Theology That Bites Back
Introduction: I want to begin by thanking Jonathan Leeman for interacting so extensively with me and with others who are seeking to challenge the current state of affairs. By “state of affairs,” I mean this great civic bender we all appear to be on. Some of us believe that there has been a huge earthquake, …
“No, peer pressure just blows in different directions, and so those vulnerable to peer pressure blow over in different directions. Watching last year’s compromises go out of fashion is not repentance.”
Letter to the Editor: It appears to be the case—I don't know that there's any kind of hard-data religious census but certainly by gut-feel demography—that the states with higher proportions ...
“Racism as defined by the world . . actually, there is the problem. The world is unable to define racism. How could they? They have assiduously built a Great Tower out of the fog bricks of relativistic nonsense, but they still expect everyone to react with horror whenever they snap their fingers and declare that a moral outrage has been committed.”
Introduction: I have from time to time noticed a certain measure of exasperation with me. I am not here speaking about the exasperation of the progressives on the left because that can be hard ...
“I happen to believe that a good deal of racial repentance really is in order, but it sure won’t be ushered in by any study committees on racial reconciliation who have been reading all the wrong sort of books. It will be brought in by a fundamentalist preacher, right out of a Flannery O’Connor short story, preaching hot gospel with his shirt sleeves rolled up and looking like nothing on earth. I don’t care what color he is. What will matter is the color of his words.”
“If you have a cottage on the beach, the breezes blow in from off the bay. If you are in the PCA, the breezes blow in from Manhattan. Perhaps the problem, ye Presbyterians, is that you try to address problems like this with study committees. What a white thing to do.”
“Apart from the cross of Christ, nothing is forgivable because all of it is inexcusable. But in Christ, the inexcusable can be forgiven.”
Introduction: This is a picture of the flogging of Obadiah Holmes in Massachusetts, who was flogged for holding unauthorized worship services. Let us even stipulate that Obadiah was a handful, and still our response is one of disapprobation. And the same kind of thing happened down in Virginia a century later. So yes, there was …
