Faith is inescapable. Trust is embedded, in various ways, in all human actions. We act in order to achieve certain results, aiming at expected consequences. When we act, we trust that the actions we perform will achieve those consequences. I turn the handle on my sink, trusting that the city’s water system is working—that unhealthy impurities have been removed, that there’s not an unrepaired hole in the piping, that the water pressure will be adequate to force water out of... Read more
It isn’t just Facebook. Over at Forbes.com, Parmy Olson explains how companies are not only gathering data from our computers and phones, but constantly subjecting us to tests. We have entered the Guinea Pig Economy, and everyone with an internet connection is part of the experiment: “Consumers have been tracked, measured and prodded into action since the 1950s–psychology was, as any viewer of Mad Men recognizes, the very core of the modern advertising industry, with symbolism, doublespeak and anxiety deployed for... Read more
In a 2013 article in Augustinian Studies, Melanie Webb argues that Augustine challenged a deeply entrenched Roman and North African “heritage of valorized suicides” in his treatment of rape, shame, and suicide in the first book of City of God. That heritage included Christian writers, like Jerome who argued that when chastity is lost “all virtue crumbles” (37). According to Webb, Augustine’s rejection of this tradition was far more basic than many recent interpreters have suggested. Contrary to some depictions of... Read more
In Book 1 of the City of God, Augustine responds to critics who pointed out that Christians and pagans, good and bad people, suffered equally in the destruction of Rome. As he summarizes the argument at the beginning of Book 2, he wrote to “relieve the anxieties which disturb many when they observe that the blessings of God, and the common and daily casualties, fall to the lot of bad men and good without distinction” (2.2). Yet, his “main” aim is... Read more
Matthew Levering’s Predestination is, like everything he writes, clear, thorough, judicious, rich, biblically and historically informed. He starts with the church fathers and takes the story to the present worries (from David Hart among others) that predestination endangers the innocence of God. Levering recognizes the limits of patristic treatments of the topic: “the Church Fathers develop insightful but almost inevitably one-sided approaches to the New Testament’s teachings on predestination. . . . Origen emphasizes the Creator’s unlimited love for each and every rational creature, and he... Read more
In his Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child, John Gottman describes “Emotion Coaching” in parenting. This involves involves acknowledging a child’s negative emotions, using those moments of negative emotion as an opportunity to teach and engage the child, listening, helping the child put labels on his feelings, and setting parameters to help the child solve the problem that produced the negative emotions (44-45). Instead of ignoring or condemning a child’s emotions, “Emotion Coaches” help children learn to work through sadness, anger, regret, etc.... Read more
Naomi Baron’s Reading Onscreen argues that the value of digital reading depends on the kind of reading you’re doing: “digital reading is fine for many short pieces or for light content we don’t intend to analyze or reread.” But “eReading is less well suited for many longer works or even for short ones requiring serious thought.” In part, Baron’s point is simply empirical. She cites many studies that indicate how people distinguish reading onscreen from reading a book. For instance, “Ziming... Read more
The Prodigal Son parable (Luke 15) has been a favorite of liberal theologians for a couple of centuries. It seems to be a parable designed for liberal sensibilities: An indulgent, accepting Father; forgiveness extended without a cross; a surly older brother who might represent the “conservative” face of religion who demands reciprocity and fairness. It’s the parable that seems to best summarize H. Richard Niebuhr’s famous summary of liberalism: A God without judgment accepts human beings without sin by saving... Read more
The Book of Revelation has fascinated Christians for two millennia, but it is more discussed than understood. In the Easter Term intensive course at Theopolis, James Jordan and I will present a coherent overview of the book that emphasizes its historical setting in the first century, explains its Bible-saturated imagery and thought-patterns, and demonstrates its startling relevance to the church in the twenty-first century. The course will be held at Beeson Divinity School on March 16-20. Details about our intensive... Read more
Christopher B. Hays’s Hidden Riches is a well-organized, comprehensive compilation of Ancient Near Eastern sources – creation stories, flood stories, legal documents. It is a “bibliocentric” collection, attempting to draw out similarities and differences between biblical and other ANE documents. Hays begins the book with an overview of the comparative study of ANE culture, concentrating on the past two centuries that have uncovered an astonishing wealth of previously unknown documents. Along the way, he observes that the Greeks and Romans knew very... Read more
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