A question that has intrigued me for a long time is the question of “will”. I leave off the word “free” here because free seems to convey a libertarian freedom without constraint. This is nonsense. We a fully embodied creatures and our will, whatever that may be is constrained. Nonetheless there is freedom at some level, or so we all believe, a Free Will. Presented with a cookie on the counter there is “something else” within and I can decide... Read more
Robert Bellah, in his very well-known Habits of the Heart, opened up a can of church and religion worms when he showed that the evidence pointed us in the direction of increasing individualism and the lack of interest on the part of Americans to participate in community. In his sketch of religious individualism, he created “Sheila” and her creating of her own religion as “Sheilaism.” Diana Butler Bass, though she wants to emphasize that Ellen is not Sheila, has given... Read more
… most of us will still vote. David Rothkopf gets it exactly right: But of course, this is one dust-up that will never end. Because in modern politics it seems the goal is to constantly find ways to smear the opposition, facts and decency be damned. That’s the reason the birther lie endures. That’s the reason that John Kerry, whose military service was distinguished, could be besmirched by the “swift boaters” and a host of political opponents who hadn’t anything like his... Read more
From Rob Merola, who blogs at DaddyRoBlog: Sometimes it seems like there is not turning back the clock and the culture we have is the culture we’re stuck with. But we can change it. Several week’s ago Anne preached a sermon encouraging us to keep the Sabbath. She talked about the value of rest. And again, if you want to know something that is dangerous, that is destructive to people’s health and the well being of our society, it’s what... Read more
Leslie Leyland Fields, at CT, has an article that pushes back against reading the Bible as Story — the title is “The Gospel is more than a Story”. She knows the importance of narrative but wonders aloud if our narrative age has led to the Bible as narrative. She pokes against a number of bad examples of narrowed stories, but includes Chris Wright’s brilliant book on the Bible’s missional story … she sees the turn to narrative to be about... Read more
From Mark Stevens, a pastor in Adelaide and student at Tabor Adelaide who blogs at The Parson’s Patch… In the 1997 romantic comedy ‘As Good As it Gets,’ the main character Melvin Udall, played by Jack Nicholson, turns to a room of people and asks, “What if this is as good as it gets?” Melvin is himself experience an upheaval of soul. He is a man tormented by his own self and his own weakness. In a recent dark night... Read more
How does one “do” theology? Think of how theology comes to us… sometimes it is done by constructing an entire theology, as one finds in Origen, more or less in Augustine, but especially in Aquinas and then Calvin and the into the Protestant scholastics and then to our times: Barth, Pannenberg, Moltmann, Jenson, etc.. What one does is put it all together, and by “it” I mean the major topics. (But observe that the major topics in theology have been... Read more
Vin Scully, the voice of the LA Dodgers, is the best baseball announcer ever. (Some of you disagree, so who do you think is/was best?) Recently there was a rhubarb at the plate over a disputed call, about which Vin Scully said this: After the whole thing was over, and Tracy had been sent packing, Scully drolly noted “We have all this technology and they don’t use it because they say it would delay the game. Well, what was that... Read more
From Kristin Deasy: Only six percent of Facebook users have joined a faith-based group in America, despite the fact that nearly half the country uses the social-networking site a couple times a week and over 80% of the population ascribes to some form of religion. The research, released this week by Public Religion Research Institute, also found that the most active spiritual users of social media are members of Christianity’s evangelical movement — not surprising given its fervent proselytizing ways. But even this group is... Read more
John Piper was recently asked about his cautions for the new Calvinists, and here is his response — and I agree with him. And this isn’t just for Calvinists, though it applies to them, but about all theologies and ideologies that claim to be connected to the God of the Bible. Would there be any cautions that you would have for the New Reformed/New Calvinist Movement you referenced earlier? Yes. I will give you one that is from a prophetic... Read more
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