Wherein we discuss the Worst Song in the 1970s playlist at the Big Box store. Also: Bobby Bonilla is getting paid what he was owed; Wheaton College outsourcing biology; the continuing creepiness of mandatory loyalty oaths for children; and shouldn't Amazon be celebrating "Prime Day" on July 19 instead? Read more
Here's how Chapter 5 begins: "Buck Williams ducked into a stall in the Pan-Con Club men's room to double-check his inventory. Tucked in a special pouch inside his jeans ..." As a general rule, it's probably best not to begin a chapter by having the protagonist enter the stall of a men's room. If Buck needs to "double-check his inventory," I don't want to read about it. Read more
First, a big, recurring Thank You to everyone who has set up a recurring donation to the Slacktivist tip jar. You are wonderful and generous and I'm obliged to rise to the trust and grace you've shown by not letting Other Things interfere with regular blogging here, as they have this week. Second, Other Things have been interfering a bit with regular blogging here this week. And so, if you are able and inclined to do so, this would be an excellent time for non-recurring donations to the Slacktivist tip jar. Read more
Rupert Holmes ultra-'70s hit is like an inversion of O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi," but where Henry's tale is about selfless love, Holmes' is about loveless selfishness. This provides us with an excellent case study for all of those lit-crit questions about authorial intent. Read more
"Because of Christ, the ceremonial law is repealed," Tim Keller writes -- a sentence that would have baffled Moses, Isaiah, Paul, Luke, and Jesus of Nazareth. This idea of a distinction between "ceremonial law" and "moral law" isn't something any of those biblical figures or biblical authors would have recognized. It's not a distinction that can be found in the Bible, only one that can be imposed on it. It's folklore, not theology. Read more
"The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. Thus the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands." Read more
"These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. It is not that “pure and undefiled religion” which is from above, and which is “first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man." Read more
Sorrow is the main reason this section of the book sort of works. Rayford here seems to stumble across an insight that eludes Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. He realizes that this "Rapture" idea doesn't make any difference. Irene and Raymie are gone, and it doesn't make a bit of difference -- to him, or to them -- whether it's due to a Rapture or to an aneurysm. Read more
"The wrong side of history" is not a claim about the future, but a claim about the present. And it's not a claim about winners or losers or about the inevitable progress of the dialectic. It's about good guys and bad guys. Every rhetorical invocation of TWSOH is an invitation to ask Mitchell and Webb's question: "Are we the baddies?" Read more
Once your tomato plants get big enough to start drooping, they're too big to use one of those wire-cone tomato-cage contraptions. There is a better way. Plus: The Bible celebrates non-procreative sex; "81 things Mike Huckabee has denounced;" recipes for land-shrimp; and just a stranger on the bus, tryin' to make her way home. Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In