I’ll begin by reiterating my dislike of the Crosspolitic crowd. I love their motto, which will play into this musing in a bit, but I deem their execution to be poor. So the kids from Moscow have distilled their cultural engagement down to: Fight, Laugh, Feast. And they do those things, I do think they pick some stupid fights, their laughter is a little forced from time to time, and I have no criticism about how they feast, I probably admire their execution of that part the most.
As it stands then I find myself experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance and like Captain Sisko, “Maybe if I just lay it all out in my log, it’ll finally make sense…” So while I frequently find myself irritated with the antics of the Crosspolitic guys I am a fan of Doug Wilson. I think he does a better job of the kind of “Chestertonian Calvinism” than they, even with what I might consider the occasional misstep. But things get particularly hairy for me when I find myself wanting to defend The Moscow Christ Kirkers while agreeing with the people who are offering up criticism, blatant or thinly veiled. Or worse when I find someone else saying, in essence, as a Christian you should fight, laugh, and feast. But that is coming form someone who would rather be dead in a ditch than deign to appear on the Crosspolitic podcast.
A fresh example is an article by Trevin Wax over at TGC. It ultimately endorses the general idea that Sumpter, Rench, and Knox are advocating, albeit in a more opaque and genteel way. And I finish the article thinking, “So what you are saying is that as Reformed Christians in a pagan world we should… Fight, laugh, and feast?” To wit Wax would probably rush forward shouting, “No not like that!” Hence the dissonance, I would want to say to Wax, “Yeah but also not in your milquetoast way either.”
There seems to be a general consensus that we should respond to the political malaise or despair with joy. And we seem to agree that on some level we should respond to vile politics with opposition. We should obey the Lords command to be joyful. And I see few objections to showing hospitality and good food. The disagreement seems to be on the levels of the first two. One is all in, and the other seems to be saying, “Yes but don’t have too much joy.”
Wouldn’t it be best if the TGC crowd sucked it up and was willing to engage with the Moscow bunch. And wouldn’t it be great if the Crosspolitic guys were humble and learned that they are fallible.* At least having the ability to talk without throwing anathemas at each other like a Papal and Eastern Orthodox bishop around Easter would be useful.
To quote Millers Crossing, “I was just speculatin’ about a hypothesis.”
*See that time they said Baptist theology causes transgenderism and then were simply incapable of admitting they had been idiots.
Southern Reformed Smoker 