From Babel to BLM

THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH:
How The West Was Lost (expanded edition)
By Melvin Tinker
Evangelical Press. 192 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 783 972 944

The title of this book derives from C.S. Lewis’ sci-fi novel; which, in turn, derives from Sir David Lyndsay’s poetic couplet about the Tower of Babel.

Tinker ably unpacks Lewis’ allegorical warning about the danger of Western society being overtaken by excessive rationalism in science and an unchecked quasi-religious technocracy.

Nevertheless, the subsequent parallel assertion that Marxism is similarly quasi-religious, is weaker and would benefit from more supporting evidence.

In fact, the argument would be better served by demonstrating that both scientific rationalism and Marxism have similar reductionist flaws. As C.S. Lewis himself wrote: ‘Scientific reductionism eliminates man as a rational moral agent. Man’s final conquest has proved to be the abolition of man.’

By careful reflection on the Genesis story of the Tower of Babel, Tinker explains that, beyond the monstrous display of hubris described in that Biblical narrative, ‘that hideous strength’ is (by inference) equally applicable to other human endeavours marked by mankind’s attempts to breach collectively God’s normative order for humanity.

An excellent sketch of classical and cultural Marxism (Chapter 3) is followed by several modern examples of the latter gaining ascendancy though academic and religious institutions (e.g. the CofE) and the ethos of political correctness. Chapter 4 describes how this is played out in the sexuality culture wars.

Nevertheless, considering that the West has previously sanctioned slavery, homosexual criminalisation, racial segregation and imperialism, Tinker’s description of Western culture prior to the rise of cultural Marxism as ‘rooted in the Judaeo-Christian world view’ (p.60) borders on romanticism.

Capitalist and Marxist materialism both fail to adhere to Judaeo-Christian principles. So it’s a pity that Tinker’s proposed Christian response (in Chapter 6) only addresses the latter.

The Postscript, a denunciation of Black Lives Matter, fails to distinguish BLM as a movement from the BLM organisation, and bypasses hard evidence to treat George Floyd’s killing as tragic but anomalous.

Overall, even if staunchly conservative in tone, the book could have been written to have a broader appeal.