“In the same way, those who abandon all hope of autonomous creativity amaze the world at their creativity. The one who is creative is the one who knows he cannot be.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 239
Where the Gods Spring Forth
“The pagan hates the idea of creation because of the divine sovereignty that follows from it, but he loves the idea of morphing—rearranging stuff . . . In anti-Christian thought, matter is this eternally existent Play-Doh-type stuff that can be re-arranged creatively by other bits of stuff called artists or scientists. This is possible because the splendor is thought to be resident within the matter. The autonomous artist assumes he is the point on the surface of the chaos where the gods spring forth.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 238
There Will Always Be Some Kind of Sacrament
“My concern is that this objection to baptizing infants arises, but there is no objection to taking those same kids to summer youth camp thirteen years later in order to have them all throw pine cones in the fire as a sacramental indicator of their commitment. A rejection of God’s sacraments will not give us no sacraments but substitute sacraments.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 235
Born Into An Organism
“God never establishes Himself as an individual’s Father without giving that person countless brothers and sisters. This is another way of saying that there is no salvation outside the church.”
The Cultural Mind, pp. 234-235
Drink for the Soul
“As for the wine, it is a good thing—‘the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains’ (1 Cor. 10:26, NASB). Wine gladdens the heart of man, and when taken in faith at the Lord’s Table, it straightens out the heart of man.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 227
Of the Body
“Our central hope is the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of the body, ten toes and all.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 226
Where Down is Up
“In every culture, pride is seen as a challenge to the established god and humility is seen as obeisance before that god. In modern America, the reigning ‘god’ is the individual self. Confidence about anything other than self is therefore dismissed as arrogance. In other words, arrogance (biblically defined) is the one thing that is not seen as arrogance, and every form of biblical humility is redefined as a form of pride. The man who says, ‘The Bible teaches . . .’ is, by definition, a proud man. By contrast, the man who says, ‘It seems to me . . .’ is defined as humble. But the former is pointing away from himself entirely, while the second fellow is talking about his own thoughts and feelings, and nothing else.”
The Cultural Mind, pp. 219-220
Efficacy in Worship
“The title deed to the world is in the hand of Jesus Christ. But the hand of Jesus Christ is part of His body—and we are that body . . . We have a battering ram about which the lords and princes of this world know nothing, and every Lord’s Day we take another swing at their gates with it.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 215
The Instruments of God’s Wisdom
“When the history of redemption is finally and completely written, we will find that the world was conquered in the name of Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit empowering words, water, bread, and wine.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 214
Or Blood Moon
“To change the image, we have been like the boy in Aesop who cried Antichrist too many times.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 211