Evangelical Free Market (place of ideas)

Unglued

2008-09-18T17:50:00.002-04:00

I’ve subscribed to the magazine Paste for the past year, but I will not be renewing the subscription. There were things I liked about getting the magazine in my mailbox every month. The CD sampler that came with every issue was always worth listening to, and in a few cases I learned the hard way that the magazine put the very best (or perhaps the only good) track from a recently released album on each sampler. This has nothing to do with why I’m letting my subscription expire. I’m letting it expire because of the magazine’s billing – not the cost of the magazine – but how it describes itself as “signs of life in music, film & culture.”

If “signs of life in music and film” means positioning the magazine to be the indie version of Rolling Stones then congratulations are in order. If “signs of life in culture” is a way of saying “we also review video games” then mission accomplished, baby! But I expect more, much more from a magazine with such a promising and hopeful tagline. Sadly, the magazine just trades in hero-worship of Britney and Madonna for the likes of Neko Case and Cat Powers. It blindly raves over Wes Anderson films in lieu of Jerry Bruckheimer blockbusters. Now I’m a big fan of “The Covers Record” and Rushmore so I like the idea of a magazine which features this side of the music and film industry, but Paste really doesn’t offer anything more than a platform for the popular for being odd and obscure to market itself to people who don’t like swimming in the mainstream.

Recording on an independent label does not make a musician’s work refreshing or redemptive; it just means the artist has chosen (or was forced to choose) a different route. Justifying reviews of video games because they are an art form – do we even have to go there? Maybe I could buy into this logic if the magazine didn’t regularly review video games that glamorize the carnage of war. After all, nothing says “signs of life” like “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures!”

Fortunately there are alternatives to Paste. NPR’s podcasts of “All Songs Considered” canvasses the music scene and host Bob Boilen always provides the proper ratio of introduction and review to actual song content. And Brent Thomas now offers several episodes of his podcast “the Habañero Hour,” which features Christian music that isn’t content to simply pattern itself after the Top 40. Recently my friend Scott began a new blog which is really a forum for several friends to recommend music and movies we’ve enjoyed. While I don’t expect Scott, Tim or any of my other friends to say something really earth-shattering about Scarlett Johansson covering Tom Waits (see the June 08 issue of Paste), I’m optimistic that even as I become unglued I will still manage to find true signs of life in the culture.

Paging All Complementarians - Hello is anyone out there? Hello...

2008-09-04T16:24:00.003-04:00

Supposedly all Conservative Evangelicals are ecstatic over the addition of Palin to the McCain ticket. I don't buy it. I think that the "leaders" of Conservative Evangelicals were looking for anything that would give them an excuse to run arms wide open back to the GOP after they got to air their grievances about the not-so Conservative McCain. These leaders have chosen party politics over what should be one of their most significant issues: the family.

Check out Cindy McCain's egalitarian response to a question on "the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" about Palin's ability to be both mom and veep:

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:
“As a mother who has raised four children yourself, do you think it’s appropriate for questions to be asked about how she’s going to manage the vice presidency, potentially the presidency in an unforeseen circumstance, while she has a large number of children, five children, an infant with special needs and a daughter who is pregnant?”

Cindy McCain’s response:
“These questions would not be being asked if she were a man, and quite frankly I’m insulted by it. I’m insulted by anyone that would assume that just because a woman has children she can’t do her job. She not only can do her job, but she brings with her a different kind of perspective. A mother with a special needs infant – that absolutely brings a different perspective to this whole discussion about human rights and the rights of others who are less fortunate. She also brings with us, you know a mother of a large family who has done all that she has done and has done it really well, myself being a mother of a lot of kids, running a business, working with my husband, doing the non-profit charity stuff, all women know that we can do it, we can do it really well and the more you give us the better we are.”

Dear Lou (part one)

2007-05-18T12:20:00.000-04:00

Lou Dobbs wrote “A Call to the Faithful” recently and I’m pretty sure that he considers himself to be addressing religious Americans and Evangelicals in particular. So in the next two posts I take it upon myself to respond. Disclaimer: Please note - even though I may use the third person pronoun “we” repeatedly, I know that I can’t possibly speak for all of the faithful. If you think I get a few things (or everything) wrong feel free to let me know.

Dear Lou,

I’ve only watched your show a handful of times, but I did get your letter. It seems you aren’t too crazy about Christians in the public square. I can’t say I agree with you there, it is after all public, and, you can’t expect us to leave God out since we the faithful are after all faithful.
Truly, I don’t think your spat is with most of us, but really it’s more about Jim Wallis, who is speaking out against your stance on illegal immigration.
Come on Lou, this is really much to do about nothing. First of all, why wouldn’t Jim choose Jesus over you? We all want to choose Jesus over you. Shoot Lou, I want my wife to choose Jesus over me. I sin and He never has or will, He died for her sins and I didn’t, and He’s Lord and I’m not. It really is that simple.
Second, I find it very interesting that you make an appeal to Scripture even after you get all worked up about we the faithful encroaching on the state with our beliefs. So which is it Lou? Is it okay for us to look to the Bible to understand God and the world He created or isn’t it? I think by your own admission, you know it is perfectly legitimate for us to enter into these kinds of dialogues, but regardless of what you think we the faithful will continue to attempt faithfulness to God in all avenues of life.
Third, I think you got it right. This is something we the faithful like to consider part of “common grace.” In Abraham Kuyper’s important book, Lectures on Calvinism, he writes:

The highest duty of the government remains therefore unchangeably that of justice, and in the second place it has to care for the people as a unit, partly at home, in order that its unity may grow even deeper and may not be disturbed, and partly abroad, lest the national existence suffer harm.”

