Bare Necessities
One of the controlling maxims of both life and thought in the environment of a Creator-Trinity in which I have come to believe is that all complexity resolves in simplicity and all simplicity is infinitely complex. Inability to recognize this exposes one to the multitude of errors involved in exalting natural disposition.
There are, for example, very durable “worship wars” in which the glory of God cannot be conceived by one side in the conflict apart from the grandest and most complex species of architectural, artistic, and liturgical response. In affronted reaction, another side will strip its altars bare and insist on evangelical simplicity in all things. Neither is wrong in its instincts, neither is right in its enmities, so that the Ruler of the Starry Heavens who is also a Nazarene carpenter, one would think, is very unlikely to be impressed with the offerings of either, when mixed with pride and punctilio. In a world under obedience, the believer should be able to rejoice in both as genuine expressions of the character of God.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on Christianity from the online archives
33.3—May/June 2020
Human & Divine Societies Require Careful Thought & Discourse by Anthony Esolen
8.4—Fall 1995
The Demise of Biblical Preaching
Distortions of the Gospel and its Recovery by Donald G. Bloesch
31.1—January/February 2018
on Taking the Measure of the Deserving & the Undeserving Poor by Martin Bordelon
more from the online archives
32.1—January/February 2019
on Down Syndrome & the Lives That Matter by David F. Watson
34.1—January/February 2021
Jesus' Astonishing Other Teaching on Marriage by James Ware
5.3—Summer 1992
Everything You Need to Know About Morality & the Bible by David Mills
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
