Some of you are old enough to have grown up on the King James Version, and perhaps you even remember that it says somewhere that “I wot not what hath become of this Moses” or something like that. I grew up on the KJV and only gradually learned that Jesus himself (God too!) neither spoke English nor King James English. You may know also then know that the KJV appeared in 1611 and that means 2011 is the 400th anniversary... Read more
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in me the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that I may obtain what you promise, make me love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.† Read more
No one description will work, but Margaret Feinberg is a friend with a voice I understand, so here’s a clip to her beginning. I hope you can read her article: Over the course of the last week, I’ve joined more than 4200 representatives from 198 nations to listen to dozens upon dozens upon many more dozens of speakers address many of the most challenging issues of our age. Here are a few lessons I learned along the way. The Third... Read more
Did you see this? Christopher Hitchens’ atheist manifesto was subtitled “how religion poisons everything,” but a new polling analysis challenges that notion, finding that very religious Americans have higher levels of well-being than the rest of the country. The most religious Americans show the highest levels of well-being as measured by factors ranging from physical and emotional health to self-evaluations of life to perceptions of work environment, according to a Gallup report released Thursday. Americans for whom religion is an... Read more
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more
From Charles Blow, at NYTimes: Private schools by their very nature discriminate. Their students are literally the chosen ones — special, better. This sort of thinking has a way of weaving itself into the fibers of a family and into the thinking of the children, particularly young boys in a male culture where even the slightest deviations from the narrowest concepts of normality are heretical. It is no wonder then that the study, which was conducted by the Josephson Institute Center... Read more
Jack Cafferty posted about the correlation of hair/looks and candidates running for office successfully. Yikes. The Americans and Indians accurately predicted the outcomes of these political races to a surprising degree – based on nothing more than the candidates’ faces. According to the study, just by knowing which candidate looked better, researchers could accurately predict the winner in 68 percent of Mexican elections and 75 percent of some Brazilian elections. Voting for the good-looking candidate is not a new idea.... Read more
This is the second and final part of David Opderbeck’s interview with John Van Sloten, author of The Day Metallica Came to Church. The first part of the interview is here. Dave: So let’s talk a bit about theology for a moment. In Chapter 3, you use the term “co-illumination.” What are you getting at here? How does this idea relate to the classical locus of authority for Protestant Christians — sola scriptura? John: Co-illumination occurs when either of God’s two books (creation... Read more
Hey, where’s summer gone? Joseph Epstein, who calls himself a “media vegan,” on news: “What, you might wonder, do I do with all the time I don’t spend in endless swamp of ephemeral news? Well, I’ve made a little rediscovery of a marvelous invention called books, which I’m told are going out of style but which give a satisfaction much deeper than any other means of communication I know. You might want to turn off your computer, trash your newspaper,... Read more
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Getting Back to Basics
One of my seminary professors said to me privately, when I mentioned a monster commentary I had recently seen, that commentary writing had become vulgar. He was referring to length. There is a place for someone to write hundreds of pages on a short epistle, say Titus, but there’s something profoundly weird about such intensity if one steps back a minute. Yes, there is a place for the long commentary but it has its limitations. Of all the New Testament... Read more