Kruse Kronicle

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day. Everyone be safe out there.

Early Retirees in New Ventures, Mostly for Fun

New York Times: Early Retirees in New Ventures, Mostly for Fun

RISK-AVERSE? Clueless as to what P.&.L means? You, too, can be an entrepreneur.

Not the hard-driving type who makes the business news pages. Rather, the laid-back, come-what-may variety. Many of them are part of the first wave of America’s 76 million baby boomers who are taking early retirement and turning their hobbies into small businesses. Very small businesses.

They say their microbusinesses are a way to give focus to a favorite pastime, get more zest out of life and make a little money. The best part is they do not care if the ventures fail. ...

Christianity in a Chinese workplace? For some.

Christian Science Monitor: Christianity in a Chinese workplace? For some.

Beijing - A spiffy corporate campus in China isn't exactly where you'd expect to find a four-foot-tall wooden cross, let alone a church filled with Chinese singing hymns.

But that's what's happening on the Beijing and other campuses of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company (SMIC), whose founding CEO is an enthusiastic evangelical Christian.

A leader in what Beijing considers a highly strategic industry, the chipmaking company has secured unusual leeway for free worship from a government that's extremely cautious about organized religion.

But despite their often hard line on religion, in practice, Chinese authorities use a sliding scale of religious control – influenced in part by how much a group contributes to a prosperous and "harmonious" society. ...

US farm bill "too little, too late" for developing world

IRIN: US farm bill "too little, too late" for developing world

NEW YORK, 1 July 2008 (IRIN) - New ground was broken in US attempts to break the link between foreign food aid and supporting its own farmers in a new farm bill, but for many, including the Bush-led administration, it was too little, too late.

For the first time, the legislation freed some of the money to be used in cash for food purchases locally or regionally in recipient countries instead of in-kind produce shipped from the US, the world’s largest food aid donor.

The farm bill governs food aid and is updated every five years.

But the amount - US$60 million over four years – was a fraction of the $300 million President George Bush had sought for one fiscal year and will be spent on a pilot programme.

Congress’s decision was rued by Bush, who noted that the farm bill, “… restricts our ability to redirect food aid dollars for emergency use at a time of great need globally … The bill does not include the requested authority to buy food in the developing world to save lives.” ...

Do You Know The Way FROM San Jose?

PGF Outbox: Do You Know The Way FROM San Jose?

To most observers, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been a slow motion train wreck for the past thirty years. Year by year, membership dwindles, conflicts mount, finances shrink and trust in the existing leaders and structures dissipates. With the most recent General Assembly in San Jose, the smoke seems at last to have cleared, and the steaming debris of the PC(USA) has settled into place.

It’s not a pretty sight. One thing for sure: this Humpty won’t be getting back together again for a long time, if ever.

My purpose in writing is to offer the Presbyterian Global Fellowship (PGF) Conference in Long Beach, August 14-16, as a hopeful way forward. But first I want to take my best shot at explaining where we are as a denomination and how we got here. ...

Early Returns Are Mixed

Christianity Today: Early Returns Are Mixed

Global evangelicals don't necessarily vote like American evangelicals.

Landmark studies by Philip Jenkins, David Martin, Lamin Sanneh, Dana Robert, and Andrew Walls have powerfully described the move of Christianity's center of gravity from the Christian West to the Global South. Now comes an extraordinarily valuable book series titled Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in the Global South (5 stars), which includes volumes on Latin America (Paul Freston, ed.), Africa (Terence O. Ranger, ed.), and Asia (forthcoming, David Halloran Lumsdaine, ed.). The series heralds a new day for understanding the contemporary realities of world Christianity. With funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, and under the leadership of Timothy Samuel Shah, scholarly teams were commissioned to produce studies that examine the diverse ways the world's newer evangelical communities relate to currents of political democracy.

The teams provide diligently researched case studies explaining what life on the ground has really been like in this era of rapid evangelical expansion. There are five for Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, and Brazil) and six for Africa (Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa).

With an impressive display of careful research, the books' chapters explore a series of complex yet very important questions: Have the evangelical movements of the majority world contributed to the strengthening of democratic institutions and practices? Has American influence made evangelicals elsewhere in the world dupes for regimes propped up by American military aid or multinational business interests? Does it make a difference whether evangelicals are Anglicans (say, in Kenya or Nigeria), Pentecostals (in much of Latin America), or neo-Pentecostals with an emphasis on health and wealth (in many African and Latin American regions)? ...

Solution, or Mess? A Milk Jug for a Green Earth

New York Times: Solution, or Mess? A Milk Jug for a Green Earth

NORTH CANTON, Ohio — A simple change to the design of the gallon milk jug, adopted by Wal-Mart and Costco, seems made for the times. The jugs are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less.

What’s not to like? Plenty, as it turns out.

The jugs have no real spout, and their unorthodox shape makes consumers feel like novices at the simple task of pouring a glass of milk.

“I hate it,” said Lisa DeHoff, a cafe owner shopping in a Sam’s Club here.

“It spills everywhere,” said Amy Wise, a homemaker.

“It’s very hard for kids to pour,” said Lee Morris, who was shopping for her grandchildren.

But retailers are undeterred by the prospect of upended bowls of Cheerios. The new jugs have many advantages from their point of view, and Sam’s Club intends to roll them out broadly, making them more prevalent. ...

...The company estimates this kind of shipping has cut labor by half and water use by 60 to 70 percent. More gallons fit on a truck and in Sam’s Club coolers, and no empty crates need to be picked up, reducing trips to each Sam’s Club store to two a week, from five — a big fuel savings. Also, Sam’s Club can now store 224 gallons of milk in its coolers, in the same space that used to hold 80. ...

A View from the Pew of One Emerging Presbyterian Woman on the Recent GA

Here is a letter from one of my loyal Presbyterian readers in California and an avid Emerging Church conversationlist. She wrote this letter to Bruce Reyes-Chow, our new moderator, in response to a post he wrote Can we agree to disagree about homosexuality?. She expresses well what I hear others saying. (Name is withheld but if you want to hunt it done in the comments, you're welcome to.)

****************

Hi Bruce.  I'm grateful that folks had the sense to elect a younger moderator with the sensibilities you seem to have (not trying to sound rude, it's just that I haven't heard of you before...).  May God bless you and your work.  Since you have a blog and have asked for input, here goes.
 
The commenter above who said that most PCUSA people are not at the extremes is correct.  Not only that, but it's my experience that most PCUSA people don't even have the denominational structure/leadership on their radar screens.  Except for dust-ups that come from hearing about what happened with the latest hot-button issue at the latest GA, the denominational workings are *totally irrelevant* to the average congregant.  We  therefore have a *functionally* congregational ("Baptist"?!!) polity in terms of how we actually do what we do in any given congregation.  There are two reasons the PCUSA has held together as long as it has, and I think they would apply to the other Presbyterian iterations in this country, if I understand the history aright.  One is that there is some sort of agreement on the constitution and what it means to abide by it by those in leadership on the presbytery level, even with all the tension.  The other is that there are (still) lots of Presbyterians who are loyal to the denomination and derive their identity from being Presbyterian.  (Neither one of these is a bad thing, although the latter sometimes is carried too far, imo.)
 
Now we are asked -yet again- to vote to amend the constitution.  We have already done this, as another commenter has said, at least twice in recent memory, with the same results both times.  Therefore, istm that the message is clear:  the majority in the middle of a mainline denomination does not want the constitution amended on this matter.  I think an amicable, gracious split would not be the worst that could happen; it would surely be better than the unamicable ones of the past.  In that case, since the majority wants to abide by the constitution as it is, it would seem to me that it is incumbent upon those who have tried and failed to change it to leave, with their property and pensions, and form their own constitution that they can abide by.
 
You speak of faithfulness.  If we call ourselves Christians, I agree that it is important to be faithful, first of all to Jesus:  the incarnate God/man who lived, called people to the Kingdom of God (as 1st C. Jews understood that idea), was crucified and died, and bodily arose on the third day.  I have difficulty with the concept of ordaining people who deny that Jesus is both God and Man and that he was bodily resurrected after having been dead.  That is what marks Christianity out from all other religions; indeed, it is the only explanation for the existence of Christianity at all.  I'm not going to presume to judge about anyone's eternal destiny- that is God's business only- and I know we're all over the map in our theological understandings.  But istm that that needs to be the first order of faithfulness in our leadership if we're going to call ourselves Christian.  We have "fudged" on this one for a long time, at least 40 years.
 
WRT "the hot-button issue", most Presbyterians I know hold to what has been the teaching of Christianity from the beginning:  1) Jesus accepts everyone.  (Acceptance in and of itself is not the issue.  Demonizing or otherwise belittling same-sex attracted people is just plain wrong.)  2) Overseers are to be faithful to one (other-gender) spouse if married and celibate if single.  No one attempting either one of these avenues of faithfulness would say either is easy; but neither are they impossible.  (Slavery and ordaining women are not comparable, in terms of our being "more enlightened now", because there were early Christian voices against slavery, and the only voices against slavery until very recently have been Christian; and in the early years of the church there were ordained women, especially to the diaconate, for a significant amount of time, and women have continued to serve  even in the years when women's ordination was lost.  Divorce might be comparable, but even so it is still considered to be a sin, or at least a grave failing.)
 
I come to this discussion from "the outside".  I was not raised in the Presbyterian church and have been a member for only 8½ years.  Though I have been a part of several Christian traditions, I am not a church hopper; in 52 years, I've made two church changes because of conscience, and the rest because I've moved to a different town.  My husband and I will probably move again within a few years, and I don't envision myself continuing as a Presbyterian.  I live in a small town, so my church options are limited.  I love the people in my PCUSA congregation.  They accept me and help me serve where I am gifted and called, and they seem to think I help them too.  They hold generally to theological understandings I can agree to in good conscience.  That is why I am currently a Presbyterian.
 
I am otherwise pretty ambivalent about the denomination.  Because of the way the P. church governance is set up, it does feel mechanistic and moribund, and sometimes it looks like the leadership, even "down to" the presbytery level, is about power struggles, if not on the ordination issue, then others.  That's the down side.  The up side is that the PCUSA supports many who are faithful to Jesus and care about people, who do a great deal of good in their communities and all over the world. 
 
I am not an inerrantist, but I do believe words have meanings.  I feel like most of those who are for ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians have been trying to pull the rug out from under the feet of most PCUSA-ers, especially in instances of using the same words but changing their meanings.
 
I think the emerging conversation is one of the best things happening in the global church, and I'm very glad the PCUSA is a significant conversation partner in its US expression.
 
Thanks again for listening.

D.

My Reflection on the General Assembly 218 "Troubles"

Well, here we are again. The General Assembly is over, the press is reporting that the PCUSA has lifted its ban on ordaining non-celibate homosexual persons, and the buzz has risen to fever pitch. So what to make of it all? I wish I knew. I’ll offer a few of my observations but if you’re here looking for a neat tidy solution you’ll be disappointed.

What Happened

First, authoritative interpretations defining homosexual acts as sin, dating back to 1978-1979, were declared to no longer be in force. An authoritative interpretation is a binding statement of the General Assembly on a particular issue.

Second, an authoritative interpretation was issued that permits candidates for ordained office to “scruple” specific behaviors mandated in the Constitution. The last General Assembly created a means whereby a candidate can declare a scruple with some aspect of the Constitution. As long as the ordaining body determines that the issue doesn’t violate an essential tenet of the reformed faith, then all is fine. What was in doubt after the last assembly was whether behaviors (as opposed to just beliefs) could be scrupled. This authoritative interpretation affirms that behaviors may be scrupled.

Third, there is a provision in the Book of Order that says:

Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders or ministers of the Word and Sacrament. (G-6.0106b)

The assembly voted to recommend to the presbyteries that we alter this section and remove any exclusion of non-celibate homosexual persons. Unlike the two authoritative interpretations, this change must be submitted to the Presbyteries for 50% plus one approval.

Some Statistical Insight

According to the most recent Presbyterian Panel I can find online:

• 75% of members and elders did not agree that sexually active gay and lesbian persons should be ordained. (It was 57% for ministers.)
• 80% of members and elders did not agree that ordination of gays and lesbians should be left to a case-by-case basis of the presbyteries.

After putting G-0.0106B in the Constitution in 1996 attempts to remove it were rebuffed by the presbyteries in 1997 (by 67%) and in 2001 (by 75%).

Where We Stand Now

We have a denomination where 75% of people believe non-celibate gay persons shouldn’t be ordained, where 80% of the denomination doesn’t want this issue handled on a case-by-case basis, and where we have a past General Assembly who inserted G-0.0106b in the Book of Order (in 1996) followed by two subsequent assemblies who proposed removal but had it rejected by 2/3 and 3/4 margins in presbyteries. So what did this assembly do? Eliminate authoritative interpretations that preclude the ordination of non-celibate gay persons, created local option for presbyteries, and sent the presbyteries back to debate removing the section from the Constitution a third time.

Now being in the majority doesn’t make one right. Nor are commissioners sent to the General Assembly to represent constituencies. Yet you might think that the commissioners would be somewhat similar to the makeup of the broader church. You would think that if the overwhelming majority of the church is opposed to actions that the Assembly is taking the first thing you would do is persuade the rest of the body of the validity of your position. Apparently not so. Rather than doing the hard work of persuasion, what we see is imperialism. We see "prophetic" power politics invading the assembly as a well organized minority attempts to impose its will on the majority.

The Consequences

It’s simply too early to evaluate the consequences. Some fear schism. I’m doubtful of that. Increased evaporation of members is more likely and combined more congregational defections. What is almost certain is increased alienation from the larger church by a host of congregations.

Over the past four years I’ve worked on the General Assembly Mission Council (formerly known as the General Assembly Council.) The change has been remarkable. It has gone from a directionless turf oriented morass to a collaborative and creative enterprise. Great strides have been made to identify those things for which there is broad church-wide support and to build energy around them. Finances have stabilized. Communications are improving. For the first time since the late 1950s our plans call for increasing the number of mission partner workers we send for the sake of the gospel to other countries. There has been a growing sense of momentum about future possibilities.

I’m concerned that all this momentum may now grind to halt, even should the Constitutional Amendment be defeated. I suspect we are about to see a decline in mission giving. I hope and pray that I’m wrong but I think it is entirely possible that about a year from now our time at the GAMC is going to collapse into a crisis mode created by significant shortfalls in giving. Most Presbyterians don’t make subtle distinctions about General Assembly versus the work of the General Assembly Mission Council or any other entity of the church. All they know is “those people in Louisville” and they are looking for a target. Meanwhile, I wonder how our mission partners in emerging nations are going to respond to these actions. I wonder how badly the witness of Christ will be damaged in these regions.

Having sat through the floor debate on these issues, I confess I was struck by both the animus of those proposing the changes and the woeful lack of sound theological discourse. Multiple times arguments for gay ordination and same-sex marriage in the church were based on the right to pursue happiness under the U.S. Constitution. There were arguments in favor of same-sex behavior because some people were born that way, thus arguing ethics from biological determinism and ignoring the corrupting influence of sin in creation. (I have two siblings who suffer from rare forms of genetically caused by muscular dystrophy. By this logic we are to accept this as God’s will?) The most theological of arguments touched on vague notions of love being open to everyone. Meanwhile, the dominant refrain from those opposing the changes was the negative fall-out this would have with the folks back home. Only a few gave any clear biblical and theological response. This lack of ability to address the issues in a meaningful theological debate was just depressing.

Like I said, if you’re looking for solutions, you’ve come to wrong place, but from where I sit this is what the lay of the land looks like. I wish I could put a nice big happy face at the end here but none is forthcoming. Fortunately, my hope lies not in the fate of the PCUSA but in Christ alone.

Sharing wisdom

Christian Century: Sharing wisdom by Miroslav Volf

We live in an age of great conflicts and petty hopes. Take first our hopes. In the book The Real American Dream, Andrew Delbanco traced the history of the scope of American dreams—from the "holy God" of the Puritan founders, to the "great nation" of the 19th-century patriots, to the "satisfied self" of many today. With some modifications, America's yearning for the satisfied self is probably indicative of trends in most societies that are highly integrated into the global market system. The idea of flourishing as a human being has shriveled to meaning no more than leading an experientially satisfying life. The sources of satisfaction may vary: power, possessions, love, religion, sex, food, drugs. What matters most is not the source of satisfaction but the experience of it—my satisfaction.

Our satisfied self is our best hope, and it is not petty. But a dark shadow of disappointment stubbornly follows this obsession with personal satisfaction. We are meant to live for something larger than our own satisfied selves, and petty hopes generate only self-subverting, melancholy experiences. ...

Scot McKnight on Heaven

Jesus Creed: Heaven 1

There are two good reasons to do a focused Bible study on heaven. First, because the history of how Christians have understood heaven has been written by several and this history reveals that Christians have both invented plenty and have failed to interact adequately with the Bible. For, this I recommend McDannell and Lang, Heaven: A History. The second reason is because Tom Wright, in Surprised by Hope, has suggested that heaven is not a place we go to eternally after we die. Instead, at the resurrection we will enter into the new heavens and the new earth. So, here goes …

Ranking states by the liberalism/conservatism of their voters

Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science: Ranking states by the liberalism/conservatism of their voters

Here's a graph of the 50 states (actually, I think Alaska and Hawaii are missing), showing the average economic and social ideology of adults within each state. Each of these is scaled so that negative numbers are liberal and positive are conservative; thus, people in Massachusetts are the most liberal on economic issues and people in Idaho are the most conservative:

The post contains other interesting graphs as well.

A "Withering" Review of "Pagan Christianity"

Ben Witherington: PAGAN CHRISTIANTY: by George Barna and Frank Viola

First a word of disclaimer. I know Frank Viola, indeed for some years he has asked me loads of good and telling questions via email. I did not really know what his take was on various matters, but I gladly answered his questions. It is interesting to me that this book appears to take no notice of various of these answers which I have given, nor are any of my works found in the bibliography at the end of the book. Perhaps I have missed something in the minutiae of the truly minute footnotes at the bottom of each page, but now I am wondering why exactly I have answered all those questions over the years. It’s a pity.

Frank Viola is a sharp person, but neither he nor George Barna really interact in this book with the scholarly literature that would call into question their strident claims and theses. They are arguing a particular case, and so they largely cite sources that support their case, for example Robert Banks’ work on Pauline house churches comes in for heavy usage. Their claim to present us with bare historical fact and to stand always on the Biblical high ground needs to be seen for what it is from the outset--- good and powerful rhetoric meant to warm the cockles of the hearts of all who affirm Sola Scriptura, but when one actually examines some of the major claims closely, they will not stand close and critical scrutiny. ...

Whee doggies! You might want to sit back from your computer to read this one. Otherwise your eyebrows might get singed. :)

What lies beneath

Boston Globe: What lies beneath

LIFE IS HELL, or so the expression goes, but, for many Americans, the afterlife is looking up.

Last week's release of a sweeping study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life confirmed a long-developing trend in popular cosmology: belief in heaven is outstripping belief in hell.

The Pew survey, significant for the breadth and depth made possible by its unusually large 35,000-person sample, found that 74 percent of Americans say they think there is a heaven, "where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded," while just 59 percent think there is a hell, "where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished." ..

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Record High Gas Prices? We're Still Not Even Close

Carpe Diem (Mark Perry): Record High Gas Prices? We're Still Not Even Close

...For gas to reach a record high as a percent of per-capita disposable income, it would have to sell today for $5.47 per gallon to reach 14.90% of per-capita disposable income, like it did in March of 1981, when gas sold for $1.42 per gallon, and per-capita disposable income was only $9,500.

Spain ecstatic at Euro 2008 win

BBC: Spain ecstatic at Euro 2008 win

Thousands of euphoric Spanish fans are celebrating in Madrid after their football team won Euro 2008, beating Germany 1-0 in the final.

Fernando Torres' goal gave Spain its first major trophy in 44 years.

The capital is awash with the red and gold national colours, as fans draped in flags dance and sing in the streets.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Madrid describes noisy scenes of jubilation in the Plaza Colon, where thousands of people have gathered. ...

Will Africa take action against Zimbabwe's Mugabe?

Christian Science Monitor: Will Africa take action against Zimbabwe's Mugabe?

The African Union is expected to discuss the issue in Egypt Monday, one day after Mugabe declared a 'sweeping victory' in Friday's presidential runoff, which was widely condemned as a sham.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA; and HARARE, ZIMBABWE - President Robert Mugabe has long been able to count on African leaders to sympathize with his goals of ridding Zimbabwe of the vestiges of white colonial rule.

But with his brutal tactics in what's widely seen as a sham runoff presidential election Friday, Mr. Mugabe may have squandered his last shred of credibility even in Africa.

Monday, at a meeting of African leaders in Egypt, Mugabe faces a critical personal test. Will the African Union join the international community in pushing for new sanctions, even military intervention, in Zimbabwe?

"We are saying we want the African Union to send troops to Zimbabwe," Kenya's Prime Minster Raila Odinga said on Saturday. "The time has come for the African continent to stand firm in unity to end dictatorship."

This call is echoed by retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, while East African nations are calling on Mugabe and his opponents to negotiate a peaceful power-sharing deal. ...

 

My PCUSA General Assembly Thoughts?

I know some are probably coming here to see what I might post about the PCUSA General Assembly. For now, just one word:

"Processing …. processing …. processing …. processing…"

[Please do not interpret this process. You will be notified when this process is complete.]

Dodgers Beat Angels Without a Hit

New York Times: Dodgers Beat Angels Without a Hit

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo combined to no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night -- and it still wasn't good enough for the Los Angeles Angels.

The Dodgers became the fifth team in modern major league history to win a game in which they didn't get a hit, defeating the Angels 1-0. Weaver's error on a slow roller led to an unearned run by the Dodgers in the fifth.

Weaver downplayed the fact the Angels lost without giving up a hit. ...

GA Update

I had intended to give my Presbyterian friends an update about events that happened at the PCUSA General Assembly yesterday. Lots of business went down. The Form of Government report is being sent out to the presbyteries for study. The committee resolution to the issues I had written about concerning the Presbyterian Foundation and the General Assembly Council passed without debate. Modifications to the Heidelberg Catechism will be sent to presbyteries for study. Gradye Parsons was elected Stated Clerk this morning. I could list other events but instead I’ll just refer you the GA website.

The biggest breaking news came this morning. An authoritative interpretation was made that clarifies that not only may beliefs be scrupled but behaviors as well. In this process, I candidate for ministry declares a scruple and if the presbytery believes it doesn’t violate essential tenants of the reformed faith they may approve the candidate anyway. The target is the Book of Order provision G-6.0106B, which, “…prohibits practicing, unrepentant homosexuals, adulterers, or anyone engaged in unrepentant sexual relations outside the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman from being ordained and/or installed to church office whether as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.”

Speaking of G-6.0106B, the Assembly is sending out to the presbyteries an amendment to delete this provision from the Book of Order. The same motion also made the 1978 authoritative interpretations that homosexual practice is sin no longer in force.

In short, while at this time G-6.0106B remains part of the Constitution it is no longer binding, which means for the first time it is officially sanctioned to ordain people openly engaged in homosexual activity, assuming concurrence of an ordaining body. I think many are taking a long hard look at what their personal response should be going forward.

The meaning of Bill Gates

The Economist: The meaning of Bill Gates

As his reign at Microsoft comes to an end, so does the era he dominated.

WHEN Bill Gates helped to found Microsoft 33 years ago there was a company rule that no employees should work for a boss who wrote worse computer code than they did. Just five years later, with Microsoft choking on its own growth, Mr Gates hired a business manager, Steve Ballmer, who had cut his teeth at Procter & Gamble, which sells soap. The founder had chucked his coding rule out of the window.

In becoming the world’s richest man, Mr Gates’s unswerving self-belief has repeatedly been punctuated by that sort of pragmatism. But those qualities have never been on such public display as they were this week, when the outstanding businessman of his age stepped back from a life’s work. ...