“Contrary to the theory of evolution, we are not over-developed animals who moved away from the ‘natural’ and down into the ‘artificial.’ For man, the artificial is natural. We want nothing to do with Rousseau’s noble savage.”
Ploductivity, p. 41
Christ is Not the Silence of God
“We are told other things about the Second Person of the Trinity elsewhere in Scripture—He is the icon of God, He is the wisdom of God, He is the Son of God, He is the light from God, and so on. But there is a peculiar primacy given to the Word. This is that which defines all else.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 47
On Humming “A Mighty Fortress” Through Your Masks
Introduction: Allow me, if you will, to address the issues of true liberty, liberty of conscience, and the vaccine mandates. As more COVID mandates look to be coming at us, all hot and heavy like, ...
The Essential Tool
“This contributes to the problem that many Christians have, which is assuming that tools are extraneous to our humanity, and not essential. Somebody thought them up, and perhaps they shouldn’t have. But when we see that tools are a subset of media, and that media were obviously a gifts from God, given to us through the mere fact of creation, we should become much more comfortable with the idea of tools as essential to our humanity.”
Ploductivity, p. 37
Gaudiness Gets Old
“Cultures pass through aesthetic phases as they rise and fall, and the last phase is the phase of decadence. It is the phase in which sensate spectacle is glorified, and it is a sign, not of glory but of decrepitude.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 45
Quite Understandable
First Things First
“Here as everywhere the love of truth for itself is the only salvation. Love the truth, and then, for your people’s good and for your own delight, make it as beautiful as you can.”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 132
Naturally Artificial
“The world is laden with many good things, and apart from picking an apple or two with your bare hands, any kind of dominion has to be accomplished by means of tools. A man with tools is not being an artificial man. My argument is that a man cannot be an authentic man without tools.”
Ploductivity, p. 30
Understated Beauty
“Simplicity is beautiful when it is elegant. Complexity is beautiful when it is understated. The lines should be clean, not cluttered . . . Compare what we are going to do architecturally and liturgically with what a godly women should do to adorn herself. She should adorn herself, and she should make herself beautiful. But the Bible is explicit that this is not to be done by bedizening oneself with various spangles.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 43
Using Them Right Off
“When God breathed the breath of life into Adam, and Adam first sat up, he did so with two opposable thumbs. And he used one of those thumbs when he chucked his first rock into the first pool he came to.”
Ploductivity, p. 30