Alexander McCall Smith is a professor of medical law at Edinburgh University and an author. I just read his book, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. ( I know everybody else in the world read this book at least a year ago, but I get my books the cheap way–from the library. And sometimes it takes a while.) The book is set in Botswana, and the setting is a major part of the charm of the book. I don’t know whether or not McCall Smith gets Botswana “right,” but I do know that the Africa in this book is an intriguing and beautiful place. And Precious Ramotswe, a single African lady, who calls herself a “fat lady detective,” is a likable character. She resolves several mysteries and various personal problems of her clients with intelligence, humor, and grace. When people question the idea of a woman detective, Mma Ramotswe reminds them that Agatha Christie was a lady. As the book progresses, we get to see the detective business grow and prosper, and Precious Ramotswe is called upon to combat a great social evil, the sale of human bones as magic charms. The only part I didn’t understand was the ending. Why did she decide to say yes?
This book has three or four sequels which I plan to read. Maybe I’ll find the answer to my question in another book.
Archive | February 2005
Implications of Population Decline
When I was in high school, the bogeyman in social trends was “the population explosion.” Everybody knew that it was irresponsible to have more than two children in these modern, enlightened times. Anyone who did have a large family was just selfish, adding to the surplus population, using up the dwindling resources of the planet. Now, according to the article, Demographics and the Culture War by Stanley Kurtz in Policy Review Online, we’re heading toward a worldwide population implosion, a decline in population that is “set to ramify geometrically.”
As population falls, the pool of potential mothers in each succeeding generation shrinks. So even if, well into the process, there comes a generation of women with a higher fertility rate than their mothers’, the momentum of population decline could still be locked in. Population decline may also be cemented into place by economics. To support the ever-growing numbers of elderly, governments may raise taxes on younger workers. That would make children even less affordable than they are today, decreasing the size of future generations still further.
Kurtz uses information from the following recently published books to spin several possible scenarios that might result from a decreasing population.
The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It by Phillip Longman
Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future by Ben Wattenberg
The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know About America’s Economic Future by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns
Running On Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It by Peter G. Peterson
Kurtz says the choices are:
1) a new conservatism: Population decline might be halted and even reversed by a change in cultural values, what GWB calls creating a culture of life. We could have a revival of traditional religions which oppose abortion, birth control, feminism, and the sexual revolution and which support traditional families with children.
2) a new eugenics: In this scenario, populations could be stabilized as traditional families were replaced by bioengineered breeding systems, as in Brave New World. He doesn’t think we’re so very far away from this “eugenic nightmare.”
3) “endless and compounding population decline:” This choice has some fairly scary implications as the population ages rapidly and fewer and fewer young people are forced to support more and more elderly people (who are living longer to boot).
None of the above is palatable to social liberals who value freedom, but it may be that we’ll all have to pay the price for the choices that we as a society have made and continue to make. (We should all pray for our children, even those of us who don’t have any.)
. . . population decline cannot be reversed in the absence of major cultural change, and the prospects of a significant religious revival must not be dismissed. In a future shadowed by vastly disproportionate numbers of poor elderly citizens, and younger workers struggling with impossible tax burdens, the fundamental tenets of postmodern life might be called into question. Some will surely argue from a religious perspective that mankind, having discarded God’s injunctions to be fruitful and multiply, is suffering the consequences.
I found this article via Arts and Letters Daily, a very useful website, by the way.
Happy 193rd Birthday to Charles Dickens
Dickens Novels I’ve Read: David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations
Favorite Dickens Hero: Pip, Great Expectations
Favorite Dickens Villain: Madame Defarge, Tale of Two Cities
Favorite Tragic Scene: Mr. Peggotty searching for Littel Em’ly (Is that a scene or an episode?)
Favorite Comic Character: Mr. Micawber, David Copperfield
Favorite Comic Scene: Miss Betsy Trotter chasing the donkeys out of her yard, David Copperfield
Strangest Dickens Christmas Story We’ve Read: “The Poor Relation’s Story”
Best Dickens Novel I’ve Read: A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield is a close second.
