Pondering it versus the wars after it.

The thing is, America even was young and could feel heroic then. I wonder even if that could ever happen again.

It is like the next wars were like fighting the tar baby and now each conflict has tarnished us and divided our souls (as he said above) and we don’t seem to even have the same identity as a nation.

It is hard for me to explain, but it is as if modern Christians in America have the most divided souls of anyone that I know. Part of it is that we use resources and have ideas, which fight to spin our minds in multiple directions.

Somehow, the same thing, which happened to our physical diets has happened to our spiritual diets and we seem like the church in Revelation, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” …[pyasst]

Not to diminish the antisemitism of Luther, and also admitting that I haven’t read all he wrote, I noticed that his most antisemitic writings came very late in his life when he was likely suffering from some form of dementia. I’ve wondered if he would have approved his own writings when he was more “in his right mind”?
David Miner,D.C.

Sure–somewhere, though not easily retrievable. Many are from Eliot’s The Idea of a Christian Society. Philip

The world continues to be baffled by the notion that a person can be so intellectually gifted and at the same time espouse the Christian faith. The perceived chasm between faith and reason seems to be widening.

PS: I, too, still use a flip phone.

You are observant! Just a stock photo, not Eliot’s.
–Philip

Did Eliot learn to type in Germany perhaps?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTZ

Thank you, Mr. Yancey, for your thoughtful reply. I have been aware of Luther’s anti-semitism for decades. I do have a difficult time with him, knowing much of what he taught was used as justification for what happened to the Jewish people during the Holocaust. But we are all made of clay and no one but our Lord is perfect. Thank you for the reminder and your insight into Eliot. Please keep writing…

Gratefully,
Joy McG.

I would say “anti-semitic” is too strong a word. He did use some racial stereotypes now and then, as did many upper-class Brits (G. K. Chesterton did too). He wrote in a period when Britain was still a colonial power perceiving itself as bringing enlightenment to others. He also made some disparaging references to US culture (though he was born here) but that doesn’t make him anti-American. A blind spot, surely, though I wouldn’t keep you from reading him. Martin Luther was much more anti-semitic, and still has much to teach us.