“We instinctively tend to regard the fraternal relationship as an affectionate one; yet the mythological, historical, and literary examples that spring to mind tell a different story: Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Eteocles and Plyneices, Romulus and Remus, Richard the Lionhearted and John Lackland. The proliferation of enemy brothers in Greek myth and in …
Sabbath Kindness Again
God and Father, we thank You for Your Sabbath kindness to us. You have shown that kindness to us over and over again, and so we continue to thank You for it. We are thankful for the food, for the wine, for the fellowship around this table, and for all the hard work that went …
A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 37
Introduction: One of the temptations that the righteous have to deal with is the temptation of envying the unrighteous. This is a psalm to set that temptation in its propher context, and so to help us deal with it. The Text: Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of …
Westminster Ten: Of Effectual Calling
1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call (Rom. 8:30, 11:7; Eph. 1:10–11), by His Word and Spirit (2 Thess. 2:13–14; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6), out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature …
Westminster Nine: Of Free Will
1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil (Matt. 17:12; James 1:14; Deut. 30:19). By virtue of creation, mankind was given a true and natural liberty with regard to all issues of good and …
Not Good Symptoms At All
“Artists also talk of Good Work; but decreasingly. They begin to prefer words like ‘significant,’ important,’ contemporary,’ or ‘daring.’ These are not, to my mind, good symptoms” (C.S. Lewis, The World’s Last Night, p. 72).
Poetry is the Point
“We do not have them master the grammar and the dialectic so that they can chop logic for the rest of their dreary lives. They should grow up into wisdom, rhetoric, glory, and again, poetry” (The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 160).
Sacrificial Crisis
“The sacrificial crisis, that is, the disappearance of the sacrificial rites, coincides with the disappearance of the difference between impure violence and purifying violence” (Girard, Violence and the Sacred, p. 49).
Rights and Privileges
Okay, so I just removed Stacey’s posting privileges. Why is that? I let this thread run a little longer than I usually do for several reasons. First, I wanted to see how the argument morphed and played out, and secondly, because I am on the road, and close monitoring is harder to do. I have …
Ligonier: Catnip of the Internet!
I am not writing as any kind of Ligonier insider. I used to write for Table Talk some years ago, and I have spoken at a few of their national conferences. Other than that, my relations with Ligonier have been warm, cordial, and distant. I am not writing with direct knowledge of any of the …