Dear visionaries, Just a short note expressing my deep hope that you all had as blessed a Christmas as our household did. Nothing compares to it — worship on Christmas Eve, family gathered around a table in deep fellowship, prime rib and rich red wine, grand-kids delighted with their stick horses, and a glorious tree …
Check It Out
Please check out the website for our friends at Ball and Cross Books. It is also posted off to the left.
Nouns and Stories
One of the most baffling things about the postmodern drift in Reformed and evangelical circles is the idea that certainty is entirely and completely dependent on foundationalism. And, if foundationalism goes, then there goes our ability to know anything for certain. Now foundationalism is the philosophical view that certitude must be based on certain “basic” …
More Shroud Stuff
Since the Shroud of Turin web site went up last week, the response has been really remarkable, with lots of interest and respect from all around the world. But some of our local critics have been beside themselves, and have behaved like a nine-year-old boy throwing rocks at a train . . . ten minutes …
Looking for My Feet
Manfully, I continue to work through The Next Reformation by Carl Raschke. In the course of my reading this morning, I came across this. “The philosophical quest for unfailing presuppositions is not Christian; it is outright paganism” (p. 113, emphasis his). Presuppositions are not something you go off and hunt for, like the Holy Grail. …
Anti-Americanism
I am currently enjoying the book Anti-Americanism by Jean-Francois Revel. On a number of levels, the book is a shrewd diagnosis of the various emotional European pathologies that masquerade as insightful analysis of the United States. Revel is not addressing those who, for various reasons, want to critique America (which is not only fine, but …
Trent Lott’s Gaffe
Dear visionaries, The price of true diversity is eternal vigilance. After all our striving for inclusivity in this forum, I am astounded that we still have folks making judgmental comments on the ethical choices of others. If Cardinal Law, after deep reflection in his own conscience, decides that chickenhawk priests are the way to go, …
Faithful in a Little
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 35 Jesus teaches us that if we are faithful in little, we will be able to be faithful over much (Luke 19:17). Someone who was a slouch as a teen-ager with his paper route is likely to be a slouch …
Never Wrong or Sometimes Right?
There is a certain kind of dogmatic personality that is incapable of admitting error. Most all of us have an acquaintance or relative or two that fits the category. Everything is spun, everything is fashioned, everything turns out in such a way as to confirm what he was saying all along. In biblical terms, the …
More on the Shroud
The Shroud stuff continues to chug along on merrily. Response from all over has certainly been noteworthy. The web site now has a new FAQ feature, where folks can satisfy their curiosity about medieval glass manufacturing capacity and such like. Look at the bottom of the “About” column.