Conversations at the Mechanic and the Argument Against Historical Arrogance

What differentiates kids 40 years ago from today?

My vehicle is getting to that ripe age of 160,000 years old. Like an elderly car, the visits to the doctor are happening more frequently. So, a quick trip to the vehicular hospital was in order. It was early, and the southern folks at my mechanic shop are quintessential Wendell Berry. We can discuss the latest farming accident or the wild entrepreneurial malaise of road construction that will never finish.

I never know who I will meet in my brief encounters. I once spoke to a wealthy architect from Atlanta who found his way to my little town mechanic outside Pensacola. We talked about church architecture and some of his projects. Another time, I chatted with an older lady showing me all the new apps her grandson had installed. None of which she knew how to use.

But on this adventure, I met an elderly man dressed in his golf attire. Mind you, it was 43 degrees outside. He greeted me.

“Mornin’, sir!”

“Morning,” I replied.

I can identify extroverts anywhere. We hate silence. Every opportunity is an opportunity to “get to know.” I know those tricks. I have often told folks that, though I have never done drugs, I get high when I meet new people. I love their stories, their trajectories, their interests, etc. I can be in the middle of a sermon, see a new face in a congregation of hundreds, and continue my rhetoric with glee with the latest knowledge that after the service, I will get to talk to someone whose context I don’t know.

Back to the extroverted hipster.

He told me he was a P.E. teacher. “How long have you taught?” I asked.

“44 years,” he responded.

We chatted about his time, and then I knew that I needed to ask the obvious question: the sociological one that connects the past to the present.

“What is the difference between the students you had 40 years ago and today?”

I don’t think there was one second of distance between my inquiry and his response.

“Consequences!”

“Consequences?”

“Yes, consequences.”

“Students don’t know what it is to have consequences for their actions,” he continued.

I listened pretty intently. Here’s my summary of his thoughts.

Forty years ago, it was clear that kids knew what hard work was like. But they also knew that if they disobeyed at school, they would have consequences when they returned home. The next day, their remorse would be evident. But today, they run their homes. Their parents are entirely divorced from their lives. They do not want to engage because it adds to the inconvenience.

The conversation was striking from a first source account.

This old-timer is retiring in a year or two, he told me. He says there are always bad kids wherever you go, and everyone fails, but he noted, “There is something different about kids who think that failing is a way of life.”

I am not sure I can phrase it any better.

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On Historical Arrogance

The standard observation that "this idea has been the default idea until five minutes ago and therefore you shouldn't oppose it" is profoundly simplistic. There have always been variances, and some issues in which slight variance occurred are no longer practiced, except in very micro-groups:

While premillennialism was standard, there were also forms of allegorical hermeneutics post-Augustine that strayed from Premillennial eschatology.

Forms of segregated worship (men and women sitting separately in worship) were standard until the 1900's. St. Cyril and Augustine strongly advocated this practice based on the distinction of sexes in Genesis. Yet, it is rarely practiced, with few exceptions in Eastern Europe and Anabaptist Mennonites.

Allegorical interpretations of creation that denied a literal six-day paradigm were common in the early church. Augustine held to instantaneous creation. I think much of that model has disappeared from theological discourse, and for good reason.

Early church interpretations that the guilt of Eve rested on all women and erroneous views on sex and marriage were undone only in the era of the Reformation.

Forms of sabbath observance varied dramatically in the early church as well.

I could name various topics where variance or dogma prevailed, and contemporary discourse has changed, some for the better and others for the worse.

Retrieval projects are generally selective to reflect the direction of our own projects. This is not wrong, per se, but it indicates that apart from distinct creedal issues, dogmatic practices like segregated seating and variance on eschatology existed throughout the early church on matters outside the creeds. Therefore, to argue that such and such has been the prevailing view is to practice a form of historical idealization.

The Church is constantly learning and building on the teachings given to us. While history ought to be viewed conservatively, there are also times in which the Word of God must re-examine older ideas for the sake of the purity of the Church.

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Notations

The charming 1944 “Enter Arsène Lupin” is an American film by the famed director Ford Beebe and starring Charles Korvin and Ella Raines. This American classic stars the French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, a character created by Maurice Leblanc. In the movie, a wealthy but naive young lady owns some priceless jewels. She is unaware that a group of gang thieves is after the jewelry. She is not safe, though the enemies are quite close; in fact, too close.

This was a splendid 72-minute film with a humorous twist at the end.

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My invocation at #natcon 2024 in D.C. is now available. I am always honored to offer the Protestant prayer at such an august occasion:

Uriesou T. Brito

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