Christopher Marlowe, b. 1564
Comparisons are odious. Lust’s Dominion. Act iii. Sc. 4
And I thought this bit of wisdom, which I repeat to the urchins frequently, came straight from Madeleine L’Engle. Upon further research, I see that Christopher Marlowe wasn’t the first to commit to writing this piece of wisdom either. Maybe it was Sir John Fortescue (whoever he was) or even Cervantes. It seems that it’s hard to be the first to say something, and comparisons are odious.
Happy Birthday, Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe was a playwright, contemporary of Shakespeare, accused of being a blasphemer, denying the divinity of Christ, and also possibly a spy. He was killed in a barroom brawl at the age of 29. His plays are often compared to those of Shakespeare, but, well, you know the rest.
Russell Hoban, b. 1925
Husband and wife teams who write and illustrate books together are fun to think about. I could write stories and Engineer Husband could illustrate; on the other hand, we couldn’t dream of reversing the roles. I can’t draw squat, and he can’t even make up a bedtime story. We all have our own talents. In the Hoban household, Russell and Lillian both wrote stories and both illustrated stories. In 1975, they divorced. Ouch, maybe this husband-wife collaboration thing isn’t such a good idea after all. Anyway, they produced some great books together before the break-up. I love Frances.
The Goose Girl
If I look up the author of a book to find out more about her, it’s a sure sign that I really liked the book. I just finished reading The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, and I went immediately to the web to see if she had any more books out and to find out something about the author. Ms. Hale loves Robin McKinley and C.S. Lewis, both of whom adapted fairy tales into novels. The Goose Girl is based on the Grimm fairy tale of the same name. It’s a great story about betrayal, and identity, and language, and finding one’s own voice. I’m quite impressed and happy to read that Shannon Hale has two more novels, Enna Burning, published last fall, and The Princess Academy, due out this summer.
25 Most Influential Evangelicals
I was standing in line at the grocery store today, and I noticed the Time magazine cover story: 25 Most Influential Evangelicals. Here’s the Time magazine list with my comments in parentheses:
Howard & Roberta Ahmanson: The Financiers (Maybe so, but I’ve never heard of them. Maybe they’re the stealth financiers, or maybe I’m just not well-versed in the world of finance.)
David Barton: The Lesson Planner
Doug Coe: The Stealth Persuader
Chuck Colson: Reborn and Rehabilitated
Luis Cortes: Bringing Latinos To the Table (I’ve never heard of him either, but it sounds as if he’s doing great work.)
James Dobson: The Culture Warrior
Stuart Epperson: A High-Fidelity Messenger (Name sounds vaguely familiar.)
Michael Gerson : The President’s Spiritual Scribe
Billy & Franklin Graham: Father and Son In the Spirit
Ted Haggard: Opening Up the Umbrella Group (Who? Oh, the NAE guy.)
Bill Hybels: Pioneering Mass Appeal
T.D. Jakes: The Pentecostal Media Mogul (I think he’s got some doctrinal problems, but he seems like a well-meaning guy.)
Diane Knippers: A Think Tank With Firepower (Again the name sounds vaguely familiar.)
Tim & Beverly LaHaye: The Christian Power Couple
Richard Land: God’s Lobbyist
Brian McLaren: Paradigm Shifter (I hear he’s some pomo guy. Is he any good?)
Joyce Meyer: A Feminine Side Of Evangelism ( Can anyone say “prosperity gospel”? I ‘m thankful Time left most of the prosperity gospel people off this list even though some of them are quite influential. Maybe their influence is declining. We can only hope.)
Richard John Neuhaus: Bushism Made Catholic ( A great thinker, but he’s Catholic, not evangelical.)
Mark Noll: The Intellectual Exemplar
J.I. Packer: Theological Traffic Cop
Rick Santorum: The Point Man On Capitol Hill (According to Hugh Hewitt, he’s also Catholic. Great senator. I wish he were mine.)
Jay Sekulow: The Almighty’s Attorney-at-Law
Stephen Strang: Keeper of “The Faith” (Yet another vaguely familiar name.)
Rick Warren: America’s New People’s Pastor
Ralph Winter: A Global Mission (Who?)
First of all, such a list depends on the question you’re asking in the first place. Which evangelicals are influencing politics and the culture at large? Or which evangelicals have great influence among evangelicals and are beginning to influence the culture at large? Here’s my list of “evangelical influencers.” the names I hear among evangelicals every Sunday (and during the week):
1. Rick Warren,. Yes, Saddleback and Willow Creek have been tremendously influential, for better or for worse, and now The Purpose Driven Life is literally everywhere. Unlike some reformed kibbitzers, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The book presents the gospel and preaches to our me-centered culture that “it’s not about you.” So what if it’s not a full course in reformed or even Baptist theology.
