Category: Blog
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Brad Stetson on Intolerably Intolerant Tolerance
Brad Stetson gave a lecture at Biola this week on the virtue of tolerance. Stetson, a PhD in social ethics from the University of Southern California, co-authored a widely-praised book on this subject last year. In just about 40 minutes, Stetson can put thoughts in your head that burn away the enveloping fog of confusion…
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Will Smith Gets Jiggy With Plato
Is public education helping our children to succeed as adults? Do today’s modern teaching methodologies actually enable our children to develop skills that facilitate their ability to flourish in society? Given that most of today’s educational models have been influenced by modernity I would say that they have been for years developing systems that are…
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In Christ (A. J. Gordon)
In 1872, Adoniram Judson Gordon (1836-1895) managed to spin a book out of two words of Scripture: In Christ . The book is a ten-chapter gem, and as an opening gambit, Gordon freely admitted that the phrase “in Christ” points to a great mystery. Though he had plenty to say in describing the ramifications and…
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Marmosets Underfoot (Decadent Conservatism)
There are some peculiar footnotes in the 1845 edition of Calvin’s Institutes translated by the industrious Henry Beveridge. The weirdest ones are the result of Beveridge double-checking his translation work by turning from the Latin Institutes to the French translation (much of which is by Calvin’s own hand). My favorite example is in Book I,…
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Teddybärkampf
At the top of a steep green hill, we see a momentary lull in the eternal battle for the teddy bear. The tall purple knight represents the Bearhead Clan, known for the severity of their discipline, the unornamented armor, and their total devotion to the face of the bear, whose emblem marks his shield. Over…
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Dorothy Sayers Advertises the Faith
Dorothy Sayers was not a theologian, and she availed herself of every opportunity to make some version of this denial public. “Playwrights Are Not Evangelists,” she wrote in 1955, and in later life she drafted a form letter of rejection to send to people who invited her to come speak on theological topics. She called…
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Bizarre Electoral Echo Chamber
Last night, trying to figure out how to vote my way through that long list of court of appeal judges, I resorted to the web for guidance. As a last ditch effort to check my work, I logged on to the Daily Kos to see who they recommended voting for, on the assumption that voting…
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The Faithful Live by “Just”
Why do so many people use the word “just” when they are praying aloud? Have you noticed how ubiquitous this word is in extemporaneous prayer? “Lord, we just want to just thank you for just blessing us.” What does the word “just” add to such a prayer? When you consider that the word “just” is…
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Piano Lesson
With this image, our accomplished 6-year old artist, fully capable of illustrating chivalrous derring-do on the grand scale, intentionally curtails his normal rendering style. He sets aside the conventions of detailed description and gestural representation, and opts for a simpler, looser style. Why, you might ask? He is following in the footsteps of the great…
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Gospel and Doctrine
Once upon a time, the people most committed to the gospel were the people most inclined to serious theological thought. The deepest doctrines of Christianity, the ones which are not on the surface of the scriptures but lie waiting in its depths, were quarried through disciplined theological meditation and patient discernment. It was not academics…
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Shot Blocked
The marks on the left could be read as railroad tracks converging at a distant vanishing point, but they are in fact the goal net. This young goalie has all the right moves, not even condescending to use his hands in blocking this shot. With such a kick you think to score on me? Ha!…