One of my favorite history books is Thaddeus Russell’s A Renegade History of the United States. The main thesis is that, contrary to classroom tales of great men of principle, most of the things we value in this country were won by degenerates, riffraff, slobs, and generally disreputable people.
It’s sort of like Adam Smith’s “not from the benevolence of the butcher” insight about markets applied to the grand arc of history.
There’s a weird paradox here that, I think, has a brilliant power to protect us from our own arrogance and corruption. How could people displaying traits that are not good or respectable for an individual – traits you’d never want your kids or friends to embody – be the very ones who bring about good things?
I’ve been thinking about this lately in regards to the Puritans.
I’d never want to live like them, and I’d be worried if my loved ones did. What an unhinged and joyless group! When they briefly held power in England, they were severe, and even banned the celebration of Christmas.
Yet they were relentlessly devoted to God, and chose exile or martyrdom rather than be forced to worship according to the state-sanctioned Church. Many fled England to the Netherlands just to be able to meet and worship as they pleased, despite not knowing the language or culture. When threatened there, some sold everything and boarded ships to cross the Atlantic to an uncharted new world rather than submit to worshipping in a way that violated their conscience.
As I said, I don’t agree with Puritan theology or practice and wouldn’t advocate it. Yet for a particular epoch in history, it’s hard to not see them as heroic. Many of the best things about modern culture, especially in America, can be attributed to them. Weirder still, many more great American traits can be attributed to the very type of sinners the Puritans would’ve most despised. How can we make sense of this?
The Kingdom of Heaven has room for both the devout Apostle John and the criminal next to Christ on the cross. It includes crazy people wearing Camel hair and eating bugs in the desert, those who murdered Christians, those who denied Christ, fishermen, carpenters, tent-makers, generals, priests, and kings.
Not all of these people were good in all their deeds. Many were awful much of the time. But all played a part in bringing about the good of the Kingdom. Meanwhile, others that did good in Christ’s name are apparently told, “Get away from me, I never knew you.”
This is astounding precisely because it’s not an inversion of good and evil. These examples do not prove that being bad is good, or being good is bad. Yet we are forced to acknowledge that God can use any vessel in many ways, that all have a chance at redemption, and that we can never be quite sure where people rank in God’s eyes.
All we can do is try our best to live rightly and be exceedingly cautious about judging or assuming we know where others stand or what role they play, while simultaneously being resolute against sin.
If that doesn’t keep you humble and filled with wonder, I’m not sure what will.