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The Firebreathers
Dr George Grant, March 2023
Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
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—Romans 12:21
Revolution: Gesellschaft
Gesellschaft, or the idea of Revolution, is built on ideology. It sees society as systems rather than relationships. It cares for ideas more than people. It is concerned about results, not processes. Processes do matter, but the right thing done in the wrong way always leads to disaster.
In fact, the process in revolution has destruction and undermining as its whole purpose. It seeks rapid structural change and therefore stands against history and tradition.
We’ve seen revolution over and over in Modernity: the French Revolutions, the Napoleonic Wars, the European Revolutions, and the Franco-Prussian War.
Gesellschaft, or revolution, is counter to the principle that actually built western civilization.
Reformation: Gemeinschaft
Gemeinschaft recognizes that systems are important, but they work side by side with relationships. It cares for ideas and people, results and processes.
Reformation recognizes that change should be slow and organic, not disruptive. Gemeinschaft doesn’t sacrifice the past or present for ideological ideals. It underpins the old in order to build the new.
We see reformation in the American War for Independence, the push for freedom in the Netherlands by Abraham Kuyper, and by the American founding fathers.
Astonishingly, at the same time revolutions were sweeping across Europe, a revival swept across Europe. People turned back to Christianity as a great hope for a more free and stable society. The revival started in Geneva with a group of students above a café. The Bible study was led by Robert Haldane. One of his students there was Merle d’Aubigne. We have FCS houses named for each of these men.
Likewise, our job is to make sure we are not overcome by evil, but we overcome evil with good. After all, we are called to freedom, and we are to use our freedom, not as an opportunity for the flesh, but to serve one another with love. That’s what we’ve always been about. That’s what we must continue to be about.
