Must-Read Articles by Roger Olson
Fascinating. Roger Olson (annoyingly clearheaded at times for someone I disagree with so frequently) argues that evangelicalism as a cohesive movement no longer exists. It took a figure with the stature of Billy Graham to hold it together, and with Graham off the scene, fissures have turned into canyons—and soon perhaps, I would add, great gulfs fixed. I think Olson is right to say, however, that there is still an evangelical ethos that informs every stream of evangelical identity: So what is...
The Best Cellphone Service I Could Find
I kind of obsess about tech purchases. Having a wife has made me a bit worse, because it's harder to change my mind once I've already clicked "Confirm." Girls—or at least the ones at my house (or at least the adult one)—don't care to switch from iOS to Android and back unless there's a really good reason. Girls have a point there, actually. I simply was not satisfied with Verizon. After the 17% discount I got through my employer, I paid $78/mo. for two flip phones. I had no texting and no...
Shame on South Carolina Republicans
I was only a teenager, but I remember the outcry among conservatives when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Demands for impeachment were not limited to irate housewives on the Concerned Women for America blog (if there had been such a thing at the time). The real-live House and Senate took up the matter. Even a few Democrats voted against Clinton in some of the related perjury proceedings. For the first and last time ever, C-SPAN was the top-rated channel among the coveted 18- to 34 -year-old...
E-books Are Better than Nailguns
Saying that e-books are better than codices is like saying that nail guns are better than hammers. Nobody appears to be fretting that nail guns will replace hammers, because they are both useful tools for different situations. Likewise, an e-book is fantastic for several kinds of writing: Fiction Not-so-demanding non-fiction like a good number of biographies and histories that are story-based Newspaper and Periodical articles Reference works with short entries, like dictionaries But the codex...
Augustine on the King James Version
From Augustine's On Christian Teaching (4.10-11): What is the use of correct speech if it does not meet with the listener's understanding? There is no point in speaking at all if our words are not understood by the people to whose understanding our words are directed. The teacher, then, will avoid all words that do not communicate; if, in their place, he can use other words which are intelligible in their correct forms, he will choose to do that, but if he cannot—either because they do not...