I didn’t want to read Piketty’s book Capital, and probably wouldn’t have, but now comes a development that removes every trace of all my guilt and shame. I didn’t want to read it because he believes in way-progressive tax rates, which is grabby, grabby, grabby, and grabby, grabby, grabby is contrary to the spirit of …
The Whites of Their Thighs
An essential part of a pastor’s duty is to fight heresy. But it is not an essential part of his duty to screech at it in such a fashion as to make all the heretics bless their false god for having given them such an incompetent adversary. Some shepherds fight so listlessly or apologetically that …
The One Who Relates
“There are two errors to avoid here. One is to assume that each individual as such is self-contained and is provided with a hard shell casing . . . The other error is to think that the self is nothing more than a ganglion of relationships, with no ‘hard atoms’ of individuals between whom such …
On Not Leaving Out the Whole Point
“A denial of the need for a foundational heart change is therefore messing with the narratival arc of the whole story” (Against the Church, p. 117).
A Father Transplant
“Regeneration means becoming the seed of another — ultimately, starting with one family tree and then acquiring a different one. My father used to be Adam and now he is the second Adam. My father used to be the devil and now he is Abraham . . . Rebirth entails having been in existence already, …
Crime in a World Without Crimes
“Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil” (Ex. 23:2). In an earlier post, I said that consistency was necessary in any worldview seeking to build a civilization. It is not necessary if the point is to tear a civilization down. If that is the goal, then radical swerves and changes help to achieve …
Bundle Up, Girls!
Last year, when I debated Andrew Sullivan over same sex mirage — he claiming to see it, and me claiming not to, for is it not a mirage? — one of the arguments that I advanced was this one: Given the premises and arguments of same sexery, we have absolutely no reason to limit marriage …
The Gaylag Archipelago
So a marginal football player got drafted into the NFL, kissed his boyfriend smack on the lips, and then another football player tweeted something that expressed the sentiment ick gross, and so the second player was hustled into sensitivity training. Got that? As the revolution is established, there will be no heckling. Kirsten Powers got …
Beyond Counting
“The majestic extent of definite atonement is seen when John turned and looked [Rev. 7:9]. What did he see? He saw a multitude that no man can number. How many will be saved? We can’t count that high. Look at the stars, Abraham. Use the Hubble telescope, Abraham. So shall your descendants be” (Against the …
The Blinkered Prophetess
Like many conservatives, I have been able to enjoy the writing of Marilynne Robinson, even though she appears to be quite at home in the liberal mainline tradition. Despite the differences I have had with her outlook on many issues, her novels have been written with depth, nuance, and sensitivity. This is apparently because she …