[Around 1718] “We have an Ottoman document . . . the first Muslim document in which Muslim and Christian methods of warfare are compared, to the advantage of the latter, and the previously unthinkable suggestion is advanced that the true believers should follow the infidels in military organization and the conduct of warfare” (Bernard Lewis, …
Blindsided
“Apart from that, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the technological revolution passed virtually unnoticed in the lands of Islam, where they were still inclined to dismiss the denizens of the lands beyond the Western frontier as benighted barbarians, much inferior even to the more sophisticated Asian infidels to the east. These had useful skills and devices …
Islam and the West
“For many centuries, the world of Islam was in the forefront of human civilization and achievement . . . And then, suddenly, the relationship changed. Even before the Renaissance, Europeans were beginning to make significant progress in the civilized arts. With the advent of the New Learning, they advanced by leaps and bounds, leaving the …
Grim Victory
“Women are beautiful, and men are necessary. It has been the great victory of the feminist movement to make women unlovely by persuading them that men are not needed” (Anthony Esolen, in Touchstone, December 2006, p. 5).
How Could It Not?
Just a few things to say about the Ted Haggard mess. For some important background, please check out these posts (here and here) from the Bayly brothers. There are two important points to take away from this most recent evangelical moral disaster. The first is that this was certainly hypocrisy, but it was not the …
Three Cheers
I recently saw part of a commercial for the “Girls Gone Wild” videos, in which some nubile young idiots were enticed — by the presence of cameras (the device that may not be denied), and by the beckoning promise of fleeting immortality — to flash everybody. These poor souls did not know that they had …
Some Basic Political Principles
Another election is approaching in the fall. Many Christians are distressed at the condition of the country, and they are equally distressed over the choices they have in elections. While it is never appropriate to use a Christian pulpit as a partisan platform, it is equally unacceptable for Christians to be left without biblical direction …
King David On The Fourth of July
The Fourth of July is next week, and a number of us are going to set off fireworks — and, if the past is to be trusted, we will set off some really good ones. But what are we celebrating? One of the things my grandchildren have been put up to during the fireworks are …
The Politics of Sodomy
Let us begin by addressing the real sin of Sodom. But what could possibly be meant by “the real sin of Sodom?” Isn’t it obvious? The sin of homosexual behavior draws its name from Sodom. What could be more obvious? And given the corruption of the times, shouldn’t we be suspicious of any attempt to …
Is Christianity Right Wing?
As the crisis in our nation deepens, we must recognize the culpable role of the Church in bringing this crisis about. Because we have not been people of the Word, the result has been no prophetic ministry to the world. As things get worse, the confusion in the Christian world only appears to be deepening, …