G.K. Chesterton, a Catholic, wrote in Orthodoxy, “The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity was shattered at the Reformation), it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wander and do damage. But the virtues are let loose also; and the virtues wander more wildly, and the virtues do more terrible damage. The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone.”
A door in my understanding was opened up by the above quote from G.K. Chesterton. It makes a very important point about what happened when the Reformation tore the Church apart. You see, the problem was not simply and only that the Church was fractured, but also that the fracture of the Church fractured both the vices and the virtues of the Church. What does this mean?
It means that some of the virtues are wandering about without any connection to the whole structure of belief and received doctrine that is the Church—among many other things that the Church is. Thus virtues are wandering about without any solid foundation or structure to define and contain them. What does this mean?
Well, actually, you see it in many well-meaning people and many philanthropists nowadays. So, you see many people, who do not believe in other doctrines, strongly supporting feeding the poor, visiting the sick, visiting the prisoners, supporting the innocent, etc., etc., etc. So they have a belief in the virtues of the New Testament while denying the doctrines about the Christ. In other words, to have Christian virtues without Christian doctrines about Our Lord Jesus is to have a world where the “virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering alone.”
But what G.K. Chesterton did not foresee was the rejection of Christian virtues by orthodox Christians. Yet, this is also what we have going on nowadays. In reaction to the “virtues gone mad” all too many modern “orthodox” Christians have rejected some of the virtues, or at least explained them away, by simply labeling them with the word “liberal.” Thus, while on the one hand they espouse the idea of helping the widow and the orphan, on the other hand, there is little to no viable living example of the sacrificial giving necessary to bring that about without government involvement.
At the same time, other virtues have been over-emphasized by those who are concerned by the “virtues gone mad.” This is the problem that G.K. Chesterton saw. An it is so today, we have a world in which certain parts of the Christian world are at war with what they see as the lacks in the non-Christian world in their carrying out of the “virtues gone mad.”
And so, Satan has a certain amount of victory. On the one hand, non-Christians are misusing the Christian virtues without adequate philosophical backing or, to get a little more technical, without the sufficient epistemological support for their conclusions. On the other hand, some Christians are forgetting the virtues that both Scripture and the Early Church Fathers extol, merely because “liberals” are in favor of them.
G.K. Chesterton foresaw most of this. He did not foresee the “orthodox” Christian counter-reaction. But, he did foresee the rest of it.
“…On the other hand, some Christians are forgetting the virtues that both Scripture and the Early Church Fathers extol, merely because “liberals” are in favor of them.”
I am curious if you could explain this a bit more. Preferably with some practical example.
Certainly! I was thinking here of the use of the word “taker” to mean someone who is receiving funds they have not earned. Sadly, that word has become a synonym in all too many conservative circles for a large group of people whom both Scripture and the Church Fathers would have classified as those whom we should help. Thus initiatives that have the effect of reducing healthcare coverage for the elderly, arguments that the retired should not be receiving the pension funds that they were offered because ostensibly the contracts that were signed were somehow either invalid or inappropriate, anti-abortion arguments that all too often also devolve into a “welfare queen” argument about “those” women who have children only to receive more money. Frankly, I could go on for quite a while on the type of argumentation that is used to justify not helping those whom both Scripture and Tradition count worthy of help.
I am not against proper money management, nor am I against proper defense spending. But, when proper money management means that only social programs are reduced, and when non-conservatives are regularly excoriated for not caring for this country because they do not favor the same military spending goals as conservatives, then I think I can show cause for my statement. In passing, I am indeed against Antifa and some of the rather odd plans on the far left. Sadly, the fact that I find it necessary to make that disclaimer should already show you how conservative dialogue has pegged any disagreement as being equivalent to being a member of the far left. There seems to be a false equivalency in this country. Since conservatives are against abortion, as a party platform, then they must be correct on all other issues. Since progressives are pro-abortion, they must be wrong on all other issues. For those of us who are moderates, that is anti-abortion but fully pro-life, we are steamrolled by both sides.