Socrates on the external and internal memory

Before I was born, my parents subscribed to a book club with InterVarsity Press. I'm not sure how many of the books my parents read, but as a young teen, three of them helped me awaken to the world of ideas: James Sire's Scripture Twisting (1980); Stephen Lawhead's Rock Reconsidered (1981); and Peter Kreeft's The Unaborted Socrates (1983). 

Today I was thinking about memory, and how writing things down can either aid the memory or make us too lazy to remember. I found a digital copy of Kreeft's book on the Internet Archive, and retrieved the following pieces of dialogue:

Socrates: Tell me, Professor Tarian, did Dr. Herrod tell you of our conversation yesterday?

Tarian: Yes. In fact, he made a tape of it and played it for me. He hoped you wouldn't mind.

Socrates: Why would I mind? I made my own "tape," called memory. You know, it's quite remarkable how you moderns have invented the external mind with all your libraries and tape recorders and microfilm and computers. I wonder that your internal mind does not become weak and flabby, like a newly rich master who lets his slaves do all his work.

.......

Tarian: Speaking of psychologists, why don't you meet my friend, Pop Syke?

Socrates: Why don't I? But I do. Hello, Dr. Syke.

Syke: Hello, Socrates. Please call me "Pop." I'm very glad to meet you.

Socrates: Why?

Syke: What?

Socrates: Why? Why are you very glad to meet me?

Syke: Oh, because Rex and Attila here have told me so much about you, and they played for me your last two days' conversations on tape.

Socrates: Ah, yes. Your external mind.

.......

Socrates: I have told you already, if you had ears to hear. Has your external mind failed you already?

Syke: What do you mean?

Socrates: Do you not remember what I said on the tapes? That's the problem with an external thing: it still needs to be internalized. The memory of a tape memory cannot itself be a tape.

---------

Note that Kreeft's Socrates is riffing off of Plato's Socrates, who made similar comments on memory in the Phaedrus:

I heard, then, that at Naucratis, in Egypt, was one of the ancient gods of that country, the one whose sacred bird is called the ibis, and the name of the god himself was Theuth. He it was who invented numbers and arithmetic and geometry and astronomy, also draughts and dice, and, most important of all, letters. 

Now the king of all Egypt at that time was the god Thamus, who lived in the great city of the upper region, which the Greeks call the Egyptian Thebes, and they call the god himself Ammon. 

To him came Theuth to show his inventions, saying that they ought to be imparted to the other Egyptians. But Thamus asked what use there was in each, and as Theuth enumerated their uses, expressed praise or blame, according as he approved or disapproved. 

The story goes that Thamus said many things to Theuth in praise or blame of the various arts, which it would take too long to repeat; but when they came to the letters, “This invention, O king,” said Theuth, “will make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories; for it is an elixir of memory and wisdom that I have discovered.” 

But Thamus replied, “Most ingenious Theuth, one man has the ability to beget arts, but the ability to judge of their usefulness or harmfulness to their users belongs to another; and now you, who are the father of letters, have been led by your affection to ascribe to them a power the opposite of that which they really possess. 

"For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. 

"You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.["]

.....

He who thinks, then, that he has left behind him any art in writing, and he who receives it in the belief that anything in writing will be clear and certain, would be an utterly simple person, and in truth ignorant of the prophecy of Ammon, if he thinks written words are of any use except to remind him who knows the matter about which they are written.

Calvin on overcoming perfectionism

These days I'm listening to the audiobook for Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make -- and Keep -- Friends by Marisa Franco. She talks a lot about vulnerability and testing out how much to take risks with revealing our true selves to those around us. Her words, and a comment I heard last night by Joel Burnell on Bonhoeffer, reminded me of an extended quote from Jean Chauvin (John Calvin in English).

In the following excerpt, Calvin makes an important point about vulnerability overcoming fear and perfectionism as we realize that we are God's children. I would paraphrase it as, "God takes even our most pitiful works and puts them on his fridge." (I think this paraphrase itself may be borrowed from a sermon by Gregg Harris.)

Jean Chauvin (John Calvin), Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 19, "Of Christian Liberty", Section 5.

See how our works lie under the curse of the law if they are tested by the standard of the law. But how can unhappy souls set themselves with alacrity to a work from which they cannot hope to gain any thing in return but cursing?  On the other hand, if freed from this severe exaction, or rather from the whole rigor of the law, they hear themselves invited by God with paternal levity, they will cheerfully and alertly obey the call, and follow his guidance. 

In one word, those who are bound by the yoke of the law are like servants who have certain tasks daily assigned them by their masters. Such servants think that nought has been done; and they dare not come into the presence of their masters until the exact amount of labour has been performed. 

But sons who are treated in a more candid and liberal manner by their parents, hesitate not to offer them works that are only begun or half finished, or even with something faulty in them, trusting that their obedience and readiness of mind will be accepted, although the performance be less exact than was wished. Such should be our feelings, as we certainly trust that our most indulgent Parent will approve our services, however small they may be, and however rude and imperfect. 

Thus He declares to us by the prophet, “I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,” (Mal. 3:17); where the word spare evidently means indulgence, or connivance at faults, while at the same time service is remembered. This confidence is necessary in no slight degree, since without it every thing should be attempted in vain; for God does not regard any sock of ours as done to himself, unless truly done from a desire to serve him. But how can this be amidst these terrors, while we doubt whether God is offended or served by our work?

Prepare yourselves to listen! Chrysostom's first sermon on John

On Saturday night, the first weekend of Advent, I listened to a sermon on John 1, and that got me started rereading the first homily on the Gospel of John, written by John Chrysostom, who was Archbishop of Constantinople and died in 407 A.D. He takes a surprising approach, and I thought I should share it.

He starts off talking about how spectators get really excited to see their favorite wrestler or musician or rhetorician, and go all out to the stadium, and we should be even more eager to hear the man from heaven who speaks with a voice like thunder. 

