The Word in Focus with Dr Larry Taylor

Truncated and oft misquoted, Lord Acton’s letter to Bishop Creighton (who was advocating for looser moral standards for people in high places of public leadership) said in context:

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to justify the means. You would hang a man of no position, like Ravaillac; but if what one hears is true, then [Queen] Elizabeth [I] asked the gaoler to murder Mary, and William III ordered his Scots minister to extirpate a clan. Here are the greater names coupled with the greater crimes. You would spare these criminals, for some mysterious reason. I would hang them, higher than Haman, for reasons of quite obvious justice; still more, still higher, for the sake of historical science.”  – John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton, 1832-1902

Lord Acton is using the phrase “great men” to refer to people who are great in the eyes of the world – kings, queens, popes, presidents, prime ministers, founders of influential movements, captains of industry. And he’s right, great people are almost always bad people. The exceptions like Martin Luther King, Jr., Jimmy Carter, John Lewis, and Queen Elizabeth II only prove the rule. The vast majority of humans cannot handle wealth and power. To get it, people sell their souls, develop inflated images of themselves, lose touch with normal people, and make nefarious compromises.

“Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don’t make me either rich or poor; just give me enough food for each day. If I have too much, I might reject you and say, ‘I don’t know the LORD.’ If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9 New Century Version)

Jesus taught us that it is impossible to serve God and mammon, and yet we keep trying. By seeking wealth and power, bad people get worse and good people become bad. Making matters worse, society tends to hold “great” people to a different standard than, say, the black 18-year-old boy on Chicago’s west side.

“Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god.” ― Jean Rostand

I believe in a final assize. Justice will prevail. All people will stand before a just God who knows every motive, thought, and influence. Judgement will be impartial. A person’s wealth or position won’t matter, and most of those who achieved greatness in this sense will know they have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.

Lord Acton uses the word “great” in its vernacular sense. Jesus redefined greatness:

The greatest among you will be your servant.For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:11-12, NIV)