Quality interweb mischief from Jared Bridges
All the hubbub about constitutional amendments, gay marriage, the pledge of allegiance, the ten commandments, and the like has the country in a understandable turmoil when it comes to religion in public life. Those of us who side with tradition and the morality of those who came before us stand against the ever-rising tide of … Read more
In opposition to the inaction of this blog, I thought I’d give you a section of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s poem “Stations on the Way to Freedom,” called Action: Do and dare what is right, not swayed by the whim of the moment. Bravely take hold of the real, not dallying now with what might be. Not … Read more
Dale Buss has a must read WSJ piece today on the large number of Christian teens who profess orthodox beliefs, yet in reality believe something different. The results of this trend should give us all pause: Indeed, the consequences of this theological implosion now pervade the thoughts and actions of believing teenagers, following the moral … Read more
One of the great tasks of evangelical Christianity over the last few decades has been to engage the culture with the Gospel. Tragically, many evangelicals have overstepped mere engagement and have begun to reflect popular culture. The result is that there is little difference displayed by evangelicals from the world. It is often hard to … Read more
Reading my travel-sized Bible over the last few days has once again reminded me of the problem with red-letter editions. You know—the ones with “Words of Christ in Red” printed on the spine. In fact, it’s hard to find an English translation of the Bible these days that does not have the word of Christ … Read more
The Kerry campaign is up in arms about Bush-Cheney ’04 efforts to woo churchgoers. A recent missive from the Bush campaign enjoins church members to promote Bush’s re-election among their fellow members: The Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has sent a detailed plan of action to religious volunteers across the country asking them to turn over church … Read more
Go read Tim Berglund’s post on the new ONE translation of the New Testament, a version that promises a “‘new, fresh and adventurous’ translation of the early Christian scriptures…designed both for mature Christians and for those who have limited experience of traditional Christianity or ‘may have found it a barrier to an appreciation of Jesus.’” … Read more
It looks like while I was away, Mac Swift responded on his blog to my post dealing with the unintended arrogance of Lone Ranger Christianity. As you may recall, I took to task Christians who decided they had no need for church, citing arrogance as one of the (often unintended) outcomes of such a view. … Read more
Discussing the practice of sortilege among early American settlers, Jackson Lears writes about a certain Christian reaction: Christians condemned it, then went into competition by resorting to the Sortes Sanctorum–the use of the Bible as a means of divination, either by opening it to a random passage or rolling dice to choose chapter and verse. … Read more
A good summary of the recent alliances of evangelicals and Catholics appeard in the New York Times [preserved here]. Once vehemement opponents on almost every issue, evangelicals and Catholics have indeed found common ground in recent years on various moral issues: Now conservatives in both groups share the sense that they are fighting a losing … Read more