Theology That Bites Back
“The category of cool represents a postmodern attempt to establish a relativistic antithesis. In this view, the human race is divided into two categories, square and hip, or, put another way cool and uncool. Unless the false conservative antitheses, the boundaries keep shifting. And unlike the liberal view, there really is an avowed antithesis between those who meet the standard and those who do not.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 100
“A man in error will pick up the wrong side of a debate. But a relativists says that all such debates are silly and unproductive. There is no debate, because there is no answer.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 98
“There is only one thing worse than being wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, and that is to be all five of those things and add to it the sixth misery of not knowing about it.”
“In the realm of aesthetics, we are almost as relativistic as the world outside . . . In this, we sound just like the people we debate in matters of truth and ethics. The reason we sound like them is that because, on this issue, we are like them.”
The Cultural Mind, pp. 95-96
“Paul tells us what kind of character a prospective minister should have. He must be a one-woman man, he must be temperate, and he must not have a quick temper. We have a better idea, which involves a good deal of graduate study. In order to get his certification, he must ignore his wife for three years, and teach her what the back of his head looks like. Now this is in no way a criticism of the classical Reformed emphasis on a learned ministry. The problem is not that we seek wisdom and learning in our pastors; the problem is that we measure it by means of stamped papers, as though his wisdom was a pure bred spaniel.”
The Cultural Mind, pp. 92-93
“Our current cultural mania for certification and accreditation, embossed and signed by all the appropriate authorities, cannot be explained apart from our obvious discontent with the praise of God.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 91
“The principle here is that you cannot export what you don’t have, and if you try, you will only wind up exporting what you ‘do’ have. Whenever Pharisees go on a mission, the result is Pharisaism overseas. When scriptural ignorance goes on a crusade, the result is crusading ignorance. The applications to our situation should be obvious. The evangelical world in North America is doctrinally confused, morally compromised, liturgically anemic, and culturally superficial. So what happens when we take the show on the road?”
The Cultural Mind, p. 88
“An apologist, rightly understood, is a missionary of the lovely.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 86
“If there is no absolute standard of morality, then anything goes, including the worst forms of absolutism. If biblical absolutes are figments of our own minds then the first thing we could do, if we wanted to be consistent, would be to hang all the relativists and burn all their houses. Of course, trying to be consistent like this is inconsistent, which, in an odd sort of way, makes it consistent again. It is kind of like looking at that endless series of the back of your head in the opposing mirrors at the barber shop. Ethical relativism is not just wrong; it is incoherent.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 85
“A baptized individual has the obligation to have his life point the same direction his baptism does—to Christ and to His righteousness. Many refuse to do so, but this does not alter their obligation in the slightest.”
The Cultural Mind, p. 80