2. Jay Sekulow. Yes, he’s helped evangelicals to see that they too can use the court system to win some victories.
3. JI Packer. He’s the “old man” whose wisdom is still influencing evangelicals through his book Knowing God and through his other writing.
4. Mark Noll. Yes, his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind gave a lot of people food for thought and started a push toward evangelical scholarship that is being carried on at schools like Baylor University and Wheaton and Biola, to name a few. I hope.
5. Richard Land. Politically very influential, and he influences other evangelicals’ political opinions.
6. Tim and Beverly LaHaye. Unfortunately, I think LaHaye has been tremendously influential. I don’t agree with his eschatology, and I’m not sure about his theology. But he is influential, no doubt.
7. Bill Hybels. Ditto Rick Warren without the best-selling book.
8. Billy and Franklin Graham. Of course. Franklin is carrying “compassionate conservatism” around the world through Samaritan’s Purse.
9. Michael Gerson. The president’s speech writer. Of course.
10. James Dobson. If these were listed in order of influence, Dobson would probably be number one. I hope he will tone down the “you owe us” rhetoric with President Bush, but as far as his radio program and the information that FoF gives out, I have few problems. And most evangelicals have even fewer than I do.
11. Chuck Colson. Yes, I see him as a man who struggles with power and the pride that is power’s accompanying temptation, but nevertheless has used his influence to do a great deal of good in the prisons, in the world, Sudan in particular, and in calling evangelicals to think about worldview and apologetics.
12. Doug Coe. I don’t know much about him, but I’m willing to go along with Time and say that he probably does have a great deal of influence in Washington evangelical power circles.
13. David Barton. I can’t believe Time came up with this name, but I agree he’s tremendously popular among evangelicals, particularly my particular sub-sub-culture, evangelical homeschoolers.
So, my list overlaps Time magazine by about half of the names. Who would I add to replace the ones I dropped?
14. D. James Kennedy. He’s still around as far as I know, still active in politics and in Evangelism Explosion, argueably the most popular tool for evangelism among evangelical churches.
15. R.C. Sproul. He has been an influence on Chuck Colson and also on many, many evangelicalswho have heard his radio program or read his books.
16. Tony Evans. Dr. Dobson sort of sponsored him several years ago, but now he’s made a name for himself with, again, books and a radio program. He’s a good preacher.
17. Ted Baehr. Editor of Movieguide a guide to popular movies from a Christian point of view.
18. Mike Farris. Former president of Homeschol Legal Defense Association and tremendously influential in that sub-sub culture I mentioned above. He’s controversial even among homeschoolers, but definitely influential. He is now president of Patrick Henry College, a colege that was designed with Christian homeschoolers in mind
19. Tony Campolo. He’s a little on the liberal side, politically speaking, which means he speaks to all those “other” evangelicals who aren’t political conservatives. Actually, there are a lot of those guys, even if the MSM seems to classify all evangelicals into one political party.
20. Marvin Olasky. Editor of World magazine and architect of the idea of “compassionate conservatism.”
21. George Barna. “Barna . . . is to evangelicals what George Gallup is to the larger culture. Pastors frequently cite his statistical findings in sermons, and his many books about church ministry sell consistently.”
22. Rich Stearns. President of World Vision. i don’t know much about the man, but I surely do hear about the organization almost daily on Christian radio, in magazines, etc.
23. Phillip Johnson. Author of Darwin On Trial and spokesman for the Intelligent Design movement.
24. Ravi Zacharius. Christian apologist and leader. He has recently made an attempt to reach out to Mormons.
25. George W. Bush. He’s certainly an influential evangelical.
I’m not saying my list is better than Time’s list. I just know about the influence of the people on my list, whereas I’m just now hearing about some of the people on the Time list. There are also a lot of “second tier” leaders who may become the really influential people in the future, at least within evangelicalism: Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, Henry Blackaby, Douglas Wilson, Gary Bauer, Nancy Pearcey. Whom do you see influencing the evangelicals and the culture around you?