Theology That Bites Back
The West has always beckoned us to come,And so we moved, intent to make our way,At first across a gray Atlantic swellThat we might scrabble hard to stay alive.The land was rich but hard, so we grew hard,And like the land grew rich and prosperous,So that we might grow soft again in leisure.A different West …
Introduction: Last Friday when I left the office to head home, I was greeted out on the sidewalk by a liberal lady (who would self-identify as an evangelical, if that helps, which it shouldn’t) who was masked up, carrying a poster that chided Christ Church for having held a joint service last Sunday. Our problem …
Every citizen who fears God ought to have room in his heart for both a patriotic stream and a prophetic stream. The patriotic stream is just what it sounds like, which is to say natural affection for the good things God has given us through our nation and people. The prophetic stream recognizes the ways …
Just a quick word of encouragement to those of you who don’t like living in our current secular monkey house, and who dislike even more the idea that this demented arrangement was somehow foisted upon us by the Founders. It wasn’t. So as you set off your fireworks this week, make sure you tell the …
Introduction: If you can’t say something positive, then don’t say anything at all. That’s what I always say. I mean to say, the world is so full of criticism and carping . . . why can’t we just accentuate the positive? Focus on what is good. Try to emphasize the delightful. As Paul once put …
What is celebrated on the Fourth of July? Two things. The formal reason for our celebration is the establishment of our nation in the Declaration of Independence, coupled with the successful completion of the war, coupled in turn with the adoption of our Constitution, which secured that independence. The second reason has to do with …
I have been addressing, from time to time, the tomfool notion of American exceptionalism. The central point I have made thus far is that the genuine exceptionalism displayed by the Founders consisted of the fact that they knew that Americans were not exceptional, which was exceptional. They built a form of government that sought to …
Last night I watched Marco Rubio announce his candidacy for the presidency, and as far as such speeches go, I thought he did a very good job. I also observed that those who want him to go far thought he did a better job than he actually did, but still, I thought it was a …
All right. Now it is time to bring a number of threads together. The great American classicist Basil Gildersleeve once said that the American Civil War was fought over a point of grammar. He said that it was over whether we should say “the United States is” or “the United States are.” Other great and …
One of the characteristics of unraveled societies is that they are not aware of it. Because a culture is coming apart into pieces, it becomes easy to identify (and blame) that other piece over there. Your piece of the Balkanization is just fine. The privilege of demonizing others is one of the perks of fragmentation. …