Then he talks about how merchants prepare their ships to go on trading expeditions, and farmers plow their fields before planting, and how we should also prepare our hearts to hear the word of God. Then he takes Paul's words about not participating in the Lord's cup and the cup of demons too, and says we shouldn't leave his sermon and go off and watch sordid stage plays (like many modern TV shows), as if we hadn't even heard the sermon. 

He even admits that he won't get to commenting on the verses from John 1 until the second sermon, because he's so intent on preparing his audience to receive them. Imagine going to a sermon that doesn't even make it to the text as advertised! Sort of reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount, or the first couple chapters of Proverbs, where it's all about being careful how you listen, more than giving you the content of the wisdom on offer.

You can read it for yourself here.

The best books of 2022

These are some of the books I've read (or listened to) all the way through in 2022. Key themes are friendship, sexuality, early monasticism, trauma healing, resolving anger, and the father-son relationship.

Athanasius. (written between 356-374). The Life of Antony. In Carolinne White (tr.), Early Christian Lives. Penguin, 1998.

The story of a hermit who engaged in mortal combat with demons and emerged victorious -- he gained a following and reluctantly taught the people, and then went back to his mountain for some solitude.

Vaughan Roberts. True Friendship: Walking Shoulder to Shoulder. 10Publishing, 2013.

Has some good insights in Chapter 1 into the shared pursuit of wisdom being a main reason we need friends.

Drew Hunter. Made for Friendship: The Relationship That Halves Our Sorrows and Doubles Our Joys. Crossway, 2018.

The best part is Chapter 6, retelling the whole biblical narrative through the lens of friendship.

Jay Stringer. Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing.

Deeply insightful into the complex origins of sexual and relational dysfunctions, with good advice for developing a satisfying life. It came recommended to me by one close friend, and later when I recommended it to a new friend whom I greatly respect, that friend said he was already a big fan.

Jackie Hill Perry. Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him. B&H Books, 2021.

The audio version read by the author, a Black rapper and recording artist, is absolutely lyrical and rhythmical. She pulls no punches in her depiction of the wonder of God's holiness, and how this makes him trustworthy to us shy and fearful humans.

Andrew Angel. Intimate Jesus: The Sexuality of God Incarnate. SPCK Publishing, 2017.

A daring and imaginative look into the nuances how of the sexual and intimate (and yet chaste) side of Jesus' humanity is expressed in the gospel of John, specifically in his interactions with the woman at the well and with the disciple John at the Last Supper.

Edward T. Welch. A Small Book about a Big Problem: Meditations on Anger, Patience, and Peace. New Growth Press, 2017.

Fifty short chapters on different aspects of the process of understanding and taming one's own anger. Sort of like drinking a daily shot of vinegar mixed with honey.

Marvin Olasky. Lament for a Father: The Journey to Understanding and Forgiveness. P&R Publishing, 2021.

Sort of a detective story, in which Olasky, former editor of World Magazine, tracks down the life story of his father in order to understand how his difficult background as an Eastern European Jew in Boston and his experiences in liberating Nazi concentration camps and absorbing evolutionary philosophy in graduate school weighed down his youthful ambition and made him a difficult father. Wonderfully compassionate.

Addendum on the last day of the year:

Marisa G. Franco. Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make--and Keep--Friends. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2022.

I wrote this list and thought I was done. Then I saw this book at the top of a top-five list by James Quigley in an email from Meetup, after my sister told me I should get on there and make some friends with common interests in music, following a Thanksgiving gathering where I'd prepared song sheets and then given up when it seemed like most of my relatives weren't keen on singing. So I got back on Meetup and ended up attending a very satisfying jam session at a local violin shop one night a week later. 

But back to Franco's book -- she tells us why our friendships are broken as a result of mismatched attachment styles due to trauma growing up and life's general slings and arrows. She weaves compelling personal stories with the latest research studies to show how good friendships are key to a healthy and satisfying life. Then she unpacks some of the ingredients for a good friendship, like vulnerability and affection. She speaks at the right moment in our cultural conversation, laying out a balance between me-first boundary-lines and us-first circles. She also explains what it's like to be a minority and experience micro-aggressions, and the labor it takes to stay in friendships with people who don't understand -- it falls to those from the dominant cultural group to try to understand and take the humble posture in order to make the Other feel welcome.

Platonic is a complex book, like Jay Stringer's Unwanted. Like Stringer, Franco exudes a warmth and humility that is really endearing to me as she pulls together multiple strands of research. Franco's rich young voice in the audiobook brightened my days during several weeks of long rainy commutes between Vancouver and Milwaukie this December.

Robert Morse on unity in prayer

On Saturday, June 8, 1991, Robert Howe Morse, Sr. (1923-1993) gave a talk on prayer at a church in Phoenix, Arizona. I received the tape recording from his colleague, Joel Lillie, who called him "Uncle Robert". I will share a portion of the transcript below, but first I want to give some background.

Uncle Robert was a second-generation missionary who translated the Bible into the Rawang language of northern Burma from 1951 to 1987. He, his folklorist wife Betty (1930-2001), and the rest of their family, are most famous for the six years they spent in no-man's land between Burma and India from 1965 to 1972, after the Ne Win government ordered them to leave -- an adventure documented in his brother Eugene's book Exodus to a Hidden Valley. These years were difficult, and he reportedly resented the ordeal for a good while, and was surprised to find that these were the years that Reader's Digest wanted to focus on for Eugene's book. 

After reading the book as a child, I assumed that Robert and Betty continued together in ministry for the rest of their lives after the events recorded in the book. However, I later found out that they divorced after the ordeal, with Betty taking several of their children from Hidden Valley to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 1968, briefly marrying a Kachin officer, and traveling to the US, Thailand, India, and Nepal. Robert remained single for several years, even as he returned to the US and then transplanted his ministry to Chiang Mai. He later married a local woman named Phonsri, who was with him when he gave the talk in Phoenix. 

