A Christian Case for Gun Rights?
The news cycle following a mass shooting is predictable. Thoughts and prayers are offered, outrage and demands are expressed, and the cable news stations fill up time with people yelling for or against gun control. The week after Parkland has been no different. Yet, the narrative heats up after each successive shooting, and pressure is […]
Resounding Nehemaiads
“Jeremiad.” Definition: an elaborate and prolonged lamentation; a cry of woe; and expression of righteous indignation. “Nehemiad.” Definition: an elaborate and prolonged humiliation; a cry of grief; an expression of righteous repentance. Well might we plead the case for an outpouring of Jeremiads from Reformed and Evangelical pulpits in our day. What with inhuman humanism […]
Black History Month’s Startling Omission
I love basketball. In particular, I love the NBA. I watch a game multiple times a week. And every February they do a passably good job of celebrating Black History Month. I do not have a problem with black history month itself, but I have begun to wonder about one striking omission. Never any mentions […]
Book Notice: The New People Next Door
Several years ago, I was riding in a taxi on the north side of Istanbul. For a good portion of the ride, the driver explained to me how bad America is. It was the usual diatribe: George W. Bush is bad, war for oil, Islamaphobia, and so on. He knew I was American—my southern-accented Turkish […]
Statist Prayers for Parkland USA
As you have no doubt heard, there’s been another school shooting, and seventeen people are dead. An evil man took lives he had no right to take. His actions were full of hate and spite. These were human beings made in the image of God, most of them young people, lives cruelly cut short. There […]
Review: Andrew Peterson’s Resurrection Letters: Prologue
The best music is imaginative in the Chestertonian sense. It does not attempt to create a new world. Rather, it seeks to uncover and reveal the truth, goodness, and beauty God has already placed in this world, but remains hidden because we do not have eyes to see. Andrew Peterson translates this type of imagination […]
Inevitable Controversy
All leaders are controversial. They invariably risk the ire of others. Because they stand for certain things, they necessarily stand against certain things. This causes them to stand out. It makes them more than a little peculiar in this plain vanilla world of smothering uniformity. G.K. Chesterton asserted, “A man with a definite belief always […]
The NFL Protests: Touchdown or Personal Foul?
The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl Sunday night to conclude a controversial NFL season. This year, pregame inaction eclipsed the action on the field, as many players refused to stand for the national anthem, choosing instead to take a knee in protest. Former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the trend in protest of […]
Meaning It, Believing It, and Living It
It is one of the great ironies of our day that Christians can pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” and not actually mean anything by it. Indeed, it is a stunning paradox that we can live as if such a prayer could not be answered. Even worse, we can […]
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Feminism in Full Flower: Ronda Rousey Joins the WWE
Mixed martial arts fighter Ronda Rousey became a professional wrestler Sunday night. The UFC women’s bantamweight champion agreed to terms with WWE and appeared unexpectantly on the pay-per-view Royal Rumble show in Philadelphia. Rousey, who won a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics, took over the mixed martial arts world, winning her first […]
Nursing A Goose Egg: Why Trump’s S***hole Comments Caused a Stir
It has been two weeks since President Donald Trump allegedly referred to Haiti and some African nations as “s***hole countries” in a meeting with congressional officials discussing immigration policy. In the wake of these comments, his detractors offered their collective outrage online for a few days, calling President Trump racist and xenophobic. Many Christians joined […]
The God Who Answereth By Orphanages
In 1821, Dr. John Rippon, pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, London, began a ministry to the homeless poor. A complex of almshouses was erected on a property adjacent to the church and the monumental task of rehabilitation was begun. Rippon wrote, “Christian compassion is driven by a holy and zealous compulsion […]
Taking Every Thought Captive
“We ought to bring our minds free, unbiased, and teachable, to learn our religion from the Word of God.” Isaac Watts One of the basic demands of Christian discipleship, of following Jesus Christ, is to change our way of thinking. We are to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians […]
Original Sin: A Cultural History (Book Review)
G.K. Chesterton once wrote that original sin was “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.” His thinking here is that we are not confronted every day with virgin births or resurrections, but the evidence of human frailty is all around us. In the last few months, in this country alone, we’ve […]
Milton’s Political Uselessness
In 1652 John Milton went completely blind. His eyes had been waning, the world fading, for some time. The darkening was complete the same year his first wife and only son died at one year old. He was a published poet, but he had spent his energy in English politics and education since the time […]
Jung, Occultism, and Weird Science
Watkins’ Bookshop in Cecil Court, just off Charing Cross between Leicester Square and Covent Garden in London, was established in 1891 by John Watkins, and is still London’s premier occult bookstore. One of its most famous customers was Carl Gustav Jung, who, together with Sigmund Freud, would pioneer the field of psychology and psychotherapy. Watkins […]
Standing With Jesus on College Football’s Biggest Stage
When Tua Tagovailoa woke up Monday morning, he was a relatively unknown backup quarterback for the University of Alabama. Sure, he was a touted freshman signal-caller, perhaps the future for the Crimson Tide. But on Monday morning, few college football fans outside of Tuscaloosa knew who he was. By the time the clock struck midnight […]
Doxology
A doxology is a short chorus of praise to the Lord, often sung as a stand-alone piece or as a coda at the conclusion of psalms, hymns, or canticles. The word comes from the Greek doxa, meaning “appearance” or “glory,” and logia, meaning “study” or “declaration.” Common doxologies include the Gloria in Excelsis Deo and […]