by Ben Howard
All great things ultimately become legendary and mythical.
I started paying attention to the NBA right after Michael Jordan retired the first time in 1993. I would read all my brother's sports magazines and there was almost always a story about "The Next Jordan". I remember glowing pieces about Grant Hill and Harold Miner and Isaiah Rider, none of whom came close to the transcendent mega-star (though Hill carved out a nice career).
The same comparison has been made to even more players since Jordan's actual retirement in 2003. Even though players like Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant have had fantastic careers, they still can't be Michael Jordan. In fact, if Michael Jordan came back to the NBA today as a 20-year old and did the same things that he did in real life he still wouldn't match the legend. The myth of "Michael Jordan" transcended the reality of the man a long time ago.
There is a similar dynamic when it comes to ranking United States Presidents. No matter what list you see, or create yourself, the same names will be at the top of the list. Washington. Lincoln. Jefferson. It's no longer possible to be a better president than these men because they make up the definition of what it is to be a good president. You can't be more Washington than Washington actually was, or more like Lincoln than Lincoln himself.
Of course, the factual reality is that neither Washington or Jefferson had nearly the same power and clout as a modern president, and Lincoln, for all the esteem we give him in historical hindsight, was despised by more than half the country during his life. Reality doesn't matter when we're dealing in myth.
This idea has been on my mind this week with the premier of season four of Arrested Development. Though many, including myself, have enjoyed the new episodes, the season as a whole has been roundly viewed as a disappointment. To be fair to the writers and actors involved, I'm not ever sure that it was possible to be anything else. The prior incarnation of the show had become so revered and beloved that even perfection could not have surpassed it. No matter how good season four was, it was always going to be underwhelming.
Myths and legends define us, or to be more specific, they serve as our definitions, our benchmarks for what it means to be truly good, truly valuable. They can be incredibly useful because they force us to strive past being merely good enough. They cause us to aspire.
At the same time, the legends which come before us, which serve as our templates, are often detached from reality. By existing for so long in a revered state, they no longer connect to our tangible existent.
For me, the Bible often falls into the tricky territory. It has been so exalted within the corners of the world where I've existed, that I have a difficult and often tenuous relationship with it's tangible reality. On one hand, I've seen it lifted and mythologized to a status as an inerrant, infallible document handed down personally from God that simply has no basis in fact. On the other, I've seen this mythological relationship deconstructed so completely that it robs the Bible of it's utility as a founding document and a well of truth for the Christian community.
I find myself frustrated and struggling with the legendary and mythical status of the Bible, Jesus, and the Church. At the same time, I am aware that complete and total deconstruction of this status strips them of both the legend and their value. So where is the reality in the tension between these two extremes and how do we get there?
Peace,
Ben
Ben
Howard is an accidental iconoclast and generally curious individual
living in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also the editor-in-chief of On Pop
Theology and an avid fan of waving at strangers for no reason. You can
follow him on Twitter @BenHoward87.
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by Ben Howard
On Saturday night comedian Louis C.K. hosted Saturday Night Live. One of the first sketches merged the concept of C.K.'s offbeat show "Louie" with the recent interest in Abraham Lincoln. In the re-imagined show C.K. plays Lincoln as a disrespected, hated individual who openly jokes about the fact that someone is probably going to kill him because half the country hates him. In the opening sequence, C.K. as Lincoln tries to have a conversation with a recently freed slave at a bar. He asked him how it feels to be emancipated only to have the freed slave, played by Kenan Thompson, explain that his life isn't much better because his new job is shoveling manure into a cart.
I bring up this sketch because it highlights an important point to remember the day before an election. The perspective we have today, the opinion we hold today, is not always the right one. Lincoln was the most hated man in America during his time as President. He was viewed as divisive and a threat to the union. It is only in the light of history that he is regarded as one the greatest Presidents because this was not the case during his lifetime.
In college I majored in history and I'm really glad that I did. It's not the most employable of degrees, but it teaches you how to think and process concepts. It also teaches you about perspective. It takes time to properly assess how policy decisions ran their course or how foreign policy decisions worked out. It takes time to realize that Lincoln was great or that Hoover and Truman weren't incompetent.
I'm not saying that Barack Obama is secretly a fantastic president, but I'm saying that we don't have enough perspective to really judge that yet. I'm not saying that Mitt Romney would be a good president either. I'm saying election day changes nothing in the light of history because popularity does not correlate to presidential success. Just ask George H.W. Bush who won his first election in a massive landslide.
One other note about perspective. This is not the most contentious political environment in United States history. Please remember that in 1804 Vice-President Aaron Burr shot and killed former Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton. That's the equivalent of Joe Biden shooting and killing Hank Paulson. We are less contentious than this.
Also, remember that in 1856 Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was nearly beaten to death on the Senate floor by Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina. Oh yeah, then we had a civil war.
If you think instead that political dirty tricks are at an all-time high, please recall that in 1968 Richard Nixon secretly sabotaged Lyndon Johnson's efforts at peace in Vietnam to ensure that Johnson's Vice-President Hubert Humphrey would not defeat him in the election. Nixon later admitted these actions himself.
If the worst we have is name-calling, a few hurt feelings, and a general air of disrespect then by historical standards we are doing pretty good.
Now, I wish that everyone could be like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who, after receiving criticism for touring hurricane damaged parts of his state with President Obama, tweeted: "Today I'm touring NJ with President Obama. Yes, he's a Democrat, and I'm
a Republican. We're also adults, and this is how adults behave."
We need to have this sense of perspective in our churches and our religion too. Perspective is one of the things that keeps us humble. It reminds us that even if we're 100% convinced that we're right in the moment, it's still possible to be wrong.
Perspective about Christian history reminds us that there has never been a perfect church. It reminds us that our stylized imaginations about perfection and prestige have never actually played out in reality. It reminds us that even powerful Christian thinkers like Augustine and Peter Abelard had weaknesses that today we would consider damning. It reminds us that thinkers like Origen were once viewed as heretics.
It reminds us that asserting that "The church has always said..." is probably a false statement. It gives us the freedom to try out new things and question old things because the past is no longer an idol of The Best We've Ever Been, but is instead a snapshot of Something We Once Were.
We always need more perspective whether in politics, religion or simply in our everyday life. We need to know our context and we need to try and exaggerate less and hold our judgments more. It's a difficult lesson to learn. It's too easy to be tricked by our proximity to events.
So I ask you to remember this on the day before the election. No matter what rhetoric you hear, this is probably not the most important election in history. Neither of the candidates will likely be the best or worst presidents of all time. More than likely they'll be in a range around slightly below average to slightly above average.
Take a deep breath. Vote if you feel like you should. And remember that it'll probably be okay.
Peace,
Ben
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Of course, the factual reality is that neither Washington or Jefferson had nearly the same power and clout as a modern president, and Lincoln, for all the esteem we give him in historical hindsight, was despised by more than half the country during his life. Reality doesn't matter when we're dealing in myth.
