Ross Douthat on the Possibility of Pluralism

by Mar 21, 2014Culture

This is exactly why I read Ross Douthat. He holds out more hope for the possibilities of pluralism than I do, though I wish I could join him. I just find it hard to see any true pluralism in a large nation to be stable long-term. The fall has so deeply affected us. But I won’t say that the Bible’s clear teaching about the fall demands my pessimism; Paul holds out hope that “quiet and peaceable lives” are possible.

Then again, he appeals obliquely to the fall himself in the last paragraph of the piece:

I think anyone involved in these debates, whether they’re the ones appealing to pluralism or the ones to whom those appeals are being addressed, would profit from a certain realism about how human nature works around these issues, and how easy and natural it feels for the winning side on a given issue to declare, with Emily Bazelon (and like her, with the best intentions in the world), that while error may have some rights, it has slightly fewer than the erring thought they had just yesterday, or the day before.

Read More 

Don’t Tell Young Women in Your Church to Avoid College

Don’t Tell Young Women in Your Church to Avoid College

There’s a young man I know from Christian circles somewhere in the U.S.—I’ll call him Kyle or Gerald or Edward, or maybe something a little more derogatory—who posted what I can only call an anti-girls-going-to-college meme on Facebook. It argued that Christian...

Bavinck: A Critical Biography by James Eglinton

Bavinck: A Critical Biography by James Eglinton

Bavinck: A Critical Biography My rating: 5 of 5 starsHerman Bavinck's fame as a theologian has been steadily growing in my circles—especially since the Dutch Translation Society began putting out his Reformed Dogmatics in English in 2003. All four volumes sit proudly...

Brand New Biblical Worldview Book for 6th Graders

Brand New Biblical Worldview Book for 6th Graders

A brand new book I wrote this past year, Basics for a Biblical Worldview has just been released. It's a sixth grade biblical worldview textbook for BJU Press. For this project I was privileged to rejoin as a freelancer the team I was on at BJU Press for nine years,...

What is Your Position on Complementarianism and Egalitarianism?

What is Your Position on Complementarianism and Egalitarianism?

A female professor of Christian ministry just sent me a survey to fill out. I don't consider myself an expert in this area, but I certainly have tried to be responsible—this is one of those places where the battle over truth is fiercest in my generation. Here were my...

Leave a comment.

0 Comments