So, then, Romney won in Michigan. All we need now is for Thompson to win in South Carolina on Saturday, and we will have ourselves an interesting race. If Ron Paul keeps coming in with his significant percentages, and as the other candidates approach the convention, nobody will be in a position to blow the …
Charles Darwin, Call Your Office
I am delighted to be able to report that my reply to Sam Harris is going like gangbusters, and is now out in paperback. This means that you can get a copy now for the low, low price of nine clams. Take a look at it here. While we are talking about atheism on the …
Credenda Conference in the UK
In early February, Nancy and I will be headed over to the UK to visit the Merkles, and while we are there, Credenda will be sponsoring a short mini-conference. The notice for that conference is below. We would like to cordially invite any of our friends in the UK who would like to join us …
Calvinism Under Jove
Reformation Calvinism was born under Jove. It flourishes under Jove, and is spiritually healthy there. But for the last several centuries (at least) it has come under the baneful influence of Saturn. For those who dismiss my “pagan tomfoolery” — planetary influences and theology indeed — with a sneer and say that they want a …
300 Cloth Napkins
Nancy and I had a wonderful week. We are currently ensconced in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, on our way back to the snow. The first part of the week we were at the pastors’ conference in Monroe, Louisiana, which was the usual good and edifying time. The topic was “Liturgy and Life,” and I commend …
The Complete Life Lived, Graven Images and All
Okay then. I have finished Piper’s book, and I still like it. It is well worth reading, and should be taken seriously. He emphasizes a number of things that I believe that Wright should incorporate into his broader insights, without giving up those broader insights. There are any number of places where the sweep of …
Whatever We Call It
The next to last chapter of Piper’s book (not counting appendices) returns to the question of imputed righteousness. “Wright regards the imputation of God’s righteousness as something that can be imputed to us or counted as ours as at best a category mistake” (p. 163). And of course, we need to return to a distinction …
Speaking of Hatchet Jobs
A correspondent informs me that somewhere out there on the web, one of our local critics is chastising us for a bunch of stuff. All to be expected, and part of the cost of doing business. This is not worthy of comment, but one point Nick Gier made in this criticism was too good to …
Speaking of Second Temple Judaism . . .
There are a couple of things to be drawn out of chapter ten, in which Piper argues (and in my view, demonstrates) that there is a single self-righteous root for both “self-help moralism” and prideful “ethnic badges.” That is the first point. But the second, and the one where I want to spend some attention, …
If That’s Grace, Then We Don’t Want Any
In the ninth chapter of Piper’s book, he starts to get into the issues that make Wright’s project really vulnerable — if we take Wright’s offerings in the “take it or leave it” way he offers them. For my part, I intend to continue to learn from Wright, but that can’t be done on Wright’s …