“Wagner was as committed as ever to the overthrow of existing conditions. However, the scope of his rebellion had changed. His desire for change now went deeper than the political process in terms of its end and beyond the political process, beyond even revolutionary politics, in terms of the means to bring that revolutionary change …
When the Gospel is Opaque
“Rationalists consistently maintain that a truth need not be accepted if it makes no sense to ‘reason.’ But does this not excuse those who are perishing? The gospel makes no sense to them. ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is …
Take the Blue Pomegranates For Example
It is perilously easy to read your own practices and assumptions back into the history of the Church. This anachronistic impulse is universal, and much of the time it is merely funny and endearing, but when it is elevated to the point of dogma, and insisted upon as a religious duty, the problems that result …
High Standards Lead to Relativism
“Even so, most people still tend [to] think of the popular arts as ‘lowbrow’ entertainment and not something to be thought about or evaluated as art. This has disastrous consequences for the cultivation of Christian discernment . . .Undermining the status of popular art has not led to education of the audience to heighten appreciation; …
When Reason is Unreasonable
“Throughout Scripture we find a clear contrast between the philosophy of the natural man and the mind of Christ. When such passages are brought to bear on the various doctrines of the rationalist, the response is usually to shrug them off. And yet this is not sufficient; indeed, it is not reasonable. The Word of …
Profit and Mess
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 85 “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox” (Prov. 14:4). Another way of saying this is that profit is messy. Profit is intrusive. Really profitable times can really mess …
Christ In All
When Jesus taught that He was the bread of life, come down from heaven, His listeners grumbled at Him. How was this possible, they asked? This was Jesus, after all, and they knew Joseph and Mary. How was it possible that He came down from heaven? Jesus answered them as said that they should not …
A Psalming People
As we continue to pray and labor for reformation in the church, remember that this is not accomplished in some invisible place. Reformation is manifest in the church; it is manifest to the world. Reformation is not change for the sake of change, but it will sometimes look like this to outsiders. Reformation is not …
Magazined
“We adults look around, for example, and observe that while brain surgeons and Nobel laureates probably have their good points, surely glossy-magazine editors are the most impressive people in America. Every month, in the front of their magazines, many of them have to write those six-hundred word columns with titles like ‘From the Editor’s Desk’ …
All of Them Face Down
“To what may we liken God? The answer, friends, is nothing. And we show that we may compare Him to nothing by comparing Him to everything that is worthy of Him, and, of course, nothing completely is. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. This is not zen Christianity; it is the …