It was in Chiang Mai that Robert and his brother Eugene realized more their need for unity in prayer with other believers of different backgrounds. They joined a Tuesday night interdenominational prayer group in the home of Allan and Joan Eubank. Allan tells about one particularly intense prayer session in his memoir Where God Leads... Never Give Up:

One night Robert Morse, a long-time missionary friend, brought a tribal lady and her sister to see me. Actually, he had much more experience than I had, but he wanted me to join with him in prayer. The lady was a backslidden Christian who had been cursed because of a conflict with a non-Christian lady on the mountain where they lived.  

Her sister brought the woman to see the Morse family. They had prayed for her an entire week without effect. As we began to pray to cast out the spirits, the woman’s voice changed, becoming high, shrill, and comical saying, “Oh, it’s gone. See, it’s under that chair over there.” Obviously a spirit itself was speaking. It spoke in such a ridiculous tone of voice that the sister burst out laughing. Even though we knew this was a very serious situation, we had to laugh with her. In spite of our commands in Jesus’ name, we knew the spirits were still there. Finally, we remembered the story of the Gadarene demoniac in Mark 5:1-17. The demons begged Jesus to send them into the herd of pigs, and Jesus granted their request. We then asked the evil spirits, “Where is your home, and where are you allowed to live?” I don’t remember how the spirits answered, but we understood they lived on the same mountain as the woman. So we commanded them to go back to the place where Jesus allowed them to live. Then the spirits left, and the lady became her normal self.

Uncle Robert alludes to a similar incident in his Phoenix talk:

I find that in prayer, a very necessary element in prayer is agreement. It's for this reason that I've been effective as a worker, most recently, just with my wife. My wife and I, in agreement, bring matters to the Lord, and claim and pray, and get answers.

Jesus sent his disciples out two by two. Two people agreeing together, pull the Lord into it -- you don't say, "Well, I want a Cadillac, she wants a -- what's another big one? -- She wants a Mercedes. Lord, which one do you agree with?" 

No, that's not, that's not barely… In the first place, I think your old man's sort of gotten on top, there, to make a prayer like that. "Lord, whatever you want me to have, I leave it to you. Yes, I feel the need for a car. If you want to give a car, good. If you don't, feel I don't need one, good also."

But be it alone agreeing, with whom? There's no agreement. You've got to have others, a coworker, someone else. Whatever it is that you're praying about, whatever it is, work that you're doing, get someone who will agree with you.

You know, I don't mean to preach about unity and all that, but it's very important. Where there is strife, God cannot bless! That's my experience!

Where there is strife, you're way out on a limb. First make that right. First clear up the strife, to where there is unity, unity of spirit, one way or the other. Husbands and wives, find that unity and put that unity high, high on your agenda, for God's blessing. Because God blesses you when you have unity.

I was in Chiang Mai, as a single, oh, maybe fifteen years ago, and I felt under attack, the enemy was attacking in more ways than one -- that's north Thailand, where I was. And I was the only missionary of my group, in the city. I went over to two other missions, missionaries from two other missions, and said, "Look, I would like for you to come and pray with me, because I've got a problem, I have a need, and I need to pray God to overcome it."

They were a little surprised to say the least. They'd never had anybody do anything like that. But they were fellow believers in prayer, at least. So they saw my point when I explained it to them. I had to take 15-20 minutes to explain it to each of them, why I wanted them to agree with me. "Oh, yeah!"

There's people that would have, I suppose, some doctrinal differences, if we got to discussing theology, but we weren't in a place where we needed to discuss theology. Theology wasn't a question. They were God's children, I was God's children. I had a need, I needed a prayer that would be successful, be answered, I needed support. So I got their unity. I got them to agree with me. And we prayed together -- just like that, the situation was clear.

So -- find it! Even if you're a single! Get out there and find someone who -- or if you're not a single, but still, you're in one job all by yourself, go out and find a fellow believer, and say, "Hey! Would you mind stopping your work for five minutes and praying with me?" "Uh-huh?"

Going to blow somebody's mind, making a request like that, but, really! Unity of spirit is something that doesn't have to have long years of work to build up. It doesn't mean that you're all agreed in every detail of your work, and every bit of your theology and all that. But God wants to see our unity of spirit, and come to him, and ask for something, and he will listen.

It is encouraging to me to see that, first, a missionary like Uncle Robert could learn and grow even after many years in the field, and that, second, he was willing to share the painful and lonely parts of his experience, and not just his triumphs, with those of us who came after, in the hopes that by our inviting others to unite with us in prayer, God would meet us too in our hour of need.

A letter from Grace Liddell on Lisu culture

Grace Liddell was a CIM missionary in Yunnan, China from 1934 to 1944, who died on furlough in 1946. Originally from Iowa, she married Eric Cox in October 1940. She wrote many letters home describing her adventures among the Lisu and Chinese and other ethnic groups of Yunnan; some of these, like the one below from the summer of 1939, were published by the Malvern Leader, her local newspaper in Iowa. I have chosen this one because it gives an interesting overview of Lisu culture, with quotes from her friend and late supervisor, James Outram Fraser's 1922 Handbook of the Lisu (Yawyin) Language, but also including the ground-level view of someone interacting with Lisu people for the first time. Note that the year before writing, Fraser had died of cerebral malaria, and the year after, her host, Francis "Fitz" Fitzwilliam, died of typhus. Life in this region was not easy!

For more about Grace's life, see the biography by her daughter Miriam G. Moran, entitled Someone to Be with Roxie.

My apologies for any unfortunate or offensive words or attitudes the letter may contain -- bear in mind that it was written 83 years ago and Grace was writing for her old neighbors, and probably never dreamed that the descendants of her Lisu friends might be reading it.

-----------------------------

The Malvern Leader (Malvern, Iowa), January 11, 1940, pages 3 and 7.

