Nox Venit
By JF Solís
My interests are: (i) the problems of modernity, post-modernity, the contemporary political and economic order; (ii) arguing for the need for spirituality and truth; and, (iii) asserting the centrality of prayerful devotion to Christ (through the Divine Office) to our engagement with “the naked public square.”
Twitter: @JFSolis
Telegram: t.me/Nox_Venit
Nox VenitFeb 22, 2021
Reclaiming Christendom IX(a): Is a Christian Rapprochement Possible?
In November 2017, The Distributist read and commented upon an article by Felix Miller, "The Right Needs Joy". Discussing the possibility that the left has finally gone off the deep end, Distributist comments, "[I]f we are in the terminal phase of progressivism, the opposition to that dying force cannot be purely negative; it can't be a group of people who stand against nut jobs.... We need a reason to carry on civilization. We need reasons for joy." This series argues that the reasons for joy and for carrying on civilization are to be found in the reclamation of Christendom. In this episode, I begin discussing the problem of division among Christians, asking, first, if a Christian rapprochement is possible. In future episodes I will discuss divisions between Protestants, Roman Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox.
Eutychianism diagram link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutyches#/media/File:Monophysite.svg
"Reflections on the Need for Optimism" : https://youtu.be/qaxKWCrcpuM
"The Right Needs Joy", read by The Distributist: https://youtu.be/SfYyfaaPXIw
Original article by Felix Miller: https://jacobitemag.com/2017/09/03/the-right-needs-joy/
G. Florovsky, Faith and Culture
Reclaiming Christendom Part VIII - The Specter of Theonomy (3)
The third and final installment of my treatment of theonomy, in which I discuss the philosophy of law which a reclaimed Christendom should adopt, an approach to law which is intended to repair and restore, rather than primarily to punish.
Link mentioned in the episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Federal_Regulations#/media/File:Code_of_Federal_Regulations.jpg
Reclaiming Christendom Part VIII - The Specter of Theonomy (2)
Finding time and place for recording still a problem now due to family health matters. But here is the second installment of my treatment of theonomy. In this installment, I discuss the sexual ethics of the Law, particular as the punishments are concerned. This discussion raises the question of jurisprudence in a reclaimed Christendom, which will be the topic of the next and final installment on the subject of theonomy.
Reclaiming Christendom Part VIII - The Specter of Theonomy (1)
I continue to struggle finding time and place for recording, due to the loss of my "studio" thanks to COVID precautions. But here, at long last, is the first installment of my treatment of theonomy. In this installment, the first of three, I deal with the doctrine of our being freed from the law, a topic which always comes up in discussions of theonomy, raised, understandably, by most critics of theonomy. The text for this installment is a passage in Galatians chapter five.
Reading: From NIGHT, by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, political activist, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, including Night, which is based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Yes, I am continuing Reclaiming Christendom. But several family health issues have imposed time constraints which have hindered my preparation of the script.
Reclaiming Christendom Part VII - Christendom and the Kingdom of God
In this installment, I explain the distinction between Christendom "as a civilization, with a supporting culture, influenced by traditional Christianity and orienting its members toward the kingdom of heaven," as a means of explaining why Christendom cannot be confused with the Kingdom.
Reclaiming Christendom - Part VI: Minister of God
In this episode, I read the text of a lecture I delivered as a follow-up to the previous episode. (The original recording left a bit to be desired in terms of quality.) As with the previous episode, I delivered this lecture a few years ago, long before I started thinking along the lines I am outlining and describing in this series. However, together with the previous, it served such a seminal role in my thinking that I doubt I would ever have conceived of the idea of reclaiming Christendom if I had not started thinking along the lines I outlined in these lecture.
The episode on the Great Commission is here: https://anchor.fm/jf-sols/episodes/Reclaiming-Christendom-Part-II---Christendom-and-the-Great-Commission-epp69l
Reclaiming Christendom V: Enemies of the State
This is actually a recording of a lecture a few years ago, long before I started thinking along the lines I am outlining and describing in this series. However, it served such a seminal role in my thinking that I doubt I would ever have conceived of the idea of reclaiming Christendom if I had not started thinking along the lines I outline in this lecture. And although, chronologically, the lecture precedes my work here, I believe this is where it logically belongs in the series. There is a follow-up lecture, which will soon follow.
