God is an Englishman

"I often told myself, in the old days, that I had caught the flood tide of an era, but I hadn't. Just the ripples of a tidal wave that will change the face of the world before I've been in the churchyard a dozen years...." (GUTD p.322)

For Christmas my mom gave me books One and Three of the "God Is An Englishman" series. I had picked up book Two years ago at a garage sale because I recognized the title as a book my mom owned and the cover was beautiful Victorian artwork. What can I say, I love old books... I was very surprized, when I started reading the series after Christmas, to find that it was only written in the 70's. It reads like one of the old classics. But the historical perspectives presented by the author could only come with decades of distance. I am a HUGE fan of history. The stories of the past intrigue me and I love to contemplate the how's and why's of how and why things happened. To look for the patterns, the motivations, the consequences - and see the overall guiding hand of the Lord. To see how people have so dramatically changed and how they are always so exactly the same.

Now, I know that these books are historical FICTION and that the views expressed therein are only the views of the author and his characters. But... it has brought me a new perspective as I look at the history of that era. A large portion of the "philosophy" in this series is an examination of the changes brought on by the industrial revolution. Changes in technology, changes the daily lives of people throughout the social strata and throughout Europe (though mostly in England), changes in how people related to each other, to the opposite gender, to labor, to distance, to commerce, to travel, to work, to recreation, to education, to religion, etc. I have enjoyed seeing the parallels with our lives today. The redefining of gender roles, the questioning of the role of government and the role of commerce, the almost daily changes in technology, the social, political and natural disasters. Truly, history does repeat itself. It's too bad we can't seem to learn from the mistakes (and successes) of those who have come before.

I also find it interesting that the Lord chose the Industrial Revolution as the backdrop for the Restoration of the Gospel. It was such a time of upheaval, truly the beginning of "modern" history. Those changes paved the way for the gospel to spread throughout the world. But... was the Gospel restored then because the advances were coming that were needed to spread the Gospel to every Nation, Kindred, Tongue and People, or was the Gospel restored at that time because without the Restored Gospel on the earth, we would never survive the long term consequences of the Industrial Revolution. I guess it's kind of a "chicken or the egg" question and the answer doesn't matter. The Lord restored things at the best, right and perfect time.