Review: The Power Broker, by Robert Caro
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro My rating: 5 of 5 stars Robert Caro is fascinated by power. He has given his life to exploring how it is gained and kept. And in Robert Moses, the subject of this epic book, power looks like the ugly idol it can be. It delivers at first, but then it enslaves. But let us not think that power is in itself bad. Caro himself has incredible powers. The sheer amount of work—hours and hours of work, years of work, years of at...
Review: Finding the Right Hills to Die On by Gavin Ortlund
Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage by Gavin Ortlund My rating: 4 of 5 stars Gracious, clear, accessible. Extremely well done. I nearly docked him a star for being ever-so-slightly in a different place than I am on creationism (though I still found his thoughts very helpful), but that didn't seem right! I do simply feel that the effects of old-earth views on theology are not commonly reported by proponents, but what can I expect? YEC weaknesses aren't reported by...
The Weakest Link in the Epistemological Blockchain is the Fallen Human Heart: Reflections on Jonathan Rauch’s The Constitution of Knowledge
The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, by Jonathan Rauch (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2021).I have such mixed feelings about this book. I so much want so much of it to be true and right. I hold a minority worldview in my society; classical liberalism’s values of free speech and freedom of conscience work for me and mine. They also feel familiar—though less sturdy than they did in the past. I also happen to share a lot of Rauch’s political opinions: a lot of his...
Three More Ways to Love Your Neighbor through Social Media | BJU Chapel Sermon No. 2
Turn to Matthew 22 please. We’re going to read Jesus’ love commands like we did yesterday: love God and neighbor. If you can’t find this passage, you probably have the Political Partisan Study Bible. You might have to look on with your neighbor. Now as you turn, guest speakers aren’t supposed to do this, but I see a problem with the decor in this building, and I need to fix it. In fact, I’m going to kill six birds with three stones. I’m going to sum up several books I wrote for BJU, I’m going...
Three Ways to Love Your Neighbor through Social Media | BJU Chapel Sermon No. 1
Intro Turn to Matthew 22:34, and some of the most familiar but important words of the New Testament. In honor of my own infotainment documentary tonight, I’ll be reading from the 1611 King James Version. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy...