Billy Graham: His Life and Influence
Billy Graham is an important 20th century man, and David Aikman tells the story of His Life and Influence exceptionally well. The standard stories are all included, the bases are all covered. Aikman is certainly appreciative of Graham, but he is willing to be critical. I recommend this book, especially if you want to read just one Graham biography. Many others have reviewed this work—because they got it for free like I did* in exchange for reviewing it!—so I want to focus on just one chapter....
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 rocket) with an all-caps message inside: “SCIENCE.” A customer review of the decal at Amazon describes its purpose succinctly: Great way to express your love for science and disgust for religion. But there’s a problem with this comment,...
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 side of a naïve and untenable positivism. —Stanley Fish, New York Times
Balancing Edwards
It is appropriate and necessary for preachers to judge the needs of their congregation when they teach Scripture. I do it every time I preach, because my goal is to help the people use the Bible. As someone has pointed out, people don’t really understand a portion of the Bible if they can’t use it to meet their needs. Their true needs may be different than their perceived needs (Scripture can tell them); they may not. In a previous post, Jonathan Edwards judged that his congregation and fellow...
Praise for Hodge
Mark Noll writes in the New Dictionary of Theology the following praise of Charles Hodge (whose Systematic Theology I’ve recently been dipping into with some heart-warming profit): He occasionally misread his opponents to their disadvantage; but by and large, he conducted his polemics on a very high plane. After Hodge’s death, the Lutheran theologian C. P. Krauth said that “next to having Hodge on one’s side is the pleasure of having him as an antagonist.” That’s high praise indeed. It’s hard...