The Boston bombing brings the whole question of terrorism front and center again, and so it is worthwhile to discuss what the point of terrorism is, considered as a tactic. In the case of the Boston horror, we do not yet know which direction the tactic was pushing, but we should make a point of …
Breaking and Blessing
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) The Basket Case Chronicles #112 “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). We are coming …
Clunkity, Clunkity, Clunk
I am reliably informed that an article I wrote many moons ago is being recirculated and is out there causing some consterwebs on the Internation. The original article is here, if you are not full up on your spring quota of Wilson imbroglios. If you don’t have time to chase these things down, I will …
Making Liturgy Do Hammerheads
In order to fulfill its appointed role, preaching needs to be lively (Acts 7:38), authoritative (Mark 1:22), engaging (Acts 14:1), helpful (2 Tim. 3:16), and bold (Eph. 6:19-20). But it does not do this in a vacuum. This kind of preaching needs to move people from one place to another, and in order to do …
Peoples, Not Just People
When we gather to worship the Lord, we are crying out to Him. He is God, and we are the worshipers. He is the one who bestows, and we are the supplicants. He is the Savior, and we are those who need to be saved. He is the Deliverer, and we must be delivered. He …
An Interesting Touch
Joseph’s garment was torn from him by his brothers (Gen. 37:23), and it was taken in order to tell a lie about him (Gen. 37:32). Joseph’s garment was torn from him by Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:12), and it was taken in order to tell a lie about him (Gen. 39:18). Joseph’s garment was placed on …
Parry, Thrust
Unless we begin our understanding of cultural history with certain key biblical doctrines well in hand, we are going to get hopelessly gummed up. One of the stickiest ways to get gummed up is in the matter of glibly assigning responsibility for the causes of this or that. But before turning to that, let me …
Outfitters of the Reformation
Outfitters of the Reformation: Why Canon Press? Introduction One of the things that God’s people like to do is figure out ways to communicate with one another. “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: And the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for …
Three Takes on the House
If we are to understand the times we live in, we have to do a better job understanding them, if you catch my meaning. The system, the Establishment, or the Man, as we used to call it, is a ramshackle, rundown dive of a house, greatly in need of some repairs. Let us call this …
Libido Dominandi
One of the things that the pomos get right, at least as far as their own intentions are concerned, is the observation that intellectual frameworks are always rationalizations that are there to help set up the subsequent power play. As a universal explanation, I think that this reveals more about what they are up to …