Friday, October 28, 2022

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 28th of October, 2022. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Enough of you listen to this show on the day it comes out that I’d be remiss not to mention that tomorrow, the 29th of October, I will be teaching at the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Corona Del Mar, California starting at 10 am- I will be teaching- 3 45 minute lectures with breaks between on the Reformation and the Modern Age.

I also bring this up because today we will remember a character central to the Western world as it transitioned from the Early Modern to the Modern- or, how I’ll discuss tomorrow how we got here from the Reformation. And if Luther gets his name on the marquee for the Reformation, that next era, the Enlightenment, owes much to a man who died on the 28th of October in 1704: England’s John Locke.

Born in 1632, he was a boy when the English Civil Wars broke out. His father fought on the side of the Parliamentarians against the King. A key element of Locke’s later philosophy would be the rejection of the so-called “Divine Right of Kings,” the idea that Kings were put in place by God and not to be challenged by mere humans (spread in large part by King James of “King James Bible” fame) The Locke’s were not, however, Puritans. They would be Anglican Latitudinarians, that is: generally tolerant Anglicans. And religious toleration would be among the many essential ideas Locke would spread with his writings.

Locke attended Oxford, where he criticized what he considered a curriculum blind to modern philosophy and overly reliant on the ancients and Aristotle. He would surround himself with like-minded students, many of whom would join him later in the Royal Society.

A crucial relationship in Locke’s life was with Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, who later would become the Earl of Shaftesbury. Under his influence, Locke would come to embrace the ideas of constitutional monarchy and toleration. The future Earl would appoint Locke to be the secretary to the proprietors of the American colony of Carolina as Secretary Locke was a central figure in the composition of the Fundamental Constitutions for the Government of Carolina in 1669. This would be a landmark document in the history of religious toleration. Voltaire wrote, “Cast your eyes over the other hemisphere, behold Carolina, of which the wise Locke was the legislator.” While the language of “idolaters and heathens” might not sound exceptionally modern, these non-Christians were given the right to worship in the territory (which was more significant than just Carolina- but rather from Florida up to Virginia).

When Shaftesbury fell out of favor with King Charles II, Locke fled to France, where he would rub shoulders with her philosophers and witness the growth of royal power under Louis XIV. When the Glorious Revolution swept through England, Locke came back and, within a year, published his famous Two Treatises on Government- a giant in political philosophy. Here are ideas like natural rights and the idea that citizens and the governed have a social contract. Locke’s other important philosophical ideas relate to epistemology (how we know what we know) and private property.

But for our sake, his 1695 publication of “the Reasonableness of Christianity” marks a significant shift in how civil religion was conceived. With the end of “Confessionalization,” the idea that a state could only abide by one confession of faith, there needed to be another ground for a joint agreement. Enter “reason” as the arbiter of truth instead of a particular confession of faith. Note- this isn’t necessarily “cold rationality” most of these men were Christian believers, but a modern, tolerant state couldn’t legislate based on the Bible alone. But Locke argued that the 10 Commandments and the example of Jesus could be shown to be reliable and good resources for government- but this wasn’t based on only faith but rather a reasoned defense of Biblical teaching.

Locke’s ideas would influence the American and French revolutions in the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. John Locke died on this the 28th of October in 1704. Born in 1632, he was 72 years old.

The Last Word for today comes from the lectionary from 2 Peter.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 28th of October 2022, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Earls include Shaftesbury, Sweatshirt, Toejam’s friend, and Earl “the Pearl” Monroe- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who remembers John Locke as the character on Lost- a show I’m still mad about. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.