Regarding Others

I’ve been listening to a fascinating Audiobook* that aims to encapsulate the entire Middle Ages into one volume. I’m loving how much it connects to what I’ve just finished teaching in History 8 and yet also how much new I’m learning. For instance, the name Pope Innocent III already meant something to me as the pope of two crusades and a major church council, but I had never before heard of his “sun and moon allegory.”

What I learned was this: Pope Innocent III asserted that God had put two great lights into the sky, one to govern the day and give heat, energy, and light to the world, and the other to govern the night with coolness and lesser light. Both are valuable, but of course the moon’s light is purely a reflection of the sun, not generating any light from within itself. He interpreted these two lights to be like the two mighty powers of the day - popes and kings. He as pope was the sun, of course. His authority was over people’s souls, which was of eternal value and thus vastly more significant. The king oversaw people’s bodies and thus held lesser authority, much like the moon.

I should be shocked at the hubris of a supposed man of God, but as a student of history, I’ve long learned to roll my eyes at some of these guys. Whenever my students ask why a person made a particularly poor choice or how a leader could be so cold-hearted, I tend to reply with the cop-out shrug of the shoulders and saying “Human nature.” But really, if I claim to be a Christian - a true “little Christ” - can I use that as an excuse?

My housemate has been memorizing 2 Corinthians 5. Every time she quotes it, even before she gets to the famous v. 17 about being a new creation, I’m already struck by the mirror being held up to my life, showing me how I all too often live for myself rather than for the one to whom I owe everything. My human nature has been fundamentally changed; I'm brand new. I get to be the moon now in a universe where Christ is, always has been, and always will be the sun.

Furthermore, beyond even our own choices in living, the author of 2 Corinthians calls us to view others through a heavenly lens rather than to regard them from a worldly point of view. It forces me to ask about how I teach history. While I do find it despicable that Pope Innocent III tried to put down fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, what if, despite multiple crusades and the publication of this sun-moon allegory, he really trusted Jesus as his Lord and Savior? What if I meet him in heaven? I’m not God, so while I do believe I’ve seen my fair share of human nature and while I do still believe some historical figures were capable of genuine evil, I cannot see their hearts nor do I always know the full story. I need to be careful with my regard.

“So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17a).

finding WW2 markers in Freiburg with two 8th graders

*Powers & Thrones by Dan Jones

Jim & Lori Visit

Jim and Lori were such good sports when I forced them to choose a dwarf and imitate it for my pictures, but in the end, it added to our laughter as we wound our way through the gnome garden of Salzburg. It was only the next day that we found out we had actually stumbled upon a historic piece of history and that the search is still on for the missing gnomes out of an original set of 28. Not only that, but “the Professor” gnome had been featured in the Sound of Music. We giggled at our own ignorance and sang along with Julie Andrews as we traversed the hills on our way into the Lake District, thrilled to be back in “my” country.

As long-time supporters - more than that: as a second family - they have been invested in my work at BFA and beyond for over a decade. In the support-raising days, they let me live with them for the mere cost of mowing the lawn in the summer. I relish the memories of dinner conversations and book recommendations. Likely I owe more of my knowledge and opinions to them than I know, so it was a real pleasure to get to show them around Austria for 12 days over Spring Break, starting with Salzburg.

The dreary weather on the trip to Vienna felt fitting as we visited the country’s most renowned concentration camp, Mauthausen. The air was heavy in the car as we drove away, my country failing to shine quite as brightly as the previous day. I’d been particularly moved in the area with all the national monuments, most notably the Tree of Life, donated by Israel. When Jim had asked me to read it aloud, I struggled to keep a steady voice, yet we were able to debrief in the car, and I was grateful for their presence to once again discuss, reflect, and even pray.

Vienna saw us bouncing between gleeful joy and thought-provoking discussions as we bounced from museum to palace to concert to the Schnitzelwirt and back to another museum. The days were packed and the hours in the car a bit long at times, but it was such a treat to get to show them the best and worst of the country that has my heart. The highlight was celebrating Easter in Kärnten: the reminder that even the worst that history has to offer, the death of the perfect Son of God, can culminate in the beauty of a resurrected life and the saving of souls. To join with believers and worship God in German was a balm to my heart, and I think meant a lot to Jim and Lori, too.