I enjoyed this description of a community of nuns from Margarita Mooney: “What is life like inside of a convent? First, to be clear, these sisters are not monastic–they have a calling to work in the world, teaching catechism, running schools and hospitals. Their home was built as a monastery for cloistered nuns who never left the walls. But today’s religious vocations – the relatively few we have in the Catholic Church compared to previous generations – tend to be... Read more
Peter Wehner’s recent guest post here at Philosophical Fragments — “The Callous Theology of James Dobson“– was shared on Facebook and Twitter over 40,000 times. It helped to provoke an important conversation about the Christian response to the Sandy Hook school massacre and the responsibilities of those who represent evangelical opinion in the public marketplace of ideas. Mr Wehner is a friend and an influential political thought-leader who is both a committed evangelical and a principled conservative who has served... Read more
Roger Olson makes some interesting observations about the pietist origins of the old Watchnight Services — and some strong claims about the changes in evangelical church life over the past six decades: When I was growing up, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day were very special on our family calendar. The former always brought one of the most interesting and inspiring church events of the year—“Watchnight Service.” For those of you who don’t know what that is… Watchnight Services... Read more
Nik Ripken’s new book, The Insanity of God, due out New Year’s Day (today), follows him through Somalia, China, former Eastern bloc countries, and other parts of the world as he works with secular relief organizations to deliver food and medical supplies, helps de-mining operations, or plants churches and meets with Christians who suffer for their faith. Ripken ends his book inviting the reader to “find Jesus” because “no one offers a faith like His.” This experience of finding Jesus he... Read more
One of the most remarkable religious media phenomena of recent years has been the development of massive Christian Facebook accounts. They post silly graphics of Jesus comforting children with words like, “LIKE and SHARE if you believe Jesus loves you!” Or, worse (?), they post videos of kittens or children doing cute things, things that have nothing whatsoever to do with Christ or faith, and say, “LIKE if you thing God makes the most adorable little angels!” Then, of course,... Read more
BREAKFAST LINKS 12/31/12: Karen Spears Zacharias, Patheos/Karen Spears Zacharias: “I read recently that in tribal villages it is the wails of the mourning that alerts others in the village when someone has died. People in this country don’t give over much to wailing. We are conditioned to think that such mourning is unbecoming. I blame the damn Yankees who burned Atlanta. Perhaps you blame the Puritans? Whatever. The wails of my sister, head down on Mama’s lap, are what I... Read more
Dear Worship Pastor, I enjoy praise and worship. I really do. And I appreciate the enormous effort and the talent that goes into excellent worship leadership. I hesitate to admit the following, because it seems like someone with a theology doctorate ought to be motivated by more cerebral concerns, but a significant (major but not main) part of why I made Perimeter Church my home church is because I enjoy it so much when Laura Story (whose “Blessings” won a... Read more
I cannot think of any work of fiction that conveys the contrast between Law and Grace as vividly and profoundly as Les Miserables. As a long-time fan of the novel and the musicals, I went to see the movie recently and enjoyed it immensely. With minor variations, it’s a rendering of the musical, and the musical does an extraordinary job of capturing the major moral and theological themes of the novel. With a harrowing performance from Anne Hathaway and fantastic range... Read more
I haven’t been able to post as frequently over the holidays, but hope to return to regular posting next week. In the meantime, I can continue to point toward some of the most interesting content elsewhere. Here is Joel J. Miller: “This was the first Charlie Brown TV special. It could have been the last. It would have been very easy, even understandable, for Schulz to pull the scene to keep CBS and his own team happy. But he decided... Read more
BREAKFAST LINKS 12/25/12: Tim Dalrymple, Patheos/Philosophical Fragments: “Yet God was not compelled to do any of this. God Himself is the author and arbiter of all the rules. There is no higher authority above God that forces him to follow regulations or fulfill requirements. God might have annihilated humankind and started over; God might have changed the rules so that no sacrifice and no ransom were necessary. It is not that God could not have done these things; it is that He would not, because God... Read more
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