Perhaps you thought I had forgotten about finishing the review of Tom’s Magnum Opus. You would be wrong. I just needed a break from wrestling with Leviathan. Perhaps you did as well. But this time we intend to haul in the rest of Moby Dick. You may remember that we left things, at the end of May, with Tom’s discussion of eschatology and more specifically how Romans 2.1ff. fits into the larger scheme of things. We are picking things back… Read more

On p. 120 Ron Osborn attempts a metaphor to explain post-foundational approaches— he says this “If we think of Christian beliefs and practices as the planks that make up a vessel (the church), we can imagine these planks being replaced one by one during a long voyage so that by the end of the journey the entire boat has been transformed into a new ship that is still, paradoxically, the same ship that left port.” He talks about the flexibility… Read more

Some books can be swallowed quickly, others require slower eating, and some need to chewed very carefully (and sometimes one must carefully spit out the indigestible bits). Ronald Osborn’s book is one of the latter sort. It is an excellent read, even eloquent in places, and it does a very good job of raising a lot of the right questions about creation science, intelligent design, and Biblical interpretation in those approaches to Genesis 1-3. Osborn is a Seven Day Adventist,… Read more

It is difficult, some would say nigh impossible to do justice to Paul and his thought and ministry in a short book. While that is true, there are some short books on Paul that do him some justice, and are well worth the read. One such book is the revised edition of E.P. Sander’s Paul: A Brief Insight. The book was originally published in 1991 by Oxford and then again in 2001, and then it was picked up for an… Read more

Ian Rankin is a front rank crime fiction writer, and he has the added advantage that unlike his fellow Edinburgh resident, J.K. Rowling, he sets his stories in the city he knows intimately, completely— his home town. There are many crime novels that are set in London (including the new series by Rowling under a pseudonym), but not many that feature Scotland and Edinburgh. This most recent offering in the John Rebus series of novels finds Rebus back on the… Read more

(picture courtesy of Tarsem) AFTER THE FALL After the Fall, The nakedness The shame, a tell tale sign. After the Fall A wariness, The centering on the self. After the Fall Deception A lie disguised as truth. After the Fall, ‘J’accuse’! ‘This woman whom you gave’. After the Fall, The curse. ‘And he shall lord it over you’. After the Fall The suffering Labor pains galore. After the Fall The dying, Disease, decay, and death. After the Fall The killing… Read more

Going through Hezekiah’s tunnel is an exhilirating experience, and especially when you do it with family and friends like these. Read more

June 26th was supposed to be the night Ann and I finally got to see Paul McCartney. But Sir Paul hasn’t been well, and postponed until Oct. 28th. Stay tuned. Instead, we went and saw (here in Lexington) an even older performer—- Gordon Lightfoot, who is an amazing 76 years old, and still singing away (he bragged he was doing eight shows in ten days on this mini-tour). I must confess I would never have guessed that the man I… Read more