Now Lou, we know you’re a smart guy and you’ve pointed out that the issues in regard to illegal immigration involve both justice and the safety of U.S. citizens, what you may not know is that it is precisely because of Romans 13 that Kuyper writes in this manner. So read more Kuyper and less Wallis and you may find out that even though Kuyper would choose Jesus over you there’s still a lot of common ground.

Respectfully,

We the Faithful

Dear Lou (part two)

2007-05-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

Dear Lou,

Again, thanks for the call. We addressed the true subject of your letter, your anger at Jim Wallis for countering your crusade against illegal immigration, so let’s talk about the smoke and mirrors part of your letter.
First of all, why go after Jim Dobson? You can’t be serious! We the faithful are grateful for the attention he’s given the family over the years, but the man is wildly off his rocker these days, and we would appreciate it if you ignore most of what he says. The latest flap about him endorsing Newt Gingrich over Fred Thompson is just the latest example. We the faithful would rather recite the prose of T.S. Eliot, who said: “It must be clear that I do not mean by a Christian State one in which the rulers are chosen because of their qualifications, still less their eminence, as Christians”, than listen to Dobson off topic.
Now about the infamous Land Letter. Yes, it is possible to justify superficially the advent of many wars via the manipulation of Augustine’s Just War Theory. The Land Letter should remind us of the dangers of trusting neoconservatives disguised as preachers. I can’t help but nod in agreement with Bill Kauffman when he writes, “the soft young men in three-piece suits who write their little pamphlets proving that whatever slaughter our government is currently engaged in is a ‘just war’ should be laughed back to the seminaries they quit,” but let’s not use Land (or those “soft young men”) as the straw to reduce JWT to hay. It should be noted that Augustine’s principles for what qualifies military action as either just or unjust stands in line with what we agreed was the highest duty of government: “that of justice.”
So Lou, we (the faithful) plead with you, don’t confuse the loudest guys in the room for speaking for the rest of us. You’ve probably heard by now that one of the signers of the Land Letter, D. James Kennedy, closed the doors to his Washington office on the same day you sent your letter to us. You might consider that a personal triumph – fewer Christians in Washington, hooray! But there are quite a few of us who are glad he’s not on K Street or M Street misrepresenting us and confusing the roles of the church and the state. We believe that God has given both the church and the state to man, and, both possess distinct purposes as determined by the same God who created and sustains them. We also believe that we need to continue to seek God because as sinners, even we the faithful lose sight of God’s priorities and the justice that can only be defined because God has established it. In spite of the fact that we get it wrong sometimes, we will not disengage from the public square, because the square only exists because the God who put the stars in place has shown us in His Word what the He requires of us and it is “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with… God” (Micah 6:8).

See you around,

We the Faithful

Virginia Tech and the Streets of Laredo

2007-04-20T12:24:00.000-04:00

“But please not one word of the man who had killed me.
Don't mention his name and his name will pass on."

NPR ran a short story this morning regarding how the media has not consistently reported the name of the Virginia Tech terrorist.

I don’t care how his name is pronounced. The word order of his name is of no use to me. I don’t want to read his writings or watch his videos.

The people who were murdered are the names that reporters should make sure they pronounce correctly and consistently. Instead of figuring out the killer’s name or trying to understand what was going on in his head, go to this NPR story which reflects on the lives of this tragedy’s victims.

Confessions of a Book Addict

2007-04-19T23:38:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I hold my breath right before I walk into a bookstore so that first inhale of pulp-filled air is fully appreciated.

Going to a friend's to watch TV? Yeah I got a book for that, it's called one I've already read and underlined extensively so that I can brush up on the finer points.

I read at stop lights.

My idea of being social is sitting at a table with others while reading.

Hello, I'm Sean Dennis and I'm addicted to books.

So here's my biggest problem: I can't recommend a book for you. There are a number of good books I've read so far this year that I would love to tell you to read, but I can't do it. I could play it safe and only endorse the books that are of the evangelical theological persuasion, but it seems a shame that we can't talk about the books that have really forced me to think. It's one thing to read Francis Schaeffer (and if you haven't you should - consider that a recommendation) and say "isn't the Christian worldview great!" It's another thing to read a book by a non-Christian and think like Schaeffer about the worldview it presents and critique it from the perspective of Schaeffer's understanding of God, man, and the world.

