Friday, February 24, 2023

It is the 24th of February 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Are you familiar with the milkshake duck? It’s an internet meme for something you first find delightful, only to have something revealed about that thing that makes it more difficult to like.

It was a tweet: The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you that the duck is racist. We’ll come back to this.

Ok- so, John Bachman was born in 1790. He was born in New York and studied for the Lutheran ministry in Philadelphia. A recurring bout of Tuberculosis led him to move to the south, where he was called to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Charleston in 1815. The following year he married Harriet Martin, and they would have nine children survive into adulthood.  

Besides his work as a pastor, John also published in Natural History journals, and in 1831, he met John James Audubon- the Audubon after whom the famous bird-watching book is named. The two would encourage each other to work in natural history. In 1854 they published The Quadrupeds of North America. Bachman would categorize 31 new mammals and become known as a leading mammalogist. Bachmans Hare and Bachmans Sparrow are named after him.

His service to the church was of unifying the Lutheran churches in South Carolina into a synod and helping to found Newberry College- a private Lutheran school. It was, in his day, a Lutheran seminary as well.

He was also the first American to write a monograph on the doctrines of Martin Luther and a history of the Reformation. He would also work in fields as diverse as education and agriculture. He was the president of the Literary and Philosophical Society in Charleston and the Elliot Society of Natural History. He also served as a professor of natural history at the College of Charleston.

He came to national prominence when he joined the debate regarding the origin of the species- against Josiah Nott and Samuel George Morton, he argued against the practice of phrenology (that is, looking at the skull to determine mental traits). He argued against the famous biologist Louis Agassiz. Agassiz argued for polygenism- the idea that different races of people had different origins. This was an argument used to perpetuate slavery. Bachman’s work, “The Doctrine of the Unity of the Human Races, Examined on the Principles of Science,” struck a blow at the racial theory underpinning pro-slavery apologists.

So- describes new animals, writes on Luther and the Reformation, helps organize Lutherans in the South East, and establishes a college and seminary. John Bachman, what a guy!

He also thought slavery was a good thing and was pro-secessionist. But he wrote about the “unity of the human races”! He saw unity but believed dark-skinned people were inferior to white people and thought slavery was too important to the economy to consider abolishing.

I’ve been reading recently on the reassessment of the American founding fathers, especially those whose theological legacy has shaped the American church. To what extent does public and unrepentant sin damage one's witness and theological credibility? To erase the theological contributions of sinners from the church would be to erase the corpus of historical theology. But how can we give spiritual authority to men and women who practiced public and unrepentant sin? To the chagrin of those with hot takes on either side of the debate, the answer is complicated. We sift wheat and chaff, we see the unfortunate appeal of rationalizing dehumanizing practices for political and monetary gain. We see the world not as saints or sinners but as saints and sinners.

John Bachman’s life gives us pause to see the good God worked through him but also to condemn a worldview that was all too common in his day and that we do well to mark and avoid.

John Bachman, born in 1790, died on this the 24th of February in 1874. He was 84 years old.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary, still in Romans 1

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 24th of February 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. 

The show is produced by a man whose favorite birds include the monotonous lark, the perplexing scrubwren, and the sad flycatcher- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who frequently contends with a wild parrot outside my window while recording- I’m Dan van Voorhis

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.