Grace Liddell Writes of China

Many of our readers will enjoy the following letter from Miss Grace Liddell, a former Mills countian, who is now a missionary stationed at Long chiu, Yunnan, China. It was written last summer.

Dear Friends:

The last letter mentioned a possible change from the Chinese to the Lisu. That change has been made. On May 1st after six days traveling by hua-kan and one on horseback with stops at two mission stations along the way I arrived at Longchiu, a small village high up on a mountain side. The village folk were originally Kachin (accent on the last syllable), but a number of Lisu families have recently moved here. Mr. [Francis "Fitz"] and Mrs. [Jennie] Fitzwilliam are stationed here and are now busily engaged learning the Kachin language. They have worked among the Lisu for about ten years, but recognize the great need of the other tribe and so are rendering a ministry to both tribes from this center.

In giving you an idea of the Lisu tribes folk I think I can do no better than to draw upon the observations made by the late Mr. J. O. Fraser in his “Handbook of the Lisu Language.”

The origin of their tribe is uncertain but there seems to be a general opinion that they have drifted down from the upper Salween and Mekong river valleys. Probably they originally came then from eastern Tibet. They live in the mountains, seldom below 5000 feet above sea level, and usually are found at a height of 6000 feet or over, i.e., in the higher and colder regions of the mountains.

The Lisu are not ashamed of their race as some other tribes are. In eastern Yunnan, e.g. some tribesfolk refuse to admit their tribal connections, and others are not interested in learning to read their own language, choosing rather to learn the Chinese. Those in the East because of this are tending to be absorbed by the Chinese.

In China the Lisu tribe is found almost entirely in the province of Yunnan, along the Burma border and also among the Mekong valley and the upper Yangtze.

They are about medium in height, slightly darker than the Chinese, and have Mongoloid features. The men and women both shave their heads entirely with the exception of three or four inches across the back which is allowed to grow long and is braided into a queue. Upon becoming Christians the women allow their hair to grow, and the men cut off their queues.

The men wear a loose jacket of plain blue cloth similar to that worn by the Chinese. The trousers (worn by both sexes) are made of the same material and come to an inch or two above the knee. The “wrap-around” turban is also made of plain blue cloth. They wear white cloth stockings with a stiff canvas-like appearance. These have no feet and are tied with a string just below the knee. Some go barefoot, and others wear sandals made of bamboo bark.

The women, in districts where Chinese influence is strong, dress very similar to the Chinese women. But in the more remote regions their dress is very gay and bejewelled. The turban is several feet long, plain in the middle but with strips of colored cloth at both ends. To these colorful ends are attached long tassels, beads, cowries, etc., according to the taste of the wearer. Showy ear-rings and necklaces are also worn. The dress itself consists of a tunic which comes only to the waist in front, but is long in the back. The short front of the tunic is made up for by an apron with an embroidered waistband. It is ornamented with square or rectangular patches of red, yellow and green cloth and trimmed along the lower edge with cowry shells.

As to disposition they are a mild, easy-going and affable people, hospitable and friendly to the Anglo-Saxons. “Whereas the Chinese and Kachin are often suspicious of strangers, the Lisu are seldom so. Their frank geniality is more agreeable, to Europeans at least, than the blung [read: blunt?] boorish manner of the Kachins on the one hand, or the obsequiousness of the Chinese on the other.” The women are shy with strangers, but upon becoming better acquainted, they are frank and natural. They have a strong sense of decency and shame.

The Lisu have a great weakness for rice-beer and do not seem to be able to drink it with moderation as the Chinese do. I have not yet seen an intoxicated Chinese. Would that I could say as much for my own country! Their intemperance causes quarrelling amongst an otherwise peaceably disposed people. The Chinese have a saying, “Lisu for liquor, leeches for blood.”

On the other hand they seem to be able to “play” with opium as the Chinese cannot. They grow it wherever the law allows, and smoke it occasionally without becoming addicts. The Chinese have the same weakness for smoking opium as the Lisu have drinking liquor. Upon becoming Christians, however, this vice is given up amongst many others.

The houses are simple structures with plain mud floors split into laths and woven. There are usually three rooms. The center room has a fire (miniature bone-fire) around which the family and guests may sit and chat. It is also in this room that the guests are invited to sleep. One of the other rooms is the family bedroom and into this the guest seldom enters unless to see someone who is ill. The third room is the kitchen.

Agriculture is the chief occupation, but they are very fond of hunting, especially the barking deer. One hears the barking of this deer almost daily, sometimes in the early morning and sometimes in the evening. When the temptation is too great to be withstood, after hearing the bark one next hears a mad rushing of feet past the house as the boy who helps us bounds to his house to get his shotgun and out again on the tail of the deer. Invariably he comes back empty-handed. They make their own bullets and also their own gun-powder. Some of the people have rice fields, but these are down on the plains quite removed from the village. The usual crops are corn and buckwheat. They clean a patch of ground and burn the jungle and this serves as a field. The fertility of the soil is soon exhausted as the Lisu are either too poor or too lazy to add the necessary fertilizer to the soil as the Chinese do. After using a patch of ground for a couple of years, it is practically exhausted, so it is allowed to lie fallow for from ten to twenty years during which time it again grows up to jungle and must needs be cleared again before being used. The hoe is the popular implement, the plow being impractical because of tree stumps. Besides the above mentioned crops, potatoes, hiss sesamum, hemp, indigo and opium are also grown. The women as well as the men work in the fields and each family produces only what they can consume. Hence there is no commercial farming. The Lisu do not have their wealthy farmers as the Chinese do.

When clearing a patch of ground sometimes they follow the path of least resistance and shift to a lower altitude. It is true that the soil is better at a lower altitude but there is also the great danger of malaria. In one place they have the saying “If you are not afraid of hunger, go up and live in high altitudes; if you are not afraid of death, go down and live in lower altitudes.” “The Lisu ‘par excellence’ are those who live in cold climates, where even the winds and vapors from hot plains are shut out by mountain ranges; where the men and women are strong, active and intelligent, the children healthy and rosy-cheeked.”

