“Simply presenting the truth of God in a computer printout fashion, without the passion, life, satire, love and emotion found in Scripture, is a way of being unfaithful to that content. Style is far more than the simple decoration of propositions. Style (with satire as an important part of this) should be woven throughout every …
Macbeth’s Nihilism
“‘It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.’ This is one of the most eloquent nihilistic speeches of all time. Macbeth no longer has anything to live for; time itself is empty, void of hope or regret, merely an objective succession of moments. Macbeth experiences the narrative of …
Scissors and Paste Hermeneutics
“But this begs the question: What standard are we using to say that we should imitate this part of Christ’s demeanor and refuse to imitate that part of it? What standard do we use to assemble this hierarchy of verbal values” Why do we say, ‘Imitate Christ in His kindness to the tax gatherers, but …
Providence and Evil
“No merciful and provident God speaks through the signs and symbols. In the modern world of Seven, God is effectively dead. The loss of that authoritative voice is not a liberation but an enslavement to new forms of tyranny. Without a providence to bring good out of evil, evil endless begets evil” [Thomas Hibbs, Shows …
A Masculine Use of Words
“Such men are masculine; they have not accepted the dictates of our effeminate times, and, despite all exhortations to the contrary, they have kept their backbone. They are dedicated to the advancement of the kingdom of God. Consequently, they are earnest about their work, and they stay at it. As servants of the Word of …
Ideas Have Destinations
“Given the modern scientific understanding of human behavior in terms of natural laws, everything is determined by chemical reactions and evil arise solely from a miscalculation of the appropriate way of satisfying genetically determined inclinations. This the philosophy of progress; anyone who demurs is labeled irrational and sent for medical treatment. If one actually tries …
Effeminate Foppery for Jesus
“Resistance to a mindless and fastidious approach to the Christian faith is a mark of Christian masculinity. But we live in an effeminate age, one that is far worse in this regard than the times in which Spurgeon lived. This makes application of his insight simultaneously far more difficult and far more necessary. Not only …
Evil, Be Thou My Good
“These forces are brought to fruition not so much in films of the horror genre itself as in more mainstream and critically acclaimed movies like Cape Fear and Silence of the Lambs (both 1991). These stories exalt the artistic boldness of their evil supermen, who put into question the timid mores of conventional society and …
Refried Beans
“The melodrama of modern evangelicalism has gotten really bad, and it is time to start an enthusiastic throwing of the popcorn” (A Serrated Edge, p. 82).
Sneaking Standards Back In
“The need of most human beings to believe in a moral universe is proof for Nietzsche that lies and self-deception are essential conditions of human life . . . . But there is a tension in Nietzsche between an amoralism that repudiates all objective standards and a distinctively hierarchical kind of thinking that ranks souls …