Blog - Page 43 of 318 - John H Armstrong

What Is the Main Problem in the Western Church?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:49-05:00February 6th, 2014|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

A friend recently sent me a short YouTube message by the world renown biblical theologian N.T. Wright. Bishop Wright speaks about the “main problem in the Western church.” I cannot, in less than three-minutes, express my view of the present problem in the West better than Tom Wright does in this short, powerfully clear, video. I encourage every person who reads my work, and who supports my mission, to see this amazing video. Share it and watch it several times.

I plan to use this video again and again to make my central point clear to everyone who will listen. Why? Because of its clarity and simplicity in “making the main thing the main thing.” We must begin here and then we can seek the grace of God in our mission together. The scandal of disunity is deep and centuries old. The next generation is openly insisting that this change. I work to build prayerfully focused people movements committed to this great change.

The Emotive Cry for Community

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:49-05:00February 5th, 2014|Categories: Acton Institute, Books, Culture, Current Affairs, Economy/Economics, Ethics, History, Ideology, Personal, Philosophy, Politics, Poverty, Religion, Roman Catholicism, Wealth|

Michael Novak, in his stirring memoir of a journey from left to right, devotes an entire chapter to community, as I noted yesterday. He writes: “One of life’s most time-consuming tasks is to achieve disagreement with an ideological opposite. Without blinking, you might object; ‘It’s not had to disagree. Heck! Most people do it all the time” (282). But aren’t disagreements really inevitable? After all we have different understandings of terms, widely varying perspectives on history, and unique sets of fears and rosy scenarios that we all entertain? But, says Michael Novak, “We are most often like two ships passing in the night” (282). Is he right? Could this really be true? I think so.

One of America’s most wise and important Catholic thinkers in the last century was the Jesuit John Courtney Murray. Novak says that Murray once said two people cannot (to use Novak’s description of Murray’s point) come to a “real disagreement without sticking to the argument for a very long time–maybe long enough to work through a case of brandy together as they ruminate. […]

The Carter Years and the Bankruptcy of Bad Economic Ideas

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:50-05:00February 4th, 2014|Categories: Acton Institute, Culture, Current Affairs, Economy/Economics, Ethics, Freedom, Ideology, Personal, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Roman Catholicism, The Future, Wealth|

The Carter years profoundly convinced Michael Novak of the bankruptcy of his previous economic ideas. While Novak explains Carter’s personal love for Jesus Christ as genuine, and easily misunderstood, he rightly separates the good heart of the man from some of his very bad ideas about what makes for a free and prosperous society. During the Carter years Novak’s own views were taking new shape. He was writing more about economics and making new friends globally. When Ronald Reagan was elected the president in November of 1980 he asked Michael Novak, lifelong Democrat, to become his ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights. After a time in Geneva Novak returned home but then was sent back again in 1982. This work had an immense impact on Novak’s view of the world.

Novak’s new friends, which he cultivated in the late 1970s, began to gravitate to his home for meals and thus came into his personal life as confidants. These friends included Fr. Robert Sirico, Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp, Mort Kondracke, Ben Wattenberg, Irving Kristol, George Weigel, Henry […]

From Socialism to Capitalism – A Move That Cost Michael Novak Friends and Prestige

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:50-05:00February 3rd, 2014|Categories: Acton Institute, Books, Business, Culture, Current Affairs, Economy/Economics, Ethics, Ideology, Money & Stewardship, Philosophy, Religion, Roman Catholicism, Wealth|

Michael Novak, author of the memoir Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative (Basic Books, 2013), writes eloquently of how he became disillusioned with the “new” versions of the old Keynesian liberalism of the 1970s. This economic view promoted government spending to excess in order to stimulate the economy and create jobs. The core belief was that this approach would solve the problems of the poor through a greater expression of compassion which would come about through direct governmental help. Nothing awakened him to the failure of this kind of thinking quite like the policies, and outcomes, of the Jimmy Carter era.

As I noted in my blog on Novak’s memoir last Wednesday (1/29) one of the reasons that I so deeply appreciate his position, and thus his memoir, is that he openly explains why he “resist[ed] libertarianism” (159). He admits that he found great reasons in libertarian arguments to reject his strident socialism but not enough to compel him to embrace the total package. To make sure his position is properly stated I […]

ACT3 Luncheons in 2014 – A New Opportunity for Missional-Ecumenism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:50-05:00January 31st, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Discipleship, Leadership, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Religion, Renewal, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

As the ministry of ACT3 developed over the last five years I began to lead occasional lunch gatherings that felt a bit like those old Whitefield Fellowships that I wrote about yesterday. These fellowships began in 1981 and continued until about 2000. At one point I lead four of these groups in the greater Chicago area. Many of my friendships, and church-based relationships, came out of these groups. (Several Whitefield Fellowships still exist in other cities. These are, in some instances, led by people that I helped to begin them in these other places.)

