HAPPINESS: The Way it Was Meant to Be!

The Lost Virtues of Happiness: Discovering the Disciplines of the Good life, J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler (Colorado Springs, Co: NavPress, 2006).

JP Moreland and Klaus Issler ransom the contemporary idea of “happiness” from the obsessive, authoritarian grips of pleasure-seeking narcissism, and cleanse it with biblical counsel, Spirit-led wisdom, pastoral insight, and the demonstrable lessons of their own life lived in the fellowship of others. Their thesis is articulated in eight life-empowering chapters, which claims that happiness is best understood and obtained if it means living our life as it is meant to flourish. We are meant to flourish in a life of character and virtue formation that manifests itself in wisdom, kindness and goodness (25).

The life of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the kingdom of God are both the indispensable model and means for obtaining this kind of abundant life. Chapter One and Two both (authored by Moreland) establish this foundational claim. Chapter Three (Issler), Four (Moreland) and Five (Issler) form a unit to give clear instruction and pastoral insight about how to get good at living this kind of life: Namely, form a tender, receptive heart (ch. 3); form a thoughtful mind stayed on God (ch. 4); form a trustful will that risks with God (ch. 5). With the foundation laid in chapters one and two, and the edifice formed in chapters three, four and five, this house of edification is nearly complete. But first, Chapter Six (Issler) and Seven (Moreland) tests a biblical conception of human flourishing in light of the so-called “hiddennes of God” (ch. 6) and in view of experiencing anxiety and depression (ch. 7). These two chapters form a potent unit of instruction and insight, encouraging the reader to embrace the reality of God’s hiddenness and to learn not to just “cope” with anxiety and depression but to actually defeat its control over one’s ability to flourish. I found these chapters to be liberating, helpful, and truthfully conveyed. Moreland openly shares his experience and defeat of anxiety and depression. This testimony should encourage anyone who is afflicted with such struggle. Lastly, Chapter Eight (Issler) caps the entire discussion of the book with a focus on “cultivating spiritual friendships.”

Topically, I would expect Chapters Three, Four and Five to be part of a book on spiritual formation, even though the authors offer a decisively unique perspective on these topics. However, it is Chapters Six and Seven that make the book all the more accessible and authoritative. For these chapters demonstrate that the ideas conveyed in the previous chapters are not only true, but because they are true, they actually work and are livable even in the crucible of life’s most desperate circumstances.

Structurally, each chapter faithfully maintains a length of 24 pages. This consistency appropriately informs the reader’s attention and forms the reader’s expectation. This prudential proportionality of space demonstrates that the authors do not overstate or understate one topic over another. Visually, the text actually appeals to the eyes. The lines have generous spacing and the fonts are crisp. Each page does not feel like it is informationally overloaded. The ideas expressed and the space and words that are used to fulfill that expression are prudentially balanced.

Moreover, instructional helps and end-of-chapter exercises are found throughout the book. These are not superficial or ineffectual, but encourage the reader to give careful attention to what they are reading and to do so while attending to their own life. For example, there is an informative chart on page 26 that offers a succinct contrast between “Contemporary Happiness” (pleasurable satisfaction) and “Classical Happiness” (virtue and well-being). On page 117, Issler captures “Five Enduring Kingdom Themes” (Loving God, Relating, Reigning, Renewing and Resisting) in the form of a circular diagram. And in this same chapter about learning to form a trusting will, Issler provides (p. 125-26) an “Eternal Investment Portfolio” (EIP) to gauge how we are investing our lives now in view of how we will live eternally. Lastly, on 197-8, Issler provides an in-text questionnaire to discern a “Close Friendship Quotient” (CFQ). The end-of-chapter exercises strike a brilliant balance between a summary of the chapter’s main content and a creative way to receive and digest the significance of what the authors intend.

The book is wisely and strategically co-authored. Moreland and Issler draw from each other’s interrelated contributions and insights on the topic. I would characterize this book as the merging of two streams, each author drawing from and extending their most notable offerings on spiritual formation to date. In addition, their 25-year friendship adds further credence to their credibility, especially when they authoritatively model to the reader what it means to “cultivate spiritual friendships.”

