The Household and the War for the Cosmos by C.R. Wiley 

The book is The Household and the War for the Cosmos by C.R. Wiley. It was originally published in 2019 by Canon Press. I read the 2019 paperback edition. I read it in June of 2023.  

The title refers to the similarity between the household and the cosmos. The household is a microcosm. The family is the first earthly institution established by God. It has form and order and a hierarchy, just like the cosmos.  

Over the last hundred years or so, there have been detrimental fractures of the godly household. But as we save the household, we save the cosmos.  

I read this because Michael Foster said C.R. Wiley is the manliest man he knows.  

I’ve known about this book for a while from Doug Wilson and following Canon Press. But I’ve just recently understood its importance in the realm Christian biblical manhood.  

Chris Wiley is teaching about piety in this book. He draws his definition of piety from the classical literary work The Aeneid, which I’ve not read yet. Wiley says that The Aeneid perfectly captures the idea of piety which is really about duty.  

So what is a man’s pious duty? It’s to take care of his father and make a way for his son. Carry the wisdom and gravitas of your father, contribute to his legacy and then extend it down to your own son.  

It’s really about legacy. What am I learning from my father and what am I passing down to my son? I have a sense of duty to preserve what came before from my actual and spiritual fathers and grandfathers and pass it on to my children.  

For a Christian man, this means I will worship the same God as my father and grandfather and my son and grandson will worship that same God as well.  

Where the cosmos comes in is how we bear God’s image in our stewardship of this world. The household is a microcosm of the universe and Christ is Lord over both.  

In creation God made us in his image and how we most directly bear his image is in our dominion of the cosmos. We are stewards and managers of all things that belong to God which is all things.  

We are to tend to this cosmic garden in the way that God has laid in his word.  

Wiley perfectly reconciles our eternal state with our responsibilities here on Earth. As Christian men, we are to be about the work of redeeming all things to the original intent for which God created it.  

The first realm of that work is our household. God’s original intent for the household is production.  

Before the Fall, God put Adam in the garden to work it and keep it (Gen 2:15). This working and keeping was meant to start in the home and then extend out into the cosmos.  

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this book has changed my life. It’s given me a practical roadmap of exactly what in the world I’m supposed to be doing. That is, cultivate my household into a productive place with my wife and children.  

This book I a huge reason Lauren and I are trying to have more kids after we thought we were done.  

Wiley also talks about the importance of a productive household.  

Not too long ago, for the vast majority of people, the home was the center of food production and commerce, education, healthcare, family worship, and relaxation.  

The home used to be the center of everything good and important. The family used to work the land together side by side for the benefit of each other.  

But since the industrial revolution we’ve slowly exported all the most important things out of the home and into the factories, offices, marketplaces and school houses.  

This lead directly spawned the mind virus of feminism and then leftist woke ideology. The women were the last to leave the home.  

Modernist society devalued the home and everything happening in it, so of course women grew resentful and discontent when they’re “stuck at home.” They wanted to leave the house too, and they did. And now the home has become a place primarily for entertainment and recreation.  

I believe this is the main reason the world seems to be going to shit. We’ve dismantled the household and now the cosmos is cracking.  

There’s so much more that can be said about this book and C.R. Wiley. He has a few other books that I will definitely be reading. But this one was a gamechanger for me. Extremely important.  

This book is very readable. Short and to the point. Wiley is an economical writer in more ways than one. Great biblical wisdom for men. Direct practical advice that comes straight from God’s word and truth.  

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is essential required reading for every Christian man.  

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

Notable Quotables 

Historically, the household has been the basis for the formation of all the other social institutions-school, church, business enterprise, city, nation. As the household goes, so go all the other institutions of society. (Nancy Pearcy. pxiii) 

It is difficult for the modern office worker or factory worker who is gone from home all day to be their children’s teacher in the way the Bible writers had in mind. They were thinking of fathers who spent the entire day with their wives and children, the kind of childhood Jesus would have experienced, working daily with his father in a carpenter’s shop. We need to think carefully how much we have let our lives be captive to modern history and economic structures. (Nancy Pearcey xv)  

But even when people manage to have children they treat them like pets, things to lavish ourselves upon, but not depend upon. And like a self-fulfilling prophecy, when these children reach adulthood, often you can’t depend upon them. (p8) 

the Christian religion has influenced Western civilization for the good. Think about how the arts, the sciences, and our laws, customs, and holidays wouldn’t even exist in their current forms without the Christian religion. No, you cannot reduce Christianity to a relationship; it is bigger than that. Religion really is a better word than relationship for describing what it is. (p16) 

In that song [I Serve A Risen Savior] the line that is supposed to persuade you to believe that Jesus rose from the dead is, “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!” 

What we are left with today is heart religion, because now the heart is the only place Jesus can be publicly acknowledged to live. Ironically, many people think that this is the sum total of Christianity, and the notion that this is actually a downgrading of the faith is inconceivable. (p20) 

that people no longer see themselves as part of a line. Instead, we think of ourselves as points-disconnected, isolated, and seemingly self-contained points.’…Aeneas and Abraham believed they had received some benefit from above, and each felt duty-bound to pass it on to his heirs. This is what I mean by a legacy. (p39) 

Oddly, many Christians today agree with Sagan that science gives us the cosmos as it is. What Christianity adds is Jesus in your heart. (p57) 

First of all, a household wasn’t a building. It wasn’t even a family–although it certainly included one. Essentially a household was an authority structure. (p70) 

Today we largely think of our homes as recreation centers. That’s because in the Industrial Revolution most of the productive economy moved out of the house. Because of this, some people have wondered, just what is a father for? (p71) 

In the pre-modern world, a father gave his household its vertical dimension. That’s because you must have hierarchy when serious work is to be done. But verticality didn’t begin or end with him. Fathers were subject to higher authorities. You could call them the middlemen of the cosmos. He stands between his household and heaven, representing each to the other. (p74) 

Duty never says, “You be you,” or “Go ahead and do what makes you happy.” Duty says, This is who you are; do what is required.” (p76) 

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” (G.K. Chesterton p76) 

Households were productive, intergenerational enterprises, and in those days empty nesters were pitied, not congratulated. (p96) 

Oh sure, someone may have a nice house in a nice neighborhood. But that doesn’t count. Dad and Mom usually work for someone else. They sell their time to people that own the businesses they work for…They’re used to thinking of their work as earning a reward—like a paycheck, something that can be carried off and enjoyed privately. But that is the way that slaves think, not heirs. (p97)