The heathen Lisu are animists but where there is close association with the Chinese, influence from the latter has crept in. There is no idolatry, but ancestor worship is universal. Whereas amongst the Chinese the women perform practically all of the religious rites, amongst the Lisu they have no part, the responsibility being borne by the men. The main part of their religion consists of the propitiation of evil spirits whose “bite” causes sickness.” To determine whether or not an illness is caused by a demon, the priest draws lots. If the lot drawn shows it to be a case of demon-possession [p.7] the family then sacrifice a chicken or perhaps even a pig. The priest helps by muttering incantations, and then they have a meal at which the rice beer is served. The priest gets a free meal but receives no wages. They believe there are various spirits but believe also that there is a supreme head of all spirits, good and evil, and they call him “Wu-sa.”

In some districts witch-craft is known. Sometimes the suspect is made to put his hand in a pot of boiling oil or water and bring out a submerged coin. To be able to do this without suffering any injury is a sign of innocency. This method is also used at times to determine the guilty party in a case of theft.

When anyone dies the heathen Lisu immediately fire three shots with a gun. The corpse is placed in the center of the room and covered over with hempen cloth. Coffins are used for adults but children have none. Christian Lisu, however, also use coffins to bury their children. When a wife dies the burial must await the arrival of her relatives in order that they may see that it was a natural death and that all rites are properly performed. This is to avoid having her spirit coming back to “bite” them for negligence or disrespect. Burial may take place two or three hours after death, or they may wait two or three days. They seldom wait a year or several years for an auspicious day as do the heathen Chinese. Nearly always incense is burned and offerings are made before the coffin is removed from the house. In some parts the family also march around the coffin several times striking it sharply with a stick each time they go around it, the mourners chanting meanwhile. They serve at least one meal to the relatives and guests. The grave is dug two or three feet deep out on a hillside. Cremation is practiced only in cases where they believe there have been evil spiritual influences.

The marriages are arranged by the parents. A middle man is employed to deliver the letter from one parent to the other and if consent is given, a small deposit is given to the parents of the girl, a mutual bow is made and the proposal is accomplished. Sometimes the boy is consulted before the proposal is made, but the girl never. Even if they were consulted they would likely be too bashful to express their own views. They think nothing of marrying cousins, but would never consent to marrying anyone by the same surname regardless of how far removed the relationship might be. A betrothal is very binding, and as soon as the boy’s parents can afford it the marriage ceremony is performed. Christian Lisu do not marry their cousins, and they also wait until the girl is eighteen and the boy is twenty before they marry. Any correspondence between a Christian couple must go through the Lords [read: hands?] of the deacons. Usually there is only one letter and that is the letter of proposal from the boy to the girl.

The non-Christians set an auspicious date for the wedding, and the day before, beer, rice, pork, salt, etc., is taken as a present by the friends to the home of the groom. The next morning the bride and all the relatives go to the home of the groom to the accompaniment of gun shots. The groom’s parents come out to greet the bride and bows are made. They then lead her into the house, and as she steps over the threshold the marriage is completed, although both bride and groom still must bow to the groom’s parents. The bride then retires to her bedroom where she remains in hiding for the rest of the day, but she is expected to assist with serving at tables on the day following. After a few days the couple then pay a visit to the bride’s home.

A Christian ceremony is performed at the church where a paper is signed and after the proper ceremony the couple shake hands and the marriage is thus completed. When Christians refer to a marriage ceremony they always speak of it as “shaking hands.” If they wanted to ask if a certain person were married they would ask, “Has he shanken [read: shaken] hands yet?”

Polygamy is practically unknown, likely because it is not economical. Elopement is looked down upon, and the respected Lisu would not consider such a step. Slavery is also unknown in South Yunnan, and despite the poverty of the people, money is no enticement to them to sell their children as slaves.

They have little or no independent territory, and are usually subject to the Kachin and Chinese near them. They are docile and patient under injustice but have no love for the Chinese. Tradition holds that in the early days the Chinese usurped the rights and powers of the Lisu, something similar to the way Jacob stole Esau’s birthright. They live in the hopes that one day a Lisu king will rise up and reclaim their rights and power. I have heard Mr. Fraser tell how the Lisu would laugh with glee as they heard the doom of the ungodly at the end of the world and say, “Won’t the Chinese get theirs then!”

The Lisu are not loth to cast away demon worship, but often the motive is earthly or temporal. Perhaps they tear down their demon altar and express their desire to become Christians merely because they think it will make them immune from sickness, or make them prosperous in making a living; or perhaps it is only because they want to learn to read and write. Although these motives fall far short of the mark, yet they are a stepping stone to the realization of the true motive.

The language has a large number of Chinese words, but in the extreme north it is quite pure. It is monosyllabic and no syllable ends in a consonant. (Because of this it is soft and musical and some have suggested that likely it is due to this fact the Lisu are a “singing” people. Although their singing is wild like the people they are, yet they readily sing all four parts and usually they sing very true to their parts). Every word has a consonant and a vowel. A specially simplified script has been prepared (mostly the work of Mr. Fraser) and now the whole New Testament is printed due to the diligence of Mr. Fraser and Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Cooke. They also have a collection of Old Testament Stories and a hymn book with 233 hymns and choruses — a few by their own composition. Each consonant and vowel sound has a Roman (capital and unadorned) letter assigned to it. Since there are forty such letters some of the letters of the alphabet have been inverted and given arbitrary values. Mr. Carl Gowman who died in 1930 completed a Lisu dictionary in May of the previous year. There are 2370 main entries and 4673 phrases and clauses as illustrations, making the total number of entries 7043. Of the main entries 100 are of alternate pronunciation of the same word, leaving a net number of 2270. If written in hieroglyphics as the Chinese language, there would be only 2270 characters, whereas in the Chinese there are over 10,000. There are only 269 pure Lisu sounds and 29 Chinese sounds. This is probably the lowest number of any monosyllabic language in this part of China, but it makes up for it in tones. There are six main tones, nine diphthong and five tripthong; making twenty in all. “Reckoning as a word each character in every tone in which it occurs, there are 963 different characters in the language, or on an average of 2.77 meanings for every tone in which the character appears.”

