“The Bible contains a great deal about doctrinal priorities. Some of the most withering criticism leveled by our Lord was directed at religious meatheads who did not know that the altar was more important than the gold placed on it, and honoring parents was more important than contributing to the current pledge drive for the …
Just Plain Bad
“Some of the most popular books are starkly bad — bad in their content, bad in their effect, and, in a related way, bad aesthetically” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 27).
Purity Circling the Drain
“Some perfectionists look at this dismal state of affairs and conclude that what we need is an additional splinter group — and presbyterian denomination of three people, not counting the stated clerk. The stationery proudly proclaims that they are a continuing presbyterian church, that they sing Psalms through the left nostril, unlike those hardy blasphemers …
Who Knew?
“Reading promotes continuity, the gradual accumulation of knowledge, and sustained exploration of ideas. Television, on the other hand, fosters fragmentation, anti-intellectualism, and immediate gratification” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 21).
True Believers
“The Christian Church is called to disciple the nations over the course of centuries, not to be social engineers for the next three weeks, maybe four. Our message is the cross of Christ, not a systematic and doctrinal bundle of plastic explosives. Our approach must be patient, organic, biblical, and inductive, and never ideological, abstract, …
Essential Bunyan
“Such passage seem to me the essential Bunyan. His prose comes to him not from the Authorized Version but from the fireside, the shop, and the lane. he is as native as Malory or Defoe. The Scriptural images themselves take on a new homeliness in these surroundings” (C.S. Lewis, Selected Literary Essays, p. 140).
Loving to Read for Obvious Reasons
“It is no exaggeration to say that reading has shaped our civilization more than almost any other factor and that a major impetus to reading has been the Bible” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 19).
Scholarship Chasing Its Tail
[The] “authority of truth means that hard study was not just a matter of scholarship chasing its tail. Questions are to be raise for the sake of finding answers. A wise pastor knows that splitting the difference between the right answer and the wrong answer will only result in another wrong answer” (Mother Kirk, p. …
How Do You Solve a Rose?
“Take a rose. How will you proceed to solve a rose? You can cultivate roses, smell them, gather and wear them, make them into perfume or potpourri, paint them or write poetry about them; these are all creative activities. But can you solve roses? Has that expression any meaning?” (Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the …
Tolerating the Wrong Things
“We think that it is good simply for a man to love, for example, forgetting that it depends entirely upon what he loves. After all, John told us to love not the world, or the things in it. We believe it is a sin to hate, forgetting that this depends on what we hate. Is …