As I have been writing on political dualism, I have been periodically asked about my take on VanDrunen’s work. My copy of that work is presumably still in the mail, but here is a very important critique to tide you over
The Tallest Pole Out There
Temptations in the arena of worldly striving and carnal ambition do not cease simply because you have “left the world,” and have joined the perfect church, or attached yourself to some edgy inner city monastery, or have become a hermit in a hut. You might go clean outside the city, like St. Simeon Stylites, and …
For To This End . . .
INTRODUCTION: We are continuing on the same theme so that we might remember the importance of loving our brothers and sisters in the faith, but doing so in a very spacious context. Learning the extent of that context will be what enables us to live rightly with one another in close quarters.
No Matter What Happens, You Grow Up Into You
Jesus is Lord, and He is Lord forever, world without end, and amen. He is Lord of Heaven and earth–not Lord of tiny compartments in our hearts. His grace must extend to those compartments, and our awareness of His lordship over all things must begin there. We must be converted to God. The works of …
The Right Way to Take Grace for Granted
When we come to the Lord’s Table week after week it is with the expectation that God will feed us. We come here expectantly, and we are right to do so. We bring our children with us to this meal, and they are right to be expectant also. Food and wine were promised, and food …
Derivative Ownership
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 confess that as a nation we have abused and …
Crooked Little Hearts
I believe I have done more than my share of trying to damn and blast the idolatrous notions of American exceptionalism. Americans have ten toes like everybody else, Americans put their trousers on one leg at a time like everybody else, and Americans have crooked little hearts like everybody else. The Founders were exceptional men …
Blood Up to the Horses’ Bridles
So what do I mean by mere Christendom exactly? I mean a public and formal recognition of the authority of Jesus Christ that repudiates the principles of secularism, and which avoids both hard sectarianism and easy latitudinarianism both. Easier said than done, but there it is. That is what we have to do, and we …
Word Fussers and Whowhomers
In my recent seven-fold set of admonitions for writers, my third bit of advice for them was this: “Read mechanical helps. By this I mean dictionaries, etymological histories, books of anecdotes, dictionaries of foreign phrases, books of quotations, books on how to write dialog, and so on. The plot will usually fail to grip, so …
Boy, Howdy
Hunter follows his chapter on the Christian Right with a chapter on the Christian Left. As with the previous chapter, this one is mostly overview of the players and positions, and it is a helpful overview. While there is a temptation to dash off to engage with some silly thing or other that Jim Wallis …