These Whitefield Fellowships took many shapes and forms over the years. Most of them were lunch meetings held at my own church and then, later on, at College Church in Wheaton. (One was a breakfast meeting in the south suburbs, for example.) We invited a guest to speak and then conduct dialogue with us. The attendance varied over the years but ranged from lows of 10-15 to highs of over 100. The important thing was what came out of these meetings. Deep and lasting […]

How and Why ACT3 Began

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:50-05:00January 30th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Discipleship, Friendship, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Love, Missional-Ecumenism, Pastoral Renewal, Personal, Religion, Renewal, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

The ministry of ACT3 Network was legally incorporated in 1991. Four men joined me in our home in Carol Stream for the purpose of founding a non-profit teaching mission that would seek the renewal of the church through impacting the lives of pastors and leaders. At the time this ministry was incorporated it was called Reformation & Revival.

But the real beginning of this ministry goes all the way back to 1981. A pastor from England had been in my pulpit and home for several days. He asked me about my influence upon area pastors and how I could use this to impact others. He suggested I begin a ministerial fellowship that would stress the intellectual, spiritual and doctrinal aspects of deep faith. The first such group met in 1981 in the basement of my church in Wheaton, Illinois. We called it the Whitefield Fellowship, naming it after the British evangelist of the eighteenth century. I picked this name because I loved George Whitefield for his heart, his incredible zeal for God and needy people, and his deep […]

Michael Novak: On Forming Good Intellectual and Spiritual Habits

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:50-05:00January 29th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Acton Institute, Books, Culture, Current Affairs, Ethics, Free Speech, Freedom, Money & Stewardship, Personal, Politics, Religion|

Michael Novak, not to be confused with the late conservative journalist Robert Novak, has been (rightly I believe) described as “one of the world’s most influential social philosophers.” He has played a number of prominent roles in American life, ranging from advising candidates and presidents to teaching and writing on the ethics of the free market and welfare reform. He has taught at Harvard and Stanford and he has held academic chairs at Notre Dame and Syracuse. He was also one of the early leaders of the American Enterprise Institute, an influential think tank. In 1994 Novak won the Templeton Prize (it has been called the Nobel Prize for the life of the spirit), a prize also won by men like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Desmond Tutu, Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Charles Taylor. His writings have been translated into every major Western language as well as Chinese and Japanese.

One thing that separates Novak from many intellectuals, and elected leaders, is his genuine civility and humility. His thought is clear and he is willing to allow facts to challenge […]

Michael Novak’s Liberal Origins and Friendships

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:50-05:00January 28th, 2014|Categories: Culture, Current Affairs, Economy/Economics, Freedom, History, Ideology, Personal, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Roman Catholicism, The Future|

Yesterday I gave an overview of Michael Novak’s superb new memoir, Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative (Image: New York, 2013). For me, a teenage in the 1960s, this wonderful memoir seems like a political and economic account of an extraordinary life well-lived through a time of social and political turbulence, the times in which I was coming of age and growing older.

Walter Isaacson, the former managing editor of TIME, and certainly no social or political conservative, says, “Whether or not you always agree with him, you will see in this book why Michael Novak is considered one of our most profound thinkers on the relationship between democracy, capitalism, and freedom. The memoir of his intellectual odyssey is both a compelling personal narrative and a provocative intellectual history of our times” (italics are mine, taken from the back jacket of the book). Another intriguing endorsement, one which reveals why I like Novak as a person and as an intellectual of deep importance, comes from Tom Fox, the publisher and former editor of […]

Writing from Left to Right: An Engaging Memoir

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:51-05:00January 27th, 2014|Categories: Acton Institute, Culture, Current Affairs, Ethics, Free Speech, Ideology, Philosophy, Politics, Wealth|

One of the most fascinating and engaging political stories that I have read in years is the recently published book, Writing from Left to Right: My Journey from Liberal to Conservative (Image: New York, 2013). This unique memoir is written by Roman Catholic scholar Michael Novak. I found Novak’s memoir so deeply interesting, for both Christian and personal reasons, that I decided to write several blogs on the ideas of Novak, a foremost intellectual among serious social thinkers over the last four decades.

I have followed the work of Michael Novak for thirty years. Michael Novak is the retired George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy from the American Enterprise Institute. He is an author, philosopher, and theologian. Michael Novak now resides in Ave Maria, Florida, where he is a trustee and visiting professor at Ave Maria University. I had the privilege of serving on a national board with Michael Novak in Washington about a decade ago. It was through this context that I got to know him personally. Several shared meals allowed me some […]

John Newton’s Three Great Surprises

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:51-05:00January 24th, 2014|Categories: Gospel/Good News, Love, Personal|

The amazing John Newton (1725-1807), writer of the greatest hymn (Amazing Grace) of all-time, was a “slaver” on a ship that hauled African captives to Great Britain for sale. His life was debauched and depraved beyond excess. He had no use for God. He should have died at sea but God showed him great forbearance and mercy. He never got over his own conversion and over time he would become an evangelical priest in the Church of England. His writings are some of the finest Christian heart-material I’ve ever discovered. You will discover this in his great classic, Cardiphonia.

Newton’s famous hymn, Amazing Grace, sums up his own story very well.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me […]