The treatment of their topic is not just mere “biblical exposition” with no end in sight, or exposition with no insight. It is a beautifully written account from a first-person perspective that is also informed in the tradition of other’s experiences, culminating in existentially relevant words of encouragement and biblical instruction. Scripture is handled in an exegetically honest and hermeneutically informed way. Therefore, it bears honorable likeness, credibility and seriousness to a peer-reviewed publication but without being stuffy, or taken too seriously because it is “academic.” For this reason, I would have no hesitation or feel no embarrassment to give the book to an honest, truth-seeking Christian academic or to a spiritually hungry layperson.

The tone serves both the academic and lay person beneficially. Indeed, this is one of the notable accomplishments of the book. Only a senseless and apathetic reader would not be able to detect the vulnerability, authenticity, and pastoral care for people’s well-being that is voluminously present in the text. When I read the book, I actually had a keen sense that I was being shepherded and pastorally instructed in how I am to live my life well in the kingdom of God. This has not always been my experience when reading other so-called “spiritual formation” books.

When reading other books about the “inner” spiritual life, sometimes the discussion unnecessarily becomes gendered and therefore complicated. But this is not the case for Moreland and Issler’s book. I would have no reservation in giving this to a male or female friend. Emotionally attentive men and thoughtful women (neither of which is an oxymoron!) will receive enlightenment about their lives in this book, even though the discussion is not intended to be gendered. I think this will be one of the long-lasting gifts of the book.

The remarkable legacy of the book, I believe, is its ability to successfully provide instruction and pastoral insight in and from a biblical conception of human flourishing that is rooted in what it means to live as an apprentice of Jesus Christ. The authors joyfully and eagerly call people to get good at living their lives in the manner that Jesus lived his life. Having tested and tried the ideas and exercises of this book, I can honestly report that I am a better person because of it.

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Moreland on the Historicity of the Resurrection

JP Moreland gave a stirring talk last night at my church on the "Historicity of the Resurrection" (mp3). A must listen to anyone seeking to offer a defense for this central claim of Christiandom!

~VC~

Biola Responds to "Gospel of Judas"

New Testament Scholar, Clint Arnold, responds to the "Gospel of Judas" in an exclusive BIOLA interview.

~VC~

POLICY - If We Leave Iraq, More Terrorism Will Follow

A brilliantly written article by Caleb Carr (teaches military history at Baird) about the historical implications for "retreat" or "pulling back," especially as this concerns our engagement in Iraq.

~VC~

RELIGION - Resurrection of Evangelical Scholars

Here are 7 reasons why 20/20's recent broadcast, titled, "Resurrection," may be an indication of how the tide is turning with the mainstream press' primetime coverage of Christianity.

1. It was responsive to evangelical interests, their beliefs, and earnest desire to see their views respected and truthfully reported (See Vargas interview, question 1)
   
2. It encouraged journalistic questioning motivated by curiousity for the truth but devoid of cynicism and irrational skepticism.
3. It publically excluded the sophisticated skeptic or cynic by not entertaining their objections. Objections raised to the resurrection were limited to "believers" in one form or another (either those believing in the "spiritual" or "physical" resurrection - that something significant happened was without dispute).
   
4. It seemed to accept the truthfulness (and therefore historicity) of the gospel accounts, since the general storyline was followed and lead the plot discussion.
5. It respectively (if not impressively) featured evangelical scholars that offered evidence-based reasons for belief in the physical and therefore historical resurrection of Jesus.
   
6. It allowed evangelical scholars to point out the naturalistic assumptions of unbelievers.
   
7. It closed with the global, ecumenical, worshipping and believing community of faith, rather than the lone, isolated, and often condescending "final word" of the broadcast host

I’m very proud of the evangelicals who we have represented in this special. They were absolutely wonderful and brought the story to life.

