Hey, This Knife Cuts in Two Directions!

Suppose the point were to be made — and it is a worthy point to make — that being a Christian trumps being an American. This is a point with which I am in whole-hearted agreement, and which I have made in this place numerous times. A conservative Republican believer in Jesus has far more …

Douglas the Dogmaton?

A few distinctions still remain to be made in our discussion of authoritative proclamation. A friend has reminded me that we need to bring another issue to the surface, which is the nature of claims of authority (implicit in authoritative claims) over against claims of infallibility. And this whole subject is actually trickier than it …

Politics in the Name of Jesus, Part Two

The comments here are pursuing the question of what it means to declare something in the name of Jesus, particularly when it comes to convoluted political questions. Here are some additional thoughts on that thorny question. First, the job of a minister is to declare “thus saith the Lord,” and not “it seems to me.” …

Not Even Sure How to Spell Kleagle

In his engaging and admirable book, Bad Religion, Ross Douthat mentions me in an aside,[1] and in that particular citation, he touches on a few things that need to be addressed at the very outset of any argument for a “mere Christendom.” They can be grouped under the heading of proposals that no one should …

That Seamy Chain of Syllogisms

Marriage is a political act, and not an individual choice. How you marry is a way of testifying to what city you belong to. Who defines marriage? The difficulty we are having in our generation in answering this question shows how theology shapes and drives everything. If God created the world, and put one man …

You Don’t Use the Whole Horse

“Transcendent politics can sometimes be a very dangerous politics, but is the only kind of politics for human beings” (Glenn Moots, Politics Reformed, p. xii). One of the reasons I like this quote — besides the fact that it is so gloriously true — is the fact that it collides so spectacularly with the actual …