Guy's Books and Thoughts

I don't know if this is a cause for rejoicing, but I think the
Intelligent Design Movement is beginning to make an impact on popular
culture. Yes, there have been attacks against the movement by the
materialists and atheists and others. But apparently the movement has
caught peoples attention.

I was at an Irish style "pub" for trivia night, last night. In the
last round, one of the question was along the lines of what is the
alternative idea to evolution stating that life is too complex to have
simply evolved? And the answer was "Intelligent Design." I thought
about "irreducible complexity," but our team went with "Intelligent
Design."

My point is if the term has made it way into trivia night at an Irish
style pub, then maybe that is an indication that the term and idea has
made an impact on our popular culture. So perhaps critics of
materialistic evolution are beginning to be noticed.

To be fair, I did go to Lenten Service first, before going to trivia
night, so please no guilt trips Also my impression is that these pubs
may be considered "restaurants." I was told by one of the security
people that the pub technically turns into a bar after 10 p.m. I
should add, that except for communion wine, I don't drink. I like the
food. Also winners of trivia get a discount off their tab. And if one
orders little, then one only has to pay for the tip.

My friend who got his PhD from St. Andrews is probably better
qualified to tell me what an authentic British or Irish pub is like.
This friend also pointed out that at one time (1600's?) part of a
pastor salary included beer, since there was no clean chlorinated
drinking water available at the time. Anyways we Lutherans are not
Baptists. But I do admit trying unsuccessfully to lay a guilt trip on
my teammates for drinking beer, just to give them a hard time.

(First off, let me apologize for getting St. Patrick's day wrong. It is
March 17th not 16th)

This book was originally written in 1895. It is a reprint due to the
efforts of Mr. Bruce Szwast, who discovered the book in a college
library. It must have slipped my attention, but Mr. Szwast wrote in
his introduction or preface that the author J.A. Carr was a member of
the Church of Ireland. I kind of suspected that. My impression in
reading the text was the author was not Roman Catholic or strict
Calvinist Presbyterian.

I hope I did not misspend my Sabbath day by reading the book. I read
most of it on Sunday and finished the book the following day. It runs
roughly 311 pages and has no index.

The book provides an interesting perspective on church history. The
author, Mr. Carr regards characters such as King James I, King Charles
I and Archbishop Laud in a positive light. Much of the Reformed
(Calvinist) literature, I've run across portray thise men in a
negative light. The author did not regard these men as secret
Catholics or Arminian. They were apparently on good terms with Mr.
Ussher.

If the author is correct, the church history of Ireland during the
Reformation reads like history in reverse or mirror image. Instead of
the established corrupt Roman Catholic church, there was an
established corrupt Church of Ireland (the counterpart to the Church
of England). The Church of Ireland had incompetent clergy and bishops
who had more than one office. Their priests did not speak the Irish
language in spite of the fact that a number of people in Ireland did
NOT speak English or Latin. One priest, whose name escapes me, did
try to promote instruction and worship in the Irish language, but was
overruled. Strangely even Ussher was opposed to the instruction and
worship in the Irish language, even though he wrote that religious
instruction should be in the language of the people. Apparently the
Roman Catholics priests did speak Irish and related to the people in
their own language though the mass was probably in Latin.

According to the author Ussher started out as a strict Calvinist, but
moderated his views as time went on. I don't think Ussher fully
abandoned his Calvinism. Even though the English were able to impose
their Articles of Faith on the Church of Ireland, Ussher still
insisted on using the Irish Articles, with its Calvinistic profession
along with the English Articles.

In reading this book my impression is that Archbishop Ussher was
opposed the claims of Roman Catholicism and was a strong supporter of
the Church of Ireland. Ussher expressed his views in the book
RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRISH AND BRITISH claiming the Celtic church
was different from the Roman church and that Rome through England
forced its doctrine and practices on the Celtic church. Today one
hears again the claim being made about the difference between Celtic
Christianity and Roman Christianity. My impression is that Ussher was
probably more scholarly than today's "Celtic Christians" who seem to
me to be pushing a certain new age agenda.
Ussher became a strong defender of bishops and the Episcopal system
and wrote a work defending apostolic succession. At one time he did
seek to work out some agreement between Episcopalians and
Presbyterians, but the attempt failed.

I don't know if many of the writings of Ussher would be of interest
today. In the debate between Protestant and Roman Catholic, Mr. Carr
claimed that Ussher's ANSWER TO A JESUIT is still relevant. But since
Mr. Carr's book was written in 1895, I have no idea.
However old does not necessarily mean obsolete or out of date.
Perhaps it is a good polemic from a Calvinist perspective. I have
been told that a good Lutheran polemic is EXAMINATION OF THE COUNCIL
OF TRENT by Martin Chemnitz, even though it is over 400 years old.

This biography makes for interesting reading. It paints toe portrait
of a very learned scholar. And I think that is a fair portrait. People
who have looked at Ussher's ANNAL OF THE WORLD (recently republished)
have commented to me on how learned he was.