The Rustic Belt

I’m up at Bloggingheads talking American “rustics” with Jim Pinkerton — folks I sometimes refer to, in a spirit akin to Hunter Thompson’s, as “rubes.” One big question is whether Mead’s much-discussed foursquare categorization of Americans — . . . . Continue Reading »

The Surprising Offense

The other book I’m reading right now is the latest from 9Marks ministries, by Jonathan Leeman,The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love: Reintroducing the Doctrine of Church Membership and Discipline. Just like the book by James Davison Hunter I recommended on Saturday, I . . . . Continue Reading »

Entering the Seraglio

Saturday night my wife and I went to the symphony. One of the pieces we heard was Symphony no. 4 by Sergei Prokofiev. In the program notes, one of the things we were informed about this symphony was that it borrowed heavily from an earlier work, which was a ballet entitled The Prodigal Son. . . . . Continue Reading »

LOST, God, and the Justice/Grace Problem

While it’s still unclear how LOST will ultimately end up, some recent developments seem to provide a good illustration of one way people have chosen to resolve the problem that has plagued humanity throughout history: Deep down, we know we deserve justice from God, but we want grace. How can . . . . Continue Reading »

The Pretense of Capacity

As churches large, small, and at-large give consideration to the broad social issues of our day, one complaint that is frequently offered is that the church is doing little or nothing in such-and-such a field. The answer provided to resolve this complaint is that the responsibility must now lie with . . . . Continue Reading »

Berry Revisited

Apropos of my remarks below , a reader writes: It seems to me that you’re taking his quote about the politicization out of context, first of all. He’s downright Aristotelian, it seems to me, in his conception of what politics is. What makes me say this is the role he sees marriage . . . . Continue Reading »