But suggesting a book to read isn't exactly like suggesting a movie title at Blockbuster (trust me I wore the shirt and shirked the responsibility of trying to do away with brick and mortar stores by pressing customers to sign up for the online movie pass). Most books worth reading take the investment of time to read and think on. I can't suggest a title because I don't know what your time is worth. Although I will say if you're watching "Deal or No Deal" and "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" every night then you can afford to read anything.

I can recommend one book for you, but the book you should read, How to Read Slowly, is written by a kindred spirit. In chapter six, "A Time to Read: Knowing What to Read and When," James Sire writes,

You see, I have a problem. I read too much. I pay attention to plot, image, character and theme when I should be paying attention to wife, sons and daughters, the peeling house paint and the leaking toilet tank. Actually, I need advice about how to spend time not reading. So perhaps I'm not qualified to advise others.

So I'd like to thank my brother for noticing my leaky toliet and fixing it for me, thus allowing me more time to read, and even though I can't recommmend any books (other than Schaeffer and Sire - who really provide primers for reading the works of others), I do have some suggestions:

1. Go to the jungle, but don't spend your money there.
I use Amazon all the time to look up titles, and I'm constantly updating my wish-list for family who know that the only thing I want for Christmas is a couple of books, but I don't buy from Amazon because it's just bad economics.

2. Get to know your local independent bookseller.
It's not only good for your local economy to buy from a neighbor instead of an online business, but chances are that guy behind the counter is just waiting to engage someone in a conversation about good books. Since you've already read Schaeffer and Sire, you can present your understanding of any book from a consistent Christian perspective which hopefully will be a chance to bring the gospel into everyday conversation.

3. Support your local library.
Keep that book an extra day or two and be sure to pay the applicable fines. I'm willing to bet that the library in your town is full of "out-dated" books (I prefer the term "classics"). Sure Mitch Albom may be all the talk in your suburban Starbucks but his mush pales in comparison to the great works that are just collecting dust on a shelf downtown.

4. Tolle lege!

The vindication of the pater familias

2007-04-03T12:44:00.000-04:00

In birding-speak, my dad is a life-lister. I am not. I do not compile my sporadic lists into one master list of all birds previously encountered, because as an amateur (read: lover of) I find it more enjoyable to take in each sighting without frantically looking to see if a lifeless list gets a new check mark on it.

My dad, the life-lister, is always on the hunt for a strange bird. Our birding excursions sometimes go like this:

“Look it’s the extremely rare…”
“No dad, it’s a Red-tailed Hawk.”

“Hey, I think that duck over there isn’t on my list.”
“Really, you don’t have a Mallard on your life-list?”
“You think that’s a Mallard?”
“Yes dad, it most certainly is a Mallard.”

You can call me a sour grape if you want, but I don’t discriminate. My binoculars give equal time to the Red-tailed and the Ferruginous Hawk.

So it’s probably a good thing I wasn’t with my dad at our home church in Michigan this weekend when he spotted a Mountain Bluebird, a bird that should not be in Clyde Township or anywhere in the Great Lakes State for that matter (we may have trash heaps from Canada, but we don’t have mountains).

I can hear myself saying, “No, dad it’s some kind of warbler that you can’t make out from here.”

The female Mountain Bluebird has stuck around and birders (armed with life-lists, no doubt) are traveling from all over the state and as far away as Minnesota to catch a glimpse.

Congratulations on the sighting, dad! I promise to cut you some slack the next time we go out together.

(picture taken by Scott Jennex)

Saying goodbye to our old Kentucky home

2007-03-28T14:14:00.000-04:00

The rarely updated and seldom read Evangelical Free Market is getting a new home. No we aren't switching to a new website, we're moving to Tennessee (more on that later).

Even if it's front porch isn't big enough to congregate on, the little Cape Cod on Lancashire has been a great home. We'll miss the aroma of Krispy Kreme and Tai Siam in the backyard while throwing a golf ball for Seamus. It will also be hard to come to terms with the reality that our days of walking to Heine Brothers Coffee at the Loop, the Highlands farmers' market, ear-X-tacy, and other original Bardstown Road establishments are drawing to a close. Most of all, we're grateful for the opportunities we've had to enjoy the company of friends and family whether it's meant a kitchen, living room, den, and backyard full of people or just time well spent with one or two guests. Thanks to all who shared life together with us in this place.

Cupid's deadly arrows

2007-03-15T09:51:00.000-04:00

Sylvia Poggioli’s recent piece on NPR entitled “Ancient Love Stars at Rome’s Eros Exhibit” focuses on the current art exhibit at Rome’s Colosseum that depicts Eros or Cupid in ancient Greek and Roman culture, but it is mostly a not-so-subtle message that we should be more accepting of homosexuality. The online edition of Poggioli’s story states:

"'In antiquity, erotic practices that had nothing to do with procreation — male and female homosexuality — were completely accepted by society,' the archaeological superintendent says.
But there's one aspect of erotic love in antiquity that contemporary society is unable to embrace.
'In the case of men, the homosexual experience was a one-sided relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy,' Bottini says. 'It was seen as a teacher-pupil relationship. We call it pedophilia and it's unacceptable for us.'
But, organizers say, even the legendary sexual freedom of the Greeks was subject to certain important restrictions: It affected only adult free-born males, and it had to avoid demonstrations of wild behavior. And there was an established order based on the submission of woman to man, youth to adult, slave to master."

