In class I often revisit the question of “how can I play my role fittingly?” in light of the biblical story. This is a nod to both N. T. Wright’s “five-act play” of the biblical story and Kevin Vanhoozer’s “drama of doctrine” approach to Scripture and the Christian life. Turns out it is also an important question we should be asking from a civics perspective. That’s what Yuval Levin is asserting, at least, in A Time to Build, which picks up the thread (and threat) of our failing institutions (and our perceptions of those institutions). From the New York Times excerpt:
All of us have roles to play in some institutions we care about, be they familial or communal, educational or professional, civic, political, cultural or economic. Rebuilding trust in those institutions will require the people within them — that is, each of us — to be more trustworthy. And that must mean in part letting the distinct integrities and purposes of these institutions shape us, rather than just using them as stages from which to be seen and heard.
As a practical matter, this can mean forcing ourselves, in little moments of decision, to ask the great unasked question of our time: “Given my role here, how should I behave?” That’s what people who take an institution they’re involved with seriously would ask. “As a president or a member of Congress, a teacher or a scientist, a lawyer or a doctor, a pastor or a member, a parent or a neighbor, what should I do here?”
The people you most respect these days probably seem to ask that kind of question before they make important judgments. And the people who drive you crazy, who you think are part of the problem, are likely those who clearly fail to ask it when they should.
I really like that last paragraph.
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As I write this, I’m 2/3 the way through A Time to Build. It’s a great read. Levin’s most basic premise is that institutions serve a formative role in society . . . or at least they should. In today’s culture, though, the formative has been replaced with the performative. He also puts it this way: institutions that should be acting as molds are now perceived primarily as platforms. And so a Congressman sees Congress as more of a place to “perform” a position instead of being shaped by Congress’s internal practices. It’s like a teacher who uses the classroom as a soapbox for ideology without seeing the classroom’s practices as shaping students.
I look forward to the final chunk of the book, where Levin turns from the institutions he sees as being most affected by this shift to finding some way towards institutional renewal.
Last week America posted 
Yesterday I mentioned the manuscript I wrote for this week’s chapel. The topic was Jacob’s encounter with God. The task was partly to retell the story to an audience who has a basic knowledge of the story. Here’s a cleaned-up version of the sermon’s first half.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t able to make it opening night of a Star Wars movie. But banquet is when banquet is, so Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had to wait until early Friday morning. After just a few hours of sleep, I made my way down to the Cannery for a quick Zippy’s breakfast before heading to the 8 o’clock RPX showing at Dole. I hadn’t though much about the movie really, at least not compared to previous entries. While I didn’t hate The Last Jedi, I do feel like that movie derailed a couple of things (Canto Bight? Mary Poppins Leia?). In fact, I really liked the Luke-Rey dynamic of TLJ and found some of the space scene amazing. And while I trust JJ Abrams, you just never know.
Steven Garber’s A Seamless Life has a January release date, though I’m hoping to get a copy in late December. Garber’s The Fabric of Faithfulness has been one of the most providential books of my life. I read it in college on a lark as I was “delivering” it from one faculty member to another. His Visions of Vocation has also been a significant read for me . . . and was a book that I gifted quite a bit a few years ago. A Seamless Life is more of a collection of different pieces than it is a total work. If nothing else, that will make it a different kind of read.
Late January will see the release of Yuval Levin’s A Time to Build. I read Levin’s Fractured Republic a few years ago based on recommendations and found it to be a thoughtful, sincere read. Levin, the editor of National Affairs, has a good sense of what is best about the American Experiment and remains hopeful even seeing what he sees happening in the world around us. A Time to Build looks to be about recommitting to and rebuilding our basic cultural institutions.
Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society: How We Became Victims of our Own Success will be available at the end of February. His last two books, Bad Religion and To Change the Church, were both significant reads for me. Bad Religion served as a great catalogue of religious thought in America for me. To Change the Church was a great way for me to engage in thinking about the Catholic church and Pope Francis, who has been something of an enigma all around. I appreciate Douthat’s humor as well as his incisive observations about the way the world seems to be working. I imagine it will be a good companion to Levin’s book, too.
And then there’s the promise of a new Rivers of London novel at the end of February, too. Now that I’m all caught up, it’s a hardback buy for me. I can’t say too much without giving away spoilers of one kind or another. I will say that the last novel, Lies Sleeping, brought a number of plotlines to decent conclusions. And the most recent novella, The October Man, did a nice job of opening up the world beyond England. So I’m curious to see where Aaronovitch takes Peter Grant next. I’m doing my best to avoid spoilers for False Value, though I am pretty excited that this is my first Rivers of London novel to drop that I can buy on release day. It’s the little things, I suppose.
Space Enough, and Time 