A famous quotation and its missing context

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind at least a sense of unease in human beings. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believe—in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical—and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in After Ten Years, 22

<idle musing>
This is probably one of the most famous quotations from Bonhoeffer. But, it is usually just thrown out there without any context and without the following paragraph.

If we want to know how to get the better of stupidity, we must seek to understand its nature. This much is certain, that in essence it is not an intellectual defect but a human one. There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect yet stupid, and others who are intellectually quite dull yet anything but stupid. We discover this to our surprise in particular situations. The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a congenital defect but that, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them.

Did you catch that? He isn't saying that stupidity is an intellectual problem. Stupidity is a learned behavior in response to situations.

Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit can keep us from being stupid. As we walk in his power, we can walk in love, which is the exact opposite of stupid. Sure, we can make dumb decisions and mistakes, but that's not being stupid...

Just an
</idle musing>

Is it Torah?

Paul evokes the death of Christ not to exclude an alternative soteriological mechanism (salvation by works), but to counteract an appeal to the Torah as the normative definition of “righteousness” — the appeal advanced both in Antioch and in Galatia. The Christ-event has revolutionized the believers’ existence, recalculating their norms. If they think that “righteousness” is Torah-defined, or act as if it were, they are no longer true to the good news. The gift enacted in the death of Christ has fundamentally reshaped every system of values, and to reestablish the Torah as the ultimate norm would be to refuse God’s gift. That event is either reflected in the norm-breaking practice of communal life or is in danger of being altogether denied. The good news stands or falls with the realization, in thought and practice, of the incongruous Gift.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 387

Sing them over again to me

109 Sing Them Over Again to Me

1 Sing them over again to me -
   Wonderful words of Life;
   Let me more of their beauty see -
   Wonderful words of Life.
   Words of life and beauty
   Teach me faith and duty:

Refrain:
   Beautiful words, wonderful words,
   Wonderful words of Life;
   Beautiful words, wonderful words,
   Wonderful words of Life.

2 Christ, the blessed One, gives to all
   Wonderful words of Life;
   Listen well to the loving call -
   Wonderful words of Life.
   All the wondrous story,
   Showing us His glory: [Refrain]

3 Sweetly echo the gospel call -
   Wonderful words of Life;
   Offer pardon and peace to all -
   Wonderful words of Life.
   Jesus, only Savior,
   Sanctify forever: [Refrain]
                         Philip P. Bliss
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
I've always loved this hymn. I was surprised to discover it only occurs in a 567 hymnals. Hymnary.org has this to say about his hymns: "Their popularity is far beyond their literary merits, and is mainly due to the simple melodies to which they are wedded." Can't say I disagree—at least on this hymn.
</idle musing>

Attacking the red cape

The fanatic believes that he can meet the power of evil with the purity of a principle. But like the bull in the arena, he attacks the red cape rather than the person carrying it, grows tired, and suffers defeat. He becomes entrapped in nonessentials and is caught in the trap of the cleverer one.—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in After Ten Years, 19

A new self

The crucifixion of Christ — not just a death, but a cursed and scandalous execution ([Gal] 3:13; 5:11) — marks a radical disjunction. The reference to the “Christ who lives in me” gestures to the resurrection (1:1), which founds a radically new existence. For believers, these are not past events contemplated from a distance: they are imprinted onto their very existence (“I have been crucified with Christ”) in a way that collapses the distance between past and present.” “Living to God” is not just a reorientation of the self, but a mode of existence founded on, and shaped by, the life of another, the life of “Christ in me.” The Christ-event therefore founds not only a change of vision and value, but a change of self. Out of that newness, every value is newly evaluated and every norm reassessed.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 386

"You cannot have a Christian world…" (Tozer for Tuesday)

So, what can we do? I think the first thing that we must do is return to New Testament living. We must get into the Scriptures and discover the level of morality and ethics that are the mark of true believers in Christ. We are to deny ourselves and forsake the world on every level possible and always keep in mind that Christianity and the world do not mix. You cannot have a Christian world, but unfortunately, you can have a worldly Christian.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 155

O Jesus Thou Art Standing

108 O Jesus Thou Art Standing

1 O Jesus, Thou art standing
   Outside the fast-closed door,
   In lowly patience waiting
   To pass the threshold o'er:
   Shame on us, Christian brethren,
   His Name and sign who bear,
   O shame, thrice shame upon us
   To keep Him standing there!

