These days I’m going through commentaries on Genesis, specifically looking for hints of the priest, prophet, king paradigm in the creation and fall narratives.
The first thing that came to my mind was my experience with motherhood. Pretty much everything we do as mothers in teaching our children is done by fiat or as I used to say, "by royal decree." This means that we, as parents, have experience, knowledge, and wisdom about the things in life our kids don't know yet, and we teach them how the world works and how we're supposed to behave. They do what we say because we're in charge, and they don't question us (at least at first). Even after they discover that they have a will that might differ from ours and begin asking "why?", often what we tell them to do is still by fiat, because we simply know more than they do. We begin to explain our reasoning as is appropriate, but sometimes they still have to do what we say simply because we say so. It may be that the reason is to complex or time-consuming or not yet age-appropriate, and they simply have to trust that we're right. We order their exteriors by our teaching role as parents so that they can learn to order their interiors. This is how obedience to God works, too. Often he explains things, whether in Scripture or in the Church, but sometimes his reasons remain obscure. We still have to trust that he knows best, because he's created it all. Because he's the dad, that's why.
Your older sister is doing some parenting of her teenager "by royal decree" recently. She's setting firm guidelines for behavior and giving him concrete ways to follow them, and it looks like it might be working to change his attitudes and behavior. The goal is a well-ordered interior for her son, and she's using all her life experience and wisdom to get the job done.
Dad says that Pope Benedict's book on the Creation discusses the comparison of the Genesis and the ANE creation accounts. He probably has it if you want to check it out.
I don't know how I SHOULD approach the divinely ordered moral order in the public realm, but I've decided (as of recently) that my best bet is to be holy and live like a Christian rather than duke it out in the public realm. I think that making meals for new moms in the parish and knitting baby blankets for our local pro-life support program is more effective than picketing abortion clinics or arguing with people. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty ineffective at arguing and I can knit and cook.
Thanks for your comment. I think you bring up some really good points. When parents do things "by fiat" it isn't (or shouldn't be) "because we fought, and I defeated you, so you have to do what I say," as it is among the gods in the other ANE accounts. When we do things "by fiat" it is, as you say, because we love our kids and there are reasons that can't be explained right now.
I think there are some people who really are called to work in politics and a more public realm. Like you, I don't feel that it's my calling. But I think there is a difference between "doing the work that God has called you to do, which for some people is in politics" and "engaging in politics because you're not sure the mustard seed is ever going to grow into a tree, and you feel that you need to take matters into your own hands and overpower your political opponents," and I think that difference matters a lot.
The first thing that came to my mind was my experience with motherhood. Pretty much everything we do as mothers in teaching our children is done by fiat or as I used to say, "by royal decree." This means that we, as parents, have experience, knowledge, and wisdom about the things in life our kids don't know yet, and we teach them how the world works and how we're supposed to behave. They do what we say because we're in charge, and they don't question us (at least at first). Even after they discover that they have a will that might differ from ours and begin asking "why?", often what we tell them to do is still by fiat, because we simply know more than they do. We begin to explain our reasoning as is appropriate, but sometimes they still have to do what we say simply because we say so. It may be that the reason is to complex or time-consuming or not yet age-appropriate, and they simply have to trust that we're right. We order their exteriors by our teaching role as parents so that they can learn to order their interiors. This is how obedience to God works, too. Often he explains things, whether in Scripture or in the Church, but sometimes his reasons remain obscure. We still have to trust that he knows best, because he's created it all. Because he's the dad, that's why.
Your older sister is doing some parenting of her teenager "by royal decree" recently. She's setting firm guidelines for behavior and giving him concrete ways to follow them, and it looks like it might be working to change his attitudes and behavior. The goal is a well-ordered interior for her son, and she's using all her life experience and wisdom to get the job done.
Dad says that Pope Benedict's book on the Creation discusses the comparison of the Genesis and the ANE creation accounts. He probably has it if you want to check it out.
I don't know how I SHOULD approach the divinely ordered moral order in the public realm, but I've decided (as of recently) that my best bet is to be holy and live like a Christian rather than duke it out in the public realm. I think that making meals for new moms in the parish and knitting baby blankets for our local pro-life support program is more effective than picketing abortion clinics or arguing with people. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty ineffective at arguing and I can knit and cook.
Thanks for your comment. I think you bring up some really good points. When parents do things "by fiat" it isn't (or shouldn't be) "because we fought, and I defeated you, so you have to do what I say," as it is among the gods in the other ANE accounts. When we do things "by fiat" it is, as you say, because we love our kids and there are reasons that can't be explained right now.
I think there are some people who really are called to work in politics and a more public realm. Like you, I don't feel that it's my calling. But I think there is a difference between "doing the work that God has called you to do, which for some people is in politics" and "engaging in politics because you're not sure the mustard seed is ever going to grow into a tree, and you feel that you need to take matters into your own hands and overpower your political opponents," and I think that difference matters a lot.
I'll probably borrow the book!