The Anglican Mission in the Third Millennium
Anglicanism is at times beautiful and rich, wicked and nonsensical, funny and sad: Some years ago, in conversation with a prominent Anglican bishop in Britain, I asked how he would define the mission of the Church of England. After a pause for thought, he said, “I suppose I would say that the mission, so to speak, is to maintain the religious option for those who might be interested.” Needless to say, those who control the commanding heights of British culture do not feel threatened by that...
Narnia for Nineteen
I cannot recommend this set of CDs highly enough, and I cannot fathom that it's being sold for $19! These dramatized recordings of the Narnia stories are so well done—and so gloriously Christian! They catch the spirit of the books in a way the two Disney films haven't. I am convinced that the reason the films falter (especially the latest) is that the stories were fed through a different worldview, an unregenerated one. How else can you explain the marginalization of Aslan? I am moved deeply...
Facebook Pronouncement
See the sad final line from this actual screenshot. The irony is this: neither does "1,721 friends" really mean 1,721 friends.
Carl Trueman as Dove and Serpent
A follow-up on my last post: For a calm, loving, and incisive response to Lisa Miller's pro-gay opinion piece in Newsweek, see Carl Trueman's excellent article at Reformation 21. Carl Trueman is always, always worth reading, even if he thinks the blogosphere is a "narcissistic echo-chamber." He's right, of course.
Homosexuality, Serpents, and Doves
The tag-line for BJU's What in the World! newsletter is "helping believers be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." I borrowed, of course, the words of Jesus in Matt. 10:16 as He sends His disciples out on a preaching tour. Every sinful age demands that Christ's disciples have this serpentine wisdom or cunning—φρόνιμος is the same word used to describe the "subtil" serpent in Gen 3:1 (LXX). So one major purpose of What in the World! is to engage in what Bryan W. Smith calls...