Theology That Bites Back
The main category for book reviews and cultural interaction.
I have been studying the intersection between biblical faith and pop culture for decades now, and have read mounds of books on the subject. I have done this with one eye on possibly writing my own book on the subject—the working title is Devil in a Blue Dress—and I have been doing this because there …
The only way we can physically inhabit the same common space is by a shared understanding of the meanings of things. There of course needs to be a shared “language proper,” but this principle also extends to other things that are not explicitly verbal. When Nancy and I have traveled to the U.K., we have …
Dear Gabrielle, It is not as though anything you have had to deal with in this ordeal has been easy, but this next issue is, unless I miss my mark, particularly difficult. I am talking about dealing with those times in the middle of a sleepless night where you struggle with accusing or blaming yourself. …
Introduction So then, it seems to me that Jonathan Merritt has gone and done it now. He has exposed, and about time, sez I, the fact that I am being mollycoddled by The Gospel Coalition. They do this mollycoddling, not sure how exactly, but they do it, despite the fact that I am—and I use …
The situation described in the following letters continues to be entirely fictitious, including persons, names, crimes, sins, relationships, circumstances and all particulars. The kind of situation that is described, however, is all too common and my hope is that biblical principles applied to this fictitious scenario may be of some help to individuals tangled up …
This month’s pick is The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson. That title is intriguing, but the subtitle—depending on who you are—is even more intriguing. It is Legalism, Antinomianism & Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters. The Marrow controversy was an uproar in the early part of the 18th century in Scotland, and it was …
Introduction: You may have picked up on “one of the things we say around here,” which is “all of Christ for all of life.” But what do we mean by that exactly? It may sound very spiritual, but if it doesn’t mean anything, it can’t mean anything very spiritual. Nonsense is not improved by interlarding …
This linked article drew my attention back to something that I’ve been pondering for some years now. Yes, I am aware this was written by a lady who is an Anglican priest wanting to function within the constraints of historic Christian practice. You can’t have everything, you know. The issue is accountability, in this case, …
My interaction with Brad Littlejohn on this pink hair business is going to have to proceed very careful lest the whole thing turn into a love fest. I think we have established that we largely agree on the principles, at least at 30,000 feet. The issue remaining, as I understand it, is how much of …
Brad Littlejohn made a thoughtful contribution to the great pink hair discussion here, and he was going great until he got to the part about what binding consciences actually looks like. But his beginning was really strong—he sees that pastoral work centers on numerous applications of first century principles to twenty-first century tangles. “To preach …
