At least inside my own head, whenever I do forecaster punditry, I feel like I always qualify what I say. Our lives are a mist, we know not what cometh, I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, etc. But then some years down the road somebody chortles at me in the …
What We Put Up With
“Like the ancient Corinthians, modern evangelicalism suffers fools gladly. The point is not that every individual in the contemporary Church is a scoundrel. The point is that there are many scoundrels, doing very well, thank you, and the rest of us put up with them. This is our sin: we suffer fools gladly” (A Primer …
Patriotism As Obedience to the Fifth Commandment
“Affection and love for your own people are an extended function of honoring your father and mother. When patriotism goes to seed, becoming a jingoistic nationalism, it gives patriotism a bad name. It is the difference between gratitude and arrogant pride. Patriotism stifles the spirit of war; nationalism breeds wars. Patriotism is catholic; nationalism is …
Christ Church Summer Music Camp
We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for Christ Church’s third annual Summer Music Camp: The Whole Armor of God. The camp will run from July 16-21 and is co-sponsored by Trinity Reformed Church and New Saint Andrews College. Students will study Ephesians 6:10-20 (and related Scripture) and sing musical settings of …
Partners in Celibacy
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #77 “But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry. Nevertheless …
A Pretty Big Relic
“It is hard to take any view seriouisly when it would result in enough pieces of the Virgin Mary’s veil to make a tent for Barnum and Bailey” (A Primer on Worship and Reformation, p. 8).
Historians Make Choices
“It has sometimes been assumed that an accurate and objective history is one that simply records all the salient facts, as though video footage recording all event from sky cameras were somehow available at the university media center . . . But once it was realized, more recently, that all histories are selections made by …
A Childlike Epistemology
When is it legitimate to believe something on the basis of authority? Are all forms of authority to be shunned by the thinking Christian? On the contrary, reason requires that authority be given a central role in the determination of truth. One time my youngest daughter was sitting on my lap and was telling me …
And a Lot of Them Too
“The Church in our nation is in a bad way. This comment is . . . directed at . . . the vibrant and active section that we call modern evangelicalism. Now of course there isn’t a problem with activity per se, but in the conservative and evangelical wing of the Church, vibrancy and activity …
He Might Imitate Brave, Brave Sir Robin
“Civil governments rest upon force, and the gospel does not. How can these two principles ever abide together? There are some who have wanted the church to train its sons in the arts of politics, encouraging them to have their try at shinnying up the greasy pole of civil ambition. Others want the church to …