Posted on 06/06/2013 9:36:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Christian scholar and author has taken the experience of growing up under the influence of a stepfather who cherished the objectivism philosophy of Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged) and his biological father who became a follower of Jesus Christ, to write a book about two world views that he feels can come together for the good of society.
Mark David Henderson's book, The Soul of Atlas, begins by asking the question, "Do the two most influential books in modern culture, the Bible and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, share common ground?" Henderson has a unique closeness to the subject of Rand's book – his stepfather (who he simply calls John in his book) produced the movie version of Atlas Shrugged.
"You can imagine these two men having the kind of influence they've had in my life, I was sort of struggling with asking the question, 'Is there a world view that would kind of mesh these two?' And I have to conclude that there probably isn't something called 'Christian objectivism' or 'objective Christianity' because these are not like chocolate and peanut butter where you can sort of mix them," Henderson recently told The Christian Post. "But it was very important to me to reconcile these worldviews as a sort of an intellectual exercise and also to reconcile these two men who, I guess, I [still] long for their approval and long for them to come together because they've shaped my life."
Henderson, who studied Victorian poetry and neuroscience at Brown University and earned an MBA from Columbia Graduate School of Business, is a life-long student of Ayn Rand, a Christian and a former elder and trustee of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
He told CP that the two worldviews are "embodied by my two fathers."
Henderson described his stepfather this way: "John is a follower of Ayn Rand, a businessman and entrepreneur, and he's won the U.S. Poker Championship, he has owned race horses, started and taken private and public companies, and he's my stepfather. He's also the producer of 'Atlas Shrugged' the movie, parts one, two, and soon to be three in 2014.
"And he spoke into my life, I lived with him from age 11 until I left the home. I learned about objectivism at the kitchen table in every which way. I was steeped in the philosophy of atheism and Ayn Rand's rationale self-interest."
He also does not give the name of his dad in the book, simply calling him "dad."
"Dad returned to Christianity later in life," Henderson said. "He's a PhD in physiology, he taught at business schools, he worked on the assembly line at general motors, he owns a farm and runs that himself and lives very modestly in the Midwest. He is a devout Christian."
He said both fathers, who each wrote a letter included in the book, have been very supportive of his book, "but from different perspectives, and that is what I kind of get at as the theme for The Soul of Atlas.
"I used these two men to illustrate from a very unbiased perspective these two worldviews and how they interact," Henderson explained. "So, you have John representing Ayn Rand philosophy and speaking it into my life and then dad, who is coming from a Christian perspective of speaking into my life with different principles or in many cases, I contend, the same principles."
He described Ayn Rand's philosophy as based on rational self-interest – "putting your own interests before anything else."
"She believed that the individual is the highest possible occupation of any one person. She believed that one should always occupy their minds, will, and emotions with the highest possible occupation and she believed that would be the self," Henderson said.
Rand believed in objective truths and objective moral values, but that there is no "objective value giver." He said, "She wanted to be known as the greatest enemy to religion that ever lived. She put together this philosophy that is all throughout her writing – from Atlas Shrugged written in 1957, which is still the bestselling novel of all time."
Henderson said that one of the most impactful memories of his Christian father was one in which, as a teenager, he came upon the scene of his father and his wife kneeling inside their apartment praying.
"Now, I had never seen anyone do that before in the privacy of their own home or otherwise," he said. "I thought if they are doing it in the privacy of their own home it's not for show. I certainly hadn't seen my dad, who is this big, strong, macho (in the good sense of the word) guy who just was humbling himself on the floor. It was actually a little bit creepy and I didn't know how to respond and I ended up questioning him at some other point in time. Gradually, over time, his whole transformation was apparent to me not only in our conversations, but also in the way he was living his life. He committed his life to Jesus Christ and a lot of things changed."
Henderson said that the two worldviews discussed in his book have been hugely influential in America's culture and society, and the development of the nation and therefore, if brought together, could also be influential in a positive way.
"My hope is that as Christians and followers of Ayn Rand, or even more broadly, as people of faith and reason come together I want them to find common ground so that we can accomplish much more together than we would separately," he said. "If these two worlds have been so hugely influential independent of one another, by promoting understanding they will engage, by engage I mean be able to work on the things they agree on and accomplish much more then they could separately."
He added, "I don't think it's going to be through a book only. I think it's going to be through an application of these aspects of common ground in the real world – not just on blogs, not just on Twitter, but in person to engage, to seek first to understand, then to be understood, to articulate these two world views, not just these two but others … and then honestly and genuinely find that common ground together."
stopped reading when Atlas Shrugged was claimed to be the second most influential book in modern society
Nothing replaces the Bible. That said, I still admire Rand for her defense of capitalism and enlightened self-interest, despite her own personal failings and shortcomings.
To quote grumpy cat.
How about.. No.
I swear. More and more articles coming from The Christian Post are pure CRAP.
This one is crappier than usual.
:: Mark David Henderson’s book, The Soul of Atlas, begins by asking the question, “Do the two most influential books in modern culture, the Bible and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged ::
Really? Really? Dude, you need to step back and stop drinking from The Fountainhead.
So, what’s your choice for the second most influential book?
God’s universal truth is universal truth, even when understood and presented by a non-believer. God can and does use those who do not believe in Him.
Rarely get a reaction from other drivers.
The sheeple don't have a clue.
Agree completely.
:-)
I guess I might have to read the book, but it is really difficult to reconcile that statement with , "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
That said, there is a pretty solid argument for the best basis for solid economic systems being found in "enlightened self-interest." I don't think that is the ideal situation, but I do believe it is the best that humans can devise this side of heaven. At the very least, it provides the best environment for individual freedom and models, however imperfectly, the gift of free will that God granted his creation.
Unfortunately what exists today is far from a free market system. The Left seeks central planning, ignoring the individual and succumbs to crony capitalism. The Right pretends to desire a free market but just as quickly succumbs to the temptation of crony capitalism.
So Rand was close to the mark on economics, but built upon an insufficient — and ultimatley doomed to fail—foundation. There is no real connection between her approach and the Bible, other than the fact that, in my opinion, the dynamic of the free market system is really just one of God's accommodations to fallen humanity.
Unfortunately, in this era, I would have to point to GWF Hegel’s “Science of Logic”.
It is the Hegelian dialectic that created our culture’s “ends justifies the means” ideology.
There is no black and white...only shades of gray. I believe that God would not agree with that summation.
Atlas ping. Possible food for thought and discussion.
I suppose it depends on how you measure influence.
Physics makes No Comment on Why it is like this,
only that it is.
Atrheism makes an empty statement that the Universe just is
and has no Reason for it.
C.S. Lewis had a Field Day on this Fallacy
People who do not want to use the tenets of Christianity to control other people will probably be indifferent to Atlas Shrugged.
Either way, Christians who hate Rand's accurate depiction of the world as a place where volitional consciousness (rather than faith) is required to survive are going to have to ask themselves why God deposited them into such a world in the first place. :)
Ahhh!
Si, senor.
It’s easy to believe in nothing,,, until you reach the Judgement, then oooOOPS!
bkmk
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