[Soapbox] IN DEFENSE OF SAMUEL SEABURY
Day 1,163, 17:53
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Published in USA 
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by
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by Silas Soule
IN DEFENSE OF SAMUEL SEABURY
by Phoenix Quinn
Who Is Samuel Seabury?
Sam Seabury caught my attention as soon as he appeared in eRepublik.
His approach to the game was unusual, to say the least. First off, he named his avatar after the first (RL) American Episcopal bishop. To dispel any doubt about his role-playing intent, he used a portrait of the RL Samuel Seabury in-game.
Quite a bold move in a browser game where the vast majority of American players are much more likely to reference The Simpsons or Call of Duty 4 than a not-so-well-known icon of American high church theology.
The actual Samuel Seabury lived 1729 – 1796. Initially, he was a devoted Loyalist who became known to the publick (haha, little anachronism there for ya!) by carrying on a series of literary debates, as peole were wont to do in those days, with Alexander Hamilton.
Seabury was later consecrated the first American Bishop under the Scottish Rite of the Anglican church. Unlike the English Rite, the Scottish Episcolpalians did not recognize the authority of George III. Eventually he became the leader of the diocese of Rhode Island, a state that is not only the home of our very own rebel trouble-maker, SamWystan, but has a long RL history of being a haven to religious dissidents and minorities of many types.
In a historical sense, Rhode Island is sort of like the "anti-Massachusetts". Rhode Island was established as a refuge from religious persecution in Massachusetts. Congregation Jeshuat Israel, based in Newport, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in North America and its Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States. The first American Baptist church was founded in Rhode Island. Anglicans, a distinct minority in Congregationalist-controlled New England, like other religious dissenters found a home in Rhode Island.
The RL Bishop Seabury played a key role in promoting elements of the Scottish Rite into American Anglican practice, particularly its restoration of the epiklesis or invocation of the Holy Spirit in the consecration of the Communion elements. Seabury also advocated for the restoration of another ancient custom: the weekly celebration of Holy Communion on Sunday rather than the infrequent observance that became customary in most Protestant churches after the Reformation.
The 18th-century Bishop Seabury was far ahead of his time. Two centuries later, the custom of weekly Eucharist had spread through nearly all Protestant and Anglican congregations in North America, due in large part to Seabury's Liturgical Movement.
Fiat Lux
Even more remarkable, as I watched Samuel Seabury start to make his way in the New World was his insistence on playing the game as if he really were the historical Seabury. That's what earned him so much scorn from the hoi polloi.
The message seemed to be that it's OK to be different as long as you're not too different. And for a good number of rather vocal players, Sam's wild melding of historical characterization based on a kind of truly conservative liberation theology with game-playing was "over the line".
As many gentle readers will no doubt recall, during that period certain players had made it their personal cause to heap condemnation on anybody they perceived as a "role player". Now, the "mechanists vs. role players" debate has become tiresome and tedious. So I won't bother to get up on my particular soapbox about it. Suffice it to say that our Bishop Seabury soon had every reason to believe that he would have an opportunity to be the New World's first Christian martyr.
You can hear the echoes of all that from time to time in the somewhat vulgar and context-free comments that a few dullards still feel obliged to make about Sam in various comment threads.
Tediuos troll hard at work on the Internetz
At first, to be frank, I wasn't entirely thrilled with Sam's paper Church Times either. It was a bit too much RL theology for my tastes, which tend more towards Oscar Wilde and Guy Debord than Ephesians or Isaiah.
But I guess I have an instinctual affinity for outsiders and "others". For a whole host of reasons, I'm often drawn towards people who march to their own drum, even if it's not my own particularly favorite beat.
So I started paying closer attention to what this Sam Seabury character was actually saying and doing. And I simply ignored the adolescent screeching that seemed to be the de facto response to him. Not a difficult task for someone like me who early on decided to take on an openly "socialist" moniker here in the good old eUS of A. It's all pretty much water off a duck's back for me. I really just don't much give a sh*t what people say when most of their vocabulary is taken up with insults.
