An evangelist to theologians

July 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of a theologian I had never heard of but whose Christ-centered approach to theology sounds very promising:  Thomas F. Torrance of the Church of Scotland, described in First Things as “an orthodox, ecumenical, and pastoral theologian”:

He considered his primary calling to be a minister of the Gospel and an evangelist to theologians. Modern western theology, he believed, has been trapped in an obsolete, dualist mindset that detaches Jesus Christ from God, worship and mission from Christ, and biblical and theological study from fellowship and communion with the living God. [Read more…]

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Sex Strike

July 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

As the abortion battles shift to the states, pro-abortionists are all fired up over Texas, which passed a bill banning the procedure after 20 weeks (that’s 5 months!).  This despite a  filibuster by Texas lawmaker Wendy Davis, who has become the new hero of the pro-abortion movement.  But a writer for the Huffington Post, Vivian Norris, is proposing a new tactic.  She is calling on  women to refuse to have sex with husbands or boyfriends who do not believe in late-term abortions.

Maybe pro-lifers should stand in solidarity with their opponents and honor this picket line with a Lysistrata tactic of their own.  Men should refuse to have sex with a woman who would take the life of the child they might conceive.  And women should refuse to have sex with a man who would pressure her to have an abortion. [Read more…]

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America’s problems with vacations

July 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Robert J. Samuelson says that Americans have a hard time with the concept of a vacation:

In the global rivalry of economic models and lifestyles, the United States ranks dead last among advanced countries in one category: vacations.

It’s not that millions of Americans don’t annually flock to beaches, climb mountains, invade national parks or just hang around the house. We do. But we seem to have a harder time than other peoples in distancing ourselves from work. The office (also, the store, factory or warehouse) is routinely an uninvited guest on our holidays. [Read more…]

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The end of American Protestantism?

July 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas has written a devastating critique of America and American Protestantism that, agree with it or not, is worth thinking about.  He argues that American Protestantism, which has been so influential in American culture, is fading away because of its cultural conformity.  (He includes a great line from Bonhoeffer, that America has a Protestantism without the Reformation.)  You should read the whole thing, but I’ll post an excerpt that deals with what he says is the American conception of freedom and its connection to divorce and abortion. [Read more…]

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The media’s “delicious story”

July 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

According to Rem Rieder, writing in USA Today, the media constructed a story about George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin that captured the public’s imagination but couldn’t stand up in court.  Thus the controversy.  Rieder’s analysis offers a textbook example not just of how media bias works but how the dynamics of press coverage can become uncritical and distorting. [Read more…]

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The “Place of Jesus” Lutheran church & the LCMS

July 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

As we’ve blogged about earlier, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus has broken ties with its mother church in Sweden over gay marriage and related issues.  Now the 6 million-strong church–one of the fastest growing in the world (and the third largest Lutheran church in the world)–is seeking ties with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Here is a fascinating interview between Rev. Berhanu Ofgaa and Deaconness Pamela Nielsen that tells the story of Mekane Yesus, which means “Place of Jesus,” a name that confesses the real presence of Christ that all Lutherans should start using. [Read more…]

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