I expect to be challenged by George Yancey’s forthcoming book One Faith No Longer: The Transformation of Christianity in Red and Blue America but perhaps not by the conclusions drawn by the work. Rather I expect my struggle will be over how to respond to the people I know that fall into the camp oppositeContinue reading “The Wolves of Progress”
Monthly Archives: April 2021
Idols in Our Midst
Introduction I greatly enjoy Samuel James and lament his departure from WordPress. Part of what I appreciate is his thinking even when I disagree I very much enjoy his perspective. Reading a piece by him I decline to agree with is always similar to how Niles and Frasier Crane would describe a perfect dinner. “WhatContinue reading “Idols in Our Midst”
Forgive or be Food
“The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’Continue reading “Forgive or be Food”
“Women are Dangerous”
“Women should feel like they are dangerous. Of course they are dangerous. And the most dangerous are those who don’t understand what the danger is.” – Douglas Wilson, response to letters on his blog Far be it from me to take issue with Doug Wilson. However, I will risk a nit to pick. The aboveContinue reading ““Women are Dangerous””
Armchair Theologian Warning
“The Puritans made me aware that all theology is also spirituality, in the sense that is has an influence, good or bad, positive or negative, on its recipients’ relationship or lack of relationship to God. If our theology does not quicken the conscience of soften the heart , it actually hardens both: if it doesContinue reading “Armchair Theologian Warning”
Clubbableness
Introduction I don’t remember where he pulled it from but I was taught by John Bryson many years ago about the three types of friendship that bless and encourage a mans life: the Needy Protégé, the Side by Side Friend, and the Admiring Mentor. I have/do have those relationships in my life and they indeedContinue reading “Clubbableness”
Temperance and Lewis
“But the whole point is that he is abstaining, for a good reason, from something which he does not condemn and which he likes to see other people enjoying. One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he can not give up things himself with out wanting every one elseContinue reading “Temperance and Lewis”
Calvinism by the Rules of Comedy
Introduction The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery makes the interesting point that the plot structure of the Bible is a U shaped comedy plot. It begins in paradise, descends into chaos, and ascends in paradise. Or to use the literature maxim, “In a tragedy you die, in a comedy you get hitched.” Comedic principals and instinctsContinue reading “Calvinism by the Rules of Comedy”
Would You have a Drink with It?
“One of the tests that should regularly be applied to the results of any thinking process, however plausible, is: Would I like to sit down and have a vermouth with this thing I have just talked myself into? On that scale, ballerinas, oysters, free speech, and romantic love come off just fine. Computers, the ModernContinue reading “Would You have a Drink with It?”
Southern Reformed Smoker 