I just recently got my copy of Engaging With Barth, and read the contribution by David Gibson (on Barth’s doctrine of election). This volume looks like a fantastic resource for pastors, a resource that is very much needed. For various reasons, Barth has not really gone away and it is important for evangelicals to work …
The Learned Wooliness of Archbishops
In Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer, he says this: “For our own land and nation, the happy islands of Great Britain and Ireland, which we ought in a special manner to see the welfare of, that in the peace thereof we may have peace . . . Lord, thou hast dealt favourably with our land; …
Wishing for a Doritos Commerical
Once a father and son were watching the news together, and since it was political season—a primary was looming in their state—not only was the news crammed full of information about the candidates, so also half the commercials were paid political ads, crammed full of lack of information about the candidates. Staring glumly at the …
Color Me Random
I recently came across a few songs that I really like, and thought I should mention it. First, I recently got the album that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss put out together (didn’t see that one coming), and a couple songs there were first rate. Check out Killing the Blues and Gone, Gone, Gone. On …
Corporations Own Cool
“That’s exactly why cool is the advertising El Dorado. Whoever owns cool owns the others. As long as advertisers can convince consumers that certain consumer products contain a coolness that eludes them, advertisers have the upper hand” (Paul Grant, Blessed Are the Uncool, p. 23).
The Horse Laugh of Freedom
Earlier this winter, I have posted the occasional anecdotal guffaw at the expense of global warming. Comes now Science to back up all the stalwart lovers of liberty who dared to laugh the Horse Laugh of Freedom. Turns out, this year has seen a dramatic plunge in temperature, all around the world, according to all …
Behind the Painted Scenery
“Real people are never cool; only their projected identities are. Smooth guys far too often have child support to pay. Fine dressers are often broke, party animals look a whole lot better at midnight than at four, and a lot of world-traveling backpackers are really just hiding from their parents” (Paul Grant, Blessed Are the …
And Is Catnip for Consumers
“Cool is the most powerful spiritual environment possible for advertisers” (Paul Grant, Blessed Are the Uncool, p. 18).
Odd Cousins
“American cool and American racism were born together and have grown up together. Cool as we know it was born in the shadowy intersection of black and white America” (Paul Grant, Blessed Are the Uncool, p. 16).
Gritty Realism
“To the extent that women have begun to appear in this shooter world, they do so as caricatures—with cartoonishly erotic bodies. The characteristic pose of Laura Croft from Eidos’s Tomb Raider is a straight-on view of her scowling face, skinny waist, pneumatic breasts, and two huge guns that she’s aiming directly at you. Like other …