As your gird up your loins for the November congressional elections, and as you are looking for the straight skinny on what has happened to us, I would suggest that you take the time to read the whole thing. This reminds us, as we need to be reminded constantly, that Republicans are not the answer. …
Getting a Little Constantinian Shalom Going
In his next chapter, Hunter sketches his theology of “faithful presence.” He begins by making a strong connection between presence and place. “Rather, in every instance, God’s word was enacted and enacted in a particular place and time in history. In all, presence and place mattered decisively. Nowhere is this more evident than in the …
The Ministry of Fundraising
INTRODUCTION:We have noted before that the book of Romans is a fundraising letter. The fact that it is so strikingly different from modern Christian fundraising letters tells us all we need to know about the attitude of the modern church to money . . . and to the gospel. THE TEXT:“For which cause also I …
Simplicity and the Feast
In a number of places, the New Testament describes this meal as a feast, as a festival. In Jude, the saints are told to avoid the immoral men who defile their love feasts (Jude 12; 2 Pet. 2:13). Paul tells the Corinthians to get rid of the yeast of malice and wickedness as they observe …
Humanity Divided
As the people of God, we are called to be the people of God. This reality is the reality of the antithesis. It is the constant and unrelenting desire of the secularists to blur and muddy the antithesis, and it is one of our fundamental duties to maintain it. God spoke at the beginning of …
Weak Knees and Drooping Hands
Our Father and God, You have established Your Church as a royal priesthood in this world, and so we intercede for the nations of men now, confessing on their behalf so that the grace of Your forgiveness will soon be extended to them all. Father, we are glad that You are the God who forgives, …
Born for the Clerihew
My fourth bit of advice for aspiring writers was this: “Stretch before your routines. If you want to write short stories, try to write Italian sonnets. If you want to write a novel, write a few essays. If you want to write opinion pieces for The Washington Post, then limber up with haiku.” As with …
The Levee Gonna Break
Whenever there is a craze about something or other, it is not long before that craze is referenced in the public life of a society. If it is a big deal, then at some point it will blow up on television, news sites, or youtube, and then late night comedians start talking about it, and …
Crossing That Temptation Bridge When We Get to It
In his next chapter, James Davison Hunter sets the stage for his alternative approach to our cultural engagement in the late modern world, which may be described as faithful presence within. “Over against the ‘Defensive Against,’ ‘Relevance To’ and ‘Purity From’ paradigms, I would offer an alternative: ‘Faithful Presence Within'” (p. 237). He has a …
Fabulous Hats
“Looking for flourishing chastity in such settings is a sexual snipe hunt. Just ask the question directly. Those denominations that worked through the controversy of women’s ordination a generation ago have certainly moved on. Their controversies now concern whether sodomites should be wearing sodomitres in solemn procession up the central aisle” (Why Ministers Must be …