That's Pastor Jeff, in a thoughtful piece on Britney Spears, which might as readily have been written of Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, and a host of showbiz types who've scaled Celebrity Heights only to melt down.
Also, delving into the Better Living time capsule, you might be interested in this column on the effects of fame on the famous, a piece triggered by Michael Jackson's appearance in his pajamas in a California court room.
2 comments:
Mark,
Thanks as always for the kind words and the link.
In looking at your older linked post, I was struck by the mention of Booth's burning desire to do something for which he would be remembered. Lincoln did not profess faith in Christian resurrection or eternal life, and also seemed driven to do something by which he would live on in men's memories. How ironic that the same drive would produce such vastly differing legacies and lead one to kill the other.
Jeff:
You're right that for much of his life, Lincoln was a skeptic, if not an outright atheist.
But over time, there was an evolution in his thinking, born of tragedy and of seeing how he could not be as in control of events as he'd always deluded himself into believing. And, the evidence, both from his explanation how he came to draw up the Emancipation Proclamation and his theologizing in the Second Inaugural Address, is that he had become, at the least, a theist before his death.
Through the crucible of his years in the White House, Lincoln came to develop a rather sophisticated "theology of the cross."
I hope to write about this all one day in a book dealing with Presidential faith.
(By the way, Allen Guelzo deals with some of this evolution in Lincoln's religious thinking in his wonderful, 'Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America.')
Of course, the drive to achieving fame has impelled many saints and sinners.
Thanks as always for your comments, Jeff.
Blessings in Christ,
Mark
Post a Comment