Legendary indeed…
Robert Graves’s historical fiction I, Claudius, is not as warming to the sexual exploits of the Greco-Roman elites. Graves’s Claudius pens in his autobiography, “… I have always thought it at once pitiful and disgusting to see a full-grown man, a magistrate, perhaps, with a family of his own, slobbering uxoriously over a plump little boy with a painted face and bangles; or an ancient senator playing Queen Venus to some tall young Adonis of the Guards cavalry who tolerates the old fool only because he has money.”

Pedophilia or the “one-sided relationship between a adult and an adolescent boy” is unacceptable today, but the further our culture removes itself from the underpinning of its religious heritage the closer it moves toward its own slow suicide. Perhaps the next art exhibit at the Colosseum should focus on Avernus.

Hear or read Poggioli’s story
Read an online biography of the man who wrote Claudius's autobiography

Please step away from your computer

2007-03-08T08:19:00.000-05:00

(after you check out the following lectures on life in the digital age)

Dr. Quentin Schultze of Calvin College
"Beyond the Digital Rat Race: Using Technology Wisely in Our Lives, Work, and Churches" given at the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding as part of its Scripture & Ministry lectures.

Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio
"Electronic Media and Restless Souls" given at the Institute for Christian Worship

Rabbit baked in Tarragon Mustard, Garlic, and Cream

2007-03-07T08:46:00.000-05:00

The recipe given below comes from one of the finest books authored by man, The L.L. Bean Game & Fish Cookbook by Angus Cameron and Judith Jones.
If you didn't bag any rabbit this season (or don't have any left in the freezer) then substitute with the small furred animal of your choice. Personally, I agree with Angus that the tastiest of the furred game is the squirrel.

The Recipe -
2 rabbits, cut in serving pieces
3 Tb. red wine vinegar
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tb. tarragon mustard
(add 1/2 tsp of dried tarragon per 3 Tb. of Dijon mustard)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tb. minced garlic
1 - 2 Tb. chopped parsley
1/3 cup minced parsley
freshly ground pepper
salt

Coat the rabbit pieces with the mustard. Mix the minced garlic and minced parsley together with a little salt, and sprinkle half over the rabbit.
Combine the vinegar and broth and pour into a large baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining garlic and minced parsley over, then put the rabbit pieces on top.
Bring to a boil, then cover the baking dish and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for an hour. Check after 45 minutes to see if tender and turn the pieces of rabbit. When tender throughout, remove rabbit and keep warm.
Pour the cream into the juices in the casserole and boil to reduce the liquid by half or more - it should have the consistency of a light cream sauce.
Salt and pepper the rabbit pieces and return them to the casserole. Spoon sauce over and taste to correct seasoning if necessary. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top and serve.

The picture provided of this fine meal is slightly larger than what the recipe will normally yield (it should serve six) thanks to Kyle who bagged that gigantic fox squirrel linked above. I recommend serving the dish on a bed of brown rice so that the most is made of the delicious sauce.

The Next Conservative "Movement"

2007-02-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

Rod Dreher's Crunchy Con blog has a link to an excellent piece in The American Conservative entitled "The Next Conservatism."

Ironically, the new conservatism movement proposed in the article will eventually face the same (or similar) problems conservatism deals with today. Weyrich and Lind provide a good overview of Kirk's definition of ideology, this is a necessary task in positioning conservatism against its foes, but just as T.S. Eliot needed to define "culture," Weyrich and Lind must also define "movement" and ask whether or not the next conservatism should become such a thing.

Wendell Berry essay "In Distrust of Movements" is a must read when considering such things. While not identical to the piece that is in print the article linked below provides a quick understanding of his sentiment on the subject matter (click: here).

Madea misses the target

2007-02-15T12:54:00.000-05:00

This might be a case of being outside the demographic and looking in at something I don’t understand or appreciate. If the title of the movie is any indication of who the intended audience is I only meet the billing by one-third, so maybe I’ve got no right to gripe about Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman but I do have a pretty good reason: its handling of the gospel.

Helen McCarter, played by Kimberly Elise, journals in her diary regularly about her life. Her marriage to one of the most successful lawyers in the city suggests that she probably writes “Dear Diary” because it is a rare occasion when he is home, oh yeah; he’s also a first-rate pig who praises her contributions in public settings and then drops her off at home for his girlfriend. That is until Charles, played by Steve Harris, decides he needs to dump Helen completely for the mistress. The prenuptial signed over a decade ago means Helen gets nothing and when she in utter shock and disbelief raises a stink Charles physically kicks and drags her out of the house.

Bottomline: Helen possesses Biblical grounds for divorce (adultery – Matt 19:9 and desertion – 1 Cor 7:15 ).

