Review: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman.My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm hoping to publish in a journal a more extensive review of this excellent—though long and at times tedious—book. I'll say here: Trueman asks an intriguing question that builds a narrative expectation and structure into his book: How is it that so many average people in the West fail to see "I'm a woman trapped in a man's body" as a...
From My Correspondence: Is Western Music White Supremacist? A Christian Response
This video on “white supremacy” in Western music theory recently got some attention from intelligent friends and acquaintances. It claims that Western music theory is racist—white supremacist, to be precise—for teaching only the musical style of 18th century European males. But don’t roll your eyes: the guys making these claims are not hacks; they both know far more about Western music theory than I will ever know. They’re brilliant, and it’s fun to listen to them display their brilliance....
Don’t Tell Young Women in Your Church to Avoid College
There’s a young man I know from Christian circles somewhere in the U.S.—I’ll call him Kyle or Gerald or Edward, or maybe something a little more derogatory—who posted what I can only call an anti-girls-going-to-college meme on Facebook. It argued that Christian colleges were not teaching biblical womanhood. I wrote this in response, because I have a pastoral concern for the many Christians I know who may be tempted toward this kind of isolationism. I’m tempted toward it, too, at times. But I...
Calvinists and Armenians
Update (11/17/2020): This post is a joke. I deleted a few comments from people who didn't catch the two major misspellings—because I didn't want to embarrass them; I honestly didn't expect to "fool" people! I forgot that some people are reading this post on other devices, even Kindles, and don't have the easy ability to follow the links. At the risk of ruining the joke before you even get to see it, I very frequently see people misspell "Arminianism" and "Arminian"—even people who really,...
New Book—Bibliology for Beginners: What Does the Bible Say about the Bible?
Bibliology for Beginners: What Does the Bible Say about the Bible? by Mark WardI've just released a very short book on bibliology that is not intended to break new ground but rather to help beginners step firmly onto biblical ground. I wrote it at the request of a local church—nycgrace.org, pastored by my respected friend Tim Richmond—which has diligently produced a series of discipleship books for its urban, multi-ethnic congregation.In the book I talk about revelation (general, special, and...