Recently in History Category

If you thought you knew John Calvin--who turned 500 last week--you probably don't know enough. For example, that he was French, born Jean Cauvin. And if he was in fact scandalized by dancing, he was also a lot more complex than that. I explored the new look Calvin in an essay at PoliticsDaily, "Patron Saint of the Recession."

So can anything rescue Calvin from his reputation? Some big names are giving it a good shot. Marilynne Robinson, whose 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "Home," is one of the most convincing portraits ever of a Congregational pastor, spends a good deal of time in her essay collection, "The Death of Adam," trying to rehabilitate Calvin, and doing an admirable job. And a spate of new books timed for the anniversary includes works that highlight Calvin's pastoral side, and one, from Princeton Seminary professor William Stacy Johnson, that calls Calvin a "Reformer for the 21st Century." Biblical scholar Roland Boer weighs in with perhaps the most provocative thesis, arguing in "Political Grace: The Revolutionary Theology of John Calvin," that Calvin was at heart a political radical, not a conservative.

Read the rest here...

 In my defense, I've had computer outages and family reunions and a few days of single-parenthood, which is always a bracing reminder of what many parents go through all the time.

And this weekend it's off for a week's vacation.

Anyway, hence the long absence. Apologies to those who have checked in faithfully, and I'll try to put up a few of the many interesting items that are out there. And maybe some thoughts about family reunions.

We have a couple of main roots, one from France and the other through upstate New Yorkers by the name of Cronkite.

Pax.

Yes, this photo of Obama ostensibly eyeing a young woman (apparently a 17-year-old delegate from Brazil--where are her parents?!) at the G-8 Summit is the hottest Google search item. And of course the question of what Obama was thinking is a leading Fox News story.

So it goes, even as the leaders try to address such minor topics as climate change and world hunger.

God knows Sarkozy, that ol' chien, seems to be leering--quelle surprise, eh? Obama could plausibly be looking elsewhere. Still not quite to the level of, say, Mark Sanford or John Ensign, I think. I confess I'd have looked, if only for the definite "wow" factor the young woman was likely going for.

I was also struck by an odd coincidences, in that as this story popped over the transom I was lifting bits out of Bruce Gordon's grand new bio of John Calvin for a piece on Calvin's 500th birthday, which is today. Gordon tries to dispel some of the myths of Calvin as "an unyielding, moralistic and stone-faced tyrant who rejected all the pleasures of life." And he writes that in his correspondence Calvin "could let drop a line that indicated an eye for beautiful buildings and a well-dressed woman."

Well, Jean Cauvin was French, you know.

Anyway, maybe a shot of Barack with Benedict--should be coming soon--will displace the Girl from Impanema. But don't bet on it.

The meeting between the spiritual and political leaders is on shortly. Which one is spiritual, which political? Obama has invoked Jesus more than Bush did, at this point. And with his pointed encyclical on the economy this week, Benedict ruffled some political feathers.

But the meeting at the Vatican this afternoon is fraught for Catholic conservatives in this country, as I explain in this PoliticsDaily piece:

Perhaps the only good news for conservatives was White House spokesman Robert Gibbs' preemptive declaration that Obama would not be joining a church in Italy during his visit. Gibbs was joking of course, but not everyone is laughing.

 

So can a photo-op at the Vatican change the political dynamic in Washington?

 

Generally speaking, that would be a stretch. But in reality there's much more going on than a friendly handshake. Ever since Obama was elected, in fact, church officials in Rome have signaled a much greater and much more public openness to Obama than church leaders in the United States. Indeed, Obama received a telegram of congratulations from Benedict on the day of his election -- "historic," the pope called it -- and the two men later chatted by phone. The Vatican daily, L'Osservatore Romano, has been almost glowing in its coverage of Obama, especially compared to the dim view of Catholic theocons, some of whom have lobbied for the L'Osservatore editor to find a new job.

 

Such an argument would be tougher to make against Cardinal Georges Cottier, who for years was the official theologian to the papal household, meaning he vetted all papal pronouncements for orthodoxy.

 

In a lengthy essay in a prominent Italian Catholic periodical, "30 Giorni," Cardinal Cottier rejects the talking point of Obama as "pro-abortion" and praises his "humble realism" and the president's apparent reflection of the thinking of Saint Thomas Aquinas. High praise indeed. Or, as veteran Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister put it: "Cardinal Cottier seems almost to exalt Obama as a new Constantine, the head of a modern empire that is also generous toward the Church."