Original Sin, Revival and Political Action
This is a postscript to the previous episode.
As I was preparing and organizing material for the previous episode, I received an update from the Barna Group, titled “Perceptions of Sin and Salvation.”
I thought about trying to include some discussion of the Barna update, but that would have made the episode much longer and also, strictly speaking, off topic. But it is still relevant to the topic of the relation between original sin and political solutions, just in a different way. It still demonstrates the importance of understanding the relation of original sin to political solutions; however, it also makes the connection between treating the problem of original sin and healing our civilization.
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Link to complete Beth Moore talk: https://youtu.be/KwyUdQFf-rk
Link to Barna’s AWVI 2020 Results, Release #8, “Perceptions of Sin and Salvation": https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/AWVI-2020-Release-08-Perceptions-of-Sin-and-Salvation.pdf
Link to Met. Jonah’s talk on national repentance: https://youtu.be/MDVvEfr_pFc
Link to the PCA statistics: https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-denomination/presbyterian-church-in-america/
Original Sin, Persuasion and Political Action
In June of 2020, Elliot, the proprietor of the YouTube channel, Mauritian Struggle, posted a video in which he critiqued the last half-hour or so of a video by Steve Franssen. I think anyone would benefit from watching Elliot's video, but I was intrigued enough to consider Franssen's video from my own Augustinian-Calvinist perspective.
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Link to Franssen's video: https://youtu.be/lQn1zrl1nAk
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Link to Eliot's video: https://youtu.be/dRELYRy9RY8
Eliot's Recommendations (to be the sort of politically-involved Christian who can confront power, for example Moses, Elijah):
1. Going to church
2. Being men and women of prayer, especially saying, chanting or singing the psalms.
3. Praying the Rosary
4. Meditative/Spiritual Reading, the Scriptures, daily, of course, but also:
- The Preparation For Death by St Alphonsus Ligouri, which is intense but really puts life into perspective
- The Philokalia, or Love of beauty. This'll teach you the way the earliest monks struggled to fight against this themselves. Volume I is particularly good
- The Sayings of The Desert Fathers, which are a set of short stories about these monks
Scriptural Order:
- Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Maccabees, Luke, and Acts.
His recommended reading list:
- The Preparation For Death by St Alphonsus Ligouri, which is intense but really puts life into perspective
- The Philokalia, or Love of beauty. This'll teach you the way the earliest monks struggled to fight against this themselves. Volume I is particularly good
- The Sayings of The Desert Fathers, which are a set of short stories about these monks
Scriptural Order:
- Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Maccabees, Luke, and Acts. This is the story
- John, Ecclesiastes, Job and The Song of Songs
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My suggestions:
-Thomas Watson’s Body of Divinity
-John Murray’s, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied
-John Owens, The Mortification of Sin in Believers
-Matthew Henry, A Church in the House
- Nathanael Ranew’s Solitude Improved
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Link to Anglican BCP (1979): https://www.bcponline.org/
Link to Anglican BCP (1928): http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/BCP_1928.htm
Link to the Office of Compline: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1892/Compline_1892.htm
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Link to instructions for the Lutheran Rosary: http://www.giftsofaith.com/Files/lutheranrosary.pdf
Opus Dei: Compline
In this episode: Compline
Order:
Invocation
Gloria
the Lord's Prayer (Our Father)
Apostles' Creed
Psalmnody (65 - 70)
Epistle lesson
Response: the Magnificat
Gloria
Concluding Prayer
Opus Dei: Afternoon Prayer
In this episode: Afternoon Prayer
Order:
Gloria
the Lord's Prayer (Our Father)
Psalmnody (61 - 64)
Concluding Prayer
Opus Dei: Mid-Day Prayer
In this episode: Mid-day prayer.
Order:
Gloria
the Lord's Prayer (Our Father)
Psalmnody (57 - 60)
Concluding Prayer
Opus Dei: Mid-Morning Prayer
In this episode: Mid-Morning Prayer.
