One of the central tests of a Trinitarian understanding of practical theology is the ability to maintain distinctions in unity, and to maintain unity while steadfastly holding distinctions. Form and balance together is Trinitarian. To pick one aspect of God’s creation, and to root for it until it absorbs all the others is unitarian. To …
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 …
Shut Up in His Lazar House
So I have made a great deal out of the Great Commission, where Jesus tells His apostles to disciple the nations. I have noted that the direct object of that verb is the ethne, the people, the tribe, the whole unit. This means the question has arisen whether I am overlooking the explanatory participles following …
Words and Water, Bread and Wine
Two great Christian heresies — Marxism and Islam — borrowed something from the Christian faith which Christians should actually ask to have returned. They borrowed it, used it to great effect, and Christians for some reason let them, neglecting this idea ourselves. That “thing” they borrowed was a sense of inevitable victory for their cause. …
Enough of Them Already
The advocate of mere Christendom, in which category I place myself, must at some point address the question of whether or not we should have an established church. And, if so, which one? We already asked the Holy Ghost Lightning Tabernacle, but they declined. There are layers to this, making it a fun activity, like …
Just Getting Started
Right around the seven minute mark of this video, Kevin DeYoung says something that I would like to take note of. There are many good things said in the course of this clip, especially about the necessity of basic gospel proclamation, and basic disciple-making. That really is foundational. It is fundamental. But I think Kevin …
A Holy Ghost Mashup
At the beginning of his Republocrat, Carl Trueman says quite rightly “that religious conservatism does not demand unconditional political conservatism.” The word conserve is a transitive verb, and there is no virtue or vice in any transitive verb. So you love, but what do you love? God? Ice cream? Child porn? The church you were …
That Half Pint Nietzsche
Modern secular academics are like the benign nihilists back in the early sixties who taught the next generation all sorts of cool stuff, which the younger radicals then went on to apply, much to the consternation of their mentors. Some postmodernists are like those radicals, being actual anarchists who want to burn the place down. …
The Shellfish Problem
Socrates famously said that he was the wisest man among the Greeks because he knew of his ignorance. Let us riff off this Socratic insight if we may, if riff is a term recognized by the philosophers. We are all smaller than tiny. We all have a tiny role to play, and the fact that …