Why Christians Should Read Fiction
Is reading fiction a waste of time?
When you think about it, that’s how the Scriptures often work. The Proverbs, for instance, paint a vivid picture of the revolting tragedy of adultery (Proverbs 7). Jesus doesn’t simply speak about God’s forgiveness in the abstract. He tells a story, the prodigal son, designed to shock (a son who would spurn his inheritance) and... Continue Reading
‘What has gotten into Thomas Nagel?’
Leading atheist branded a ‘heretic’ for daring to question Darwinism
“For a long time I have found the materialist account of how we and our fellow organisms came to exist hard to believe, including the standard version of how the evolutionary process works,” he writes in the book, which is subtitled “Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False. I realize that... Continue Reading
Augustine: For Professors, Poets and Pastors
A Review of Matthew Levering's The Theology of Augustine: An Introductory Guide to His Most Important Works
What I loved about Augustine then and what I still love about him today is the way in which he draws out the tragedy of the human condition, the greatness of a mankind made in the image of God himself reduced to the level of a trivial, self-serving control-freak, obsessed with the passing things of... Continue Reading
Towards a More Informed Gender Debate
Here are a few tips for egalitarians, complementarians, and all those in-between.
With the marriage debate raging around the SCOTUS decision, orthodox Christians have not only discussed the public understanding of marriage, but also the character of humanity’s oldest institution. What is marriage? What should it look like and how should it be lived? More controversial, do the differences of men and women point to different behaviors... Continue Reading
Many Unitarians would prefer that their polyamory activists keep quiet
Poly activists are seen as undermining the fight for same-sex marriage.
Conservative opponents of same-sex marriage have long used the slippery-slope argument: If states are permitted to let two men or two women marry, then what’s to stop them from giving the same privilege to two men and one woman, or two women and one man? Or six? Or 12? Once you legitimize same-sex marriage, sociologist... Continue Reading
The Redemptive Nature of Laughter
Or, Why an Atheist Can and Can’t Get Jokes
Our recognition that we are incongruent with ourselves and our longing for another world (one without pain) can be made sense of most fully by a Christian theological framework, one in which God’s redemption extends to God’s (incongruent) imagers but also to his (fallen) cosmos. When we laugh at ourselves and at our location in... Continue Reading
Dr. Russell Moore Elected Next ERLC President
Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission approved Moore, currently dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Moore, 41, a native of Biloxi, Miss., will be the eighth president of the entity charged by Southern Baptists with addressing moral and religious freedom issues. With a background in government, the pastorate and seminary training, he already is well-known as a commentator from a Southern Baptist and evangelical Christian perspective on ethics, theology and... Continue Reading
Spinal Tap, Rodney King and the National Partnership
I met the news of the “National Partnership” with a despair I’ve rarely known in my 31 years ministering in the PCA
The NP tips its hand with this: “We seek to staff committees for healthy and effective denominational business.” I could be wrong, but I’m willing to bet the ranch and the dog this means: “We seek to staff committees with people who share our convictions on disputed matters.” And that would mean people like me.... Continue Reading
The great man hunt
Young Christian women who want to get married say too few men are willing to cooperate
In 1991, the average marrying age for women was 24. Today, it’s 26.5. Although those numbers cover the entire population, evangelical leaders say the trend isn’t much different among young Christians. Some of the blame for delaying marriage falls on women, with many wanting to spend time working and living a life of independence before... Continue Reading
Is The Divinization of Federal Government Complete?
Slowing the rate of growth of this god stirs up anger.
We are now witnessing how some make the tie between human tragedy and federal spending. Just yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shamelessly implied that the accident that killed seven Marines in Nevada is tied to spending cuts from sequester. Hollywood actor Harrison Ford lamented that “accidents are going to happen” in aviation because of... Continue Reading