Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
With our Independence Day celebration out of the way, it's time for those of us in the Church of God to head to Nashville (if not physically, virtually) for the Church of God General Assembly. It should be an interesting one; three of the five members of the executive committee will be going off of …
Continue reading "My Response to "Think Younger" and the Church of God General Assembly"
In the nearly nineteen years this site has been active, I’ve had the opportunity to skewer Anglican and Episcopal “divines” for their strange and unBiblical positions. My most recent efforts have related to my prep school’s chaplain and John Shelby Spong. One of the irritating things I’ve run across in the Anglican/Episcopal blogosphere is the …
Diving for stuff in a discard bin isn’t the classiest way to spend one’s time, but for the academic diving in the free book bin at the used book store can be a true adventure. (Diving in the dumpster may be a necessity for the adjunct academic, and the new overtime rules don’t help a …
Recently my wife and I ventured to Regent University for me to deliver a paper. While there we got the chance to view one of the University's new acquisitions, namely a Torah scroll from Yemen.The fact that a Christian university could acquire such a donation is a sign of the times: Evangelicals are about the …
Continue reading "You Really Can Do Biblical Preaching From a Lectionary"
One of my Pentecostal academic friends directed me towards this piece, "How Christian Rationalism Turned Me Into a Psychopath, or A Biblical Defense of Feelings," by one Michael Minkoff, Jr.. It summarizes his journey through Reformed religion, how same religion attempted to drill into him the virtues of rationality and the vices of letting your …
Of all of Jesus Christ's post-resurrection appearances, this one is, in many ways, the most intriguing: Meanwhile Mary was standing close outside the tomb, weeping. Still weeping, she leant forward into the tomb, And perceived two angels clothed in white sitting there, where the body of Jesus had been lying, one where the head and …
Continue reading "After the Resurrection, Did Our Lord Need Purification?"
If I had to pick a favourite Bible verse or passage, it would be this: The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought by the High Priest into the Sanctuary, as an offering for sin, are burnt outside the camp. And so Jesus, also, to purify the People by his own blood, suffered outside …
Continue reading "The Meaning of Outside the Camp: A Good Friday Reflection"
Today is Nowruz, the spring equinox festival of the Iranians. To my Iranian friends, who have meant so much, hope you've had a good festival season (it runs about two weeks back in the old country.) Last November I ran a piece about the Persian origin of the term "King of Kings," which most Christians …
Continue reading "Happy Nowruz to the People of the "King of Kings""
This election cycle has been a wild one, and we're not even halfway through the primary season. Both parties are seeing broad-based revolts in their bases. The Democrat establishment has done a better job of managing the upheaval, because they did what the Republicans did not: pick one candidate and get behind her. Bernie Sanders …
Continue reading "If the Country Doesn't Make It, Will You?"
One of the things that some of the major Anglican blogs will throw out from time to time is the question of what their readers/commenters are reading on the side when they're not keeping up with the latest Anglican debacle (like the recent Primates' Meeting.) Through the Christmas holidays, while waiting for some long runs …
Continue reading "Some Thoughts on Bossuet's History of the Variations of the Protestant Churches"
Positive Infinity 