But I digress.
I soon discovered something quite interesting. This guy was actually quite intelligent. And his attitude towards and the game -- though following an entirely different chain of causality than my own -- was remarkable similar in feeling to my perspective.
Somewhat to my surprise, I became a Sam Seabury fan.
Me thinkin' "OMG! Another tip o' the hat to that Seabury dude."
Books > Browsers
The first thing I started to notice was that this guy not only knew his Scripture and his theology inside and out, but he'd obviously read a good number of actual books!
Being a bit of a bibliophile and avid reader myself, I started making comments on ersatz Bishop Seabury's articles, mostly of that slightly smarmy and vaguely literary variety that it's taken me a lifetime of mediocre writing to perfect. Much to my surprise -- once again -- Seabury picked up on my allusions immediately, challenging me in a humorous way on a number of somewhat tricky and fairly obscure philosophical points.
He quickly detected and honed in on what many of my good far-leftie friends had either missed or chosen to ignore: my enthusiasm for Karl Popper and C.S. Pierce. To this day, he's the only person I've ever met who wanted to know my opinion on Pierce's theory of abduction.
Click for a closer-up view.
Now we're both working together in the Socialist Freedom Party to continue working on the kind of projects that Sam has always supporte
But on a practical level, we see eye to eye on the key issues, particularly the importance of forging your own way in the New World, sticking to your principles on the one hand, and honing your reasoning skills on the other.
Heh-heh! I won at that stupid browser game after all.
Winning
Who knows? Years from now it may be entirely commonplace for most companies to be worker-run profit-share cooperatives? Maybe then Seabury and I will both have a good laugh and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Or not.
But one thing I know I will be able to say is that I met really interesting character who at first I never thought I'd have anything in common with. And I count that as a win.
Thanks, Sam.
by Phoenix Quinn
Who Is Samuel Seabury?
Sam Seabury caught my attention as soon as he appeared in eRepublik.
His approach to the game was unusual, to say the least. First off, he named his avatar after the first (RL) American Episcopal bishop. To dispel any doubt about his role-playing intent, he used a portrait of the RL Samuel Seabury in-game.
Quite a bold move in a browser game where the vast majority of American players are much more likely to reference The Simpsons or Call of Duty 4 than a not-so-well-known icon of American high church theology.
The actual Samuel Seabury lived 1729 – 1796. Initially, he was a devoted Loyalist who became known to the publick (haha, little anachronism there for ya!) by carrying on a series of literary debates, as peole were wont to do in those days, with Alexander Hamilton.
Seabury was later consecrated the first American Bishop under the Scottish Rite of the Anglican church. Unlike the English Rite, the Scottish Episcolpalians did not recognize the authority of George III. Eventually he became the leader of the diocese of Rhode Island, a state that is not only the home of our very own rebel trouble-maker, SamWystan, but has a long RL history of being a haven to religious dissidents and minorities of many types.
In a historical sense, Rhode Island is sort of like the "anti-Massachusetts". Rhode Island was established as a refuge from religious persecution in Massachusetts. Congregation Jeshuat Israel, based in Newport, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in North America and its Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue building still standing in the United States. The first American Baptist church was founded in Rhode Island. Anglicans, a distinct minority in Congregationalist-controlled New England, like other religious dissenters found a home in Rhode Island.
The RL Bishop Seabury played a key role in promoting elements of the Scottish Rite into American Anglican practice, particularly its restoration of the epiklesis or invocation of the Holy Spirit in the consecration of the Communion elements. Seabury also advocated for the restoration of another ancient custom: the weekly celebration of Holy Communion on Sunday rather than the infrequent observance that became customary in most Protestant churches after the Reformation.The 18th-century Bishop Seabury was far ahead of his time. Two centuries later, the custom of weekly Eucharist had spread through nearly all Protestant and Anglican congregations in North America, due in large part to Seabury's Liturgical Movement.
