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Hermeneutics of Love (Guest Post)
Read more: Hermeneutics of Love (Guest Post)Withstanding the apostles and Jesus himself, Saint Aurelius Augustine is arguably the greatest Christian theologian of the first millennium. His contributions to the understanding and development of Bible interpretation are incalculable. He was a man ahead of his time. Indeed many of the current debates on hermeneutics and postmodern literary criticism appeal to Augustine for…
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Esther & Canon?
Read more: Esther & Canon?[Update (2/14/2014)—My new book Esther and Her Elusive God: How A Secular Story Functions As Scripture is now available. My posts on this site represent stages in the development of my thinking about Esther. For the full argument check out the book]. The Book of Esther is notoriously difficult. For many Christians this might seem like an…
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Time Travel & The First Christmas
Read more: Time Travel & The First ChristmasToday (Dec 13) I am flying home after my first term at St Andrews. It feels like time has sped up ever since I arrived. An hour seems a bit shorter than I remembered in the States. Whole weeks have felt like insignificant blocks of time that pass by all too quickly. Why does time…
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God with Us
Read more: God with Us…A manger was His Throne. From “Rise and Shine” by Andrew Peterson The aforementioned lyric from Andrew Peterson serves as a great illustration of the paradox that is “God with us.” Stop and think about that for a minute: God with us. Not God for us, or God near us; God with us! If that…
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The Macho Version of Biblical MANhood
Read more: The Macho Version of Biblical MANhoodSo far on this blog we’ve had some discussion led by Ryan about how the biblical manhood movement (mis)uses statistical cultural analysis when applying it to the Church (For the relevant posts in the 6-part series: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6). I do not intend here to pick up the discussion further, or to…
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Libertarianism From A Christian Perspective: Guest Post
Read more: Libertarianism From A Christian Perspective: Guest Post“Who are you to tell me what to do?” “Why can’t I do something if it doesn’t hurt anybody else?” “Big government is a big failure; keep its nose out of my business!” Such sentiments echo at Libertarian rallies across the world. Libertarians value autonomy and freedom, and they are not afraid to openly express…
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Of Halloween & Horror Movies: What the Hell?
Read more: Of Halloween & Horror Movies: What the Hell?On Halloween it’s good to ask, why are people drawn to what horrifies and terrifies them? Robert California, played by James Spader, has this sobering nugget to say from the most recent episode of The Office (Episode 5 of Season 8: Spooked): Fear plays an interesting role in our lives. How dare we let it…
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Harry Potter & Pagan Issues
Read more: Harry Potter & Pagan IssuesIn light of Nathaniel Warne’s recent post on Harry Potter, I thought I’d supplement his excellent post with additional issues related to Harry Potter’s much needed vindication among conservative Christians. Growing up everyone told me that Harry Potter was evil so I never read the books. Although to be honest, even if people had told…
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Prayer as Ethics
Read more: Prayer as Ethics“…you become better and better by looking for so great a good which is both sought in order to be found and found in order to be sought…” -St. Augustine “Ethics” means more than understanding how one should act in a certain situation in order to be free from blame. This type of ethics is…
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Harry Potter & Moral Issues: Guest Post
Read more: Harry Potter & Moral Issues: Guest PostIt is hugely disappointing to me that I still have to defend my love for the Harry Potter series to other Christians. In good Two Cities fashion of “reconciling Evangelicals with the ‘Bad Guys,’” I will give two reasons why the Harry Potter series is not a threat to the Christian worldview and is actually…