Christian Worldliness Skewered by a Secular Jew
This is too good not to pass on immediately—from a newsletter I write for BJU that goes out to churches: Evangelical Christians have a “deeply neurotic relationship with popular culture,” says journalist Hanna Rosin in Slate. Evangelicals in America are like the Old Testament Israelites, says Rosin: “They are blending into the surrounding heathen culture, and having ever more trouble figuring out where it ends and they begin.” They’ve even “created their own enormous ‘parallel universe.’” An...
The OED on “magic”
This is the section of the OED entry on "magic" relevant to the Prince Caspian discussion: The 'magic' which made use of the invocation of evil or doubtful spirits was of course always regarded as sinful; but 'natural magic,' i.e. that which did not involve recourse to the agency of personal spirits, was in the Middle Ages usually recognized as a legitimate department of study and practice, so long as it was not employed for maleficent ends. Of examples are . . . the application of a...
Magic in the Narniad and Righteous Indignation
The release of Prince Caspian occasioned some discussion at my office recently. Some good Christians are—understandably, if they haven't read the Narniad—wary of the magic in Lewis's "supposal." Let me hasten to say that I do not want to push anyone past his conscience. But recriminations are coming back against Narnia lovers! And the reason I am a Narnia lover is that the series has helped me understand and love the God whose truth the Narniad pictures. So let me offer some humble defenses of...
Christ and Culture Revisited; General Critiques of Niebuhr
In chapter 2 of Christ and Culture Revisited Carson offers some general critiques of Niebuhr which do not tie themselves to individual paradigms in Niebuhr's five-fold taxonomy. Here's one line of critique Carson gives: Niebuhr wants to see various biblical authors as advocates, wholly or in part, of individual paradigms (e.g., Galatians and 1 John advocate the "Christ against culture" position; John's Gospel is more partial to "Christ transforming culture"). But he's assuming the liberal view...
Fundamentalism and “An Evangelical Manifesto”
Os Guinness, Richard Mouw, Tim George, David Neff, and others have released "An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment." Justin Taylor has already provided a good summary (with little comment). I thought I would comment on just one salient features, the manifesto's treatment of fundamentalists. (North-American Protestant) Fundamentalism in the Evangelical Manifesto As Alan Jacobs points out in the Wall Street Journal, it really seems as if the very...