Typical American politics gets stuck in the Left/Right, Democrat/Republican rut that posits an onward march of history against a reactionary ancien regime. It wasn’t an accurate description of what was really happening on that famed, French tennis court back in 1789. It’s an even less accurate description of what is going on today in America. Except to reference a public person’s own stated identity, I won’t be using “left-wing” or “right-wing” too often here at Cargo Cult History. I’m going to be using what I call the Triangle.
Ancient philosophers knew that man has three aspects: a mental, a physical and a moral dimension. From Charlemagne until the Reformation, power in Europe rested with those whose claim to authority over the latter two dimensions seemed natural enough. The king’s claim to physical authority was at any rate irresistible, as was the pope’s claim to spiritual authority.
That left an opening. Men of the Church doubled as clerics and intellectuals, promulgating not only doctrine but theories of the natural world as well. Challenging someone’s theory was hard enough; challenging his doctrine? It is nigh unto a declaration of war.
Then one lowly, German cleric spied an opportunity. Martin Luther leveraged the frustration of his prince with Rome to launch not only himself but the authority of the thinker in general. Most independent thinkers did not ally with him. Some, like Erasmus, openly despised him. It did not matter. For the first time in history, Luther had created a third basis of authority that had nothing to do with physical strength or moral authority, but the convictions of one’s own mind.
There were three poles of European power now: throne, altar and the academy. And the academy would no be nothing if not relentlessly thorough, as the best thinkers must be.
Here the Triangle repeats itself again: opposing Rome, there arose three new capitals of power: Wittenberg, Geneva and, if they can be said to have had a capital, the diffuse Anabaptists and their short-lived experiment at Muenster. Starting at the top with man’s moral dimension, they looked at the problem of man with what they considered fresh eyes: their own; and, they staked out the predictable three, different approaches to fixing it:
- Calvin: the mind
- Luther: the body
- the Anabaptists: the heart / spirit
Mind – Calvin’s Geneva: How could you know that you are in right relationship with God? By what you are able to do. The elect are the brightest and most accomplished among humanity, recognizable by the effects of all of that talent in their money, wealth and this-world success. They’re smart, they’re capable, they’re God’s own people.
Heart – the Anabaptists: The poorest of the poor naturally disagreed. Hard-working and of modest means, it is no surprise that after their failed revolt in 1522, the peasants that would become today’s Amish and Mennonites made a gospel out of simple living. They lived by a code of behavior that was geared not toward demonstrating godly talent so much as demonstrating a godly heart. Wanting little was a sign that they were free from the avarice of this world.
It is no accident that the Anabaptists sounded so like the gnostics of old: their suspicion of this world is grounded in the same preference for a world in which a person is judged by the intentions of his heart.
Body – Luther’s Wittenberg: