In Ephesians 6:4, fathers are told to bring up their children in the “nurture and admonition” of the Lord. This is all very well, and the words underlying this phrase are paideia and nouthesia. Back in the day, I used to say (in print and on audio tapes) that paideia was the word we rendered …
Disobedience in the Warehouse and Almost Ready to Ship
Intimacy without obedience is promiscuous and pathetic. As it turns out, authority and obedience are erotic necessities. But you can’t have either without a covenant — and covenant vows, of necessity, obligate the husband to take responsibility and require the wife to render honor and obedience. This is why the common practice of removing “to …
Boobquake and the Meaning of History
So there was this Muslim cleric who put his foot in it, clean up to the knee, by saying that women dressing immodestly is the cause of earthquakes. There was naturally a response in this country that called for women to show some principled cleavage in order to test that holy man’s thesis. On Monday, …
The Laugh Track of Unbelief
I prefer love over lies, peace over war, the taste of butterscotch over the taste of spinach, Christ over Baal, the straight over the crooked, the Navy over the Army, the Greeks over the Persians, the hills over the plains, two weeks of sunshine over two weeks of gray fog, feminine women over effeminate men, …
Too Clever By Half
The first chapter of Peter Hitchens’ book is entitled “The Generation Who Were Too Clever to Believe.” He begins with his own story, how he burned his Bible as a fifteen-year-old in full revolt against everything he had been brought up to believe (p. 17). “At that moment I knew — absolutely knew — that …
Breasts and Wombs Matter
I have now finished James K.A. Smith’s book, Desiring the Kingdom. On my Goodreads page, I rated it at 3 stars, not because it was a mediocre book, but rather because parts of it were outstanding and parts were atrocious. 3 was taking an average. The main failing of the book was that while Smith …
All a Bunch of Nothing
“Think for a moment of what Solomon was in a position to do. We should mediate briefly on what he probably did. He had a thousand women, all of them built from the ground up, and all good looking. He had more money than a man can spend. He had vast estates. He had time …
Make Sure Its Liturgy, Not Liturgay
In a recent discussion with some men I made mention of the problem that I call “clogged filters.” Like a car going down the highway, the air available is the air the car is driving in, and so the air filter needs to be replaced from time to time. The environment we live in is …
Nobody Names Their Kid Jeshurun Anymore
I have been a subscriber to National Review since I was a junior in high school or thereabouts, and so that means I have been reading those guys for around 40 years. I think this should give me the right to say something. Well, first, I should say thanks. I owe them all a great …
The Peace Is Yours to Keep
This is the central meal of history. This is the meal at the world’s end, and it is the food that was set before our first parents in the Garden, and which they turned away from in search of their own food. This is the table at the center. This is the food that teaches …