The Council of Orange
I would like to propose a meeting called “The Council of Orange.” It does not have a time or date, but it does have a model and a vision.
The Model
In late 1914, J.R.R. Tolkien came together with three of his friends, Christopher Wiseman, R.Q. Gilson, and G.B. Smith, for a summit. According to John Garth, “They dubbed the reunion ‘the Council of London’ as if it were a council of war; in fact it was a council of life … They had made a timely decision, though, to combine and consider the matter in hand: the greatness of the TCBS.” While it may seem arrogant to assemble a subset of the original club named the Tea Club and Barrovian Society (TCBS) for the explicit purpose of considering their own greatness, Garth explains, “The inanity that had overtaken the wider group in recent years had left Tolkien and Wiseman convinced that it must now plant its feet firmly in the bedrock of fundamental principles: in other words, all four must open up about their deepest convictions.”
While this kind of ceremony and formality may seem excessive, one must admire the intentionality of these proceedings. The gathered members of the TCBS, a club that began in their school days, recognized that if this fellowship was to survive and pursue great things, there needed to be a foundation. The nonsense that other members of the club had embraced proved to this quartet that it was time for a recommitment if they hoped to, in the words of Humphrey Carpenter, “achieve something of value.” “Tolkien put religion, human love, patriotic duty, and nationalism on the agenda,” Garth writes. “It was not necessary that they all agree, but it was important that they discover the ‘allowable distance apart’, as he put it: in other words, how much internal dissent the club could accommodate.” The pursuit of greatness and the support of each other in that mission did not require ideological unanimity, but it did require a shared commitment to the betterment of each member of the company with an underlying understanding that they would push each other towards the greatness they sought.
The meeting had an immediate impact on Tolkien. As soon as he departed from this gathering, he began to write poetry in earnest again. As Carpenter writes, “Perhaps [the Council of London] was no more than the last spark of childhood ambition before it was snuffed out by experience of the world, but for Tolkien at least it had an important and practical result. He decided that he was a poet.” He began to write poetry, shared his work with his fellow members, and ultimately came back to the poem that began the mythology of Middle-earth, “The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star.”
Sadly, this brotherhood did not last very long because of the Great War. Only Tolkien and Wiseman survived, but the impact of this meeting changed Tolkien forever. In a letter to Smith after receiving news of Gilson’s death in battle, Tolkien wrote, “I cannot abandon yet the hope and ambitions (inchoate and cloudy I know) that first became conscious at the Council of London. That Council was as you know followed in my own case with my finding a voice for all kinds of pent up things and a tremendous opening up of everything for me:— I have always laid that to the credit of the inspiration that even a few hours with the four always brought to all of us.” Lines describing Earendel, combined with Tolkien’s love of language, facilitated the discovery of Middle-earth, a masterwork and vehicle of greatness indeed.
The Council of London could be summarized as a dedication to the pursuit of greatness. Does this mean a dedication to arrogance and self-proclaimed intellectual superiority? No, it most certainly does not. Tolkien was very clear about that when he wrote to Smith that the TCBS “had been granted some spark of fire – certainly as a body if not singly – that was destined to kindle a new light, or, what is the same thing, rekindle an old light in the world.” While he wrestled with what to make of Gilson’s death and his inability to continue on their mission of changing the world, arrogance should not be read into the Council of London. Instead, Tolkien was quite literally convinced that their collective mission to create cultural greatness was God-given. It was not going to be by their own ability that this mission was achieved; they were simply committed to living up to the mission that God had given them based on a foundation of shared first principles and mutual support.
The Vision
Therefore, when I suggested at the beginning of this article that it is time for a Council of Orange, I am not suggesting that we will be a failure if none of us sub-create the greatest fantasy story in history. If that was the standard I was suggesting, I would fail my own mission. However, I am utterly convinced that each and every one of us have the ability to live up to the mission that God has laid out for us when we rely on Him for our strength.
This is not an easy mission to undertake, so it requires an individual and group adherence to principles. This Council provides encouragement as well as accountability. When we falter, we have brothers and sisters to pick us up or correct us. Anything that deters us from achieving this mission needs to be rooted out, and sometimes these vulnerabilities can be seen most clearly by others. The Council provides the community that fulfills one of our deepest human desires combined with the foundational commitment to the pursuit of this God-given mission.
This may sound kind of abstract, but I would like to suggest that it is anything but that. I am picturing a bonfire with food and drink. Such a meeting would probably need to begin in the early evening when the weather is a little bit warmer and we have a bit more daylight. After coming together and settling in, one primary question would occupy the remainder of the night, which may potentially last into the early hours of the morning.
How are we going to pursue greatness here and now?
This question will generate different answers depending on who is in attendance. For some, greatness is going to look a lot more like Tolkien. Greatness is telling that story, writing that book, composing that song, or completing that canvas. Greatness often times looks like creating cultural artifacts.
Greatness can and often does align with other pursuits as well. Every group will not mirror Tolkien's gathering in every way. Vocations are personal callings from God on the lives of individuals. Therefore, your pursuit of greatness may include plowing fields, delivering appliances, or serving tables. I am not in the business of judging where God has certain people at certain times for certain reasons, but I do know that in His providence, he has each one of us in a certain place at a certain time, and we can be on mission in that situation.
The manner in which we pursue greatness is also of chief importance. What principles are we going to build this pursuit upon? Where are we going to require ideological unity and to what extent are we comfortable with certain elements of ideological diversity? In the public square, ideological diversity is always welcome, but in a small group of people brought together for a specific purpose, there are going to be ideas that are not conducive to that mission. Just like any company requires employees to act consistently with company values, any viable Council needs participating members to subscribe to the first principles and foundational elements that create the fellowship the Council is built upon. Yes, this is exclusionary and is intentionally so. However, if everyone is trying to travel in one direction, the previously agreed upon direction of greatness, anything that detracts from that goal is detrimental to that mission.
The public square remains free, and when we leave the Council, the free exchange of ideas should be welcomed and expected. Engaging the culture is why we have been preparing. If we are going to pursue our missions, it is going to be in the world at large. However, the Council is a special time where we come together for edification and focus. We strengthen each other and we admonish each other, but we do it out of love and in each other's best interests. When we commit to this way, we go together, and we work to keep each other on that often times difficult path.
While this may seem abstract, I hope I have shown that it really is quite practical. A group of people come together, decide that they are going to commit to being on mission and to encouraging each other on that way, and follow through with that commitment. Like the TCBS proved, this can be done in mere hours if the intentions are clear and members are committed to working out what this Council is going to look like. A small group of people can indeed change the world, but more often than not, a small group of people changes their corner of the world like Sam Gamgee. How highly did Tolkien regards Sam? He called him his story's "chief hero." We might not all be able to write like Tolkien and go down in history, but we can commit to this pursuit of greatness in our own small ways through the power of God and be Sam. That is our vision.
Conclusion
Tolkien spoke about kindling a new light or rekindling an old light. Yes, that light is desperately needed in our cultural conversations. We need people who can do such things, but that light is also needed in all areas of life. That commitment, that mission, and that desire needs to be there in all Council members or the project is not going to work. That is the highest aim of the Council of Orange.
The Council of Orange does not have a time and date yet. But it has a model and a vision. In times of chaos and uncertainty, we should not surrender the mantle of Tolkien and stop trying to kindle a fire in a world that desperately needs to see light.