Summary
It’s obvious, but I forget: religion and philosophy are about self-improvement. Nowhere is this more apparent than in what happened to Calvinism in the United States.
An Obvious Observation (or: Whatever Happened to Calvinism?)
It’s obvious, but I forget: religion and philosophy are about self-improvement. Nowhere is this more apparent than in what happened to Calvinism in the United States.
What?
Yes, that Calvin.
And that Arminius.
No, I’m not one of those who thinks that the United States was in any way a “Christian” nation in the beginning, though even the most liberal founders were only a teensey-weensey bit post-Christian (read Deism). However, our founding documents show that a majority of the founding Europeans did understand that a theocracy would be a disaster or European proportions.
That said, from the beginning, the European Christian battle between Calvinism and Arminianism has been the center of what we Americans are. Despite what can quickly become a dense (and for most of us, boring) theological discussion, I think that it comes down to two ways of being: stay-in-your-lane versus self-improvement.
For Calvinists, reality is a steady-state affair. God set it all in motion at the beginning, and God knew exactly how it would work out. Human beings were born saved or un-saved. Good luck as far as which number you got . . . waaay before you were born.
For Armenians, on the other hand, every moment is a moment of decision: stay the way you are, or change. Benjamin Franklin, for example, is the first great American self-help guru. (Example: “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.” Get it?)
Good ‘ol Ben had an Armenian attitude, even though he was theologically Deist.
The Armenian with the greatest influence in the United States has been John Wesley, who wrote:
“About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.”
It’s that one word, change.
Born in a log cabin? Unable to find anything but crap jobs like splitting rails? Hey, put it on your resume. Ya never know . . .
We Americans have long believed in change. The Calvinists — such as the Puritans — looked like fuddy-duddies. Which is why we have Unitarians.
“The American Dream” isn’t about home ownership or the car you would like to drive. It’s the dream that no matter your name, family, or social location, you can change your lot it life. Maybe even get off the road to hell and onto heaven’s highway.
Religion and philosophy are about self-improvement: stay-in-your-lane versus self-improvement.
As Ben would say, “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.”
Just sayin’.