[Vision2020] Lollardy, academic incest, and Nick's Trinity challenge

[Joan Opyr]

Dear Visionaries:

Those of you who do not wish to enroll in my brief online course in medieval 
Christian heresies should tap the delete key now.  I warn you: I will not be 
talking about boogers, farts, or breasts in this post.  I also won't bring 
up the subject of goats.  I might shill a bit for The Church of Auntie 
Establishment -- tithes are down this week; I only found 85 cents when I 
vacuumed the sofa -- but, otherwise, I will be sticking to the subject of 
what I see as the dangers inherent in self-perpetuating do-it-yourself 
theology.

Inspired by Nick Gier's critique, I took the dys-Pepsi challenge and read 
Doug Jones' musings on the jolly, frolicky Trinity, 
http://www.credenda.org/issues/15-4thema.php?type=print.  I tried to 
understand Jones' assertion that "[t]he Trinity is who we would all 
naturally long to be connected to, an intriguing, brilliant, playful, 
frightening, intoxicating God."  I tried, but I failed.  Fear of God is, of 
course, standard stuff, and, some say, the beginning of wisdom, but I'm not 
comfortable with the idea of an intoxicating and playful deity.  I 
understand the pull of charismatic religion, but unlike Job, I wouldn't care 
to be on the receiving end of one of the Almighty's hilarious pranks.  I 
just don't get the feeling that God would be laughing *with* me.

Pressing on, Jones explains that:

"The Trinity is the name that the Christian God gives Himself in history. 
This one God's name is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit _ three unique persons. 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the source of the personal and personality, 
a One but also a community. Ultimate reality is not mere matter or physical 
force but a relationship between persons, a mysterious oneness of loyal 
friends, of family."

Obviously, I'm not a Trinitarian.  One god without three unique 
personalities is quite enough for me.  But Jones' position, as Nick Gier has 
explained, is not classical Trinitarianism.  I'm inclined to fall back on my 
knowledge of medieval Catholic heresies and say instead that it's verging on 
semi-Arianism (the Son is of a like substance to the Father, but he isn't 
the Father).  But Jones is not a semi-Arian; he believes in the divinity of 
Jesus without any ifs, ands, or qualifiers.  I also doubt that either he or 
Doug Wilson would admit to being polytheists even though Jones' piece seems 
to suggest that they worship a tripartite God.  So the question for me is, 
in the world of DIY theology, what exactly are the Wilsonites?  Do any of 
the medieval heresies fit?

Are they Waldenses?  No.  The Waldenses embraced poverty, denounced all 
lying as a sin, and believed that the validity of the sacraments depended on 
the worthiness of the priest.  Albigensians?  Probably not.  The 
Albigensians were dualists.  They maintained that evil was equal in power to 
good, and that the former was responsible for the body and the latter for 
the spirit.  Pelagians?  No way.  The Pelagians believed that people are 
basically good and that we have control over our own destiny.  No original 
sin.  No predestination.  I suppose the Wilsonites could be 
quasi-Antinomians.  Antinomianism -- the idea that good works don't lead to 
salvation, but neither do evil deeds prohibit it -- is a kind of precursor 
to the Doctrine of Election.  Still, close, but no cigar.

Okay, what about Lollardy?  That was a popular medieval heresy and one of 
the roots of Protestantism.  The Lollards believed that Christianity should 
be based on the Bible.  They believed that everyone should have access to a 
Bible written in his or her own vernacular language rather than Latin, and 
that everyone ought to be allowed interpret the Bible's meaning for him or 
herself.  That might fit, but then judging from the faculty of the New St. 
Andrews, Mr. Wilson isn't so much a Lollard as a Lollard relativist -- you 
don't get to interpret the Bible unless you're one of his relatives.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm largely in favor of Lollardy.  I think the idea of 
every man his own priest (or every woman her own) is basically a good one.  
I suppose I could claim to have some deep philosophical underpinning for 
this belief, but the simple truth is that I just don't like to be told what 
to do.  My motto has always been "You're not the boss of me."  But -- and as 
the great Pee Wee Herman said, everyone's got a big but -- there are 
potential problems with do-it-yourself theology, particularly if it's of the 
self-referential small-world variety.  The NSA College, Greyfriars' Hall, 
Credenda Agenda, Canon Press, CA's annual history conference, ad infinitum, 
are comprised solely of Doug Wilson's friends and Doug Wilson's relations; 
the same people repeating the same ideas over and over again without 
criticism, without variety, and without dissent.  The dangers of academic 
incest are well-known.  Logical inconsistency.  Fallacious argument.  
Delusion.  Narcissism.

What goes on in Wilson, Inc., isn't academic inquiry; it's log rolling.  
Pluralism might be a dirty word at the NSA, but if you want a strong 
faculty, you need to practice a little exogamy.  You need people who will 
look at piece like "Spoiled by the Trinity" and really critique it.  
Otherwise, it's kind of like painting in an unventilated room.  The finished 
product might look good to you, but it doesn't seem so fine to those of us 
on the outside who haven't been huffing the varnish.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment

PS: If any of you would like to earn a PhD in Thinkology from the academic 
arm of The Church of Auntie Establishment, AKA The New Money-Spinning 
Pyramid Scheme, please write the name of a medieval heresy (or the name of a 
character from the cartoon show Gargoyles) on the back of a twenty-dollar 
bill and mail it to me in a self-addressed stamped envelope.  Don't be 
surprised, however, if your diploma looks suspiciously like a Garfield 
Valentine from the discount bin at Tidyman's.  The church coffers won't be 
full until I finish shaking out the kids' laundry.  Those young'uns leave 
pennies in every pocket.

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