In the Christian faith, particular events, schedules, persons and conversations matter. They matter because we are talking about God’s intervention in history. The gospel is not a detached and abstracted affair—a set of timeless truths in the heavenlies. Particularity matters a great deal. Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, …
The Loss of Poetry
The causes are not easy to identify, but poetry has fallen on hard times. Poetry today huddles in its prescribed little ghettoes – the sentimentalism of greeting cards and cupboard poetry, the small clutch of arcane poetry journals with a circulation of thirteen, self-absorbed adolescents scribbling pages of navel-gazing free verse, nationally-ignored poet laureates, and …
A Pretty Basic Problem
“On the Prophet’s own admission, Islam stands or falls with the person of Muhammad, a deeply flawed man by the standards of his own society, as well as those of the Old and New Testaments, both of which he acknowledged as divine revelation; and even by the new law of which he claimed to be …
Not Deeply Rooted in the Blues
“It is still possible to find the tough, affirmative spirit of the blues in contemporary forms. But increasingly, that spirit is rejected in favor of antimusical, antisocial antics that would be laughable if they weren’t so offensive” (Martha Bayles, Hole in our Soul, p. 3).
Avoiding the Precipice
The law of the Lord is perfect, the psalmist says, converting the soul. For the one who receives the word of God in faith, the law teaches us to stay away from the precipice of sin, apostasy, and damnation. The law of God makes the simple wise. Hear then, this warning from the law. The …
The Body of Christ
When we refer to the body of Christ, there are at least three different senses in which we use the phrase. The first, of course, refers to the body which was crucified for us, was raised in the power of the Spirit, and which ascended into heaven. That body is the body of a true …
Slightly to the Left of King Arthur
I have added a new category for the blog because sometime in the near future I intend to work my way through David Gelernter new book, Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion. I have some other projects going, so this might not go as fast as some other books have. But it is important to …
Keep Your Lid On
If an autobiographical note can be permitted, I spent a number of years in Christian ministry before I came to the Reformed faith. I recall one time when I was witnessing to members of a cult, one devoted to works righteousness, and my presentation of grace successfully provoked the same objection that Paul had to …
Weird Guy
Christopher Hitchens is interviewed in the latest Atlantic Monthly about all the debates he was in promoting his book on atheism. That would include, of course, the CT debate he had with me. Some fun stuff shakes out in this. “What I haven’t had from anyone, in print or in person, is any argument that …
Synchronized Corn on the Cob Eating
As many of you know, my daughter and son-in-law, and their five kids, have been at Oxford the last year, and just got home the night before last. We of course had to have ourselves a barbeque, along with a little synchronized corn on the cob eating in our front yard. And here is a …