Throughout the course of this book Darryl says many good things, and makes many fine observations. Unfortunately, they are set in the context of this dualistic background of his, which make the result resemble a collection of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires set in a fitting of tarnished and battered sheet metal. Chapter six on “impersonal …
Machen and Wilkins
Darryl’s next chapter, on the rise of a democratized Protestant faith in America is quite good, and very helpful. Toward the end of the chapter, his doubts about democracy start come to the fore. “Rather than learning about democracy from Christianity, more often than not American Protestants have felt compelled to defend democracy under a …
Rampaging Christian Wowserism
Darryl Hart concludes his next chapter with the correct observation that “the phrase ‘under God’ raises more questions than it apparently answers” (p. 123). This not only is a fair challenge, but it is one we need to take up. If I might, I would like to borrow a metaphor from Warfield, and apply it …
Compromise #1
Chapter Two of Darryl Hart’s A Secular Faith was, as you may recall, a really disappointing treatment of the theocratic and establishmentarian convictions of the Westminster Assembly. This next chapter was quite different — all of it was admirable, and most of it was simply outstanding. Darryl begins by showing how two early presidents, Jefferson …
Jupiterian Amillennialism
Darryl Hart is easy to read, but, in another sense, he is very hard to read. His second chapter “Whose Freedom, Which Liberty?” is a treasure trove of historical information, but his discussion also includes, it must be said, an astonishing oversight. I don’t know what — other than an amillennialism that appears to have …
City on a Hill
This post ought to be fairly straightforward, because this next chapter by Darryl was, taking one thing with another, outstanding. Of course I am suspicious of where he is placing it, but still the historical review he gives is very, very good. He begins with a discussion of the famous American trope, “a city on …
That Faithy Feel
Someone of Darryl Hart’s intelligence and learning is incapable of writing a book without offering many penetrating insights, and this book promises to be no exception. He starts out by observing the “tsunami of faith-based politics” (p. 3). He objects to this, as he should, because government sponsorship of a generic faith, or groups that …
When Sin and Death Build the City
I enjoyed getting to meet Darryl Hart at the Auburn Avenue conference last year, and also enjoyed our discussion on the Federal Vision over at De Regno Christi. He’s a good guy, and has many valuable things to offer the church, particularly in the realm of historical analysis. But in our discussion at DRC, the …
Beams, Motes, and American Eyes
How can Christians learn to stand against the emerging empire without becoming either cranks on the right, or closing ranks with the envious on the left — those who would have no problem with such immense power being wielded, just so long as it was not being wielded by America? In virtually all political discourse, …
A New Perspective on Ron Paul
From my comments on this blog thus far, it should have been gathered that I have more than a little sympathy for Ron Paul. I far prefer him to the standard-issue Republican candidate, who would not recognize the Constitution if a copy were to be set on fire on his front lawn. And so I …