Over an academic break, I had the opportunity to view the most recent addition to Hollywood's historical interpretation of the Civil War. Though it is certain that many artistic liberties were taken with certain characters in the film, the timely importance of the film is perhaps what struck me most. The film most obviously broached the issues of the Civil War from a distinctly southern perspective (mostly through the eyes of General "Stonewall" Jackson), but the universally true nature of the film's theme remained the same: though the men involved in the Civil War were fighting for differing ideologies, they were all fighting for freedom, which is in the end, a universally human value. In the end, the men fighting and directing the Civil War were, despite all other differences, one and the same--they shared a common bond of humanity that no amount of death or coy political maneuvering could change. Northerners and Southerners all bled red blood--in the end, they all met the same fate that is common to all mankind--at the end of each battle, they all required the same air, food, water, and sleep as their enemies on the battlefield. So what exactly does this have to do with anything facing us as a Christian academic community today? What lessons can we glean from a time of national crisis and emergency?

Above all else, the timeliness of the Civil War message must strike us at the very core of our Christianity. Just as the nation was divided by secession during the mid 1800's and just as our nation is politically divided over a pending war with Iraq, I believe that we face a very grave threat as well within the Church today. Certainly, the threat of bombs over Baghdad are frightening to those who express compassion for the innocent civilians of Iraq, but even more concerning to us should be the realization that we face an internal "war" amongst Christians that can only rival the ideological animosity that fueled the Civil War. As a Christian academy, the most serious threat that we face today is a Church that is divided bitterly amongst its own members. In this war, we are struck with the irony that at some point, we all believe that we are right about our beliefs--at the end of the day and at the end of our intellectual skirmishes on the battlefield of the classroom, we all pray to the same God--we all need the same spiritual sustenance. During the Civil War, both Confederate and Federal soldiers stared to the heavens and prayed to the same God. In this same way, both liberal and conservative, modernist and postmodernist, federalist and anti-federalist--each and every one of us reach towards the heavens and yearn to feel the face of God. Within the Christian academy, we have become swept up in the tide of ideological war while forgetting that we all are working with the same goal of the Christly Kingdom. Those who are the bastions of the Christian future of intellectualism can no longer find a common ground on which to stand, and so instead we have ignited the process of cutting out the base upon which we stand. Like a nation that is attempting to heal its wounds, we are a Church that is seeking to heal the wounds of the world to which we are called to minister. Yet, in our search for healing, we so actively maim those who should be our kindred spirits. Very little has changed from the days of Lincoln and Lee. We are still engaged in a "great struggle" for the freedom of man. Instead of liberating man from the bondage of slavery, we seek to make men free from sin. Yet those who have the ability to bring peace to a world that is hurting--light to a nation shrouded by darkness--hope to the dying--are literally killing each other over their own political applications of the Gospel. A nation went to war over 140 years ago because of ideological differences. Men died fighting for their deeply held ideological beliefs, and society was permanently changed as a result. The Body of Christ is not called to division however, but rather unity. We are not called to die in fighting each other, but we are called to die with each other for our fellow man.

What do we do then? I believe that among other things, the lessons of the Civil War illustrate to us that in the end--when the smoke clears and the last body is returned to rest in its homeland--we must, in the words of President Lincoln, "Finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds." But, as the Christian academy, how do we do this as we try to overcome the intellectual conflict in which we find ourselves engaged with one another? I think that the primary solution to our present paradox is finding a praxis that is distinctly Christian. For me this has the tendency to raise some cognitive dissonant issues because I consider myself (and am considered by most) to be a die hard conservative. Yet, a true Christian praxis for our current civil war within the academy demands that we cast aside the labels of "conservative" and "liberal.” This new praxis demands that we, as believers in the Risen Word, begin to live lives that are whole in every sense of the word. Just like the acculturation that was required for those who were forced to adjust to a Reconstruction Era civil environment within the United States, we within the Christian academy must become new citizens of the Christian intellectual community. As I have previously alluded to, this will mean that we begin to shed the terms of conservative and liberal. Certainly, we must strive to retain our individuality, but at the same time we must reaffirm what a truly holistic view of the nature of Christ's character is. For us, this means that we must not hesitate to be consumed with the same zealous rage when we see sins against God pervading the culture and social terrain around us. On the other hand, this also means that we will be called upon to reach out to the modern day lepers of the world in which we live. Does this mean that we possess the same legalism that conservatives often adhere to when we speak of the Law? Certainly. Does this mean that we selflessly and shamelessly reach out to the outcast of our culture? Without a doubt in my mind. When we reflect on the course of history, we are forced to ask ourselves how powerful social structure and civil society were when the very structure and forces within it were turned against one another. In the end, American society was shaken to the core by the Civil War simply because two powerful and antagonistic ideologies had vastly distinctive visions of what it meant to live as an American. Indeed, the Biblical maxim held true: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The Church today is within the same situation and what is at stake is the very moral relevancy of the Gospel, which each side of the ideological divide within Christian academy upholds as its banner. As intellectuals living within an age that considers Truth to be whatever you make of it, the stakes for us can be no greater and the urgency with which we must act no stronger than it is today. I think that in the end then, it becomes imperative for us within the Christian academy to lay down our arms and face the "enemy": ourselves. Just like Lee and Grant met at Appotomax Court House to bring an end to years of bitter civil strife, I believe that it is time for the two main polemic camps within Christian academy to have our own time of reconciliation and healing.

Certainly, I know that this will be most difficult for myself as I attempt to go about this task of examining my own deeply held values and beliefs against the litmus of Christ, but the assurance of God's mere presence in this process is the only support we really need. This paper is therefore, among other things, a challenge to you, my fellow members of the academy. Are we to continue our bitter infighting and misunderstood stereotyping of the ideologies of our fellow Christians? Are we going to be so persistent in butchering one another to death over doctrine and the way in which we pursue shalom, when our world is crying out to us to have pity and work for justice? There is no doubt that our Christ is the salve needed to heal the wounds of a dying world, but like the disciples on the road with Jesus, we need to stop bickering between ourselves about who is greater, and rather turn our attention to the greater Kingdom of God. Only when we stop taking up arms against one another will we be able to convince the rest of the world to do the same. Only when we put an end to the intellectual violence that tears apart the Christian academy will we be able to "finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds."