Of Hearts & Souls

As Michael Caine is supposed to have said "Not a lot of people know that!" Well, is it well known, I wonder, that the "George" of several generations of the Bush family is given from admiration of the Anglican divine, George Herbert? Probably not.

From an Episcopalian family of good standing, in that they have used their privileged status to assist others through philanthropy, the Bush clan has been the epitome of Episcopal traditions. The High Church position was a guiding path for previous generations. George Herbert was a man who thought deeply about faith, life and the souls of his parishioners. He would have been deeply distressed by the privations now revealed of the poor, disabled and disheartened folk of the Southern shores of the USA.

George Bush strikes me as a man torn between his adopted Texan tough-guy image, good ole boys together, striking out against those who wish to do down the American way of life and keeping his mind on a Christian approach to helping the vulnerable and disposessed. Having moved to Texas, George Bush was considered a young hell-raiser and in need of some form of redemption, which led him away from Episcopal thinking to a more robust evangelical approach to the Christian Life.

I would sincerely like him to lessen his hold on protestant strictures and reclaim some of the thoughts of George Herbert. As a former altar boy at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston when his parents lived there, Bush would have heard of the need to help and assist the poor. Hopefully, by reading and absorbing the works of such as George Herbert, it may make him a better President than his time so far has indicated.

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/index.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2004_May_11/ai_n6145022#continue
http://www.stmartinsepiscopal.org/

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