While Carl Trueman and Peter Leithart are wondering about the harsh tone of Protestant polemics during the Reformation, has anyone considered that our Lord himself did not play by the contemporary standards of civility and niceness? He was, after all, evasive: Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And... Read more
Here’s how Paul instructed Timothy: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV) Here‘s how Alan Jacobs is praying for everyone in Washington but president-elect Trump: I am praying that people in our government who hold some power power and possess at least... Read more
This afternoon as I sorted through electronically submitted final papers and stapled them together, my stapler ran out. It’s an old technology but one that has yet to be superseded by something fancy and electronic. But I don’t get out much. Maybe smart phones also bind pages together. What dawned me as I refilled my four-inch Bostitch personal stapler was that my box of Swingline Standard Staples will likely last me to the end of my teaching career. Heck, the... Read more
Mencken has lessons to teach all Americans (which expands potentially the market for my new book, featured in this podcast) Better than me talking about Mencken are Mencken’s own words about religion. Who of the New Atheists could ever claim to have attended Sunday school and learned all the gospel hymns of late nineteenth-century Protestantism the way Mencken did: My favorite song was “Are You Ready for the Judgment Day?” a gay and even rollicking tune with a saving hint... Read more
The most self-serving reason is the publication of my new book, Damning Words: The Life and Religious Times of H. L. Mencken. The publisher, Eerdmans, recorded an interview with me about the book, for anyone who wants to learn a little more about the man and the biographer. But the best reason for Christians to read Mencken is to ponder how Christians sometimes (maybe more often than sometimes) come across to unbelievers. Mencken was aware that his lack of religion... Read more
Then why do Tony Campolo and Shane Claibornethink that followers of Jesus would repudiate Donald Trump? Evangelicalism was closely associated with the campaign of Donald J. Trump, and more than 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for the president-elect. This, despite large numbers of African-American, Latino, Asian, young and female evangelicals who were fiercely opposed to the racism, sexism and xenophobia of Mr. Trump’s campaign and the hypocrisy of a candidate who built a casino empire while flouting morality. As... Read more
1) The best Thanksgiving movie out there may be For Your Consideration. It is another inside baseball movie about behind-the-scenes Hollywood made by Christopher Guest. The movie inside this movie starts as “Home for Purim.” But because of it’s Jewishness, Hollywood producers (one played by Ricky Gervais — the creator of “The Office”) re-purpose the movie for Gentile tastes. Very good, ironic, boomerish, and very Christopher Guest. 2) The easiest way to make good cranberry sauce. Put 12 ounces of... Read more
The current cast of Hamilton may be worried about President-elect Trump and Vice-president elect Pence, but where were they when they had a chance to instruct President Obama? Don’t his policies register on the inclusive and tolerant meter? The near-unrestrained executive power claimed by the Obama administration, and issues left unresolved from the Bush administration, will be handed to the president-elect. Here’s what that means. Torture Obama did not prosecute or discipline anyone for torturing people on behalf of the... Read more
I think I understand the concerns that many Americans have about the president-elect. I have them. But I don’t understand why academics who are supposed to look for nuances and subtleties behind arguments and events are so willing to resort to the kind of either-or categories that seemed so from the hip and unscholarly when applied by the likes of Jerry Falwell and James Dobson. The latest installment comes from Marie Griffith, a capable historian who directs the Danforth Center... Read more
So what’s so bad about voting for Donald Trump? Katelyn Beaty explains: This election, I didn’t personally know any evangelicals who were vocally supporting Trump. Many of us were troubled by the other candidate, to be sure. But, as so many wise evangelical leaders had noted, electing Trump would seriously harm our already fragile democracy and undo the church’s witness, and I believed the white evangelical community would take heed. On Wednesday, I woke up to an evangelical family I... Read more
Putting the Protest in Protestant
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