This is the greatest tragedy of all in the church's careless appropriation of popular culture: that popular culture is not really a culture after all. Historically, cultures have been mechanisms of restraint. Cultural institutions, traditions, and artifacts developed...
Mark Ward
The Meaning of Italics
All the marks on a printed page—and a lot of the spaces—carry meaning. Even variations in the shape of some of the marks carry meaning. And the meaning of those marks and those variations has evolved over time, just like spoken language. Just read this little history...
Chantry vs. Frame
A blog reader sent me this post some months ago, a critique of John Frame by Reformed Baptist pastor Tom Chantry (son of Walter). I'm certain Tom is a brother in Christ with whom I would share a great deal of agreement, and I had no wish to write a public critique of...
Ellery Lewis Ward
Ellery Lewis Ward was born at 5:37 a.m., September 2. He is 7 lbs. 8.5 oz; 21 inches long. He looks like a full-term baby, but he’s in the NICU right now for standard treatment for premies—he's four weeks early. He is getting a little help with breathing. Mommy is...
Church Music
I sometimes wonder: if "attractional" churches which use a genre of music called "bone-shaking" had their way, would the kind of music below just disappear? That would be very, very sad. The composer of that piece, Paul Mealor, wrote one of the beautiful pieces played...
Tyndale House on Christian Scholarship
Got this from the Tyndale House, an academic ministry you should be aware of. This strikes me as just the right note to play: As we celebrate 70 years of service of the church, we are looking to increase and develop the work of Tyndale House and to raise up a new...
Sneak, Snank, Snuck
I was recently informed by a well-meaning copy editor that my use of snuck was "incorrect" despite "being increasingly common." Sneaked, she said, is the correct term. My usage-determines-meaning alert fired immediately, of course. If something is "increasingly...
Hilarious Story: The Name of Abraham’s Servant REVEALED!
True story, told with permission: Dr. Dan Olinger was once an editor for Faith for the Family magazine, a publication of Bob Jones University. It was his (occasional and usually unenviable) task to review unsolicited submissions to the magazine. He had to read these...
A Backhanded Compliment from Jonathan Haidt
I'm finally nearing the end of a book I've been wanting to read for quite some time, Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind. Haidt first came to my attention as that rare bird: a card-carrying liberal who was permitted by other liberals to talk extensively about...
The Allure of the Iron Cage: Reactions to Steven D. Smith’s The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse
I hope to publish the paper I read at the Bible Faculty Summit, but for my blog audience I'll go ahead and offer the pre-release PDF and the audio (downloadable). The audio is also available below (no video included): [video...