The Galli Report: 02.05.21

Proofreading! Spitting out the bones of CRT. Christian nationalism vs. patriotism. Me as Michael Scott? Street artist David Zinn.

Proofreading Problems
A number of faithful readers were kind enough to point out a few problems that eluded (not alluded!) me in the last edition.  Some readers showed signs of irritation.  Understandable.  My apologies.  Let me say in my defense that, first, this is a one-man, labor-of-love operation, and second, that I have always been a terrible proofreader.  That doesn’t excuse laziness, but it might explain while on especially busy Fridays (like last week: four appointments,  one of which was to get THE vaccine!), I can get distracted as I rush the GR to print.

That’s a long was of saying that if anyone with the gift of proofreading wants to proofread the GR as another labor of love, I welcome the help.  Otherwise, I’ll continue to do my best, ask for grace when I don’t, and continue to welcome after-the-fact corrections.

Spitting Out the Bones of CRT
One reader asked for more clarity on my positive assertions about some aspects of Critical Race Theory.  Here is an explanation that is as good, or better than, anything I might produce.  The author is the often contrarian Anthony Bradley, and the theme is the how the Presbyterian Church in America has the freedom to swallow some of CRT while “spitting out the bones.”  Christians from other theological traditions will have little trouble applying his specifically Reformed analysis to their own traditions, for he theologically asserts truths that nearly all Christians agree with.

CRT is not a real threat to the work of the Presbyterian Church in America. It does not tell us any more than what the Bible and the Christian tradition already acknowledge as a point of fact—namely, that people can be evil and that the parasite kingdom is wreaking havoc as far as the curse is found. There is racism in America and, at times, that racism can take on structural forms. It is proper to the work of the church to actively seek to bring solidarity and peace where there is racial conflict because of the hope of Resurrection. Presbyterians, then, can eat the meat and spit the bones of CRT, or any other secular social theory that does not presuppose the Triune God because the real war is against any manifestations of the principalities and powers (Eph 6:12) at work parasitically undermining the goodness of God’s creation.

Loving Country Sans Idolatry
If some on the right are anxious about leftist radicalism (like CRT), Christians on the left are equally anxious about radicalisms on the right, like “Christian nationalism.”  I was recently asked to participate in a group that wants to publicly condemn “Christian nationalism,” but initially the term was not defined.  It is often used on the left in the same way the right has been throwing around charges of “Socialism!” whenever they hear something they don’t like on the left.

One distinction that few critics of Christian nationalism (not a good thing in my view) make clear is how it differs from Christian patriotism (a good thing in my view).  David French at The Dispatch makes that distinction here, with wisdom typical for him. 

What is Christian nationalism? It’s a deep emotional attachment to a particular and exclusive culture, a skewed version of history, and a false sense of “marked superiority” that must and will fade away.

What is Christian patriotism? To echo C.S. Lewis and George Washington, it’s a love of home and place and neighbor that does its best to fulfill the vision of peace and justice articulated by the prophet Micah so many long years ago—“Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.”

Me: Another Michael Scott?—Yikes!
Faithful readers of the GR know that I consider class divisions more telling than other divisions in America.  So when I find a new way to think about social class, I glom onto it.  Not sure I should have done so with “The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class.”

The reference of course is to the American version of The Office.  It’s a very funny show, with manager Michael Scott being the foil of so many of the show’s jokes/gags/satire about corporate life.  If you’ve watched more than a few episodes, the analysis at alexdanco.com will be, if nothing else, entertaining.

I also happen to think there’s a great deal of truth in the analysis, even though I come out as someone in the class represented by Michael Scott.  I suspect many GR readers are in the same boat.  Which might suggest that we are as clueless about reality as is Michael Scott--not a happy thought!  But it has given me much to chew on.

When it really comes down to it, The Office is a show about these three people. Because the real subject of the Office, explored brilliantly over many seasons, is this three-layer structure. At the top and at the bottom you have rational realists, but what’s actually interesting is the clueless in the middle, and how they interact with everyone below and above them. 

Michael’s job both shapes, and selects for, a particular kind of detachment from reality. Middle management is a fascinating construct: your employees have literal jobs and responsibilities, and your bosses have literal jobs and responsibilities, but Michael spends his entire day in a construct of his own creation. Everything about his world is subjective and arbitrary. These are people who, in effect, have slipped into a job, worldview, and self-image that is friendly but deeply alienating.

Drawing Everywhere
I’ve become increasingly passionate about learning how to draw, one of my retirement projects.  So this video about artist’s block appealed to me as a novice.  But it was also just interesting to learn about the street artist David Zinn.

Grace and peace,

Mark Galli
markgalli.com