{"id":2162,"date":"2011-02-26T13:39:25","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T18:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=2162"},"modified":"2013-05-31T18:08:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T02:08:53","slug":"where-ignorant-armies-clash-by-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/where-ignorant-armies-clash-by-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Ignorant Armies Clash by Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Do you ever feel like you are losing your faith? You are not alone.<\/p>\n

I encountered the following poem in NT Wright’s book, The Challenge of Jesus<\/a><\/em>, and was so struck by the last stanza that this poem became my second favorite poem of all time.<\/p>\n

It seems to describe his tumultuous struggle with faith, and the sadness, loneliness, and fear this caused. In the last line, what armies do you think he is talking about? Literal armies of governments and nations, or figurative armies of faith and religion? What is his solution? Is he right?<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

DOVER BEACH<\/h2>\n

By Matthew Arnold
\n1867<\/p>\n

The sea is calm tonight,
\nThe tide is full, the moon lies fair
\nUpon the straits; on the French coast the light
\nGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
\nGlimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
\nCome to the window, sweet is the night air!<\/p>\n

Only, from the long line of spray
\nWhere the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
\nListen! you hear the grating roar
\nOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
\nAt their return, up the high strand,
\nBegin, and cease, and then again begin,
\nWith tremulous cadence slow, and bring
\nThe eternal note of sadness in.<\/p>\n

Sophocles long ago
\nHeard it on the Agean, and it brought
\nInto his mind the turbid ebb and flow
\nOf human misery; we
\nFind also in the sound a thought,
\nHearing it by this distant northern sea.<\/p>\n

The Sea of Faith
\nWas once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
\nLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
\nBut now I only hear
\nIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
\nRetreating, to the breath
\nOf the night wind, down the vast edges drear
\nAnd naked shingles of the world.<\/p>\n

Ah, love, let us be true
\nTo one another! for the world, which seems
\nTo lie before us like a land of dreams,
\nSo various, so beautiful, so new,
\nHath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
\nNor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
\nAnd we are here as on a darkling plain
\nSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
\nWhere ignorant armies clash by night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you ever feel like you are losing your faith? You are not alone. I encountered the following poem in NT Wright’s book, The Challenge of Jesus, and was so struck by the last stanza that this poem became my second favorite poem of all time. It seems to describe his tumultuous struggle with faith, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-2162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-discipleship","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nWhere Ignorant Armies Clash by Night<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A poem written by Matthew Dover in 1867 gives voice to the pain, fear, and despair that many feel in today's world. 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