In "Spirituality as the Performance of Desire: Calvin on the World as a Theatre of God's Glory," we have another premier essay (the first article in Spiritus, vol. 1, no. 1) as well as a second essay centering on Calvin.

Lane explores "[Calvin's] favorite metaphor in speaking of the natural world and its beauty," which is, "as a theatre of God's glory." Calvin speaks of God revealing God's self "in the visible splendor of [God's] apparel" -- which is the created world all around us. The image that comes to mind is that the emperor has clothes! That is, we can get a better understanding of God ("the emperor"...or "empress") through attention to nature ("God's garment").

We are accustomed to the opposite effect with "emperors" (read: politicians on both sides of the aisle who use spin to mask reality). For a recent example, see Frank Rich's The Greatest War Ever Sold: the Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina ("Mission Accomplished," "Heckuva Job, Brownie," "Shock and Awe," "Slam Dunk," "Dead or Alive," "Bring 'Em On!" "Last Throes," "The Smoking Gun Is a Mushroom Cloud," "Uranium from Africa," "As the Iraqis Stand Up, We'll Stand Down"). We can add in recent days, "until the job is done." Democrats also have their share of what Thank You for Smoking called "great moments in spin" (think Clinton's "It depends on your definition of what 'is' is," "But I didn't inhale," or "I did not have sex with that woman"). To summarize this worldview, "truth is fungible" (that is, "being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.")

In contrast to the rampant deception and demagoguery in the politics, it is a relief to consider an invitation to contemplate the depth of reality as revealed through nature -- what John Scotus Erugena called, "the other sacred book."

To take a larger view of Lane's essay, it was overall rather underwhelming, verbose, and tendentious (forcing Calvin into his desired mold). However, my previous exposure to Lane's work was extremely positive. I loved his book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality.

There were also four other points in Lane's essay that I appreciated:

(1) The potential to read Calvin as a process theologian: "To make God a momentary Creator who once for all finished his work, would be cold and barren, and we must differ from profane men [the Epicureans] especially in that we see the presence of divine power shining as much in the continuing state of the universe as in its inception" (Institutes I.16.1).

(2) Redemption of the famous first line of the Westminster Catechism: "the enjoyment of God's glory is the chief end of creation" -- what Lane characterizes in another place as "deliberative practice of delight."

(3) Piquing my curiosity to read Calvin's commentary on the Psalms, where "the poet takes precedence over the dialectician...[where] he is driven by the exuberance of praise, admittedly speaking metaphorically."

(4) Calvin's sacramentalism: "in his [E]ucharistic theology, he saw the believer to be taken up into heaven to feed on the very flesh of Christ.... He similarly understood the actual voice of God to be heard in the words of the sermon." That's a high view, but it challenges me to be more attentive to God's presence in my congregation's weekly celebration of communion. As for the voice of God, that happening in a sermon (mine or otherwise) would only be grace -- a point with which I'm sure Calvin would agree.