The Doors of the Sea is a small book, divided into two chapters — “Universal Harmony” and “Divine Victory.” Each chapter is divided into sections, and I want to interact with the book section by section. In this book, David Bentley Hart grapples with the Asian tsunami and the problem of natural evil. I don’t …
Children in Worship
The topic of children in the worship service is, in some respects, a very mundane one. What does the Bible say about nursery, children’s church or Sunday School, or keeping your children with you during the service? This is something which we all deal with every week; what light if any does the Bible shed …
Stuffed Manskins
“There is no way around the killing here that is not less than human in the end; man is what he is: hunter, butcher, carnivore; save him without that and you save nothing — manskins stuffed with sacred sawdust reach no New Jerusalem” (Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, p. 49).
Unholiness and Bad Company
The word anosios means unholy, and Paul uses it twice in the pastorals. One of the purposes of the law that God gave us is the restraint of the wicked and unholy. “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for …
The Touchstone of Protestant Poetics
“The reasons for singling out David the Psalmist as the primary model for Christian poets no doubt include the very great spiritual significance and artistic worth ascribed to the Psalms in contemporary commentary, as well as their use for centuries in Christian liturgy. But in addition, the Psalms were seen to raise with special force …
Part of the Cost of Doing Business
“A scandalous story from the father of lies may be forged against you, and you may be quite unable to defend yourself” (Charles Spurgeon, An All-Round Ministry, p. 217).
The Beautiful Character
“We have lost our sense of the holiness of beauty . . . when exterior beauty is in harmony with a character’s interior beauty, then the sign value of the tale of the character is greatly enhanced” (Michael D. O’Brian, A Landscape With Dragons, p. 35).
Just and General
“Generalizations are legitimate if they honestly describe an overall pattern. Generalizations are consequently not refuted through particular and individual counter examples. Honest Pharisees lived at the time of Christ, and they were not an embarrassment to Christ’s scathing denunciations of their religious sect as a whole. Indeed one indication of a Pharisee’s honesty would be …
Pretty Funny
Heh.
Amos for Americans (Part Two)/Amos XII
INTRODUCTION: We have made the distinction between direct and indirect obedience. In the realms of indirect obedience, we noted the importance of starting close to home, and starting with the obvious. As God gives more grace, we may move out from the center. We will be able to see to do this because the beam …