“The difference in the position of women was indeed one of the most striking contrasts between Christian and Muslim practice, and is mentioned by almost all travelers in both directions. Christianity, of all churches and denominations, prohibits polygamy and concubinage. Islam, like most other non-Christian communities, permits both . . . The status of women, …
The Reformation As Imaginative Triumph
“What were the hidden springs of imagination, high up in the hills, that were to feed the broad river of the Reformation?” (Peter Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation, p. 4).
Don’t Staple the Moral Onto the Last Paragraph
“Anyone who can write a children’s story without a moral, had better do so: that is, if he is going to write children’s stories at all. The only moral that is of any value is that which arises inevitably from the whole cast of the author’s mind” (C.S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds, p. 33).
Tradition As Servant
[Speaking of tradition as servant] “But notice how this leaves us with room for a necessary doctrine of subordinate spiritual authorities. The elders of a local church, Christian parents bringing up children in the fear of the Lord, and convocations of theologians three centuries ago are all lawful authorities, deputized as such in Scripture. They …
Naturally Wanton
“Men naturally are wanton in nothing more than in the things of religion; and corrupt spirits are bent upon and pleased with opposition in these things above any other” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 29).
A Second Battle of Tours 2
Introduction: Our intent is to contrast some of the key differences between the biblical Christian faith and Islam, and to do so in a way that leads us to see the fountainhead of those differences, which is the triune nature of God, over against the radical monotheism found in Islam. In other words the differences …
Masked Men on Monkey Bars
I have wondered why it is that, whenever the media wants me to worry about incipient terror attacks, they frequently show me footage of masked men on monkey bars. Somewhere in the Middle East, some men in pajamas swing menacingly toward the camera, and I am supposed to sign up for increased restrictions on my …
Time for Some Larger Barns
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 106 “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit” (Prov. 18:11). The Bible is full of warnings about the false security of wealth. It does provide a measure of security, as …
Or So It Seemed
“By 1920, it seemed that the triumph of Europe over Islam was complete. In Afghanistan and inner Arabia and a few other places difficult of access and offering no attraction, independent Muslim rulers maintained the old ways. Otherwise, new rulers and new ways, introduced or imitated from Europe, prevailed everywhere” (Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? …
Deconstructing Criticism of the Puritans
“The number of good Puritan poets, as I have attempted to suggest in this study, is far larger than has been realized” (Daly, p. 222).