- Elizabeth Vargas

A subsequent Christianity Today editorial considered the implication of this shift, concluding the following:

First, we can thank God. Jesus Christ's unique message and values will gain a larger and more respectful hearing.

Second, as noted, we really can't play the persecution card anymore. As "players," we will be criticized sharply still, but that's just part of life in America.

Third, let's remember that how we got here is how we will stay here: Careful scholarship. Measured proclamations. Majoring on the majors. Grassroots organizing. Patience. Prayer.

Now that we're prime-time, we don't want to start acting like American idols.

~VC~

RELIGION - Ratzinger Resources (sites)

The "Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club" has a brilliant and impressive list of online resources pertaining to Ratzinger's core writings.

~VC~

RELIGION - BIOLA on NBC

[From Biola]: Dr. Clint Arnold, Chair of the New Testament Department at Talbot School of Theology, was interviewed on April 25th by NBC's Dateline, John Larson, for a story regarding modern day perceptions and expressions of evil. The story will air this Wednesday evening, April 27 at 8:00 p.m. on NBC. Check your local listings for NBC programs and times.

~VC~

RELIGION - Who is Pope Benedict XVI

Who is Pope Benedict XVI?

Read those who know him -

• Light in a New Dark Age: Pope Benedict XVI -- The Man and the Mission, by George Weigel. Wall Street Journal April 21, 2005:

  As with the program, so with the man: He is a Benedict in the depths of his interior life and in his intellectual accomplishment. Benedict XVI has an encyclopedic knowledge of two millennia of theology, and indeed of the cultural history of the West. He is more the shy, monastic scholar than the ebullient public personality of his predecessor; yet he has shown an impressive capacity for a different type of public "presence" in his brilliantly simple homily at John Paul II's funeral and in his first appearance as pope. He has known hardship: He knows the modern temptations of totalitarianism (paganism wedded to technology) from inside the Third Reich; he has been betrayed by former students (like the splenetic Brazilian liberation theologian Leonardo Boff) and former colleagues (like Hans Kung, a man of far less scholarly accomplishment and infinitely less charity). His critics say he is dour and pessimistic. Yet I take it as an iron law of human personality that a man is known by his musical preferences; and Benedict XVI is a Mozart man, who knows that Mozart is what the angels play when they perform for the sheer joy of it. Indeed, and notwithstanding the cartoon Joseph Ratzinger, the new pope is a man of Christian happiness who has long asked why, in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, summoned to be a "new Pentecost" for the Catholic Church, so much of the joy has gone out of Catholicism. Over some 17 years of conversation with him, I have come to know him as a man who likes to laugh, and who can laugh because he is convinced that the human drama is, in the final analysis, a divine comedy.

• Annuntio Vobis Gaudium Magnum - the author of the blog Mystery Achievement registers his impressions of the Holy Father:

  He is a man of sincere and profound Christian holiness who both demands it from himself, and will demand it from us, the Catholic faithful. The interview footage in which he acknowledged the sins of Catholics, and the "mea culpas" of the past Good Friday's Stations of the Cross drove this home to me. And in the section of his pre-election homily to the College of Cardinals where he both contrasted doctrinal steadfastness with relativism, and enumerated some of the bitter fruits of the latter, he subtly but clearly said, in effect, that doctrinal faithfulness and holiness are of a piece.

• Rome's Radical Conservative, by Michael Novak. New York Times April 20, 2005:

  One of Cardinal Ratzinger's central, and most misunderstood, notions is his conception of liberty, and he is very jealous in thinking deeply about it, pointing often to Tocqueville. He is a strong foe of socialism, statism and authoritarianism, but he also worries that democracy, despite its great promise, is exceedingly vulnerable to the tyranny of the majority, to "the new soft despotism" of the all-mothering state, and to the common belief that liberty means doing whatever you please. Following Lord Acton and James Madison, Cardinal Ratzinger has written of the need of humans to practice self-government over their passions in private life.

