In his chapter “Appropriating Postmodernism,” Westphal says some good things. The devil, as we shall see, is in his applications, but in isolation he says some really good things where I believe we can all agree. “Postmodernism tends to slide in the opposite direction, from ‘We have no absolute insight’ to ‘There is no absolute …
The Envy of the Hollow
“Like mimetic desire, envy subordinates a desired something to the someone who enjoys a privileged relationship with it. Envy covers the superior being that neither the someone nor something alone, but the conjunction of the two, seem to possess. Envy involuntarily testifies to a lack of being that puts the envious to shame, especially since …
True Rejection of Hellenism
“Johnny Cash . . . lists in the liner notes to his album Unchained what he likes in music: I love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak, and …
Death By Sabbath
“But the first principle is given clearly by Isaiah: Call the Sabbath a delight (Is. 58:13). And even this verse is abused whenever truncated, narrow, and parsimonious Sabbath observance is substituted for the real thing. The cranky Sabbatarian, who ‘cooks kids in their Sabbath milk,’ does not limit this destructive behavior to one day in …
Westminster Two: Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
1. There is but one only (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6), living, and true God (1 Thess. 1:9; Jer. 10:10), Not that this should be necessary to say, but the Christian faith is monotheistic. But this does not mean that “Christianity” is a belief system which contains one God within it, so that people …
Why Does the Word “Gay” Always Go Before “Lesbian”?
Well, guess what. Wal-Mart has joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. I guess that settles it. I am going to have to resign from their national shadow board. Coises! Foiled again!
The Covenantal Mind and Heart
We got the name Deuteronomy through a happy misnomer. The name is taken from the Greek version of the text below (17:18), where the king was to write out a “second” copy of the law for himself. But at the same time, the occasion of the book of Deuteronomy was a covenant renewal. A covenant …
And They Make the Classroom A Cauldron
“Moses required that the Israelites refrain from seething or boiling a kid in its mother’s milk (Deut. 14:21). The placement of this law in Deuteronomy is right at the beginning of Moses’ exposition of the fourth commandment, the Sabbath law. This insignificant law has many applications, which ostensible friends of the Sabbath need to learn. …
Whooda Thunk?
“In fact, statistics show country fans to be more educated than either adult contemporary or rock audiences. Thirty-six percent of country fans have a college degree, as opposed to 30 percent for adult contemporary and 22 percent for rock fans” (Gene Edward Veith, Honky-Tonk Gospel, p. 11).
Imitation Breeds Conflict
“Imitation does not merely draw people together, it pulls them apart. Paradoxically, it can do these two things simultaneously. Individuals who desire the same thing are united by something so powerful that, as long as they can share whatever they desire, they remain the best of friends; as soon as they cannot, they become the …