“No longer would Americans buy to fit in or impress the Joneses, but to demonstrate that they were wise to the game, to express their revulsion with the artifice and conformity of consumerism. The enthusiastic discovery of the counterculture by the branches of American business studied here marked the consolidation of a new species of …
Cloaks, Capernaum, and Coffee Tables
It is quite true that I have an MA in philosophy, I confess it. But that was many years ago, and I was young and foolish. I am very sorry. Won’t let it happen again. Let’s move on. Let the healing begin! But seriously, to return to my view that “the coffee table is there” …
More Than In Our Private Times
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Great God of the city, the city of Zion, Your foundation stands sure, Your foundation is in the holy mountains. Your city is in the holy mountains. You love the gates of Zion, You love the public worship of Your saints More …
Andrew and Me
In his response to my response, Andrew Sandlin made a few comments that I need to address fairly quickly. For the rest I am happy to wait for his book on postmodernity. Andrew says the following, which is intially quite heartening. “In my own case, for benefit of friend and foe alike, let me state …
More on Saloon Brawling
Of course, one of the qualifications for an elder, according to the apostle Paul, is that he not be a “striker” or “brawler.” So for those who are a bit squeamish about taverns to begin with, let alone preachers fighting in them, whether metaphorical or not, let me change the image while retaining all the …
Brain Snakes
The New Testament talks a lot about the truth, knowing the truth, holding to the truth, believing the truth. The assumption throughout is that there is a correspondence between what the faithful believer holds to be the case, and what actually is the case. This is in contrast to those who hold to delusions, in …
Commodify the Revolution
One of the things I will be doing in this Devil in a Blue Dress thread will be to assemble quotations from a stack of books I have read on the matters surrounding pop culture. I thought I would share them with you as I gather them, although with minimal comment. The comment will come …
Too Generous
Those who don’t see the problem coming are not usually prevailed upon to see the problem even after it has arrived. Those who do not see the problems with the emerging church will usually defend the problems even after they emerged. A “generous orthodoxy” ought not to mean giving that orthodoxy away. But here is …
Lord of the Beans
I have sometimes lamented our contemporary loss of any sense of antiquity, grandeur, or nobility. I have argued that the trivialization of Bible stories in things like Veggie Tales represents a far greater tone deafness to the story as God told it than any gain it represents in knowledge of broad plot outlines, or in …
More On the Stars and Bars
At last, some specifics. A traditional Irish band named Potatohead submitted a letter to the editor in this evening’s Daily News that helps us identify the source of at least one of the Confederate battle flag stories. But before getting into this, let us just say that this band (every time I heard them) played …