I've just seen one of those rare birds, an Internet discussion that seems civil. And I'm in the rare bird! It's over at Quora, a pretty neat site I've not spent much time on but attracts higher-than-average-quality user-submitted answers to a wide range of...
Mark Ward
Materialist Dogma
Alvin Plantinga on the new iconoclastic book by philosopher Thomas F. Nagel: [Nagel has] performed an important service with his withering critical examination of some of the most common and oppressive dogmas of our age. Read the whole review.
Standard English
From the American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition: Standard English n. The variety of English that is generally acknowledged as the model for the speech and writing of educated speakers. USAGE NOTE The term Standard English is sometimes used to denote the variety...
Isn’t It Ironic, Don’t You Think?*
Last week or so I was driving somewhere and listening to an ad on the radio, an ad that (like those Geico commercials [TV, 2007*] with the Pierce Brosnan look-a-like) was intentionally ironic, self-referential. That is, it made fun of itself, pretending to be a non-ad...
Kevin Bauder on Love and Worship
Worship can be summed up in a single word: love. What else could love mean except to recognize the ultimate value of a thing, to delight and take pleasure in it, and to give one’s self to it in loyal trust? To worship a thing is to love it. Consequently, it is neither...
Two Interesting Articles From Arabs on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Two interesting articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict: Abdulateef Al-Mulhim, a retired commodore of the Royal Saudi Navy, argues that Arabs have invested untold billions in a fruitless conflict with Israel that has only left their own people divided, poor, and...
A Pillar Text and a Slick Website for King James Onlyism
Many websites on the Internet feature garish graphic design: a profusion of fonts and colors, ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, corny animated gifs. Conspiracy theory sites (like this one arguing that George W. Bush is responsible for the 9/11 attacks) tend to fall into this...
Irregardless
One More KJV Verse You Didn’t Realize You Didn’t Understand
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. (Eph 5:3–4 KJV) What does "convenient" mean...
The Artistic Theologian
Check Out The Artistic Theologian, a new journal put together in part by my friend Scott Aniol and, in its first issue, featuring articles by Scott, Kevin Bauder, and T. David Gordon. I was given the opportunity to submit a review to its inaugural volume.