“Before the discussion gets sidetracked on the basis of caricature, lett us grant that the arbiter of long and short ought not to be a particularly strict dorm monitor at a fundamentalist Bible college. Paul says short, not ‘less than a quarter inch, with pink sidewalls around the ears.’ He says long, not ‘over a …
Source Material
“Gravitas can also be inherited from relatively healthy families who simply tell their stories well. The southern novelists Flannery O’Connor once claimed that anyone who pays attention to his or her childhood could write novels for the rest of his or her life” (Barnes, The Pastor as Minor Poet, p. 50).
The Old Suits and Haircuts Problem
Suits and Haircuts from Canon Wired on Vimeo.
A Miss As Good as a Mile
“A common evangelical saying is that many miss heaven by eighteen inches . . . the distance between the head and the heart. We also need to remember that many others miss heaven by thirty-four inches” (Why Ministers Must Be Men, p. 23).
The Attractive Soul
“The old seminary professors used to speak about a necessary trait for pastoral ministry called gravitas. It refers to a soul that has developed enough spiritual mass to be attractive, like gravity. It makes the soul appear old, but gravitas has nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with wounds that have …
How Bad Theology is Incentivized
“When men follow a teacher like Jezebel of Thyatira, they are doing so not because her doctrinal reasons are so compelling and her academic credentials so impressive, but rather because following her will greatly increase their chances of getting laid (Rev. 2:20). If a prophet comes prophesying wine and beer (Mich. 2:11), he is sure …
Freed Through Expression
“This is why poetry does not have to be defended, inculcated, or coerced. It only appears defenseless. Its power resides not in the orthodoxy of the verse, and certainly not in the creativity of the poet, but in the inspired word that has the power to untangle the distorted image of God. The truth of …
From the Balconies of Heaven
So I have been using the phrase mere Christendom. What does the mere mean? First we need to address what it does not mean. It does not mean Christendom Lite. It does not mean “faith-based” civilization, the same way you might have faith-based soup kitchens, with the content of the faith being diluted enough to …
The Rough Edges of Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, and Constantine
In his last chapter, “Toward a New City Commons,” Hunter takes Jer. 29:4-7 as his key text, wherein the Jews in exile were told to seek the peace of the city they would inhabit for a time. “Clearly it would have been justifiable for the Jews to be hostile to their captors. It also would …
Plays Well With Others Leadership
Hunter says many things that sound quite good, and it is not surprising that he has gotten good reviews from around the Reformed and evangelical world. After all, what Kuyperian could take issue with this? “In short, faithful presence in practice is the exercise of leadership in all spheres and all levels of life and …