Order:
Gloria
the Lord's Prayer (Our Father)
Psalmnody (53 - 56)
Canticle of Anna (I Samuel 2.1-10)
Concluding Prayer
Opus Dei: Early Morning Prayer
In the previous episode, I said that, in order to further demonstrate what praying the Divine Office might look like in actual practice, I would post my own observances of the offices for one day and give a glimpse into my own prayer life.
In this episode: Early Morning Prayer.
Order:
Invocation
the Lord's Prayer (Our Father)
Apostles' Creed
Psalmnody (48 - 52)
Gospel Lesson
Response
Benedictus
Gloria
Concluding Prayer
Opus Dei: The Divine Office
In the previous episode, an excursus from the main topic - Reclaiming Christendom - I discussed the last-mentioned of the four pillars of historic Christianity, prayer. In this episode, I move from the theoretical to the practical and discuss the role of the Divine Office in developing and strengthening our devotion to prayer.
Excursus: Devotion to Prayer
In this episode, an excursus from the series, "Reclaiming Christendom," I look at the last-mentioned of the four pillars of historic Christianity, prayer.
Background:
Link to the lecture by H. B. Charles, Jr on the Holy Spirit and prayer: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninf...
Reclaiming Christendom Part IV - The Four Pillars of Historic Christianity (2)
In this episode, I present the second of two parts on the “four pillars” of historic Christianity.
Background Material:
"Reflections on the Need for Optimism" : https://youtu.be/qaxKWCrcpuM
"The Right Needs Joy", read by The Distributist: https://youtu.be/SfYyfaaPXIw
Original article by Felix Miller: https://jacobitemag.com/2017/09/03/th...
“Who Qualifies As An Evangelical”: https://www.barna.com/research/survey...
Reclaiming Christendom Part IV - The Four Pillars of Historic Christianity (1)
The previous two podcasts covered the first century context of, and the world-and-life-view implicit in, the Great Commission.
In this episode, I present the first of two parts on the “four pillars” of historic Christianity.
Background Material:
"Reflections on the Need for Optimism" : https://youtu.be/qaxKWCrcpuM
"The Right Needs Joy", read by The Distributist: https://youtu.be/SfYyfaaPXIw
Original article by Felix Miller: https://jacobitemag.com/2017/09/03/th...
“Who Qualifies As An Evangelical”: https://www.barna.com/research/survey...
Reclaiming Christendom Part III - The Worldview Implicit in the Great Commission
My previous episode sought to provide an understanding, grounded in the first century context, of the Great Commission as rendered in Matthew 28. Here, I discuss the world-and life-view (or collective action frame) implicit in the Great Commission.
Reclaiming Christendom Part II - Christendom and the Great Commission
Reclaiming Christendom requires effective evangelism. Sadly, it must be admitted that, at present in Church history, nothing seems to fail quite like evangelism. Here, I explain how much of the failure is due to how evangelism is carried out.
Reclaiming Christendom Part I - The Decline of the Evangelical Right
Reclaiming Christendom Part I - The Decline of the Evangelical Right
Links to sources mentioned in the podcast:
"Reflections on the Need for Optimism" : https://youtu.be/qaxKWCrcpuM
"The Right Needs Joy", read by The Distributist: https://youtu.be/SfYyfaaPXIw
Original article by Felix Miller: https://jacobitemag.com/2017/09/03/th...
Introduction
Hello and welcome. Call me Nox. For about two years I’ve been posting videos to my YouTube channel. I’ve decided that they really work better as podcasts, so I will be migrating them here.
In general my interests are (first) exploring the problems of modernity, the Enlightenment and post-Modernity, including critical theory in general, critical race theory in particular (on the subject, I would describe myself as an anti-critical theorist); (second) reflecting upon the contemporary political and economic order; (third) arguing the need for Christian spirituality and truth: (fourth) asserting the centrality of prayerful devotion to Christ (through the Divine Office) to our engagement with the “naked public square.”
I describe myself as a nuanced Augustinian (though critics prefer the term, Calvinist), a high church presbyterian, a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. I would also say that I align with the dissent right/neo-reactionary spectrum, with some residual libertarian leanings. I have formal training in history, philology, philosophy and theology and seek to employ these skills intelligently on the topics I discuss. I hope that you find my work edifying and informative
Follow me:
Twitter: @JFSolis
Telegram: t.me/Nox_Venit