Introduction And the evening and the morning were the eighth day. We should not be surprised at the pattern of darkness and then light, a pattern which we see not only in the creation of the world, but also in the re-creation of all things. The Text: I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify …
Sneaking Standards Back In
“The need of most human beings to believe in a moral universe is proof for Nietzsche that lies and self-deception are essential conditions of human life . . . . But there is a tension in Nietzsche between an amoralism that repudiates all objective standards and a distinctively hierarchical kind of thinking that ranks souls …
Sound Effects
“There is a difference between insulting the truth of God and insulting some lunacy that a televangelist is maintaining as the truth of God. There is a difference between kicking puppies and lampooning the self-righteous and pompous, although sometimes the sound effects are very similar” (A Serrated Edge, p. 82).
Deep Confidence or Deep “Confidence”?
Some of McLaren’s chapters are outrageous, some are stupefying, some are intellectually dishonest, while others, like this next one, are just plain sad. This is the chapter where McLaren explains how he is a “charismatic/contemplative.” I am not really going to say anything about the sad parts, and there were only two other comments worth …
That Good Old Narrative Trajectory
On the first page of the next chapter (“Why I Am Biblical”), Brian McLaren states this: “My regard for the Bible is higher than ever” (p. 159). And this about sums the whole problem up. Regard? After having read through the chapter, this is like hearing a divorced couple say they are still the “best …
The Virgin Bears Salvation
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Praise the Lord! All you servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord! Bless the name of the Lord, From this moment out, Forever and for aye! From the point of the sun rising, To the place it goes down, …
The Worldview of Christmas
This is the fourth Lord’s Day of Advent, the year of our Lord, 2005. Worldviews are more complicated than a being just a simple bundle of propositions. Propositions are of course involved—no one has a worldview who cannot answer questions about what he believes. But in our circles, this tends to be the only aspect …
The Table of Acceptance
We are a conservative church. We believe the Bible. We hold to the tenets of the Reformed faith, and we have no patience with the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which God also hates. With all this being the case, this meal could easily turn into a banquet of self-congratulation. But it is a meal for …
Propositional Dust Bunnies
Okay, let’s be honest. Context matters. If someone had handed me a xerox copy of McLaren’s next chapter (the one on being “mystical/poetic”), I would have thought most of it was pretty okay. In fact, because he quotes Lewis and Chesterton repeatedly, bits of it were much more than okay. But the irony was not …
Check It Out
My son Nate wrote a review of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for Books and Culture. That review is now on-line and can be found at the Christianity Today site here.