The Lisu “field” is now considered an evangelized field. There are one thousand baptized Christians in this district, another thousand in the district to the south of us, Fuhinshan, also under the supervision of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam at present. So work amongst this tribe now consists almost wholly of Bible schools. The missionaries travel from one district to another holding two-week schools. It is hoped that next year a three months’ school may be held during the rainy season for the teachers and leaders of these districts. Three short term schools are planned for this fall.

I hope that this gives you somewhat of an idea of this new sphere of labor to which our Lord has called me, and that you will be better able to pray the effectual fervent prayer as you remember us before His throne.

Pray especially for Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam as they study the Kachin language, and for me as I study the Lisu. Also remember to pray about the Bible schools to be held.

Very sincerely yours,

In His service,

Grace Liddell

Forrest and Mary Esther Forbes -- when life takes a left turn

 

Forbes family photo, left to right: Stephen Adelbert, Mary Esther, Forrest Dale, Esther Katherine ("Kathie")

This is the story of Forrest Dale Forbes and his wife Mary Esther. I first started researching their story because they worked briefly with the Duru people of Burma in the 1930s and 40s, but after researching more, I found their lives to be interesting in their own right, as an example of a family who took many twists and turns in their journey of faith.

 

Early years

Forrest was born on January 10, 1907 in Damascus, Clackamas County, Oregon. His father, Adelbert, was originally from Iowa and his mother, Lottie, was born in Kansas on the Oregon trail but reached Damascus four years later in 1880. Forrest had an older brother named Claude, who was nine years older, and when Forrest was three, they got a baby brother named Lyle. Sometime later, they moved to California, and when Forrest was six, his sister Madalene was born.

 

By 1920, when Forrest was 13, the US Census shows his family as living in Monrovia, a small orange-farming community near Los Angeles. After high school, he became a journalist and wrote for the Associated Press, eventually getting his own syndicated newspaper column.

 

Then he heard the gospel as preached by Paul Rader, a radio evangelist with a large church in Chicago, who also established a church called the Tabernacle in Los Angeles in 1929. Forrest was converted and went to Bible college. While he was studying there, he fell in love with a fellow student named Mary Esther Allen.

 

Mary Esther, a native of Riverside, California, was born on August 24, 1913. Her father Clarence was born in Canada and her mother Alice was born in England. Mary Esther had three older sisters, one older brother, and one younger brother: sisters Evalyn (born in 1901), Beatrice (born in 1907), and Charlotte (born in 1911), and brothers Chester (born in 1905) and Wilford (born in 1916).

 

Marriage and sending out

On January 22, 1932 in Los Angeles, Forrest and Mary Esther were married. Forrest was 24 and Mary Esther was 18. The officiating minister was Rev. Thompson Eadle, a Foursquare Gospel preacher associated with the Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.

 

The following year, on March 4, 1933, Mary Esther gave birth to a baby girl named Esther Kathleen, nicknamed "Kathie". During this time, they also spent time witnessing, and regularly attended the Go-Ye Bible Class, an missions-focused adult Sunday school class at Paul Rader's Tabernacle led by George and Mary Berryhill and taught by Jennie Mitchell. One day, after Jennie challenged the class to send out missionaries from their own group, Forrest and Mary Esther volunteered. They were interested in the Lisu tribe along the borders of China, Tibet, and Burma, and so they started researching the Yunnan ethnic area of China. Their fellow class members pledged their support, and Paul Rader himself promoted their plans on his radio program, gaining donations for them from his listening audience.

 

In early 1935, they set sail for China. Once they arrived, Forrest wrote news articles for the Associated Press as a means of income. They continued writing prayer letters back to the Go-Ye class in Los Angeles. In one of these letters, they reported being on night watch against people who wanted to burn down their mission! During this time, their mission work included printing and binding Christian literature, such as the first volume of a book called the Grace Book. Later newsletters spoke of success as the danger passed.

A quick return

Their first stay in China turned out to be a short exploratory trip, likely after they found out that Mary Esther was pregnant. In any case, on May 8, 1935, they boarded a Japanese ocean liner in Hong Kong called the M. S. Asama Maru and headed back to the US. At the time, Forrest was 28, Mary was 21, and little Esther was 2. The voyage lasted almost a month. On May 29, they stopped in San Francisco, and on June 1, they landed in Los Angeles. Their address in Los Angeles was 1305 Waterloo Street, just two doors down from number 1307, the house of Jennie and Andrew Mitchell from the Go-Ye class.  On November 10 that same year, Mary Esther gave birth in Riverside to her second child, a boy named Stephen Adelbert -- the middle name came from Forrest's father.

Yunnan and other places

 

Records after this are sparse, but it appears that they went back to Yunnan and served there for several years. Also sent to Yunnan by the Go-Ye class were Mary's sister Beatrice and her husband Lester Van Meter, and Katherine Baerg.

 

The timeline is not clear, but after their first term in China, Forrest and Mary Esther went to the Holy Land, India, and Burma. They started working in the "remote Alpine section of Burma" in northern Kachin State. From there, Forrest wrote to the Go-Ye class, describing their contact with Mongolian (i.e. T'rung and/or Duru) pygmies who had been enslaved by Tibetan invaders. Again, it is not clear whether this was before 1940, or whether it was after World War 2.

