It is hard to add something serious to a topic as risible as Obama’s peace prize, but here goes a try at it. President Obama is in a bad jam. He is intelligent enough (and a number of his advisors are certainly intelligent enough) to see the political capital that would be accumulated if he …
Insufferable Light Bulbs
Last night the overnight temperature here in Moscow was 12 degrees above zero, 7 degrees below the previous record for this date. This datum by itself is an anomaly, an outlier, a quirk. But taken together with what sane people all over the world are observing, to such an extent and at such levels that …
Chortle. Snort.
Here are the top ten reasons why I am beyond delighted that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize: 10. Because this means that the Vatican must have verified that reports of the president floating around the top of the Washington monument were reports of a genuine miracle, and were not a deceitful trick by the …
Three Feet of Tin Foil
I want to say something outrageous, but I need a moment to set it up. A number of years ago I heard a speaker quoting Eugene Peterson to the effect that there was something deficient in John Calvin’s theology, as evidenced by the fact that he was capable of writing all that high level theology …
Affected By the Time Stamp
My response to Jason’s next chapter will be a little bit different. In this chapter, he presents the “big picture,” which in his understanding is set forth in the book of Revelation 12. “My thesis for this chapter, therefore, is that in Revelation 12:1-6 the church is given a glimpse of Christ’s victory in His …
Our Culture Warrior Hinder Parts
Chapter 7 of Jason’s book is really quite good. His topic is “Reformed Piety,” and he does a good job in distinguishing the corporate nature of Reformed piety from the radical individualism of much of contemporary evangelicalism. He appeals, quite properly, to the contrast set by John Williamson Nevin and Charles Finney, a contrast that …
Putting the Trash Out
My response to chapter 6 won’t be that long because I agreed with a great deal of it. Jason does a good job nailing those who have jumbled up their Christian faith with their heartland, red state patriotism. When that particular jumble gets knocked, we should just let matters unfold. The United States does not …
Driving the Cultural Car
Chapter 5 is called “Subversive Sabbatarianism,” and addresses the countercultural nature of sabbath observance. It provides a great test case for Jason’s thesis because it is a command that has to do with living, breathing bodies, as well as with competing claims on those bodies. Unfortunately, I don’t think Jason sees this. First, the agreement. …
Just Plain Greasy
There is something different about these latest examples of sexual hypocrisy. We are used to sexual shenanigans, and we are used to people lying to cover them up. We are also used to the double standard — if a Republican congressman were to do to a fetching staffer what a Democratic congressman does to a …
A Pretty Complete Cultural Transformation
Chapter 4 of Jason’s book is “The Power of Weakness.” In it, he points out, accurately enough, that Americans like underdogs just so long as they don’t have to be one. He also comments on a certain kind of evangelical body-builder posing down in the public square as evidence that we are more interested in …