Believe it or not, the senior pastor at the conservative evangelical church I attend — Perimeter Church in Johns Creek, Georgia — does not (I repeat: does not) condemn homosexuals and abortionists from the pulpit every week. In fact, in the 1.5 years in which I’ve attended Perimeter Church, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard Randy Pope (or any of the other preachers) speak of homosexuality or gay marriage from the pulpit. They’ve spoken of radical self-denial in pursuit of... Read more
I’ve appreciated the thoughtful Matthew Lee Anderson ever since I came across his Mere Orthodoxy blog a couple years ago. When I learned he was writing a book called Earthen Vessels, focused on “why our bodies matter to our faith,” I looked forward to reading it. I remember how revolutionary it was for me when I came to understand (through Alexander Schmemann’s For the Life of the World) the implications of the Incarnation of Christ and the bodily resurrection. There is no... Read more
Terry Mattingly reflects on a New York Times piece on the decline of manners in their “last bastion,” the South. Terry is something of a guru when it comes to journalism and religion, and he finds the religious element (unsurprisingly) lacking from the tale the New York Times tells. Here is his conclusion. Clearly, the Old South contained lots and lots of religion (and politeness) that hid ugliness and sin. That’s a given. But the flip side is true, as... Read more
For a time, after October 21st, there was no record of Harold Camping’s ill-fated prediction on the Family Radio website. Reference to the supposed doomsday had been scrubbed, and in its place was a general encouragement to be ready for the time of the Lord’s return. At the same time, it was falsely reported in a “Harold Camping Exclusive” in the Christian Post that Harold Camping was retiring from leadership at Family Radio, on the basis of a claim by Brandon... Read more
Note: This is a weekend replay, republishing a piece from my Patheos column. I’ve since moved from the column to the blog, and periodically post pieces here that readers of the blog might not have seen. The Canary in the Mineshaft As a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, so the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. ~ Khalil Gibran, The Prophet My little girl is afraid of... Read more
This marks the end of “seminary week” for me here at Philosophical Fragments. We’ll return to the regularly scheduled programming next week. In “Sex at Seminary” (and followup pieces here, here and here), I’ve made the case that seminaries should give greater attention to the moral and spiritual formation of their students. In some cases, seminaries striving for credibility within the academic world have raised the quality of their faculty and their course offerings but not (yet) raised the quality... Read more
I hesitate to link to Rod Dreher twice in a single week, but, well, he linked to me and he drives more traffic. One thing Rod never lacks is the courage of his convictions. As he shows in “Fatuous Ivy League Twits,” he’s also not above a little name-calling. But you know, two of the men most influential on my thought — Jesus and Kierkegaard — indulged in a little creative now and then as well. I probably would have... Read more
This post is part of a Patheos symposium on the Future of Seminary Education. * * * Tony Jones makes some interesting points, and interesting mistakes, in his response to my post on “Sex at Seminary.” Tony says that in the post I am “complaining that his classmates at Princeton Theological Seminary were indiscriminately jumping the sack with one another. He then goes on to make generalizations about Christians more liberal than he, based on his anecdotal experience at Princeton.” Exaggeration may make for... Read more
After a lengthy blogging exile during his tenure at the Templeton Foundation, Rod Dreher is back and blogging professionally, and still one of the best in the business. The sheer amount of content Rod produces is mind boggling. If it’s been a while since you’ve read Dreher’s blog, or if you never have, check out this latest on science and consciousness, this discussion of the Occupy Wall Street protests, and this great piece on Herman Cain’s press conference on the... Read more
I suppose I should not have written a post that referenced sexual promiscuity, and touted “Sex at Seminary” in the title, and hoped that the ensuing conversation would focus on anything other than, well, sex. The article has been passed around and linked here and there, and it’s essentially served as a bright neon SEX! SEX! SEX! sign to anyone who wants to debate sexual ethics. And many do — in evangelical circles and mainline circles alike. My intention was to... Read more
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