Angels in the Architecture: A Protestant Vision for Middle Earth

by Douglas M. Jones III

The Bible tells us that other spiritual authorities exist, but that they are fallible and penultimate. Further, these lesser spiritual authorities are not just "allowed," they are inescapable. The question is not whether we will have them, but which of them we will have. We do not understand that when we have removed all traces of Nicean orthodoxy, this does not leave us standing in a fresh meadow with a newly-discovered Bible, but rather with the ethereal magisterium of the latest heretical balloon juice cooked up at the Christian Booksellers Association, which never met a wind of doctrine it didn't like.

So, had enough of theological fads and fashions? Are you sick of that Aerobics with the Angels class on Wednesday nights? Are you tired of sermons that trifle with the truth? Does your skin crawl when you walk through an evangelical bookstore? Are you weary of the constant irrelevance of contemporary relevance? Then welcome to evangelical orthodoxy.

Stories frame 'a child's interior life for living in this world. Fiction is far more realistic than we realize. Fiction and poetry mysteriously transfer truth in a far more powerful way than anything else. God Himself chose to write in passionate poetry and narrative and parables rather than in the bureaucratic style of a systematic theology. But again, parents have to lead the way. Many parents, however, have little taste for fiction, though they allow it for the "little kids." Some parents disdain fiction because they are bony pragmatists, not having the time, but others even claim that it is unspiritual ("I just want Scripture"). Though I couldn't prove it in an ecclesiastical court, I'm beginning to suspect that parents who don't enjoy fiction must have some serious spiritual problem lurking about, either in a very distorted view of spirituality or in a rejection of beauty. They are like the person who ungratefully refuses to delight in God's handiwork in nature. Time will tell in the lives of their children.

Though our modern heads may cringe at the wording, Proverbs tells us that "the liberal soul shall be made fat" (Prov. 1 1:25). That is a good way to summarize everything above. We want fat-souled children. We want them to have full, faithful lives-Joyful, balanced, and lovely. But wisdom doesn't happen passively. It takes a diligent household and constant prayer, but with that He promises that "the soul of the diligent shall be made fat" (Prov. 13:4). That should be our prayer: Lord enable us to raise children with fat souls. "He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat" (Prov. 28:25).