As previously mentioned, here is my second installment on chapter two of Coyne’s book. As this chapter makes apparent, long stretches of time are essential to the project of evolutionary hand-waving, a process whereby impossible things are made more plausible to us by having them happen very, very slowly. Don’t think I can walk across …
That’s A Rabbit, You Doofus
Comes now chapter two of Jerry Coyne’s book, called Written in the Rocks. It will take a post or two to deal with this chapter, so patience, all of you. My first post will address the structure of his argumentation, and later I will look at the time involved in all this — my own …
Registration Giveaway
I am passing on some fun things from the organizers of our fall conference, the Grace Agenda. They are giving away two registrations this week. Sorry about the font glitch that won’t go away. Here’s the info: Two Ways to Enter: Facebook Visit our Facebook Page and click on the Giveaway tab under the cover …
Pedagogical Traffic Jam
I read a book some decades ago the title of which, The Dilemma of Education in a Democracy, expresses the problem perfectly. But allow me to explain. A few weeks ago, I took issue with the idea that “age- segregated” education was a Prussian invention, and as such, a pedagogical corruption to be steered away …
On Receipt of the 17th Arrow
I noticed this post on “paper-cut martyrs” the other day, and wanted to say something about it. Go take a look; I’ll wait. Make sure you come back though — this is important. Jamie Arpin-Ricci argues that, “almost without exception,” conservative North American Christians who point out any mistreatment that is happening to them have …
Remembering the Lord Your God
Introduction We are looking at a passage this morning which is familiar for many reasons. The Lord Jesus quotes it when He tells us what the greatest commandment in all Scripture is (Luke 10:27). This passage contains the great Shema, recited by the Jews constantly—“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” This …
The Way Liberace Used to Walk
In the previous post, the one where I mentioned that homosexual acts ought eventually to be prohibited by law, one commenter asked about my “constant hammering” on this issue. Why do I keep going on about it? Why don’t I write about sins my parishioners might actually be committing? Well, actually I do that too …
Counterfactuals, Convulsion, and Conquest
A friend asks how the “mere Christendom” I envision would handle off-budget (i.e. private) gay “marriages.” Would they be illegal? A related issue, given that this mere Christendom is a ways off, has to do with what we should be looking for in the mean time. Evangelical Christians in North America do not have their …
Staggering into the Truth
“This was not so much a penetrating flash of insight as it was — to use a term popular with clinical psychologists who have studied this kind of thing — a lucky guess. A blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while” (Evangellyfish, p. 160).
Rendering the Right Thing
“And keep in mind that if are not being diligent to render what God says to render, then it will probably be a matter of mere days before you are rendering the opposite. By this I mean caustic acid from husbands instead of warm affection, and castrating disrespect from wives instead of honor” (For a …