In her time of despair, Helen turns first to her nutty Grandma Madea, played by Tyler Perry, and eventually to God and a fine Christian man named Orlando, played by Shemar Moore. While Madea is irreverent, Perry preaches through the drama about seeking forgiveness instead of revenge and moving on instead of harboring a grudge. In a culture that worships the created rather than the Creator, it is encouraging to see a movie take a direction other than self-empowerment and pop psychology. Yet just when the movie appears to be at its climax it sinks into despondency.

Before the divorce is finalized Charles repents of his sin and begins a new life in Christ. It is a moving scene in a Southern African American church, perhaps a little too neatly packaged, but I’m a sucker for seeing people embrace the gospel. This it seems, would be the most appropriate ending to the movie, but what about Fernando, I mean Orlando? You might say the stars were so bright for Orlando; he was a first-rate gentleman even though he was pursuing a woman going through a divorce, after all he did personally see Charles abuse her. So Perry drops his sermon notes and embraces a Hollywood ending. Helen hands her repentant husband the signed divorce papers and runs to Orlando.

I realize that under normal circumstances I’m asking for way too much. After all Helen went through who could ask her to go back to Charles? But there is nothing normal about the gospel that reconciles us to God through Jesus Christ while we were still God’s enemies (Rom 5:6-11; 2 Cor 5:18-20). Not only does Scripture state a wife separated from her husband should remain unmarried (1 Cor 7:11), it calls us to be “ambassadors of Christ” because we have received the “ministry of reconciliation.” Perry turned a love story into a tragedy by settling for a cheap Hollywood romance when he could have demonstrated the awesome power of the cross. I won’t be watching his latest release Daddy’s Little Girl, but then again I’m probably outside the demographic.

Tyler Perry’s story as told by Morning Edition’s Kim Masters (click here)

It's true

2007-02-14T09:53:00.000-05:00

Driving south on Interstate 65 between Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee I came up over a hill that had to its East a very large adult video store. I looked to the West and as I passed two semi-trucks I noticed the familiar ominous Ten Commandments billboard that’s followed up by the famous “Hell is Real” sign (not unlike the one pictured above which is actually from a highway in Ohio).

Normally I pass by these signs and they don’t even register or they might harken me back to they days of going to the Bible church that only used the King James Version, but this time thanks to the CD playing in the car I thought a little more about that store, those semis, and the signs in between. In the song playing, Johnny Cash belts out:

But as sure as God made black and white,
What's done in the dark,
Will be brought to the light.

You can run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time,
Run on for a long time,
Sooner, or later, God'll cut you down.
Sooner, or later, God'll cut you down.

Go and tell that long tongue liar,
Go and tell that midnight rider,
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter,
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.

Suddenly it all made sense and I found myself thinking; yeah John, you tell ‘em. Yeah fundamentalist-farmer in the middle of no-where Kentucky, you tell ‘em. They might laugh and scoff and many an Evangelical might shy away from you because it doesn’t seem polished, professional, or seeker-friendly but for every midnight rider who decides to take a break from the road by stopping in at the lion’s den there’s a place much worse than the loneliest highway.

In his book, Losing Our Virtue, historian and theologian David F. Well writes:
While the great majority of Americans believe that they actually keep the Ten Commandments, only 13 percent think that each of these commandments has moral validity…. While pornography has blossomed into a 4 billion dollar industry that accounts for a quarter of all the videos rented in ships, seen in the thriving hotel business or on cable, only 2 percent experience guilt about watching. And, not surprisingly, at the center of this slide into license and moral relativism is the disappearance of God. Only 17 percent define sin as a violation of God’s will (59).

Those signs are undoubtedly offensive to many who pass by every day, but hopefully for at least 2 percent who make a stop at the next exit it will register that what they do or don’t do late at night will be of consequence on the day when “the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

2007-02-02T19:42:00.000-05:00

Listen to the EFCA Midwinter Ministerial on inerrancy, hermeneutics, and eschatology by clicking here

Seamus and I haven't listened yet, but we hope to get a chance this weekend.

Truly Reformed Dogs...

2007-02-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

would rather devour Machen than bacon.

At times Seamus comes across like one of Machen's warrior children (just ask D.R.), but as Willem VanGemeren has stated, "the genius of Reformed Theology lies in the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. This means that systems of theology and eschatological views should be held with humility and love, because such persons walk in the Holy Spirit."

Okay, so maybe Seamus isn't a warring Reformer (but he did eat that book cover) and maybe this post has more to do with me than him (this is probably a good thing since I doubt he ever gets introspective - though he is a smart dog). It seems that Frame's assessment of conservative and Evangelical Presbyterians can be said of most every part of the Evangelical church, he writes, "Being in a church without liberals to fight, they turned on one another." This is to deny VanGemeren's quote above and the very heart of the Evangel.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph 5:1,2

How the culture of death wins when pro-life candidates are elected

2007-01-31T09:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. It proved to be an insightful interview with an intelligent Democrat strategist. The following statement comes from about 10 minutes and 50 seconds into the interview (which can be heard in its entirety by clicking here):

Even with Bob Casey in the Senate, who is firmly anti-choice, the pro-choice movement is in much better shape. In fact, I talked to some of the very, very active woman leaders some of them who were really on the far-end after the election and I said to them we might have backed Barbara Hafer who was the candidate against Santorum and she might have won but we would have had to put 12 million into that race and instead we were able to take that money because Casey was so popular…and we would put it into Jim Webb’s race, he’s pro-choice, his opponent Allen was anti-choice, into Claire McCaskill’s race, she’s pro-choice, her opponent was anti-choice; Jon Tester, he’s pro-choice, his opponent was anti-choice. So the overall cause of pro-choice was advanced in a sort of dialectical way, as Marx would put it, by supporting Bob Casey.

