Theology That Bites Back
So The Washington Post did a profile on the wife of our vice-president, Karen Pence, and it came out that Mike Pence followed a variation of the “Billy Graham rule,” in that he would never eat alone with a woman who was not his wife, and he would never attend an event where alcohol was …
Allow me to begin this brief meditation by urging everyone to calm down. Okay, I grant this intro may have worked some people up all by itself. Let’s begin again, shall we? There is nothing here that should be a cause for alarm, but given the times in which we live, there will likely be …
In the next chapter, Rod Dreher outlines a modern description of and rationale for the Benedictine order. And in the particulars, he says a number of wise and good things. Dreher sees one of the most essential things. “We need to embed ourselves in stable communities of faith” (Loc. 760). And living by rule is …
Introduction: Sometimes, after I have thrown a Molotov cocktail or two, meaning by this an incendiary adjective, or hot incandescent metaphor, a number of my friends who follow this blog have counted to twenty-five, muttering to themselves all the while that they know there is going to be a follow-up post, one that will seek …
It is not uncommon for me to conduct wedding ceremonies, and one of the questions I usually ask the couple during the premarital counseling is what the composition of the assembly is likely to be. When I preach, everybody is there more or less voluntarily, and they know what they are likely to be getting. …
Introduction: There are only two “ways,” two fundamental religions in the world. One of them feeds people, and the other one eats people. We see this contrast in vivid relief in the juxtaposition that Mark gives to the death of John the Baptist. That sad but typical episode is followed immediately by the feeding of …
Introduction: Scripture teaches that the flocks of God are precious, and they are precious because of what it took to purchase them. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own …
Introduction: Last week I posted something called Potiphar’s Wife, Survivor, which elicited something of an enthusiastic reaction. That reaction was registered in different places, like Facebook, Twitter, and in the comments section here, and a noticeable bit of it ran down the lines of the eff-you-Doug school of thought. Not only was it registered in …
The field of cyber-archeology is both exciting and promising. As more and more ancient servers are being discovered and the contents translated, the more we are discovering about ancient customs and laws. In addition, we are discovering that many ancient tales had another side to the story. Here is an excerpt from the personal blog …
Introduction: God puts sinners back together, and God in His mercy puts backsliders back together again. How He does this is truly remarkable, and as we enter into the spirit of this psalm we find ourselves right at the heart of the gospel. The Text: “Lord, thou hast been Favourable unto thy land: Thou hast …