Oregon and Chile

 

They must have returned to the States by 1940, when Forrest registered for military service. Around this time, they moved to Oregon, where Forrest was born, and Forrest started the Miracle Book Club, a program for children that met in the home of George and Edwina Cote, near Cedar Mill, Oregon. In December 1940, three local Christian small groups in Cedar Mill got together and asked Forrest to be their teacher. The resulting congregation met in the old Wesley Chapel rented from Burton Reeves, and became what is now known as Cedar Mill Bible Church.

 

Sometime later, the Forbeses must have gone on a mission trip to South America, because ship records show that on June 11, 1943, the S. S. Copiapo sailed for the US from Valparaiso, Chile, carrying Forrest (age 36), Mary (age 29), Esther (age 10), and Stephen (age 7). On July 18, the ship arrived in New Orleans and Forrest, Mary, Esther, and Stephen disembarked. Their address in the US at that time was listed as 6108 Southeast 92nd Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

 

In 1945, the church where Forrest had been teaching was incorporated as Cedar Mill Community Church (now called Cedar Mill Bible Church).

Burma and the boat back

By 1947, the war was over and Forrest and Mary Esther were in Burma. Forrest took a 600-mile trek through the Duru area in northern Kachin State along with a local Christian guide; according to Jack Wyrtzen, the people they met were living in trees. Then, just as they were starting to see ministry results, their plans were interrupted again when Mary Esther was diagnosed with cancer. Stunned and saddened, they boarded a boat back for San Francisco. On the boat however, they met a young couple named Fred and Lurabelle Annis, who were leading a Harvard-Brown expedition in Asia. As a result of their conversations, Fred and Lurabelle became Christians. After they got back to the US, Mary Esther found that, by answer to prayer, she had been healed of her cancer.

Fred and Lurabelle's story

 

A side note on Fred and Lurabelle Annis -- after arriving back home in the US, they talked about their newfound faith to their niece, Jane  MacRoberts, and she was converted the following summer at Jack Wyrtzen's Word of Life Camp, and the following year married the assistant camp director, Dick Reed, and the two of them later founded a Christian radio station in Liberia. Meanwhile, Fred Annis went to MIT for his Master's degree, and then he and Lurabelle came to Wyrtzen's camp and did some building projects. Then in February 1952, Fred went to Rangoon, Burma for two years as an architect supervising building projects for the US State Department. In the evenings, Fred and Lurabelle held Bible classes for young people there in Rangoon. Thus, as a result of Mary Esther's cancer, lives were changed both in Burma and in the US and Africa.

 

In Oregon again

On January 21, 1948, the Lowell Sun, a newspaper in Massachusetts, mentioned Forrest as a missionary who had just returned from Burma. That same year, Forrest published a biography of his friend, radio evangelist Jack Wyrtzen, called God Hath Chosen: The Story of Jack Wyrtzen and the Word of Life Hour. Both Forrest and Jack were active in Youth For Christ.

 

In July 1950, Forrest became pastor of Damascus Community Church in Oregon, taking over from Rev. V. A. Weir. He remained active in missions mobilization, and in April 1952, he spoke at the chapel of George Fox College (now George Fox University) in Newberg, Oregon as part of the second annual GFC mission convention. The student newspaper The Crescent mentions it in an article on 25 Apr 1952, and lists him as a former newspaper reporter and missionary in Burma, China and India -- it is unclear when he was in India.

 

Their daughter Kathie went off to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where she met Richard Neil Carpenter. Rich joined the Air Force in 1952, and on August 28, 1953, the two were married in Damascus.

 

The year 1954 brought several changes for the Forbeses. That was the year that Jack Wyrtzen published part of their and the Annises' story in his book Leaping Flame: Youth Witnessing for Christ. (This book is one of the main sources for my account here.) Then, on November 27, Mary Esther's father died in Riverside, California, and that same month, Forrest stepped down as pastor of Damascus Community Church, succeeded by Guilford S. Martin.

Back to California

They moved back to California, probably to be closer to Mary Esther's family, and in 1960, Forrest and Mary Esther bought a house at 295 West County Line in Calimesa, Riverside County, which had been built in 1958 by H.E. Chillcot Sr. and Martha R. Chillcot. The following year, on January 28, their son Stephen, aged 25, married Joan E. Fee, aged 23, in Riverside.

 

Having started out as a journalist, Forrest never gave up writing and publishing. In 1962, he and his mother Lottie (born Lottie Maybee, later Lottie Forbes, but by this time Lottie Morris) published a short book on the history of their old hometown, where Lottie had first moved in 1880 at age 4. This 62-page booklet was entitled Days and Ways of Old Damascus, Oregon. Mary Esther drew a log cabin on the cover and other illustrations using a wash drawing process. It's fortunate that they wrote the book when they did, because three years later, in 1965, Lottie passed away. In 1968, Mary Esther's mother Alice also died.

 

On April 9, 1966 Forrest appeared in the Redlands Daily Facts, a local newspaper from Redlands, California, with the announcement that he would give a lecture on "The Valley of the Black Death". The article described him as a former missionary to Burma, China, and South America.

 

Forrest continued with his historical writing, publishing a 63-page booklet in 1975 entitled Days and Ways of Early Ceres, Stanislaus County, California. Along with his writing, Forrest opened a printing business. In 1976, he got a building permit to erect an eight-foot tall sign for "Calimesa Printing" at his house. His daughter, Kathie Carpenter, in her 2001 reprinting of Days and Ways of Old Damascus Oregon called him a "journalist, poet, author & printer -- missionary & minister".

 

On July 14, 1991, Mary passed away in San Bernardino County, California at age 77. Less than two years later, on May 14, 1993, Forrest also died at age 86. You can visit their graves at Desert Lawn Memorial Park in Calimesa, Riverside County, California.

 

Their two children have also passed away by since then. Stephen died in Yucaipa, San Bernardino County, California, at age 63 on September 24, 1999, and Kathie died at age 88 on October 13, 2021, having spent her last years in Bee Cave, Texas.

