The second chapter of Leithart’s Against Christianity is “Against Theology.” There are three aspects of this chapter that I would like to comment on. The first is the troublesome matter of timeless truths. When many conservative Christians hear any kind of critique of timeless truths, the automatic assumption is that some form of relativism is …
A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 36
Introduction: This is a psalm that clearly contrasts the wicked with the righteous, but it is not a psalm of imprecation. An imprecatory prayer is when we ask God to deal with the wicked in a particular way. This is an “oracle” about the nature of transgression and righteousness; it is teaching, not a request. …
The Man Ain”t Got No Culture
“Culture, like religion, is a name given from outside to activities which are not themselves interested in culture at all, and would be ruined the moment they were. I do not mean that we are never to talk of things from the outside. But when the things are of high value and very easily destroyed, …
Foundational Gratitude
“A biblical aesthetic requires that true creativity be built upon an inheritance. Perpetual revolution is as destructive to the arts as it is to civil order” (The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 158).
Dying Daily
“[T]he dependence of human culture on revenge and victimage is too fundamental not to survice the elimination of the most grossly physical forms of violence, the actual murder of the victim. If the Judeo-Christian ferment is not dead, it must be engaged in an obscure struggle against deeper and deeper layers of the essential complicity …
Lord”s Day Prayer 74
God of the Sabbath, we thank You for the rest You have bestowed on us in Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank You for calling us out of the darkness of sin and selfishness, and for calling us effectually into the triune fellowship of Your holy name. We thank You for this food, we thank …
Take Generational Heed
Moses concludes his historical prologue, and introduces the law, and he does so with a very effective sermon on the nature of obedience. “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which …
So Call Now
“Like biblical parables, commercial messages invade our consciousness, seep into our souls. Even if you are half-awake when commercials run, thirty thousand of them will begin to penetrate your indifference. In the end, it is hard not to believe.” (Neil Postman, How To Watch TV News, p. 124).
Just Come
No man was ever condemned for trusting in the Word of the Lord. Men have been condemned for trifling with it in unbelief, but no poor beggar was ever turned away who came to Him in faith. He turns the proud and haughty away, and scatters the mighty of the earth. But for those who …
Learning the Difference
Grace is a river that consistently overflows the banks. The goodness of God is always in flood stage. We, afflicted with various forms of unbelief, are always quick to believe that God is somehow trembling on the threshold of a miserly disposition. If we provoke Him just one more time, He will throw all His …