The End Of Sacrifices And Ceremonies (UPDATED)

Throughout its history the church considered as organism, i.e., its people, has often been tempted to go back to Egypt, as it were. We have often been tempted to look back to where we were in redemptive history rather than appreciating where . . . Continue reading →

Of Virtues True And False: Niceness v Christian Virtue

Traditionally in Christian ethics there was said to have been seven virtues, the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and love from 1 Cor 13) and four cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance). Our word virtue is derived from Latin words for strength. . . . Continue reading →

Kim Riddlebarger On Christ, Culture, and 2K: In The Land Of Nod

Kim Riddlebarger, Senior Pastor of Christ Reformed Church (Anaheim, California) has begun a series of lectures on Christ and culture, two kingdoms, and church and state, vocation, and eschatology as part of the Christ URC Fright Night Academy series of lectures. If . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: The Experience Economy

In the medieval and Reformation periods the West had an agrarian economy. In the Modern period we had an industrial-manufacturing economy. By the 1980s we had a service economy. Today, according to Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine (Strategic Horizons LLP), we live . . . Continue reading →

Grammar Guerrilla: Impactful And Efforting

Guerilla-Gorilla

English is a wonderfully flexible and acquisitive language. Estimates vary but as the British and European colonial powers that harvested antiques and riches from the Mediterranean, so English has harvested a significant number of words from a variety of sources. English is . . . Continue reading →

We Find It In The Gospel

One of the more frustrating things about getting older is that I seem to spend more time looking for things. It’s such a waste of time. It would be great if someone would just tell me where my keys are. Because we . . . Continue reading →

Online Now: Worship Matters

Earlier this summer (Summer ends 21 September 2013) the good folks of the Associated Presbyterian Church invited me to contribute an essay on worship to the denominational magazine, APC News. It appeared as “Worship Matters” in APC News, 160 (July/August 2013), 5–9. It’s . . . Continue reading →

The Inherent Goodness Of Work

One of the casualties of the West’s cultural shift from Christian theism to Deism, and from that to late modern subjectivism (and neo-paganism) is the death of the Christian work ethic. The act of work has been emptied of its intrinsic value. . . . Continue reading →

The Illiberalism of The Late Modern Academy

In the conventional story of the 1925 Scopes Trial, popularized in the 1960 play and film, Inherit the Wind, William Jennings Bryan is the midwestern rube unable and more importantly unwilling to account for and afraid of new learning. WJB is portrayed . . . Continue reading →