“Postmoderns who have, in one way or another, pointed to the emptiness of life, the absence of meaning, of enduring, stable value structures, are astonishingly close to the truth—far closer, in fact, than many in the Enlightenment period who lived off fraudulent meaning” [David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), p. …
When the Center Holds
“Institutions worthy of respect and honor derive their respectability from that which is ultimately sacred. The Bible teaches us that creaturely holiness is derivative and that we are to be holy because He is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). All sanctity in Israel derived from the Holy of Holies. This is why respect for any human …
A Twofer
Couple of shameless appeals, right in a row. The first is that today marks the fact that there is only one week remaining for those who want to get the early registration rates for Trinity Fest. The deadline is June 15. The second is that St. Anne’s Pub has updated their web site, and they …
Oblique Nihilism
“Once our world was centered; now it is not. Once there were ultimate principles of criteria; now there are not. Once there was Authority; now there are only authorities, specialists who have mastered a small corner of life’s complexity. We have been left to drift in the flow of melting reality. This is our nihilism. …
Push Ups in the Brain
“And we cannot understand the incarnation of Christ by sitting in neat rows in a classroom, doing push-ups with the brain” (The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 64).
And Amen
Drifting is not hard to do, and it always takes various forms. One place we drift is in our responses to God in the worship. One of these responses is the invitation we have to sing to Him. Our singing is called to be rich, meaningful, overflowing. If the acoustics in this place fight you, …
Seinfeld and De Profundis
“Postmoderns live on the surface, not in the depths, and theirs is a despair to be tossed off lightly and which might even be alleviated by nothing more serious than a sitcom” [David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), p. 177].
The Wind in the Willow Creek
“It is unfortunate indeed that Rat and Mole had a greater sense of the numinous in the presence of the god Pan than many modern evangelicals do in the presence of the God of Abraham” (The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 64).
Sick Pleasure
This is a public statement, made on behalf of the session of Christ Church: On June 5, 2006, a disgruntled former member of our church took it upon himself to post an announcement on his web site about a former NSA student, Steven Sitler, who has been convicted of child molestation. This posting was done …
A World Made New
If we hear a word enough, we think we know what it means. We live in a Christian sub-culture that has strongly emphasized the need to be “born again.” Without denying this need for regeneration at all, we still have to place the reality of this in a biblical context, lest we turn it into …