“As I’ve mentioned, by the time of the Reformation the ship of the church was absolutely covered with barnacles — saints days, and whatnot. The Reformers scraped virtually all of them off, keeping only what they called the ‘five evangelical feast days’ — Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. All five are related to …
How Then Shall We Deport?
Donald Trump has now proposed drastic measures to deal with the threat of domestic terrorism, of the kind we recently saw in San Bernardino. His idea is to put a ban on all Muslims entering the country, period, until such time as we get all this “sorted out.” His idea is, of course, simplistic, unworkable, …
Imprinted on Fudge
“Celebrate the stuff. Use fudge and eggnog and wine and roast beef. Use presents and wrapping paper . . . You do not prepare for a real celebration of the Incarnation through thirty days of Advent Gnosticism. At the same time, remembering your Puritan fathers, you must hate the sin while loving the stuff. Sin …
Temptation, Effeminacy, and Christian Leadership
The subject of temptation, same-sex attraction and sin is one that seems to call for ever more follow-ups. First, let us consider some questions with regard to temptation. If the stirrings of sin are themselves sinful, as I have been arguing, then how did Adam first sin? He was created perfect. As I was telling …
More Than a Technically Correct Christmas
“I mean much more than that our words should be true and our behavior good. I mean that our words should sound like good news and our lives should smell like good news” (God Rest Ye Merry, p. 88).
A Fine Collection of Butterhearts
When a society rejects common sense, natural law, right reason, and Scripture — taking those worthy authorities in alphabetical order — that society has no way of resolving the internal contradictions that will inevitably arise, and no way of fighting off external assaults, however absurd. The good news is found in Herbert Stein’s law, which …
Feel the Touchies
Here is a different kind of update on the debate precipitated by the unfortunate Gospel Coalition post from Ed Shaw. In one of my responses to it, I said this: “Same sex attraction is an attraction to sin. If we lose that understanding, we have lost everything. This is not a trifle.” I have been …
On Breaking the Full Court Press
If you would, I would like to ask you to bear with one more update on The Gospel Coalition issue I posted on twice yesterday, here and here. Denny Burk has written helpfully here on the whole thing, and I heartily commend his piece. Denny has read the entire book the article was excerpted from, …
On Funding Real Resistance
I am fond of saying that in order to fight a culture war, you need to have a culture. Tank warfare cannot be fought without tanks, and naval warfare requires ships. A real culture war requires real cultures. This is why we are laboring to restore a classical and Christian approach to higher education. We …
Open Wide