For those who thought that voting for a Democrat in a national election could be conceivable due to the candidate’s position on a few critical issues, think again. This is what we call zero-sum game, and Schumer knows it. Can Republicans play the game with the same tactics? I’m not convinced that the Pro-life movement will allow it even if in the long run it makes sense strategically.

Either History or Progress? A glimpse into a recent online interview with Dr. David Dockery

2007-01-30T13:29:00.000-05:00

I remain indebted to Union University, not because of its financial aid department (like many of my friends), but precisely because of those very same friends. I have every reason to believe that Union has been and continues to be one of the finest places for Christian learning at the undergraduate level, and for this very reason I ventured to read the interview of Union University President David Dockery by the seminal Baptist blogger of Provocations and Pantings, Timmy Brister.

Brister did not shy away from asking Dockery about many of the more controversial issues in Southern Baptist life (i.e. alcohol, blogging, Calvinism, church membership woes) and for each of these questions Brister received an answer. The answers to these questions were nothing short of what one would expect from an important and intelligent man who has an entire institution to think about before he weighs in. This is not to say that I found Dockery to be dishonest, but merely to point out that a man in his position cannot afford to be the new focal point of the continued barrage of uncharitable and misinformed attacks against Calvinism.

In reading Dr. Dockery’s statements, one is reminded this man is much more than a University administrator. He is a scholar and possesses a vast knowledge of church history (and in particular the history of the Baptists). Dockery points to the historic “Two Streams” of Calvinism and Arminianism in Baptist life and theology and the United States in hopes of preserving the denomination’s work from those who due to lack of clarity believe they must save the denomination from “hyper-Calvinism” and those who due to a lack of charity believe they can claim the church for Calvin. As a man who knows his history, he has every reason to see room for Arminianism and Calvinism within the church; he has after all seen convinced Arminians and devoted Calvinists make lasting contributions.

It seems we are more suited for weathering today’s storms when we are firmly anchored in history, yet this is not enough for every situation. I’m reminded (not so surprisingly) of Kirk’s words on this subject:

The Permanence of a society is formed by those enduring interests and convictions that gives us stability and continuity; without that Permanence, the fountains of the great deep are broken up, society slipping into anarchy. The Progression in a society is that spirit and that body of talents which urge us on to prudent reform and improvement; without that Progression, a people stagnate (The Politics of Prudence, 25).

Thus, Russell Moore can reflect upon Southern Baptist history and state, “the local Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan was far too often a member in good standing of the local Southern Baptist church. He was able to justify a hateful heart by assuring himself that black people aren’t really made in the image of God” as part of an explanation as to why The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) contains an article that speaks against the sin of racism despite belonging to a denomination that has its foundation upon the controversy of slavery. With the enduring Word of God as its guide, the SBC produced a creed that hopes for both permanence and progression. In Permanence staying true to the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. In Progression recognizing that due to sin even good intentioned saints err and that the faith must be clarified and contended for all the more fervently as a result.

Yes, historically speaking many Southern Baptist laypersons have been teetotalers and many a Southern Baptist preacher has declared complete abstinence from alcohol is the only choice for a Christian. They believed passionately in their position and they fought stalwartly for the cause, nevertheless at the end of the day their belief must be considered in light of what the whole of Scripture declares. This was necessary for Southern Baptists to progress beyond a history stymied in slavery and it should be considered in light of what can move from a matter of personal conviction and discernment into a imposition upon the Word and the gospel.

EFM Recommends - Here I Stand; A Life of Martin Luther

2007-01-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

Living theology. Flawed and encouraging saints. Stories of grace. Deep inspiration. The best entertainment. Brothers, it is worth your precious hours. Remember Hebrews 11. And read Christian biography.

The above words bring John Piper’s chapter “Brothers, read Christian biography” from Brothers, We Are Not Professionals to a close. One recalls Hebrews 11 vividly when examining the life and contributions of Martin Luther, and Here I Stand; a life of Martin Luther by Roland H. Bainton reminds us that faith is more than a platitude appealed to on Sunday mornings. Living by faith takes place in the midst of struggles that give us cause to wonder whether our next breath will be our last. Bainton’s account of Luther’s life recalls many occasions when he knew Anfechtungen, the dark night of the soul. Quoting Luther, he writes:

If I live longer, I would like to write a book about Anfechtungen, for without them no man can understand Scripture, faith, the fear or the love of God. He does not know the meaning of hope who was never subject to temptations.
David must have been plagued by a very fearful devil. He could not have had such profound insights if he had not experienced great assaults.

