Keswick 2023.3 Constitutionally speaking…

There is one subject that all Brits constantly bang on about - weather. That’s because we have a lot of it, mainly in the form of rain (for which we have about eighty different words and euphemisms). But there’s something else that we pretend neither to have or like to talk about that actually takes up quite a lot of our time – the constitution. By this I mean the largely political issue of how we organise ourselves. We do of have a constitution, it’s just that (unlike the US or France) it is substantially unwritten. It becomes more obvious with the occurrence of certain events. The Scottish independence and Brexit referendums were obviously about “it”: one changing it, the other not. Another aspect of the constitution was on full display in the events surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession and coronation of King Charles III (we do this kind of thing rather well). But just as the state (i.e. us collectively) has a constitution, even although it is difficult to pin down in all its details, so too does each human being (and it is just as difficult to pin down). But “pin down” is exactly the task Matthew Mason has undertaken in his Keswick seminars.

Just like the British constitution, our constitution as human beings is well trodden ground. Although neither Aristotle nor Plato had any interest in the British constitution (although both wrote about and within the political structures of their day), they were both quite interested in what constitutes a human being and human life, and what makes for a good life. They both put in an appearance seminar two (Tuesday). But a better starting point is what God has to say. So we spent a fair bit of time back in Genesis 1 and 2 (as we did on Monday). Obviously human beings are partly material, in that God makes us from dust. This is a materiality we share with other kinds of things, particularly animals. What the creation account makes explicit is that there is something else that is true of us. We have the breathe (in some sense the spirit) of God breathed into us. Is it this in combination with our material stuff that makes us human? No, because animals also have the breath of God in them too (Gen 6:15, 22). But there are two ways in which humanity is differentiated from other forms of life: our form of life, and the way God relates to us (and we to each other).

I’ve long been worried about the tendency to define humanity in terms of some attribute that we possess. No matter which attribute you pick, sooner or later some example from the animal world is found that possesses that same attribute. Language used to be a favourite. But it turns out that a number of species (including some fairly “simple” ones) can process arbitrary symbols using grammar and syntax in a way that looks suspiciously like language. And then there’s the interpretation of experiments with other primates, where they were taught sign language. Within limits, they seemed able to use this to communicate both with humans and with others of their own kind. This work had been subjected to sustained critique, but it looks as though even language isn’t that unique. Nor are other favourites like tool-use, self-awareness and so on. It can be difficult to prove these exist in other species but it is not impossible. On the flip side there are those members of humanity who might be thought not to possess some particular attribute (like the unborn child, the profoundly disabled teenager or the demented elderly person). And yet there really is there is no difficulty in identifying them as human. And this appears to boil down to their form; a combination of shape, look, capacity and attribute. But there is something else.

While God appears to talk at other species, He talks to and with humans. And from them (specifically Adam in Gen 2:23) He elicits a response. We stand in a particular, communicative relationship with Him that turns out to be important. It is a relationship that confers both privileges and responsibilities. There is the privilege of dominion over the other things that are created. Whatever that means (and its meaning is highly contested) this is a privilege and accompanying it is a sense of authority (seen, in part, in Adam’s naming of the animals). But there are also obligations; the obligation to work in the first instance, and also the obligation to obey a single explicit and easily obeyed command.

This, of course, sets up the framework for understanding a far darker aspect of our constitution that rather more depressingly was dealt with in Thursday’s seminar. Things are not as they should be, because we are not as we should be. And it’s not just that we think and do wrong stuff, it is that in a fundamental sense our stuff, what we are, has become wrong. And the wrongness is now intrinsic to what I am and what we are. It is so intrinsic that I naturally recoil from and rebel against the whole concept of original sin. I may rail against the idea that if I had never actually done something wrong, done something that contravened God’s standards, I would still stand at the bar of His justice and rightly be condemned. But that is the way the universe it. Because when Adam fell, I fell; when Adam sinned I sinned. For all sorts of reasons this doesn’t seem just. But I’m hoping that this devastating news will be followed in the final series in the seminar by consideration of what is good news. If it is the case that I can be condemned because I am inextricably linked with Adam, who acts as my representative, the head of the race to which I belong constitutionally, then maybe if I can find a new representative, a new head. And if my “registration” (or link, or allegiance, or identity) can be transferred, then it could be I’ll off the hook as far as God is concerned. Of course that new rep would have to be fundamentally different to me. Indeed they would need to have a different origin to me, otherwise they would have the same problem I have (Linkage with Adam, sin and failure). But then if they are completely different to me, if they are a completely different order of being entirely (like God is for instance), then how could any effective link to accomplished? There would just be too big a gap between us. And why would they want to be linked to me and all who like me (i.e. you and everyone else) who stand justly condemned by the Creator?

Tricky. I seem to be stuck. To quote Paul “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” I’m glad there’s a seminar left. This, of course, sets up the framework for understanding a far darker aspect of our constitution that depressingly was also dealt with in Thursday’s seminar. Things are not as they should be, because we are not as we should be. And it’s not just that we think and do wrong stuff, it is that in a fundamental sense our stuff, what we are, has become wrong. And the wrongness is now intrinsic to what I am and what we are. It is so intrinsic that I naturally recoil from and rebel against the whole concept of original sin. I may rail against the idea that if I had never actually done something wrong, done something that contravened God’s standards, I would still stand at the bar of His justice and rightly be condemned. But that is the way the universe it. Because when Adam fell, I fell; when Adam sinned I sinned. For all sorts of reasons this doesn’t seem just. But I’m hoping that this devastating news will be followed in the final seminar in this series by a consideration of some good news. If it is the case that I can be condemned because I am inextricably linked with Adam, who acts as my representative, the head of the race to which I constitutionally belong, then maybe I can find a new representative, a new head. And if my “registration” (or link, or allegiance, or identity) can be transferred, then it could be that I’ll be delivered from this depressing and devastating position I occupy as far as God is concerned. Of course that new "rep" would have to be fundamentally different compared to me. Indeed they would need to have a completely different origin to me, otherwise they would have the same problem I have (linkage with Adam, sin and failure etc). But then if they are completely different to me, if they are a completely different order of being entirely (like God is for instance), then how could any effective link be accomplished? There would just be too big a gap between us. They would be unable to identify in any way with me. And, there were such a person, why would they ever want to be linked in any way to me and all who like me (i.e. you and everyone else) stand justly condemned by the Creator?

Constitutional questions always seem to be tricky. I seem to be stuck. To quote Paul “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” I’m glad there’s a seminar left.