Introduction: This last fall, our congregation celebrated its 40th year. God has been extraordinarily gracious to us, mostly by letting us survive, and so we naturally want to express our thanksgiving to Him. As we look forward to the next 40, at the end of which time I will be 102, we hope to be …
The Mastiff of the Lord
Robin Phillips has written an article in which he wants to set an “agenda for fresh dialogue” on the subject of covenant renewal worship. Okay. I’m in. But I don’t want to answer Robin point by point — rather I would like to make a series of background observations that might help us to determine …
Reading List of Completed Books
As you peruse this list, please keep in mind that these books were read, and evaluated, over a period of many years. As my understanding of God’s Word (not to mention the world) has grown, the predictable result is that I would now evaluate many of these works differently — DW 2024: 1. The Rights …
Call It What It Is
“For example, they want to write off all social conservatives as throwback Puritans, with crabbed, pinched faces, worrying desperately that somewhere, somebody called that number on the bathroom wall, and is having a good time. The answer is to cultivate a sunny Calvinism, a Chestertonian Calvinism. Chesterton himself would of course be annoyed at my …
Just Another Paradox
“That legacy [of C.S. Lewis] is a large contributor to my willingness to luxuriate in my quite oxymoronic goal of becoming and remaining a Chestertonian Calvinist” (From The Romantic Rationalist, p. 80).
Skootch Around a Bit
After my post on Rand Paul and National Review, I got various responses, and so I want to write about two divergent but representative takes. In effect, one response is that things are better than I think, and the other response is that things are way worse than I think. Because I am Chestertonian in …
Pastors in Pale Pastel
I have noticed, on the Internet and elsewhere, that when a pastor says something angular, the kind of thing that provokes questions and/or consternation, a very common stock response emerges. That response is that such behavior is “not very pastoral.” Such a response initially seems to be thoughtful and wise, concerned for unity and love, …
A New Book is Upon Us!
Death By Living is due to be released in just a few weeks. A follow-up to Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl, this book brings us a lot more of the same — Chestertonian exuberance, vivid descriptions, and the romance of orthodoxy. One of the perks we have in our family is that we get to read …
About the Proprietor
Welcome to Blog & Mablog. The name is taken from the prophet Ezekiel (Eze. 38:14-16), who was referring to a bad dude named Gog (from Magog), and if you make a little pun, you have a cultural and theological blog that sweeps down from the north out of Russia in order to invade the land …
Celebrating Christmas Like a Puritan
INTRODUCTION:Socrates once famously said that the unexamined life is not worth living. In a similar vein, the unexamined holiday is not worth celebrating. Whenever we do anything on autopilot, it is not surprising that at some point we forget where we are going, or what we were supposed to be doing. And when we are …