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| November 2007 |
| Billie Silvey |
1. The Value of Common People. The Romantic movement placed great emphasis on the common man. After generations of rule by nobility, people began to see the nobility in common people--workers, minorities, foreigners, people who had been powerless before that time. This theme was closely associated with that of democracy and freedom. If common people were important, then their views were as important as anyone else’s. I’m a democrat. As much as I am able, I try to value every individual and look for things to appreciate about each person I meet. In the pages of scripture, it appears that God agrees. God created each of us in his own image (Genesis 1:27). We are told that God is “no respecter of people,” (Acts 10:34). He values each of us, being aware of the very hairs of our heads (Matthew 10:30). This concept, though it seems obvious, is under constant attack from people who would have their own way over the desires of the rest of us. |
| Romantic Themes and The Bible |
2. The Lessons of the Past. The Romantics valued the past. They looked for principles of goodness and beauty in people and their creations in past ages. While they appreciated the classical Greeks and Romans, they had a special love for the medieval past of their own lands, a raw time of conflict and wars when power was first wrested from the hands of kings. As you may have noticed from this website, I love the past and try to learn from its lessons--the history of our nation, the history of God’s people, and my own individual history. God wants us to learn from the past as well. Over and over, he tells us to remember. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,” he told the Israelites, “and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” That became the basis for observing the Sabbath (Deut. 5:15), for freeing slaves (15:12-15), for celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (16:12), and for leaving the remnants of the harvest for the poor (24:19-22). In the New Testament, he calls us to learn from the multiplied loaves (Matthew 16:8-10), Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32), Jesus’ words (Acts 20:35), and Paul’s bonds (Colossians 4:18). He also challenges us to remember our own spiritual fathers: “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). As we consider the past, we can live better now and improve the future. |
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| 3. A Fascination with Mortality. The Romantics were intrigued by death and the transience of human achievements. Of course, people died younger then. Of the younger generation of Romantic poets, Keats died of consumption at 26; Shelley drowned at 30, and Byron died from being bled at the ripe old age of 36. But there was also a romantic fascination with sitting in graveyards and contemplating death. Scripture, as well, warns us to live with an awareness of our mortality. This isn’t merely the “pie in the sky by and by” that many accuse us of. This is a clear-headed awareness that none of us lives forever, that we should live the life we’ve been given in a way that does good for others and glorifies God. When I was younger, I never really expected to live as long as I have. It seemed important to live well all the time, because I had no idea which birthday would be my last. As I grow older, surprisingly, death seems less interesting. But, at the same time, it doesn’t seem threatening. I am God’s child, and I trust God in death as I have in life to do with me as he sees fit. That’s a concept scripture seems to encourage. Paul determined that “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). He emphasizes continuing to live in Christ (Colossians 2:6), and points to the victory we have in Christ over sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). |
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| I am a romantic. And in many ways, so are all Christians. Of course, the same thing might be said about various other historical ideas and approaches to living. There is little that is new and much that is good in most philosophical approaches to life that have been considered and worked out and continued through history. But it never hurts to check the claims we make about ourselves in light of God’s eternal will. |
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