Ministries stuff goes here…
Audio Reading of Post
Maneuvering Room
The next chapter in Franke’s book is Chapter 8, “Scripture As the Word of God.” And technically, everything should be okay, because the words are all okay, but everything is so darn parsed, and I think I recognize maneuvering room when I see it. “The historic commitment of the church to the idea that Scripture …
Yeah. Like That.
The president said that the health care package that cleared the Senate was the most important social legislation since Social Security. Which was, as my daughter Rachel put, like saying we haven’t had weather this good since Katrina.
Stirring the Pan Ever More Vigorously
As I have written before, there are many political assessments that should be made on the basis of what everybody can see, and not on the basis of esoteric “insider” knowledge. Further, these judgments should certainly not be made on the basis of a paradigm powerful enough to invert what is obviously happening — powerful …
Doctor, You’re Cutting Too Deep. You’re Scratching the Table.
One of the temptations that comes to people who learn how to see and identify “deep structures” in a narrative — adeptly twirling chiasms they have found, or anticipataory foreshadowing motifs, or whatnot — is that they sometimes lose their ability to read what is right there on the page. They know that the Mississippi …
The Case Against Distance Learning
But before anyone gets riled at the title, allow me a few caveats first. The first is that a strong element of distance learning is essential to every form of real education. Every university library is full of distance learning packets called books. When I read Augustine or Calvin, this is because back in the …
The Disease of Pragmatism
On this subject of higher education in the liberal arts, there is much to develop in every direction. And by “develop,” I mean “shoot at.” It is what our military calls a target rich environment. What is a liberal arts education for? Why go to college? Why pay big bucks to go to college? What …
The Spirit’s Work
You have often been reminded that in this meal we partake of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We do not do this because He is somehow locally present on this Table—for He is at the right hand of the Father, and not here. But Paul is very clear that we are made partakers …
At Least I Didn”t Confuse Him With Rutherford B. Hayes
I just got my author’s copies of 5 Cities That Ruled the World today, and you should of course get your twelve copies now. But — and this is the way it frequently goes even while the printing press is cooling down — this is the time when errors are brought to one’s attention, waving …
The Plurality of Truth Moonwalk
John Franke begins by asking and answering the question, “Do you believe in truth?” He allows that the easiest thing for emergents to do is to just say yes, in order to reassure everybody. But then he gets into his explanation of why he thinks this is an odd question, and all the reasons why …