Wright’s last three chapters were really very good. They were “How to Engage Tomorrow’s World,” “Apocalypse and the Beauty of God,” and “Becoming People of Hope.” What I want to do is make a few brief comments about each, and then make two observations about the book as a whole, and Wright’s influence generally. In …
The Rhetoric Trap
Quintilian defines rhetoric as the art of a good man speaking well. Before getting into that, we need to address a problem that sometimes arises with bookish sorts. As we do this we also have to deal with the problem of doing this in our postmodern age, which is an age of sophistry, illusion, and …
The Paideia Principle
The Christian faith is a religion of world conquest, and no, not that kind of world conquest. If we do not believe this, then every form of cultural engagement will be simply a form of slow surrender. It is the way of compromise. You can always tell this kind of person because they are always …
The Vision Handoff
Pre-Introduction One of the problems with having a very efficient ACCS staff is that they request outlines from the speakers long before some of the speakers have any idea what they are going say. That means that you get a rudimentary outline, often bearing very little relation to what the speaker up front is actually …
Bet You a Can of Corn
I should begin by saying that this bit of writing is not a rant. I can assure you that at no time in the composition was the screen spittle-flecked. I remained in a good humor the entire time. And I mention all this because it is my intention to step out a bit, high, wide, …
What the Pimp Needs to Do
In this installment, I want to commend Wright yet again, briefly summarize what he says, and then try to supply a key element that I think he is missing. Were he to gain that element, either from me or from a reputable dealer, I believe the good points he is urging here would gain a …
Caesar as Coxcomb
Given how hard I have been on Wright for most of these chapters, it might seem remarkable to some that I have now come to what I consider to be the second outstanding chapter of this book. Others might think the word remarkable is not the right word. Perhaps the word schizophrenic is the one …
The Action is in the Verb
Regeneration “is not a change from nature into grace; it is a change from broken nature to restored nature, and the change is accomplished by grace. We are not changed into grace, we are transformed by grace. When Jesus changed the water into wine, it was natural water and the result was natural wine. The …
Forgetting the Columns
The next chapter is on the problem of evil, and in the course of it Wright says something that is particularly fine. Since there are a lot of other problems, to be dealt with in due course, I wanted to begin with the praise. “The Gospels tell this story in order to say that the …