 

Why we write

 

The story of Forrest and Mary Esther Forbes strikes different people for different reasons. The children of Jennie Mitchell wrote about them because it was exciting for their mother's Sunday school class to send out one of their own couples as missionaries. The present-day iteration of the class, which was called the Go-Ye Fellowship for many years, and is now known as Global Grace Fellowship, is proud to list them as the first of many missionaries that they sent out, although they don't give many historical details beyond a name and a photo.

 

Evangelist Jack Wyrtzen wrote about them in 1954 as a dedicated young couple who influenced others such as the Annises even when their own plans were changed by health issues -- possibly returning the favor from when Forrest had written Jack's biography in 1948. Wyrtzen also plays on the theme of giving up or transforming worldly careers such as Forrest's journalism or Fred Annis's academic and government career into avenues for Christian service in one's free time -- this is in line with his purpose of inspiring more young people to follow suit.

 

Two different churches in Oregon mention Forrest as a founding or early pastor, and mention his credentials as a veteran missionary. The veteran missionary theme also comes up when newspapers announced that he was giving a lecture -- audiences would be lured in by the promise of stories from exotic places like China, the Holy Land, India, Burma, and South America.

 

It is interesting how much the Forbeses' story intertwines with young adult ministry and new technology -- Forrest was converted by Paul Rader, a radio evangelist and megachurch planter in the 1930s, and he and Mary Esther joined an adult Sunday school class which propelled them into foreign missions. When they came back during World War 2, the first ministry-related thing that Forrest started was a children's Bible club. I have to think that experiences with youth work in Los Angeles had something to do with this -- and also with Fred and Lurabelle Annis's Christian camp experience and the youth Bible classes they taught in Burma.

 

Another theme that comes up is writing and publishing. There would be no record at all of this fragmentary story if Forrest and Mary Esther had not written newsletters back to the Go-Ye class! Forrest carried on a newspaper career both in the US and in China with the Associated Press, in China he printed Christian literature, and in his later years he ran his own publishing business and published two books of local history. I only wish the two of them had written their own story for us beyond what I have been able to piece together here.

When my own journey took a left turn

As I said at the beginning, my personal interest in their story is because of their brief connection with the Duru. I also had the chance to study Duru while living in Thailand and Burma over the last few years, but I had to return to the US a year and a half ago because of my mother's cancer -- unlike Mary Esther's cancer, my mother's was fatal, but it did turn out for good in unexpected ways. 

This year, I have been helping with a children's program called Awana at my church and got to know several families that I wouldn't have known otherwise -- and I found out recently that Awana was founded by Lance "Doc" Latham and Arthur "Art" Rorheim, two members of Paul Rader's church in Chicago back in the 1920s-50s. I also met several people related to the Duru in my hometown, including Lungmi and Jinghpaw family just down the street from my dad's house. 

I will have to save my own stories for a later post or conversation, but my takeaway from the story of Forrest and Mary Esther Forbes is to not be discouraged if your journey takes a left turn. There are still many interesting things to do, people to meet, and stories to write, and you never know what will happen as a result.

 

Sources

 

Bruce, Virginia. 2007. Featured business: Cedar Mill Bible Church. The Cedar Mill News (November 2007). https://cedarmillnews.com/legacy/archive/1107/cedar_mill_bible_church.html

 

Damascus Community Church. 2022. Damascus Community Church -- A brief historical outline.

https://www.damascuscc.org/o/damascus-community-church/page/our-story--6

 

Familysearch.org (various historical records)

 

Find a Grave Memorial. n.d. Esther Kathleen "Kathie" Forbes Carpenter.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233247218/esther-kathleen-carpenter

 

Find a Grave Memorial. n.d. Stephen Adelbert Forbes.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49375975/stephen-adelbert-forbes

 

Forbes, Forrest Dale. 1948. God Hath Chosen: The Story of Jack Wyrtzen and the Word of Life Hour. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Reprinted in Joel A. Carpenter. 1988. The Youth for Christ movement and its pioneers. New York: Garland.

 

Forbes, Forrest Dale. 1962. Days and ways of old Damascus Oregon. Calimesa, CA: Damascus Road Press.

 

Forbes, Forrest Dale. 1975. Days and ways of early Ceres, Stanislaus County, California. Calimesa, CA: Calimesa Printing Co.

 

George Fox University Archives, "The Crescent - April 25, 1952". 1952. "The Crescent" Student Newspaper. 588. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/588

 

Go-Ye Fellowship. 2014. History of Go-Ye Fellowship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZbYFB_9mjE (source of the photo of Forrest and Mary Esther Forbes and their children.

 

Mitchell, Robert Bryant and Marietta Mitchell Smith with Howard Hugh Wade. 1988. Jennie and the song of the meadowlark. Weaverville, CA: Isaiah Sixty : One Publishing Co.

 

Reed, Jane and Jim Grant. 1968. Voice under every palm: The story of Radio Station ELWA. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Station-Albums/ELWA-Voice-Under-Every-Palm-Reed-Grant-1968.pdf

 

Tang, Bai "Tom" and Michael Hogan. 2019. Historical-period building evaluation report: 295 W. County Line Road and 907 S. California Street. Prepared for Albert A. Webb Associates, for submittal to the City of Calimesa, California. https://yucaipa.org/wp-content/uploads/dev_svcs/Appendix_B1.pdfB

Tribute Archive. Richard Neil Carpenter. https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/12320436/Richard-Carpenter

Weddle, Linda. 2018. Celebrating Art Rorheim. https://www.awana.org/2018/01/11/celebrating-art-rorheim/

Wyrtzen, Jack. 1954. Leaping flame: Youth witnessing for Christ. Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell.

 

Wyrtzen, Jack. 1991. Interview with Bob Shuster on October 5, 1991. Tape T2 in Collection 446, Wheaton College, Billy Graham Center archives.

https://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/exhibits/cgt/rader14xtra09.html

Forrest Forbes's second book, written with his mother Lottie, with illustrations by Mary Esther Forbes