  He also fears that Europe, especially, is abandoning the search for objective truth and sliding into pure subjectivism. That is how the Nazis arose, he believes, and the Leninists. When all opinions are considered subjective, no moral ground remains for protesting against lies and injustices.

• The Acton Institute's Robert Sirico on the True Liberalism of Benedict XVI:

  We have already heard a thousand times or more that the new Pope is a conservative. As counterintuitive as this may sound, I believe that insofar as the new papacy has implications for economics and politics, it is in the direction of a humane and unifying liberalism. I speak not of liberalism as we know it now, which is bound up with state management and democratic relativism, but liberalism of an older variety that placed it hopes in society, faith, and freedom.

  Also from the Acton Institute: Alejandro Chaufen on Benedict XVI and Freedom":
  

  "Given Ratzinger’s sharp focus on doctrine, many have seen only one side of this man: the protector of the faith, the leader of a new “inquisition.” Few have focused on his rich analyses of freedom. . . ."

• The Real Ratzinger: The Lover of Lovers, by Anthony & Marta Valle. Inside the Vatican:

  " To the world he is many things; to us he is th priest who celebrated our wedding Mass in St. Peter’ Basilica on June 24, 2004, a short 10 months before h became Pope Benedict XVI . . ."

• Not a transitional pope: Benedict may surprise, by John Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter April 29, 2005.
• In German town, Benedict XVI known for love of cats, conversation by Matthew Schofield, Knight Ridder Newspapers. April 21, 2005. A great profile of the Pope with comments from his brother, George. As a fellow cat-lover, I am heartily pleased to learn of our new Pope's preferences for feline companions:

  "I went with him once," said Konrad Baumgartner, the head of the theology department at Regensburg University. "Afterwards, he went into the old cemetery behind the church.

  "It was full of cats, and when he went out, they all ran to him. They knew him and loved him. He stood there, petting some and talking to them, for quite a long time. He visited the cats whenever he visited the church. His love for cats is quite famous."

• Oswald Sobrino on The Importance of the name Benedict in light of his conversations with Peter Seewald in God and the World.
• 'A Beautiful Personality': The Pontificate of Benedict XVI Begins Interview with Father Augustine Di Noia. National Catholic Register May 1-8, 2005:

  He has a beautiful personality and when that begins to shine through and becomes evident, people will love him. One hundred percent of the staff in the office — including the ushers — are absolutely ecstatic. He is a kind, extremely humble and extraordinary human being. He’s also a fun man with a good sense of humor — we’ll miss him. He’s the whole package — he’s holy and knows how the Church works and how to run the Church.

  And on a similar note: ‘People Will Love Him', Newsweek interviews Fr. Di Noia. April 19, 2005.

• The Real Benedict XVI: Reports Reveal Warmth and Openness. Zenit.org. April 23, 2005:

  When he first came to Rome in 1981 to take up his post as prefect of the congregation he did not even take possession of the apartment that would normally be his by right, as it was occupied by an elderly cardinal, whom he did not wish to disturb. The apartment in which Cardinal Ratzinger has remained in all these years in Rome, is not one as large or well-appointed as would normally correspond to his post, and is adorned with secondhand furniture. It is also located on the other side of St. Peter's Square from his office, instead of being in the same building. . . .

  In the afternoons the future Pope would often go out for a walk along the streets near his apartment and would stop to greet the shopkeepers along the Borgo Pio. Mario, a fruit-seller, recalled how once the cardinal asked him which apples to buy to best prepare a strudel. And electrician Angelo Mosca spoke of the time he had gone to the cardinal’s apartment to fix a problem, and how he had remained in a relaxed conversation with him for an hour, "just as if we were old friends."

~VC~

RELIGION - Succession of John Paul II

For those of us who are not Catholics, here is some helpful links concerning papal succession and the process that is accomplished:

The editor of America, Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J., has written a comprehensive, link-filled guide to the papal succession process.

The Teaching Company is making available two free lectures on papal succession, given by Professor Thomas F. X. Noble, the Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute and Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame.

~VC~