The following weeks will bring numerous commentaries on the killing of Tyre Nichols. It is not my intent to address the legal fine points of this criminal act. Neither is it my aim to comment on the politics of policing, nor even on the racial aspects of the attack (although this last point is tangentially related to that which follows). My focus, instead, will be on two contrasting, philosophical responses to this terrible event. These differing responses are very telling... Read more
In a recent book of devotional prayers composed and compiled by progressive Christian voices, psychologist and “public theologian,” Chanequa Walker-Barnes, has penned a prayer that calls out to god for help in becoming more hateful toward white people. Walker-Barnes’ prayer, like many postmodern expressions of personal sentiment, has stirred controversy. But, what makes Walker-Barnes’ prayer different from other controversial, expressive acts, e.g., Lil Nas X‘s song “Montero,” is the apparent directing of her petition to the god of the Bible, as... Read more
In The Cambridge Guide To Postmodernism, Brian McHale unpacks the idea that there are two contrasting, possibly contradictory, perspectives on the nature of human existence. The first perspective, more traditional perhaps, is the notion that life is analogous to a mission. The human life is a goal-oriented endeavor, aimed at achieving certain, universally acknowledged goods, or at developing into a certain kind of creature. On this view of existence, each individual life has a kind of narrative arc to it, a... Read more
St. Paul wrote the following to the church in Corinth: But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. 2 Cor 2:14-16 The... Read more
The first thing to realize before discussing a topic as sensitive as masturbation, especially when coupled with the idea of “murder,” is this: the biblical ethic is an impossible standard. It cannot be achieved perfectly in this life by anyone save One: Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, even if biblical morality is impossible for any particular human being, who is not Jesus Christ, to fulfill in practice, this does not mean the principles of biblical morality can be subsequently abandoned. The principles of God’s... Read more
I am not accustomed to writing “year in review” type articles. The closest I’ve come is probably my personal, end-of-the-year update letter to friends and extended family. It is a tradition I inherited from my mother, who every year would faithfully provide a succinct update on our immediate family–my father, me, and my three, older brothers– to our acquaintances. However, when the editors reached out to me to say something about 2022 as it relates to Evangelicals, I felt compelled... Read more
In the last article in this series on Christmas, I wrote about some longstanding philosophical dilemmas and how Christianity, if true, might resolve them. If the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His atoning sacrifice on the cross, and His Resurrection actually occurred, then Christianity provides an answer to these puzzles of human existence. In the last post, I specifically addressed the philosophical problem of “the one and the many.” This is an age-old metaphysical enigma for which Christianity has a concrete answer.... Read more
In the first article in this Christmas series, I argued that Christmas is the Incarnation of God. This makes the holiday of Christmas a commemoration of the eternal, infinite, good and holy God becoming a finite, concrete, good and holy man in Jesus of Nazareth. In part two, I argued that this “Christ event” is also something that takes place in history. By taking place in “history,” I mean it takes place in the very same space-time reality you and... Read more
In the last post, I argued that the true meaning of Christmas is often obscured by articles, podcasts and essays that abound at this time of year. I claimed that many such commentaries never get around to dealing with the actual claim of Christmas, namely, the incarnation of God. In short, most commentaries about Christmas fail to address the central reason for commemorating the holiday. That reason is a fundamentally theological reason. However, a second facet of the theological claim... Read more
What Christmas Is Not About Around this time of year a slew of videos, articles and blogs are usually produced, all trying to say something important about Christmas. Some will decry, as has been the trend for decades, the blatant commercialization of Christmas. These will argue that our obsession with material goods takes away from the “true spirit” of the holiday. What that “true spirit” is, however, is often left vague. Usually it has something to do with families and friendships, listening... Read more
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