Culture
Christianity and the Theo-Political World
During the conception years of Christianity religion and the state intertwined quite nicely. In fact, no sharp dichotomy necessarily existed, especially when one considers the influence of the Imperial Cults which demanded Roman citizens worship the Emperor. There was no ’secular’ vs. ’sacred.’
In the fullness of time Christianity grew up in this theo-political culture. [...]
Church and State
I took this picture a few weeks ago while I visiting my hometown.
(Click for larger view)
A couple of things leap out at you at first:
The American Flag draped around the Cross
The lack of any Church officials on the parade, just two service persons.
However, the most striking part of the float is the captions at the [...]
Monday Afternoon Links
Here are some good, bad, and discussion promoting links from around the ‘verse.
LCMS Invites Emerging Guru Dan Kimball from Slice of Laodicea by Ingrid
The human embodiment of Christian unity, Ingrid, freaks out because Kimball, who does not hate McLaren, is speaking in St. Louis at the Missouri Lutheran Church Snod. A small apocalypse ensues. [...]
Mark Driscoll on Joel Osteen
Here is a link to a video where Mark Driscoll gives his critique of Joel Osteen’s HWP “gospel” (although I think Paul says in Galatians 1:7 that there really isn’t a different gospel and that what Osteen & co. preach shouldn’t be called euangelion).
H/T: FIDE-O
Dr. Denny Burk here offers a critique of Osteen’s appearance on [...]
Links for Monday AM Thinking
BOOK REVIEW : A Review of “Become a Better You” by Joel Osteen from Challies Dot Com
A scathing review of our favorite Bible exegete.
Osteen seems unable or unwilling to bring the power of the gospel to bear on life–real life. Life, he teaches, is not a meant to bring glory to God, but is [...]
Latest Christian Carnival
As of yesterday, the latest Christian Carnival is up over at Lingamish, a blog by a Bible translator living in Africa.
The Christian Carnival is a great way to a) find some of the best posts on Christianity/theology out there and b) find some of the best Christian blogs. It is a weekly publication consisting [...]
They Shall Be Saved Through Childbearing
For most scholars, dealing with this passage is like trying to fold a fitted sheet – no matter how you manipulate it, it still doesn’t look right. The most they can hope for is to jumble together some cockeyed story and throw it in the closet hoping their guests won’t see the mess.*
This final [...]
The “Jesus Didn’t Talk About It” Fallacy
It is interesting, and also very frustrating, to read how people justify actions. This seems to be the most posh argument that people use nowadays, “Jesus didn’t talk about it, so it must not be important.” The people who make this argument seem to use it as a magic wand to wave away [...]
The Song-Prayer
Brad, over at relevintage, discusses worship and some of the conundrums that come along with it. Good stuff. I especially like his idea of “sing-prayer,” the idea of using the signing of a song to pray to God. It bypasses the “sit-and-soak” approach to worship that people sometimes find themselves trapped in.
relevintage [...]
Morality of Abortion
I am cheating… I hope this allowed.
I would like to have some discussion on this post: Morality of Abortion over at my blog.
Weaknesses in the Church Today
At my blog, I wrote a post entitled “Does the God in American Evangelicalism Produce Fear?” When we look around, we can see that our church is divided and weak. The Anglican Communion and the PCUSA have rejected the authority of the Bible as the sole authority for the church. The church won’t preach the [...]
Links without Error
…or rather: inerrant links. Following my post on Deep Dish (Chicago) Inerrancy, I have come across some links on the doctrine of inerrancy that I would like to share with you.
Chrisendom:: The inerrancy series – Chris Tilling argues against the Chicago statement on several fronts. This is actually a six part post series [...]
Question of the Day: Calling Out Sin
Should Christians condemn sin in non-believers?
I am not talking about calling out sins within the Church, but outside the Church.
There is no Christian Music
…there is no such thing as Christian music - and further, Christian art. Before you lop my head, hear me out…
Hear him out and read the whole thing: relevintage :: chris, stay in your supposed subculture
Not only does he make a great about about Christian being a noun and not a adjective, but he also [...]
All quiet on the Theological Front
There have been questions about the authorship of the Pauline Corpus and the Social Gospel put forth and narry a comment to be seen.