I promised Frank Turk an additional response to Carl Trueman’s jab at King’s College, and so here goes. There were two basic points that Trueman made that I didn’t get to. The first has to do with Trueman’s middle class “chatterati” and their bland biblically-tinged bromides, and the second has to do with how many …
Francis Bacon, Dude
Below is the gist of my opening remarks at Disputatio yesterday. I took the affirmative, while the negative was ably maintained by Dr. Jonathan McIntosh. There are a few minor edits here that help take into account some of the give and take of the subsequent debate. Resolved, Francis Bacon should be treated by us …
Trueman, Toilets, and Transformation
Carl Trueman writes with verve and sass, which is of course a good thing, so it is a pity when he whiffs one. Don’t get me wrong — the swing was picture perfect, but the ball somehow still wound up in the catcher’s mitt. The occasion was a jab that D.G. Hart was taking at …
Maintaining the Negative
Since what we are seeking to reform is our public life together, the principal object of our concern should be the current state of our public life together. We are not attempting time travel to Arcadia, or perpetrating some sort of a book jump into Utopia. We play cards with the hand we were dealt, …
Symphonic Creation
God considers us to be worth more than many sparrows (Matt. 10:31). As Joe Rigney reminds us, or will remind us when the book comes out, this is an exhibition of what philosophers call proportionate regard. God cares more for how we are decked out than how the lilies are (Matt. 6:30). At the central …
With the Smell of Burnt Marshwiggle
A real reformer is not a member of a faction. Men have always tended to divide into opposing factions, whether it is Crips and Bloods or Guelphs and Ghibellines. But factional differences (while very real) don’t go down to the deep foundations. An ancient city is debating whether to defend the city with a powerful …
7 Rules for Reformers
A generation ago “community organizer” Saul Alinsky famously penned his Rules for Radicals, and it is my conviction that those interested in reformation should match his craft and self-awareness without trying to compete with the speed and depth of his revolutionary destructo-vision. Some revolutionaries are patient and some are not. Gramsci argued for the “long …
Solid Joys and Lasting Pleasure
The world is charged with the grandeur of God, as the poet put it, and it will flame out like shook foil. The world is only a set of blinders for the blind. In all other respects, the world is front-loaded with God’s glory. And in order for us to see that glory, really see …
Out of the Mouth of Babes
Carl Trueman’s Republocrat was a quick and enjoyable read, but there is not a whole lot to say about it. Just three quick comments here, plus one follow up in the next post on another subject. First, it is clear that Trueman is largely dealing with a spectrum created by MSNBC and Fox News. And …
Theology That Comes Out of Halter Tops
In the Introduction to Republocrat, Carl Trueman gives us the thesis of his book straight up front — “that conservative Christianity does not require conservative politics or conservative cultural agendas” (p. xix). When Trueman moved from the UK to the United States, he records that he “suddenly found” himself “to be a man of the …