Culture

Vote for Me!

Stanley Fish is at it again, and so am I. He wrote this, and I wrote this: I love to read Fish's columns, and I recently used my birthday money to buy my first Fish book. =) I want to register my amazement that few commenters ever seem to understand what Fish is...

Some Scriptural Advice for Kim Jong Un

  Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. (Pro 14:31) A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days. (Pro 28:16) Learn to do good; seek justice,...

Confessions of a Christian Conservative

I’m a Carl Trueman fan, even though he doesn’t want any. He writes incisively and from a theologically conservative, church-historically aware, and self-consciously British perspective. So when he promised to tackle a problem that has been bothering me, I got excited....

What Is the Will? Eight Views

Vernon Bourke's 1964 book Will in Western Thought has become a standard in its field. My roving dissertation eye brought me to it recently, and Inter-Library Loan did the rest. I just read the first chapter, and it was genuinely helpful for a section I'm writing on...

American Evangelical Protestants are Blissful People

I guess my BJU Bible education and my stints as religious newsletter editor, religion researcher, Bible textbook author, and blogger have all been worthwhile, because I’m not ashamed to say that I aced the Pew Research Center’s 15-question Religious Knowledge Quiz....

Our Father Which Art in a Lab Coat

I was driving to church Sunday and passing through downtown Greenville, hoping to avoid traffic created by a poorly placed bike race, when I glanced over at the car next to me. I saw a decal on its bumper that I hadn’t seen before. It’s a fish (reminiscent of a...

Faith vs. Reason; Religion vs. Science

Religious thought may be vulnerable on any number of fronts, but it is not vulnerable to the criticism that in contrast to scientific or empirical thought, it rests on mere faith.... The epistemological critique of religion—it is an inferior way of knowing—is the flip...

Stanley Fish’s NYTimes.com Columns Are Usually Interesting

There are a few themes that have developed on this blog. Usage Determines Meaning. Technology gives and technology takes away. Think carefully about your Bible software purchases. The standard view of ἀγάπη love out there is suspect. Stanley Fish’s NYTimes.com columns...

ICM

Islamic Contemporary Music was profiled recently in the NY Times. This line jumped out at me (where he says “music” I think you can safely read “pop music”): “People say you can’t mix God and music,” Tamer said. “But we’re trying to show you can.” Interestingly, the...

Marsden on Darwin and Evangelicalism

Prominent historian George Marsden put it insightfully in Fundamentalism and American Culture : When Darwinism brought about the second scientific revolution, evangelicals who had adopted this method of reconciling science and religion were faced with a dilemma. … Religion would no longer be seen as dependent on historical or scientific fact susceptible of objective inquiry; religion had to do with the spiritual, with the heart, with religious experience, and with moral sense or moral action-areas not open to scientific investigation.