to me:) Are you married?
Me: Umm, nope.
Person #1: Ah, well if it is the Lord's will for you to be single you better get used to it, OK? No point fighting with God.
Me: Ummm... OK.


*Later*
Person #1: Do you know your strength is?
Me: Nope.
Person #1: You really love the Lord. That should be a strength of every Christian, but it really is for you. I know that you are unsure about this whole PhD thing, but you are not supposed to worry about it. God will take care of it, and of you.
Me: Umm... OK.
Person #1: Bye!

Recent Work

The muse of inspiration has not been visiting here often of late, but I have been writing for some other folks. Three articles for BioLogos kept me busy. Here they are:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

And then there is this one over at Michael Buttrey's blog, which is part of an ongoing discussion on metaphysics. Now keep in mind, this last one was written mostly facetiously to annoy a couple of my close friends who think nominalism is the forerunner of Satan. So take it with a grain of salt!

The Christian Year

This is from John Keble, one of the men from the Oxford Movement. This is a poem he wrote for the second Sunday in Advent. Enjoy.

And when these things begin to pass, then look up, and lift up your
heads; for your redemption draweth night.  St. Luke xxi. 28.

Not till the freezing blast is still,
Till freely leaps the sparkling rill,
And gales sweep soft from summer skies,
As o'er a sleeping infant's eyes
A mother's kiss; ere calls like these,
No sunny gleam awakes the trees,
Nor dare the tender flowerets show
Their bosoms to th' uncertain glow.

Why then, in sad and wintry time,
Her heavens all dark with doubt and crime,
Why lifts the Church her drooping head,
As though her evil hour were fled?
Is she less wise than leaves of spring,
Or birds that cower with folded wing?
What sees she in this lowering sky
To tempt her meditative eye?

She has a charm, a word of fire,
A pledge of love that cannot tire;
By tempests, earthquakes, and by wars,
By rushing waves and falling stars,
By every sign her Lord foretold,
She sees the world is waxing old,
And through that last and direst storm
Descries by faith her Saviour's form.

Not surer does each tender gem,
Set in the fig-tree's polish'd stem,
Foreshow the summer season bland,
Than these dread signs Thy mighty hand:
But, oh, frail hearts, and spirits dark!
The season's flight unwarn'd we mark,
But miss the Judge behind the door,
For all the light of sacred lore:

Yet is He there; beneath our eaves
Each sound His wakeful ear receives:
Hush, idle words, and thoughts of ill,
Your Lord is listening:  peace, be still.
Christ watches by a Christian's hearth,
Be silent, "vain deluding mirth,"
Till in thine alter'd voice be known
Somewhat of Resignation's tone.

But chiefly ye should lift your gaze
Above the world's uncertain haze,
And look with calm unwavering eye
On the bright fields beyond the sky,
Ye, who your Lord's commission bear
His way of mercy to prepare:
Angels He calls ye:  be your strife
To lead on earth an Angel's life.

Think not of rest; though dreams be sweet,
Start up, and ply your heavenward feet.
Is not God's oath upon your head,
Ne'er to sink back on slothful bed,
Never again your loans untie,
Nor let your torches waste and die,
Till, when the shadows thickest fall,
Ye hear your Master's midnight call?

What's the point?

Ok, I have a confession to make. It my spare time (which is not very much just at the moment) I've been watching "The Vampire Diaries". I don't know if it is just a Twilight knock off or not, but this is what I don't get: the vampires are "good". I think the trend started with Angel from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"--you know, the soft, good natured, sensitive guy who just happened to suck human blood to stay alive. Then came "Interview with a Vampire" and who can't sympathize with Brad Pitt? Then Twilight came out, and vampires could stand in the sun and be beautiful instead of be burnt. And in the Vampire Diaries, as in Twilight, the "good" vampires are "vegetarian", that is, they eat animal blood instead of human blood to stay alive. They sleep in beds, not coffins. They don't drink human blood. They can eat garlic and stand in the sun... like I said in the title: What is the point? What is the point of having a vampire show if the vampires are not actually vampires? I feel like we need a little Bram Stoker's "Dracula" to remind us that vampires are supposed to be terrifying creatures of the night who prey on human life without remorse or pity. They are supposed to inspire terror, not teenage angst! Argh...

Ok, rant done. Of course, the simply solution is: ignore Twilight hype and stay away from bad TV. Point taken.

Machiavelli, Power and the Princess Bride

Augustine once famously pictured the state as a lawless pirate. Like a pirate, governments use coercive force to get their own way. Unlike a pirate, the state is powerful enough to do so without any bad consequences. Except for divine grace, the evil effects of the state would overwhelm mankind. Thankfully, divine grace intercedes and makes governments tolerable.
When Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513, he basically agreed with Augustine and took the theory one step further. Governments, according to Machiavelli, are entirely based upon power. All states are pirates. Especially the “good” ones. The trick is to appear to be good and virtuous on the outside, but be bad and manipulating on the inside. In fact, the more vicious you are in reality, the more important it is for you to appear pious and peace loving. Once you’ve fooled the majority of people, they will happily support you. Furthermore, even if you are pious and peace loving, you ought to learn how to be savage and dishonourable in order to survive. Thus, Machiavelli redefines virtue for the modern world: Virtue is the combination of abilities that allows you to survive. It has nothing to do with being good or moral, only with using force well. Machiavelli also points out that all the states which have survived have in fact already been doing this, whether they realized it or not. If you unmask even the most virtuous state, he says, you’ll find... a pirate––ruthless, corrupt, and power hungry.
This empirical observation has been oft repeated in books of political theory ever since. Yet one contemporary book powerfully challenges the Machiavellian thesis. William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (1973) contends that Machiavelli did not probe deep enough into the heart of humanity. In Goldman’s novel we are presented with the cruel Dread Pirate Roberts. He is a man who never allows prisoners to survive. He can out-fence and out-wrestle the greatest fighters on earth, showing his mastery of coercive force, and he can “go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line” and live to tell the tale, demonstrating his adeptness at manipulation and intrigue. Truly, this is a depiction of corrupt humanity in all its bloody glory. Yet, when the Dread Pirate Roberts is unmasked, the reader is shocked to discover that beneath the rapacious exterior lies the love-stuck, virtuous Wesley who gently whispers “As You Wish.”
Is this the death of Machiavelli? The virtuous state conceals the swashbuckling pirate, it is true. But is that the end of the story? Perhaps beneath the savage mask of piratey coercion lies the softly beating heart of True Love. Thus do we find layer upon layer.
With the empirically demonstrated link between the drop in number of pirates and the increase in global average temperature (see graph below), it is an environmental imperative that we do all that is within our power to encourage further political involvement, especially amongst apathetic Canadians. More politics means more pirates. More pirates means cooler global climes. We can save the planet and, thanks to the Goldman thesis, rest secure that the increase in piratical political activists will be under-girded by love. Huzzah!