I have been reading criticisms of Darwin for a long time, meaning that I know my onions (allium cepa), and House of Cards acquits itself very well in the genre, making a fine contribution to our growing library. I am very happy to commend it as my selection for June’s book of the month. Tom …
The Paige Patterson Test
I have not yet said very much about the Paige Patterson affair in the Southern Baptist Convention. This has been a function of my general busyness, my lack of knowledge about the back story, and assorted other stuff. The one thing I wouldn’t want it to be is a function of timidity. Depending on who …
With Room for Denial
Up Near the Spigot
As I was reading what Warhorn was saying about the Revoice conference in St. Louis (a critique in four parts), I noticed that Wesley Hill was one of the main speakers. I also noticed that he had a new book out, called Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian, which …
Sand in the Sugar Bowl
Introduction: We certainly live in crazy times, but they are a particular brand of crazy times. The more advanced the lunacy gets, the more difficult it becomes to remember what normality might look like. And the weirder it all gets, the more we seem to cultivate our appetite for the weird. Our cultural apostasy is …
Idolatry and Emphasis
“Idols do more than rearrange standards; they also generate standards. Thus I should always ask, ‘Is this right?’ and not just ‘Is this too important?’” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, pp. 85-86).
Letters Largely About Les (Swing and a) Mis
Les Miss: The book/play is set in France in 1832, not the French Revolution Era of 1789-99. The war aspect of the play serves as a foil background to develop the main character, Jean Valjean. It truly puzzles me that one could zoom in so closely on this minor rebellion sub-plot and say that it …
The Light From Behind the Sun
Introduction: Many years ago, one of the first books I wrote was published under the name Persuasions, and the subtitle was “A Dream of Reason Meeting Unbelief.” In that book, a character named Evangelist encountered various people on the road that leads to the Abyss and he engaged them in conversation, seeking to persuade them …
Calvinism 4.0/God as the Good Author
Introduction: Many people struggle with the problem of evil. If God is all powerful, then he could eliminate evil. If God is all good then He would certainly want to. So then why does the classic Christian position teach us that God is both all powerful and all good, and yet evil continues to exist? …
The Real Revolt
“Nothing is more truly counter-cultural than holiness” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 82).