Fiat Lux
Even more remarkable, as I watched Samuel Seabury start to make his way in the New World was his insistence on playing the game as if he really were the historical Seabury. That's what earned him so much scorn from the hoi polloi.
The message seemed to be that it's OK to be different as long as you're not too different. And for a good number of rather vocal players, Sam's wild melding of historical characterization based on a kind of truly conservative liberation theology with game-playing was "over the line".
As many gentle readers will no doubt recall, during that period certain players had made it their personal cause to heap condemnation on anybody they perceived as a "role player". Now, the "mechanists vs. role players" debate has become tiresome and tedious. So I won't bother to get up on my particular soapbox about it. Suffice it to say that our Bishop Seabury soon had every reason to believe that he would have an opportunity to be the New World's first Christian martyr.
You can hear the echoes of all that from time to time in the somewhat vulgar and context-free comments that a few dullards still feel obliged to make about Sam in various comment threads.
Tediuos troll hard at work on the Internetz
At first, to be frank, I wasn't entirely thrilled with Sam's paper Church Times either. It was a bit too much RL theology for my tastes, which tend more towards Oscar Wilde and Guy Debord than Ephesians or Isaiah.
But I guess I have an instinctual affinity for outsiders and "others". For a whole host of reasons, I'm often drawn towards people who march to their own drum, even if it's not my own particularly favorite beat.
So I started paying closer attention to what this Sam Seabury character was actually saying and doing. And I simply ignored the adolescent screeching that seemed to be the de facto response to him. Not a difficult task for someone like me who early on decided to take on an openly "socialist" moniker here in the good old eUS of A. It's all pretty much water off a duck's back for me. I really just don't much give a sh*t what people say when most of their vocabulary is taken up with insults.
But I digress.
I soon discovered something quite interesting. This guy was actually quite intelligent. And his attitude towards and the game -- though following an entirely different chain of causality than my own -- was remarkable similar in feeling to my perspective.
Somewhat to my surprise, I became a Sam Seabury fan.
Me thinkin' "OMG! Another tip o' the hat to that Seabury dude."
Books > Browsers
The first thing I started to notice was that this guy not only knew his Scripture and his theology inside and out, but he'd obviously read a good number of actual books!
Being a bit of a bibliophile and avid reader myself, I started making comments on ersatz Bishop Seabury's articles, mostly of that slightly smarmy and vaguely literary variety that it's taken me a lifetime of mediocre writing to perfect. Much to my surprise -- once again -- Seabury picked up on my allusions immediately, challenging me in a humorous way on a number of somewhat tricky and fairly obscure philosophical points.
He quickly detected and honed in on what many of my good far-leftie friends had either missed or chosen to ignore: my enthusiasm for Karl Popper and C.S. Pierce. To this day, he's the only person I've ever met who wanted to know my opinion on Pierce's theory of abduction.
Click for a closer-up view.
Now we're both working together in the Socialist Freedom Party to continue working on the kind of projects that Sam has always supporte
😛empowering ordinary players to take control of their e-lives through "grassroots" economic organizing. He likes to use the language of Christian Socialism. I still prefer my own brand of post-libertarian neo-situationist Groucho-Marxism, peppered with the occasional homage to my favorite Buddhist poets.
But on a practical level, we see eye to eye on the key issues, particularly the importance of forging your own way in the New World, sticking to your principles on the one hand, and honing your reasoning skills on the other.
Heh-heh! I won at that stupid browser game after all.
Winning
Who knows? Years from now it may be entirely commonplace for most companies to be worker-run profit-share cooperatives? Maybe then Seabury and I will both have a good laugh and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Or not.
But one thing I know I will be able to say is that I met really interesting character who at first I never thought I'd have anything in common with. And I count that as a win.
Thanks, Sam.