Bainton provides glimpses into many of the profound insights and great assaults Luther experienced. The man was called many things in his lifetime: a drunken German, a heretic, a son of iniquity, the Saxon Hus, a wild boar in the vineyard, the very devil. Despite these names, God is not ashamed to be called Martin Luther’s God, for he has prepared for him a city, and it is not Wittenburg.

a "teaser" for my Southern Baptist friends...

2007-01-10T09:41:00.000-05:00

You've read my recommendation for Here I Stand; a life of Martin Luther by Roland H. Bainton, so now I want to give you a small teaser.

A teaser is defined as:
1. a. One that teases, as a device for teasing wool. b. One who engages in teasing; a tease.
2. A puzzling problem.
3. An advertisement that attracts customers by offering something extra or free.
4. Slang. An attention-getting vignette or highlight presented before a televison show.

About halfway into the book, Bainton quotes the following plea from Martin Luther:

Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit wine and abolish women? The sun, the moon, and stars have been worshiped. Shall we then pluck them out of the sky? Such haste and violence betray a lack of confidence in God. See how much he has been able to accomplish through me, though I did no more than pray and preach. The Word did it all. Had I wished I might have started a conflagration at Worms. But while I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf, God dealt the papacy a mighty blow.

Kirk, Coulter, and the Question Mark

2007-01-04T17:06:00.000-05:00

Back in late November, James Fitzpatrick made very good use of the question mark. The first question was the title of his op-ed for The Wanderer in which he asked, “would the late Russell Kirk think of Ann Coulter as a positive force in the conservative cause?” His second use of the question mark didn’t quite follow convention, but it sets up most of his piece; he writes, “Kirk? I suspect that few younger conservatives will even know his name, despite the fact that he is generally credited with being one of the founders of the conservative movement.” The last two questions run right next to each other so I’ll first display them and then explain them in their context: “Is McCarthy on to something? Has conservatism lost its intellectual vigor, its soul?” The McCarthy referred to by Fitzpatrick is Daniel McCarthy who when looking at what passes for conservativism in the United States sees College Republicans parading “in shirts proclaiming ‘George W. Bush Is My Homeboy’…. where once students were at least familiar with the names Kirk and Weaver, or Mises and Nock, today they look to Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter for guidance. They're little acquainted with the wisdom of the contemporary Right's founding generation, and it shows.”

My own experience suggests that McCarthy is dead on. In conversations and email exchanges with self-proclaimed young conservatives, dropping Russell Kirk’s name is about as effective as sending your senator one of those little tear-out postcards. One proud hater of all things liberal berated me for bringing a movie star like Kurt Russell into the fray. It would be funny, if it wasn’t so sad. On the other hand, if you question the integrity or intelligence of Sean Hannity (two things I am prone to do) well let’s just say that’s the equivalent of broadcasting to the world that you obviously voted for John Kerry and couldn’t be happier hearing “Speaker Pelosi.”

Yes, McCarthy is clearly on to something, but does that mean that conservatism has become wishy-washy and soulless? The answer depends on how you define conservatism today and how you answer the original question, “what would Russell Kirk say about Ann Coulter?”

If conservatism in 2007 is represented by the same man who can in one breath rail against James Webb and can praise Arnold Schwarzenegger, then conservatism has become wishy-washy. If Ann Coulter is the darling of the conservative movement then it needs to go soul-searching. Yet, I do not believe Russell Kirk would even go so far as to call Hannity or Coulter conservatives.

To expect that all the world should, and must, adopt the peculiar political institutions of the United States – which do not often work very well even at home – is to indulge the most unrealistic visions…. Such naïve doctrine led us into the wars in Indo-China – the notion that we could establish or prop up in Viet Nam a “democracy” that never had existed anywhere in southeastern Asia. Such foreign policies are such stuff as dreams are made of; yet they lead to the heaps of corpses of men who died in vain.

That was Russell Kirk explaining the Neo-conservative foreign policy of exporting “Democratic Capitalism” in his book The Politics of Prudence. Does it sound like something that a conservative can safely say today? Does it sound like Kirk would be fond of the loud-mouths of conservative talk radio? Russell Kirk where have you gone?

Read James Fitzpatrick's article by clicking here.

The 2006 EFM Man of the Year

2007-01-02T10:51:00.001-05:00

This morning whilst eating my breakfast I was reminded of the “EFM Man of the Year.” It seems that his likeness was burned onto the surface of my toast. At first I thought I was delusional, but after splashing some oj made from concentrate onto my face I knew what I had to do. I quickly took a picture of the toast with my digital camera and downloaded it onto my trusty computer. Then, being the savvy businessman that I am, I placed the toast for sale on ebay. It looks like I stand to make a small fortune selling my burned toast (these people don’t even seem to mind the small nibble I took out of one corner), and I anticipate a bidding war at the conclusion of the auction that will allow me to rationalize buying a flat screen HD TV just like all the other crazies out there.

Okay, you and I both know that was a lie. If you know me (and I trust that if you’re actually reading this blog that is the case), you know that:
One: I drink coffee, not orange juice made from concentrate.
Two: My computer is not “trusty.”
Three: Me, a savvy businessman? Yeah, right.
Four: If you see a flat screen HD TV in my home, check the address because I’m afraid you just walked in someone else’s door.

