But Enough about Essential Forgiveness Oil
“Paul doesn’t give us the content of the [old wives/1 Tim. 4:7] fables he had to deal with, but the word refers to a genus that has never lacked for content in any age” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 171).
Conservative Conservation
“Stewardship is a basic Christian duty, which is why so many people want to pretend they are doing it. It is much easier to put a green decal on your car, or widen your phylacteries some other way, than it is to actually conserve something for real” (Confessions of a Food Catholic, p. 165).
When Aimee Met Harry and Sally
Introduction: In her latest contribution—Why Can’t We Be Friends?—Aimee Byrd has raised the question why Christian men and women have such trouble and difficulty being friends. Why are we in such a pother about it? She knows that it will be a controversial book (Loc. 155), but undertook the risk anyway. In the first chapter …
Book of the Month/August 2018
This small book was simply a lot of fun, and for various reasons. If I had read it the way you are likely to do, it would have been a lot of fun on its own terms. But I have had the background privilege of knowing all the principals involved in it. Every year, four …
The Michelin Tire Boy
“I am not talking about genuine allergies. Everybody should know what those are. You serve your guest ground up peanuts in that Thai dish you’ve been wanting to try out, and forty-five minutes later he looks like the Michelin tire boy, and the dinner party concludes late that evening in the ER. That’s an allergy, …
If Letters Were Bullets . . .
Refried Revoice: No post in particular: In your most recent Plodcast you talked about Revoice and mentioned the idea of Eros (facing each other) and Friendship (side by side). I was reminded of That Hideous Strength: “Those who are enjoying something, or suffering something together, are companions. Those who enjoy or suffer one another, are …
A New Webinar from Rachel
Deep Potluck Doctrine
“The central pastoral issue of the New Testament was a dietary one—whether Jews and Gentiles could eat together. And if the apostle Paul fought so long and hard on this one—to keep the body of Christ from being divided this way—when the issue really was created by the laws of the Old Testament, how much …
Growing Corn on an Asteroid
Introduction: Let us accept for a moment the supposition—which I do not actually accept, by the way—that the Revoice organizers meant well. Let us assume honest misunderstandings all around. That is still no reason to let the misunderstandings stand, or to let them go unaddressed. This is because at some point, when confusion is in …