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We need not debate about the mere words evolution or progress: personally I prefer to call it reform. For reform implies form. It implies that we are trying to shape the world in a particular image; to make it something that we see already in our minds. Evolution is a metaphor from mere automatic unrolling. Progress is a metaphor from merely walking along a road—very likely the wrong road. But reform is a metaphor for reasonable and determined men: it means that we see a certain thing out of shape and we mean to put it into shape. And we know what shape. —CHESTERTON, Orthodoxy
Some revolutionaries are patient and some are not. Gramsci argued for the “long march through the institutions” and Lenin wanted the massive meltdown all at once. Most revolutionaries have what Billington described as a “fire in the minds of men,” but some are willing to go for the slow burn. More than just simple patience is required to distinguish a revolutionary from a reformer.
1. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.
Reformation of culture is either a species of salvation or sanctification, and you can’t have either one of those without Jesus. Secular conservatism will sometimes buy you some time, but that is about all it can do—that and lure you into the complacent notion that it can do more than that. Secular conservatism is like trying to use your pocket handkerchief to slow you down after the main chute has failed. This is why individual heart transformation, not legislation, is fundamental to national reformation. The person and work of Jesus is not optional.
2. Always remember the distinction between princi...
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Those who latch on to the methods being employed, without any awareness of the principles being served, are either simple-minded or partisans. The simple need leadership; they can make great foot soldiers, but don’t ever make them generals. The partisans need a peculiar kind of leadership, but you have to be careful—they are the ones who are already a tad too gung ho about your leadership. And they think you are as gummed up about particular methods as they are.
3. Reformers are conservatives, which means they must prefer the concrete to the abstract.