Let’s try that again:
This morning whilst eating my breakfast I was reminded of the “EFM Man of the Year.” My omelette may not have resembled him, but I think he would appreciate its ingredients. The caged-free eggs were laid from the chickens of a local Kentucky farmer. The sausage was ground and harvested by my own hands. The Evangelical Free Market (place of ideas) Man of the Year is none other than Wendell Berry. The decision has both nothing and everything to do with breakfast.

First I must confess that I knew very little about Wendell Berry before reading Rod Dreher’s Crunchy Cons. Second I must also confess that I never saw the man before seeing him at this year’s annual “Festival of Faiths.” The event in Louisville that I lovingly refer to as either the “Heretic Ball” or the “Festival of Fakes.” This is the irony of Wendell Berry. On one hand, you can find his book, Life is a Miracle, being read by first year seminarians in Dr. Russell Moore’s theology class. On the other hand, you find him conversing with a Buddhist monk from Silicon Valley (yes, Virginia there really is such a thing) about strip-mining.

In a world that is continuously reported to be more fractionalized, more sectarian, more partisan, and more divided, Wendell Berry is gaining allies. He needs more (that’s where you, me, and breakfast comes in). He says as much in his essay, “A long job, too late to quit”:

I hope it will be possible for my great-grandchildren to learn the same thing that Virginia [his granddaughter, not the girl losing hope in Saint Nick] learned [“What is good about hard work is that it teaches you about little pleasures.”], by working with their parents in the same homeland. I began my own defense of that possibility more than thirty years ago, when I had far fewer allies than I have now. For me, it is a long time too late to quit.

And just like that Wendell Berry stays on message. He reminds us all, in a day when people are fighting over “next generation” video game consoles and spending money they don’t have on flat screen HD TVs there are things worth fighting for, like the family and the farm. Mr. Berry, though you’ll never read this (for a host of reasons, to include the fact that you don’t own a computer), congratulations on becoming the 2006 EFM Man of the Year. It may not have been much of a contest, or even a title that anyone was looking forward to, but I hope it provides the assurance that your message is being heard and you are still winning allies.

another has entered the race...

2006-12-27T11:16:00.000-05:00

It seems that I read not one but two new books this year. Shepherds after My own Heart; Pastoral traditions and leadership in the Bible (part of the New Studies in Biblical Theology series) by Timothy S. Laniak is a must read for senior pastors and elders. Read it together and shepherd together. I cannot promise that it will all make sense to the lay reader, but enough will sink in to make it more than worthwhile. In a year when there was undoubtedly scores of books written on how to be a better church leader, there probably was not a book more closely knit to God's understanding of Christian leadership.

Book of the Year! Book of the Year!

2006-12-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

I read a lot. Mostly non-fiction with a few novels thrown in during the course of a year and then a horde of supermarket tabloids... I just can't seem to get enough of those, and then there's Soap Digest, where would I be without Soap Digest anyways I digress. So a friend just asked me what I considered to be "the book of 2006" and it seems like a pretty good question considering that I am always in the middle of one to four books. One problem: I don't read new books. The two books I'm reading right now (both are collections of essays) were written in 1930 and 1957. I don't intend to be a complete snob about it, I don't look at the copyright page of a book that I'm interested in and say, "Oh, there's no way I'm reading that, it's in its first printing." Although, I do like to read books that have established themselves as worthy reads. For example, there are so many history books out there so there ought to be a Pulitzer Prize attached to either the author's name or the book itself. Again, not a steadfast rule, but let's face it there's only so much time one can read. I mean c'mon, I'm no nerd. I have the semblance of a social life. Occasionally, I do call someone up and he or she does agree to spend time with me (thanks mom and dad).

I checked the median age of the books that I received for Christmas (all books I asked for thanks to Amazon.com's wishlist) and it seems that I have a thing for twenty-three year-old books. Of 8 books, 1983 was the average. Not one of those books saw its first printing in 2006. In the year 2006, I read only one new book, and, so in a field of one, my book for the year 2006 is none other than Rod Dreher's Crunchy Cons. Congratulations, you did it! I tried to get through The Myth of a Christian Nation, but I couldn't help but think, "I liked this more when it was called The Politics of Jesus and written by John Yoder, and even then I didn't like it." When the year 2029 rolls around I figure that I can speak more definitively on "the book of 2006." Until then, I'll be perusing the aisles of my favorite used/independent book stores in search of established gems.

Our Founding Father on the Myth of Governing without Religion

2006-12-26T22:03:00.000-05:00

It is true that I took a rather substantial hiatus from blogging, but I kept busy during much of November and December. Given the men who are being positioned as the front-runners of the Republican party for the 2008 Presidential election, it looks like "secular conservatism" will be trying to assert itself as a legitimate foundation for political order. This being the case, I will be visiting this topic from time to time in the future. For now, I think an excerpt from President George Washington's "Farewell Address" sums up the truth:

And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.