2 O Jesus, Thou art knocking;
   And lo! that hand is scarred,
   And thorns Thy brow encircle,
   And tears Thy face have marred.
   O love that passeth knowledge,
   So patiently to wait!
   O sin that hath no equal,
   So fast to bar the gate!

3 O Jesus, Thou art pleading
   In accents meek and low,
   I died for you, My children,
   And will ye treat Me so?
   O Lord, with shame and sorrow
   We open now the door;
   Dear Savior, enter, enter,
   And leave us nevermore!
                         William W. How
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Not sure I like the heavy guilt-inducing attitude in this hymn…
</idle musing>

For the sake of the common good

In whatever particular historical moment we find ourselves, we are summoned to determine what our place in history will be, to think and act beyond our self-interest for the sake of a common good: not just the common good of the moment, our particular political group, or even our society, but of our times—to act, as Bonhoeffer put it, on behalf of history itself and for the sake of future generations and the kind of society we would wish for them.—Victoria J. Barnett in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, After Ten Years, 16

Gospel and Torah at Galatia

That the Antioch dispute is the context for this line of argument indicates the importance of social experience in radicalizing attitudes toward the Torah. In eating with Gentiles out of loyalty to “the truth of the good news,” Jewish believers have found themselves looking like “sinners” in the eyes of the Torah, and that experience has brought to a head a clash of authority that Paul finds inherent in the Christ-event itself. That Paul is more ready than Peter to recognize this clash is a symptom of his greater exposure to the company of Gentile believers and the modified habitus thus formed. Although a Jew, he has lengthy experience of communities whose social intimacy and shared meals were apt to disregard Jewish customs and thus to suspend the authority of the Torah. His experience has created a disjunction in his cultural allegiance, matching and arising from the disjunctive effect of the Christ-event. As he expresses the matter here, because his incorporation into the Christ-event has executed his former self, his previously total allegiance to the Torah has been broken; a new identity has emerged, solely grounded in and oriented to Christ.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 385

Holy Spirit, Faithful Guide

106 Holy Spirit, Faithful Guide

1 Holy Spirit, faithful Guide,
   Ever near the Christian's side;
   Gently lead us by the hand,
   Pilgrims in a desert land;
   Weary souls for e'er rejoice,
   When they hear that sweetest voice,
   Whisper softly, "Wand'rer, come!
   Follow me, I'll guide thee home."

2 Ever present, truest friend,
   Ever near thine aid to lend,
   Leave us not to doubt and fear,
   Groping on in darkness drear;
   When the storms are raging sore,
   Hearts grow faint, and hopes give o'er,
   Whisper softly, "Wand'rer, come!
   Follow me, I'll guide thee home."

3 When our days of toil shall cease,
   Waiting still for sweet release,
   Nothing left but heaven and prayer,
   Wond'ring if our names are there;
   Wading deep the dismal flood,
   Pleading nought but Jesus' blood,
   Whisper softly, "Wand'rer, come!
   Follow me, I'll guide thee home."
                         Marcus M. Wells
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

(Spiritual) Bankruptcy

So, what is the new currency? Hardly some other human capacity or some inherent token of worth, but “faith in Christ” — the acknowledgement that the only thing of value is Christ himself. Faith is not an alternative human achievement nor a refined human spirituality, but a declaration of bankruptcy, a radical and shattering recognition that the only capital in God’s economy is the gift of Christ crucified and risen. Faith directed to, and centered on, Christ recognizes, under the impact of the good news, that there is no element of value locatable in the human being. It invests everything in the only capital that counts: Christ.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 383–84

Jesus is all the world to me (hymn)

97 Jesus is all the world to me

1 Jesus is all the world to me,
   My life, my joy, my all;
   He is my strength from day to day,
   Without Him I would fall:
   When I am sad, to Him I go,
   No other one can cheer me so;
   When I am sad, He makes me glad,
   He's my friend.

2 Jesus is all the world to me,
   My friend in trials sore;
   I go to Him for blessings, and
   He gives them o'er and o'er:
   He sends the sunshine and the rain,
   He sends the harvest's golden grain;
   Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain,
   He's my friend.

3 Jesus is all the world to me,
   And true to Him I'll be;
   Oh, how could I this friend deny,
   When He's so true to me?
   Following Him I know I'm right,
   He watches o'er me day and night;
   Following Him by day and night,
   He's my friend.

