The right-wing Christian Post picked up on the Dallas youth pastor fight club silliness, and did a follow-up interview with the Keysi Fighting Method instructor, Jeff McKissack. CP picks up on my blog post,* then gets this odd defense from McKissack: “Over the years I have encountered truly sincere people who believe we should always ‘turn the other cheek’ … at all costs. The problem with that ideology lies in the fact that it does not only foster martyrs, but... Read more
Drew Tatusko drops a very thoughtful comment Re: Mark Driscoll. Postmodern and post-structuralism aside (since this will sound to some like that but is not), gender is different than sex due to its psycho-social construction. Since it is this, anyone can assert a different gender construction from within a existing frame that is at odds with another frame (see David Martin’s definition of this picked up by Charles Taylor). Thus, Driscoll asserts his own construction of gender in a way... Read more
This morning, I have signed a last-minute petition supporting the appointment of Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Some on the Right are raising a stink about Sebelius’s pro-choiciness, but if you take the time to read the statement below, you will see that she, like Obama, is committed to dramatically reducing abortions. Let’s be honest, people, there is little political will to “end” abortions legislatively or judicially. Right now, it’s up to the... Read more
The always thought-provoking Richard Beck defends Mark Driscoll’s attempt to masculinize the church. Here’s my point. People tend to confuse gender role interest and agenic personality motives. If “Joe Six Pack” shows up at church and gets the vibe that he “can’t be a man” what, exactly, does this mean? That to be a Christian you can’t drink beer or go to Ultimate Fighter matches? It seems to me that the feminine/child metaphors of Christianity are pushing back against agenic... Read more
As a co-alumnus of Dartmouth College, I feel a special connection to the good Doctor. In fact, he started signing his works “Seuss” while at Dartmouth. In honor of his birthday, here’s a link to a free PDF compiled by Dartmouth called, “Who’s Who and What’s What in Dr. Seuss.” It’s basically a Seussian concordance. Read more
stormtrooper #274.52 objects to Brian’s apologia for Pelagius: wow. I can’t express how strongly I disagree with Brian’s support for Pelagius’ teachings. I find such theology to be soul-crushing, gospel-destroying, and faith-squelching. In my eyes, it truly amount to no less than a “different Gospel” – just as Paul calls the legalistic tendencies of the Galatians. Here’s a punch list of disagreements: I find no biblical support for “prevenient grace” – does Pelagius make this point from the Bible or... Read more
In Dallas, youth pastors are being trained in street fighting techniques in order to, um, “take care of their flock.” Jeff McKissack is spreading the Batman gospel to youth pastors in Dallas and across the country. He hopes to convert them into followers of the Keysi Fighting Method, the street fighting style used in recent cinematic blockbusters. McKissack figures that pastors who know how to defend themselves against thugs can help protect the children they lead at church – or... Read more
The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began, Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many path and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say. -JRR TolkienThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Read more
Brian does the unthinkable and defends Pelagius (against Augustine)! Watch out, Brian, the NeoReformed stormtroopers went after Scot McKnight last week, and they’ll probably come after you here! Pelagius brought up good points that are often ignored. First, he argued that humanity has salvation through God’s “original grace.” This prevenient grace is God’s free gift to humanity. Second, Pelagius sugguested that humanity has a “grace of revelation” whereby God gives us divine guidence to follow, if we so choose to... Read more
As we enter the season of Lent, here are some resources to get you thinking about alternatives to the penal substitutionary theory (yes, friends, it’s a theory!) of the atonement. At Zoecarnate, Mike Morrell proposes that we look beyond liberal and conservative ideas of the atonement, then he proposes a revisioning of the entire issue. Last year, Emergent Village sponsored a contest looking for new, preachable metaphors for the atonement. I talked to Mark Baker about the contest on the... Read more
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