Theology That Bites Back
Introduction: There are times when I feel like that peace-making fellow at Gettysburg who decided to usher in national harmony by parading between the two armies wearing a blue coat and gray trousers. The only thing that happened was that he got shot at by both sides, and retired from the field a bit wiser. …
Introduction: So imagine for yourself the sweetest little boy in the church, one whose mind turns naturally to edifying themes—the kind of meditative theme inspired by reflections on a porcelain figurine of the infant Samuel at prayer. Suppose further that this boy has plump cheeks, with kind of a rosy tint or glow, and those …
Introduction: The prodigal son didn’t run out of money his first week away from home. He was able to afford the best beer, the best women, the best time for all concerned, and to do so for a goodly amount of time. The wisdom of his plan was not falsified by events at the front …
Introduction: My point in this post is not—lest someone mistake my point—to do anything so simple as decry immodest attire in women. And by the kind of immodesty I am not for the most part talking about, I am intending both definitions of that word—viz. that which is sexual provocative, and that which is flamboyant …
Introduction: Bear with me for just a few moments. This will get livelier, and a lot more interesting, in just short while. I am not seeking to qualify my point, as should become apparent shortly, but I do need to state my qualifications to make the point. Those qualifications, as I hope you will acknowledge …
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Preachers Mothers naturally want their children to be safe, and to remain safe throughout the course of their lives. But wise mothers don’t value that safety above all things. Better to be the mother of a son who dies valiantly in battle than the mother of …
Introduction: When I was a young boy, our family didn’t own a television, which is why I was robbed of enjoying some of the greater cultural achievements of the mid-to-late-1950’s. But as luck would have it, from time to time I did get a glimpse of some of those achievements, here and there on the …
Introduction: One of the very useful set of categories that I learned from the reconstructionists back in the day was the distinction to be made between the three different kinds of religion. There is power religion, there is escape religion, and there is dominion religion. To expand slightly, there is the way of taking a …
When a local emporium, what should know better, displays a book like what you see there to your right, the public of course gets to take a look at it, and I gets to comment on it. Back when I was young, when you wanted to confuse people about which sex you were seeking to …
An alternative title for this post could have been “Justice is Never Wholesale.” Justice is always particular, having to do with individuals and their situations. You can never buy justice in bulk at CostCo. At the general level, there can be just laws, but if you apply those laws woodenly and indiscriminately across the board, …
