Featured Essay / Culture
For years Rod Dreher (senior editor at The American Conservative) has been writing about his “Benedict Option.” Now his book of the same title has finally appeared. To be honest, I have not been convinced by his articles addressing the Benedict Option and his book fails to convince me too.…
Essay / Culture
Two regular practices of solitude and silence: First, you must remember that when you go into solitude and silence, your basic goal is to do nothing. Yes, nothing! You are to center yourself in quiet and rest. As you do that, you also focus on
Essay / Culture
Throughout his writings and lectures, Dallas Willard has warned that the hardest thing to get North American people to do is nothing. The regular practice of doing nothing is crucial for spiritual growth. It keeps us from having an inflated view of our importance, it
Essay / Culture
Recently I engaged in a public debate with UCLA neuro-scientist Jeffrey Schwartz. The topic was the mind/brain debate and the evening turned out to be a more of a love fest than an antagonistic battle because Schwartz—one of the world’s very top brain scientists—and I
Essay / Philosophy
Scriptorium Daily readers in Southern California, take note: I will be speaking at Biola University on Tuesday May 29 on the subject of my new book, Kingdom Triangle. This is a special pre-release event from 7:30 to 9:30pm, and the book will be available at
Essay / Culture
Attractive teachers having sex with students. Pedophiles getting light sentences from liberal judges. Sexual predators caught on Prime Time television. Gay couples exchanging vows in San Francisco. “Virginity†is a dirty word. Internet pornography is an epidemic. What in the world is going on here?
Essay / Philosophy
A slogan can be helpful if it accurately summarizes a product or a campaign. But a slogan can also be harmful if it diverts attention away from the real issue or if it is a conversation stopper that falsely appears to resolve an issue. In
Essay / Philosophy
Last week, JP Moreland began his discussion on whether or not the desire to avoid hell was egotistical. The following is the second part of his two part discussion. The second part begins with a summarization of the first part: In sum, it could be
Essay / Education
How does a parent know that their children are being educated? To say that someone is educated necessarily entails assessment but, often in today’s academic institutions much of what turns out to be an attempt at education and assessment turns out to be a mindless
Essay / Philosophy
Recently the topic of Hell has been in the news. In case you were entirely unaware, yes, Hell is in fact a real place (as Pope Benedict reminded us just last week). Hell, being an altogether unpleasant place, is not a destination where many desire
Essay / Education
Kissing is an interesting thing. When we are young we kiss our parents, our siblings, and sometimes (often under duress) our extended family. When elementary school children discuss kissing technical language is often brought into play. A word like “cooties” (which is defined by the
Essay / Philosophy
What is love? What is true education? One of the great masters of both, Socrates, gave us a lesson in the dialogue Symposium that is powerful. Socrates ends his discussion of Love on a high note. He says of Diotima’s speech, “This . . .
Essay / Culture
How should a Christian relate to philosophy? Earlier, I tried to show that Christianity must account for philosophy, Athens. On the other hand, it cannot redue divine revelation to human intellectual activity. There is nothing new in this idea. It was the path the church