Everybody has heard of the encounter between Laplace and Napoleon. The mathematician was presenting to Napoleon a theory of the universe. Napoleon asked him why he had made no mention of God. Laplace replied, ’Je n’avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là.’ (I had no need of that hypothesis.).
And why should all this Gallic nonsense concern us? Think of it this way. If our bike has a flat tyre, what do we do: change the machine for a new model, adjust the seat-level, lubricate the chain, polish the handle-bars? No. we go through the required routine: find the puncture and repair it. We go directly to the immediate problem.
And our present problem with the Church and our message is what was clear to the mathematician. Like Laplace, people today no longer have any need of the theistic hypothesis. They see no need to invoke the idea of God. Everything can be explained without that. Meanwhile our bike has a flat tyre.
This must be our first call. This must be our starting-point. We have to reinstate the hypothesis that has been cast aside. We must give time and effort to apologetic. The urgent task is to justify the possibility that our world and its neighbours have a Creator. This involves explaining why we abhor superstition and wishful thinking. It also involves a serious attempt to grapple with our vocabulary.
That serious attempt is not a matter of replacing religious jargon with street-wise slang. It is the exacting business of expressing our beliefs in everyday words. Here is a task confronting not just religious apologists; it is an undertaking facing politicians, administrators and journalists. It is the commonplace task of doing without words such as epicentre, paradigm and trajectory. It is the shunning of evasive polysyllables and bolstered verbiage.
The 271 or so words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address serve as a model. Emmeline Pankhurst used a few simple sentences to good effect in Connecticut in 1913. We can learn from them. And, of course, we have to remember that it is much harder to compose a short speech than a long one.
GERRARDS CROSS PARADE
A cheerful parade of personalities introduce themselves to those visiting the website of St James’s, Gerrards Cross, Bucks. This is one of the most imaginative introductory pages to be found on a church website. The church building is unusual. It is an Italian Byzantine confection ‘touched by a curious eclecticism’ according to John Betjeman’s guide. William Tite designed the church built in 1859. Like S.S. Teulon, who designed St Mary’s, Ealing, he set himself against the prevailing neo-gothic style of Gilbert Scott.
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