Rasputin -- When Truth Really Is Stranger than Fiction

I have heard many of the same legendary tales about the Russian mystic, Grigory Rasputin, you may have heard. 

Rasputin had unexplained healing powers.  He could seduce (and apparently did) virtually any woman he wanted.  His inexplicable ties to the Romanov family (especially whispers about his relationship to the Czarina) helped lead to the downfall of the Russian royals in Lenin's brutal revolution.

But the most bizarre of these legends have to do with Rasputin's death--and how he was nearly impossible to kill, adding a "Frankenstein" quality enhancing all the other legends.  Rasputin, we are told, was poisoned, then shot several times, tied-up, and pushed off a bridge into a frozen river.  But somehow he managed to sit up (apparently still alive), when his corpse arrived at the mortician.

Much of the proceeding is true, although much less bizarre, and actually far more consequential when seen in light of the historical narrative spelled out in Douglas Smith's new book, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs.

Lets start with the death legends.  Rasputin actually didn't ingest the poison intended for him.  He died from several gunshots--one as he was running away after being shot previously.  Those who plotted his death did indeed throw his corpse into the river, to hide their handiwork.  And when his remains were being cremated, his body bent in two from heat.  All the elements of the legend are there--just far less macabre.

In Smith's well-written narrative, the historical realities reveal the legends to be, in many cases, exaggerations and fabrications.  But sometimes there is enough smoke that there must be fire--and fire there is.  Rasputin was a lecherous man, who sinned to prove his own depravity and then seek forgiveness for it--a sort of mystic antinomian.  The grim reality of the havoc Rasputin brought upon the royal family was also painfully real--nothing less than disastrous for the royals and the Russian people. 

As Smith tells the Rasputin tale, a number of haunting questions arise.  How was this man--a peasant laborer in his early life--able to transform himself into a religious mystic who simultaneously was, and was not, in the good graces of the orthodox church? 

How did this peasant (with a loyal wife and children) become a mass-seducer, including many of the "ladies" in the leading circles of St. Petersburg?  How did he gain the Czarina's ear, if not her bed? 

Although Nicholas II had little use for Rasputin's political advice, or tips on military strategy, why did he allow this evil man access to his family?  Why did the Czar listen to this man's spiritual counsel?

One answer to these question is found in Rasputin's amazing power to "heal" the young Czar-apparent, Alexi, who suffered from hemophilia.  When Rasputin visited Alexi and prayed with him, the lad got better.  Repeatedly.  Because he could heal their son, the Romanovs welcomed him. 

The other answer is that the Romanovs, while loyal to their church, were also mystics who saw in Rasputin spiritual powers they could not explain, except as coming from the hand of God.  Even when the Great War become a national debacle, and even while insurrection was fomenting in the streets--which would lead to eventual regicide by the Leninists--the Romanovs did little to distance themselves from the very man who raised so many questions.  Rumors were everywhere about Rasputin's relationship to Alexandria while Nicholas was away fighting the war.  And why was the Czar--as rumor had it--listening to the "Holy" man who supposedly seduced his wife and much of her inner circle.

Douglas Smith tackles all of these questions.  Grigory Rasputin did not bring about the Russian Revolution.  But he gave many a Russian good reason to question to Czar's judgment and his royal authority--which did lead to their downfall.  The Czar seemed indifferent to the people's plight, and Rasputin's presence among the royals magnified that perception.

When it comes to Rasputin, truth is much stranger than fiction.  Smith's book is a good summer read, if you are looking for one.   

Too bad Daniel Day Lewis has retired from acting--Rasputin would make a great subject for a film, and Lewis would be the perfect actor to play him.

The Short and the Tall of It

The world of sports is filled with contrasts:

Aaron Judge (6' 8") and Ronald Torreyes (5' 8").

Manute Bol (7' 7") and Spud Webb (5' 7")

Wilt Chamberlain (7' 1") and Willie Shoemaker (4' 11")

Civil Religion -- The Chief Rival of Biblical Christianity in America?

One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations Christians face during their pilgrim journey is the allure of civil religion.  James Davison Hunter defines civil religion as a “diffuse amalgamation of religious values that is synthesized with the civic creeds of the nation; in which the life and mission of the church is conflated with the life and mission of the country.  American values are in substance, biblical, prophetic values; American identity is, thus, a vaguely Christian identity.” (1)  Civil religion often functions as an alternative public religious framework for many professing Christians, especially those who accept the “Christian America” myth, or who find exclusive Christian truth claims too controversial to play any significant role in the public square. 

In modern America, civil religion is the chief rival to biblical Christianity.  If those Christians who are committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the kingdom of Christ and the civil kingdom, and who willingly placing themselves under the authority of God’s word are considered too extreme to be fully welcomed in America’s public square, those who champion a generic “civil religion” are almost always welcome.

Civil religion is an especially tempting option for Christians who have been told that religion is a private matter which has no place in the public square.  The basic tenants of civil religion are vague enough that it is hard to deny them.  They are also deeply held by too many Americans to eliminate them altogether from American life.  Rather than check their faith in Jesus at the door to the public square, Christians can embrace civil religion in the public arena and few will complain, since virtually all citizens embrace the key tenants:  a belief in a Creator; the basic goodness of humanity; equality for all; a profound sense of national purpose; and the celebration of national holidays with an almost religious reverence, (i.e, Independence Day, Memorial Day, and the National Day of Thanksgiving).  Yet, to confuse Christ’s kingdom with civil religion opens the door–however unintentionally–to exchange the truth of Christianity for what amounts to a false religion, one in which faith in the national interest eclipses the primary allegiance a Christian owes to Jesus Christ and his word.

The attraction to civil religion also arises from the fact that Christians often strive to be good citizens and apply their deeply-held Christian convictions to their actions in the civil kingdom.  Even when motivated by the best of intentions, Christians can easily find themselves attributing normative moral authority to the state, especially when the state’s current values and purposes appear to coincide with the revealed will of God (the moral law).  When national values resonate with the tenants of someone’s Christian faith, it is easy to take the next step and assume what the nation does (whether that be in matters of foreign or domestic policy) accomplishes the will of God.  The nation is believed to be God’s righteous agent and avenger, exercising God’s will, with his full authority and blessing.

When current events are read through the lens of civil religion, the nation’s struggles can be vividly portrayed in biblical images of sacrifice and redemption, and framed as part of the larger cosmic struggle between good and evil.  Our enemies declared to be “evil” because they oppose the good–our nation and its current cause.  Our national warriors are righteous redeemers, doing the Lord’s work, giving the full measure of their devotion to “save” others.  As Abraham Lincoln put it in his famed Gettysburg Address, those buried in the national cemetery gave their lives so that the nation might live.  Without question, our soldiers and statesmen have often been heroic and sacrificed much to secure our current freedom and way of life.  But their shed blood saved a secular nation from temporal peril, not their sinful souls from eternal punishment.

To read the rest of this essay, Civil Religion -- the Chief Rival of Biblical Christianity?