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I won!
bro why r u talkin about God?
only god i kno is the one that kills noobs on COD4 EVERY NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HEADSHOT!!!!!!!!!!!
@salty: Bazinga!
"Heh-heh! I won at that stupid browser game after all."
I don't know why but that line made me smile
Voted as always buddy
it was just the proposals he made that went against player's own "best" interests that concerned me.
ie.
Living in a non-hospital state, abstaining from beneficial stuff like voting, etc.
His articles were like dis-informative. Recommended action without explaining all the possible negative consequences of following them.
It was a bit too much RL theology for my tastes, which tend more towards Oscar Wilde and Guy Debord than Ephesians or Isaiah.
But I guess I have an instinctual affinity for outsiders and "others". For a whole host of reasons, I'm often drawn towards people who march to their own drum, even if it's not my own particularly favorite beat.
Exactly. I've always respected Sam's contributions but I've read enough theology irl to satisfy me for a real lifetime. In a browser game, I've generally been more interested in others' reactions than commenting on it myself.
Truth be told, I've always enjoyed a good spectacle.
What I enjoy about PQ's work and that of others, like Samuel Seabury, is that it provides fresh approaches to what otherwise is a pretty routine game. Just seeing that there are other possibilities, even if we don't want to follow them, makes it more fun, in my opinion at least.
eSam talks sense
Sam has been great, I have only recently gotten to know him a bit, but his contributions to the SFP are no doubt beyond reproach
I am a Seabury fan 😃
That is actually an interesting perspective. I never took to his approach and the differences were enough enough to ilicit my confrontational side. I guess I might give the guy more tolerance after reading this. What he takes from this game is nothing I appreciate.
Thx, more and more lately I have wanted to find ways to break the monoculture up.
voted 🙂
FWIW - within my own professional circles, I am presenting a RL paper entitled "How does the Black Swan Fly: Considerations for a Human Social Cultural and Behavioral Metamodel" to the Simulation Interoperability Workshop this April. This paper will have a touch of Peirce together with a summary of the epistemological debate between Sir Karl and Thomas Kuhn on the Black Swan problem as part of the introductory section. I also just saw a call for papers on the use of serious games for peace operations, and am actively recruiting in-game collaborators, for those here who are interested and might like to get published.
Buddha loves you Phoenix Quinn, for you write tremendous articles. Sam is well known for not pulling punches regardless of the target. I distinctly remember his voicing support for me as PotUS only to have him voice his disapproval over decisions/policies I made. We all need a voice of conscience and Sam definitely serves to provide another perspective to the game.
To some that's blasphemy. To others it's another flavor in the soup. I'm in the latter group.
There's no point to soup if it isn't multi-flavored.
I fckn luvvvvv you PQ
Well as a consistent enemy of Sam's I'm going to disagree (he sought me out to oppose, not the other way around, ftr).
While my RL ideology and intellectual bent is probably not too far from Sam's I've noted that he has some trouble drawing distinctions between RL and the game when applying his philosophy to eRep.
For example:
When I first popped up on his radar, he was bitterly opposed to the fact that I was supportive of the "fortress theory" as opposed to advocating more forcefully for VA. Let me be clear, in RL I adore my Commonwealth and work daily to improve her. In eRepublik, that sort of regionalism would hav weakened the eUS and eVirginia by extension.
I wish Sam and his followers would take a few moments to lay off the populist drumbeat and direct some of that energy toward the tremendous amount of labor that goes into, for example, trying to make sure that we don't see a political takeover in this country from foreign forces, or trying to communicate with and feed noobs as they arrive. The sort of "oppression" we see him get so exercised about is a RL concept that, while vaguely analogous to some in-game concepts, doesn't really exist here.
From the beginning, I've always liked Seabury's comments, but haven't been reading his articles as much as I would have liked. I could sympathize with his article A Revolutionary Statement and having chosen as my Avatar, the historical American Anarchist Lysander Spooner, I can understand the desire to roleplay. v+s
Did you write my textbook....?