Why Does American Religion Increasingly Look So Weird?
A Review of Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics
Douthat argues that two strategies were open to the mainline churches—“accommodation” and “resistance.” Many in both mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic circles sought to accommodate themselves and their churches to the new spirit of the age with naturalistic, political, this-worldly forms of Christianity. But this effort at accommodation largely failed in that there was no... Continue Reading
A New New Testament: Are You Serious?
A review of the "New New Testament" recently released
In short, the New New Testament is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The council that put these books forth is a farce. It has nothing to do with the councils of old, yet implicitly seeks to claim authority on the basis of concocted semblance. The books were selected by those who, though certainly having a... Continue Reading
The Christian World of the Hobbit by Devin Brown
A review of the book on the Christian influences in Tolkien's world
Brown explores the world Tolkien made in a new book The Christian World of the Hobbit (Abingdon Press, 2012). In this work, he demonstrates how Tolkien’s Christian worldview bleeds through his written works and permeates the world he made. This aspect of Tolkien’s work is puzzling to many. His books have almost no references to... Continue Reading
Review of a “New New Testament”: Part 1
While this book has the guise of neutral scholarship, it is, at its core, a book with a clear religious commitment of postmodernity.
Notice that right from the beginning these apocryphal writings are described as “lost scriptures.” Thus, it is already assumed from the outset that these books are scripture, but somehow they have been left out of the canon (no doubt by those pesky, narrow orthodox folks). The problem with this language, of course, is that the... Continue Reading
A New ‘New Testament’ is an Old, Old Idea
The idea of rewriting the canon according to one’s personal preferences goes back to the time of the early Church
But while such grandiose claims about the New Testament canon may seem entirely new, it is in fact a very, very old idea. For one, there are other modern examples of such activity. The book The Five Gospels (Harper One, 1996), effectively rewrote the 4-Gospel canon by adding a fifth gospel, The Gospel of Thomas.... Continue Reading
The Preachers’ Daughters Will Be Fine
Thoughts on the new reality show: Preachers' Daughters
Too often, preachers are portrayed as being either afraid of sin, surprised by it, or head-scratchingly befuddled when it appears. Not true. Having a preacher for your dad means having a father who understands that the root of all sin is our fallen hearts and that the remedy for all sin is the perfect work... Continue Reading
Getting history right: Responding to David Barton
Two professors respond to David Barton’s claim they made ‘mountains out of molehills’ in their critique of his research into Thomas Jefferson and his faith
The first order of a Christian scholar is not to present a polemic to help fight the culture war, but rather, the accurate presentation and careful analysis of all the facts, even if those facts show a person or event or theory in a less than favorable light. This is the third and final round... Continue Reading
Bryan Loritts, Pastor of Fellowship Memphis, Critiques Doug Wilson
Thoughts on Doug Wilson’s book Black and Tan
I was moved by Loritt’s pastoral critique of Wilson. He assessed that the coldness or lack of concern for “the other” probably lies in the fact that real relationships with Blacks don’t exist for Wilson. I’m tempted to agree with Loritts. I know a few people (who happen to love Wilson) who lack deep relationships... Continue Reading
“The Bible” History Channel Series: A Review
The good, the bad, and the ugly
I disagree with those who say that this “opens the door for dialog”, or that it give people “an introduction” to the Bible. This presentation of the Bible as a set of heroic individuals actually hinders future gospel presentation as it confuses the categories. If one already “knows the story”, why would they feel a... Continue Reading
Treadmill Swerve
When insanity wins awards
Walker Percy: “The present-day unbeliever is crazy because he finds himself born into a world of endless wonders, having no notion how he got here, a world in which he … grows old, gets sick, and dies, and is quite content to have it so … as if his prostate were not growing cancerous, his arteries turning to chalk,... Continue Reading
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