“The causes of our divisions from ourselves may be covered under three headings: 1. Dividing principles. Sometimes our divisions come down from our heads to our our heart. 2. Dividing distempers. Sometimes they go up from our hearts to our heads. 3. Dividing practices. These come from head and heart; they foment and increase both” …
Some More Demands from Art
A couple films showing this year at Sundance are poised to top the charts . . . that is, if there are charts for which devotees of one-handed magazines are allowed to vote. Mouthbreathers everywhere, beads of earnest sweat on their foreheads, will no doubt blog their early a.m. approbation of this documentary about bestiality. …
Not An Economic Powerhouse
“Later attempts to catch up with the Industrial Revolution fared little better . . . According to a World Bank estimate, the total exports of the Arab world other than fossil fuels amount to less than those of Finland, a country of five million inhabitants” (Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? p. 47).
The Universal Read
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty—except, of course, books of information” (C.S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds, p. 15).
The Primal Confession
“After all, the Table of Contents in our Bibles is one of the Church’s first and most important confessional traditions” (Mother Kirk, p. 61).
A Real Challenge
“It is a great part of the skill of the minister to divide the Word aright; but this skill of his will be put to the test when he comes to divide the Word among a divided people, to give every part its portion” (Burroughs, Irenicum, pp. 16-17).
Slept Straight Through Their Thundering Guns
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Too many, Lord, now trouble me, Those who rise against me Multiply. They whisper threats against my soul; There is no help for him in God. I think on my troubles. But You, O Lord, have shielded me; You are my glory, …
A Clash of Faiths
Why should Christians learn about Islam? Why teach on it? Why discuss it? Why stir up yet another debate or controversy? One time, during the debates over the formation of the U.S. Constitution, someone proposed that the United States be prohibited from having a standing army of more than 15,000 men. I forget the exact …
Complete Reversal
“The impotence of the Islamic world confronted with Europe was brought home in dramatic form in 1798, when a French expeditionary force commanded by a young general called Napoleon Bonaparte invaded, occupied, and governed Egypt. The lesson was harsh and clear—even a small European force could invade one of the heartlands of the Islamic empire …
Something to Push Against
“Creative freedom can defeat itself because novelty can be felt only in relation to a perceived norm, just as rhythmic freedom can only be felt against a regular meter. When the norm is obscured by heedless violations, interest gradually disappears” (Jacques Barzun, The Culture We Deserve, p. 155).