4 Jesus is all the world to me,
   I want no better friend;
   I trust Him now, I'll trust Him when
   Life's fleeting days shall end:
   Beautiful life with such a friend,
   Beautiful life that has no end;
   Eternal life, eternal joy,
   He's my friend.
                         Will L. Thompson
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
The author of this hymn, which occurs in a few more than 300 hymnals, also wrote "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling," which was his most popular hymn by far. Take a moment to read his biography.
</idle musing>

A bit of data for the pistis Christou debate

The relevant genitival phrases in Galatians are all accompanied by verbs that unambiguously speak of human “believing” (2:16; 3:6, 22), while nowhere in this letter is the verb πιστεύειν or the adjective πιστός used of Christ.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 381

The self-gift of Christ

What Paul is discussing in [Galatians] 2:16 are not complete soteriological systems, but the evidential basis on which God can consider someone “righteous” (or worthy) in his sight. “Christ-faith” (or “faith in Christ”) is the sign of a prior, transformative event: it is the mode of life generated by the self-gift of Christ (2:20).—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 380

It's really that simple

We do not have to imagine here a “transfer” of “the righteousness of Christ,” effected through a believer’s union with Christ. It is enough to say that God recognizes as “righteous” those who indicate, by faith in Christ, that the Christ-event has become the ground of their being.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 379

But the Greek doesn't say that!

Two interpretative misjudgments lead to this erroneous reading: (1) that δικαιοῦσθαι means “to be made righteous” (a causative meaning impossible to justify from Greek usage, Jewish or non-Jewish, pace Martyn, Galatians, p. 265); and (2) that “to be righteous” means in itself to be saved. In combination, on this reading, Paul is denying that a person can get oneself saved by keeping the Law.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 377 n. 71

Righteous!

But it is important to note that acquittal here means that one is shown to be in the right, not that one is forgiven or absolved of guilt. The verb [δικαιόω] thus has, as Ziesler insists, “declaratory force” (Meaning of Righteousness, p. 48). If there is forgiveness or absolution involved, it is described in other terms.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 376 n. 67

Tozer for Tuesday

It is my opinion—I believe it is more than an opinion, it is insight—that evangelical Christianity as we know it is almost as far from God as liberalism. Its nominal creed is biblical, but its orientation is worldly. The modern evangelicals, the Holiness people, the Pentecostal people, the Bible loving people—we who claim to be evangelical and traditional in our Christian faith— have an orientation toward the big businessman. You know, Jesus never got along with any of the businessmen in His day. But we use them as our model.—A.W. Tozer, Reclaiming Christianity, 154

Torah and gospel

Paul uses the Antioch incident to speak about Torah-observance in general: the issue is the validity of the Torah in grounding and defining “righteousness.” When read in this context, it becomes clear that the issue is not the subjective value of “works” as a misconstrued means of eliciting God’s favor (Luther), nor “human enterprise” that depends on human rather than divine initiative (Martyn), but the practice of the Torah as though it were the authoritative cultural frame of the good news. The qualifier νόμου (which generally in this letter means the Jewish Torah) gives ἔργα in Galatians their problematic connotations (cf. 3:2, 5, 10), because the Torah is no longer the definitive measurement of “righteousness” (value) that counts before God.—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 374 (emphasis original)

We would see Jesus (Park version)

90 We would see Jesus

1. We would see Jesus; lo! his star is shining
   above the stable while the angels sing;
   there in a manger on the hay reclining;
   haste, let us lay our gifts before the King.

2. We would see Jesus, Mary's son most holy,
   light of the village life from day to day;
   shining revealed through every task most lowly,
   the Christ of God, the life, the truth, the way.

3. We would see Jesus, on the mountain teaching,
   with all the listening people gathered round;
   while birds and flowers and sky above are preaching
   the blessedness which simple trust has found.

4. We would see Jesus, in his work of healing,
   at eventide before the sun was set;
   divine and human, in his deep revealing
   of God made flesh, in loving service met.

5. We would see Jesus, in the early morning,
   still as of old he calleth, "Follow me!"
   Let us arise, all meaner service scorning;
   Lord, we are thine, we give ourselves to thee.
                         J. Edgar Park
                         The Methodist Hymnal 1964 edition

<idle musing>
Seems there are three (at least) hymns with this title. This one, by Park, is only in a few less than 70 hymnals. The most popular one, by Anna Bartlett Warner, appears in over 250 hymnals.
</idle musing>