“Isaiah 9:21: ‘Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, and they together against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.’ When we are thus one against another, the anger of the God is not turned away from us, and we may fear His hand will …
Concrete Secularism
The last chapter of Darryl’s book is obviously the one in which he steps up, wraps up, and sums up, and of course it is also the place where some of our more obvious disagreements come to the fore. Darryl’s basic assumption is that the coming of Christ ushered in a new relationship between church …
Grit, Grime and Grease Are All Most Real
The heroin addict “was under the influence of the idea that some aspects of reality are more real than others: that the seedy side of life is more genuine, more authentic, than the refined and cultured side—and certainly more glamorous than the bourgeois and respectable side. This idea could be said to be the fundamental …
Not the Right Color
“To father our wicked divisions upon religion is no other than to bring down the Holy Ghost in the likeness of a dove to be like a vulture or a raven” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 313).
Compassionate Conservativism Isn’t Either One
Darryl’s next chapter, “The Dilemma of Compassionate Conservatism,” provides a good overview of the recent interactions of the state and evangelicals, and the attempt to have the government provide help to various “faith-based” social agencies. Darryl does good work pointing out the corners that we have painted ourselves into, but his narrow conception of what …
Dancing Solipsistically
“On the dance floor itself, a great seething mass of people move like maggots in a tin. With so large a number of people crammed into so small a space, it is astonishing that they is no social contact among them. Most of the pairs do not even look into each other’s eyes; because of …
First Time for Everything
I understand that a bunch of you are going to be at the Evangelical Theological Society Conference in San Diego this week (Nov. 14-16). Well, as it turns out, Canon Press is going to be there as a vendor for the first time, and they are going to have books for sale. Now I understand …
First Edition Lewis
Interested in Lewis first editions? Why not? Well, okay, maybe the price is why not, and maybe you wouldn’t want to read through it with a highlighter when you get it. But, that said, think about the investment potential. What will these puppies be worth in another hundred years? Think about that.
Flaunting the Body She Thought She Had
“I enter the [pub]. Everyone is shouting, but still no one can make himself heard (which perhaps is just as well). Twenty televisions blare: eight each playing two different songs (one rock and one reggae), and four relaying a wrestling match. Ten seconds of this and one feels one has a food mixer inside one’s …
Don’t Give the Agenda to Quarrelers
“Our case would be miserable if we were at the mercy of every quarreler, bound to answer whatsoever he please to put forth. But let us tend to our work” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 309).