This past January, the Veritas Forum at the University of Michigan and the Center for Faith and Scholarship co-sponsored the British Professor of Theology and classical musician Jeremy Begbie to give a free lecture in Rackham Auditorium on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus. The subject was what music and Christian theology can, when considered together, teach us about freedom.
The basic thesis that Begbie arrived at is this: God created us to abide by certain moral laws so that through their structure we might freely flourish, much as individual notes harmonize and build upon one another when combined within a key signature. Allowing God into one's life is no more a threat to man's freedom and thriving than adding a sense of rhythm is to the possibilities of a song. As for political philosophy, Begbie is in agreement with limited-government advocates in his belief that man is at his best when laws exist only to outlaw destructive action, just as music is at its best when dissonant notes are barred from the key signature, allowing melody to flow freely.
Although Begbie's conclusions seem to fall in line with Libertarian thought, he actually called this philosophy a "sham" at one point in the lecture. He argued that Libertarians are so fixated on individual liberty that they ignore the possibility that we can help one another. As he put it, "notes don't just allow each other... [they] help each other". Begbie lamented that these thinkers do not recognize that through liberty we are "freed by the other and for the other" or, as he put it at another point, "freed from being unable to hug one another".
My own comment on Begbie's appraisal of Libertarianism is that individual liberty in a free-market system is exactly what allows for moral action. Christian free market thinkers advocate charity and community service with the mindset that forced charity, through tax-funded government programs, is not true charity. It is voluntary giving that holds moral value. I call myself Libertarian and I love the way Begbie described freedom as a social principle. It is important to recognize that by becoming more free, we need not become more selfish and individualistic. I would argue that in his lecture, Begbie confused Libertariansm with the anti-altruistic philosophy of Objectivism.
Toward the end of his lecture, Begbie emphasized that freedom and limits go together in terms of both human action and musical performance. Freedom for all can only survive within the framework of moral law. And, as Begbie demonstrated for the audience on a Steinway grand, the most beautiful and creative improvisations arise from uninhibited variations on a given musical theme.
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