The scandal of grace

The Church of Jesus Christ has some problems - one of them being that its face to the world is fallible, sinful people - like me. Mark Galli at Christianity Today writes about a recent conversation and some new research:

.... The conversation was with a 20-something Christian who told me a few anecdotes about other 20-something Christians who refuse to identify themselves with the word Christian. They feel it comes with too much baggage and only makes their non-Christian friends think of stuffy churches, televangelists, the Crusades, and witch trials.

The book was Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity (Baker, October 2007) by David Kinnaman. The book's opening line is "Christianity has an image problem," and it proceeds to describe the many problems secular "busters and mosaics" (also known as generations X and Y) have with the faith. Though the book is grounded on statistical research, the list of complaints will not surprise anyone who reads the newspaper or has attended church recently: The church is proselytistic, anti-homosexual, sheltered, politicized, and judgmental.

Unchristian's motive is praiseworthy—the author implores us to take these generations' critiques seriously as we try to call them to follow Jesus. And the book's central assumption seems reasonable enough: If we could just get Christians to act like Christians, more people would be attracted to Jesus.

But the problem with the book, and with those who eschew the Christian label, is that they fail to take the sinfulness of the church seriously enough. They also fail to recognize how far the scandal of the Cross reaches. Simply put, Jesus not only died for but also chooses to associate with sheltered, judgmental, proselytizing hypocrites who have put their faith in him. In fact, he's willing to let them muck up his "brand," willing to let each collection of potential televangelists and crusaders be known as a "church of Jesus Christ."

Part of the scandal of the Cross is the scandal of grace. And part of the scandal of grace is that I am part and parcel of the company of the graced.

Christianity Today: Grace - That's So Sick

Motivational posters for the emerging ?

Via Christianity Today, Pyromaniacs creates "motivational' posers satirizing the "emerging church":

Click on the image to enlarge

And there are more.

Motivational Posters for the Emerging Free-for All

A step in the right direction?

The House Democrats have introduced legislation designed to reduce abortions by providing incentives and healthcare for expectant mothers, and assistance after birth, much of it to be provided through Planned Parenthood. Brooke Livitske at the Acton Institute blog asks whether this is something Christians should applaud, or is it just a ploy to attract pro-life voters?

Pro-Life Socialism? - Acton Institute PowerBlog

Which theologian are you?

In the spirit of "What religion am I?," via RightWingBob, a quiz that purports to tell you with which prominent theologian you are most in agreement. His results were Karl Barth. My result was John Calvin, although it isn't clear to me why Calvin, rather than Anselm or Barth. I'm not at all sure I would give the same answers each time I took the quiz. I doubt that I am a very systematic theologian. My "results":

Which theologian are you? You scored as a John Calvin

Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important.

Anselm	87%
Karl Barth	87%
John Calvin	87%
Friedrich Schleiermacher	60%
Charles Finney	53%
Jonathan Edwards	47%
Paul Tillich	33%
Martin Luther	33%
Augustine	33%
Jürgen Moltmann	7%

RightWingBob notes:

"No commitments are expressed or implied here regarding the reliability of any results you may obtain with the quiz linked above. Neither is any commitment made regarding any salvation you may or may not obtain as a result of any of your answers in that same quiz."

Which theologian are you?

The weight of glory

"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. .... Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses."
C.S. Lewis, "The Weight of Glory"

From The Inklings:

I know myself what others know far better - how unfailingly courteous Lewis was in answering letters. I think I corresponded with him on three or four occasions... there was a reply every time - it might be quite brief, but it was always written for you and for nobody else. I think this was his greatest secret.

He hated casual contacts; human contact must, for him, be serious and concentrated and attentive, or it was better avoided. It might be for a moment only, but that was its invariable quality. That is not only why so many people have precious memories of him; it is also why he couldn't write three words without the reader's feeling that they were written for him and him alone. It's why his massive books of scholarship read as delightfully as his children's stories, and why he's one of the few preachers who can be read without losing their message."
Erik Routley, "A Prophet", C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table and Other Reminiscences

[The Inklings site is invariably interesting about that group of Christians. It is also a very attractive site. The image of Lewis used here came from there, where it appeared with with the quotation from Breakfast Table. I added the link to Amazon.]

The Inklings: Memories of Lewis

Squandering the moment

Michael Spencer, the InternetMonk, thinks that the mainline churches are missing an opportunity. In a post titled "Mainline Churches: We're Having a Moment Here":

Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ…do you know what I mean? We’re having a moment, and it’s slipping right by.

What moment?

We’re having a moment when thousands of evangelicals are getting a bellyful of the shallow, traditionless, grown up youth group religion that’s taken over their pastor’s head and is eating up their churches.

It’s a moment when people are asking if they want to hear praise bands when they are 70…or if they will even be allowed in the building when they are 70. It’s a moment when the avalanche of contemporary worship choruses has turned into one long indistinquishable commercial buzz. ....

It’s a moment when a lot of people are pretty certain if they hear the words “new,” “purpose” or “seeker” one more time, they may appear on the evening news for an episode of “church rage.” ....

It’s a moment that- believe it or not- some people actually want to go to something that looks like church as they remember it, see a recognizable pastor, hear a recognizable sermon, participate in the Lord’s Supper, experience some reverence and decorum, and leave feeling that, in some ways, it WAS a lot like their mom and dad’s church. It’s a moment when reinventing everything may not be as sweet an idea as we were told it was.

It’s a moment when the baby boomer domination of evangelicalism is showing signs of cracking. Some younger people actually want to hear theology. They aren’t judging everything by how seekers evaluate it or what Rick Warren would say about it.

Yes, my mainline friends, we’re having a moment here. You can see it all around the edges of evangelicalism. It’s there and it’s real. It isn’t easy or automatic, but it’s there. And it is sad to realize that at the very time so many are looking for what you have, you’re mostly squandering the moment entirely. .... [all of it, and the comments are interesting, too]

InternetMonk: Mainline Churches: We're Having a Moment Here

"The embrace of Jesus..."

At Christianity Today, Patricia Raybon reviews The Divine Embrace by Robert Webber.

In his final ancient-future sojourn, Robert Webber, who died in April from pancreatic cancer, took up the rich matter of ancient Christian spirituality. His aim was to fully tell "the story of spirituality from the ancient church to the present day." ....

Webber is never better, in fact, than when defining Christian spirituality in terms of its ancient story. Or as he writes in this book: "Christian spirituality … does not fall into what Newsweek describes as a contentless 'transcendent experience.'" Instead, Christian spirituality "is the embrace of Jesus, who, united to God, restores our union with God that we lost because of sin." ....

... Without apology, he invites believers to return to "the identity" of baptism with water, the Eucharist, and the liturgical calendar—and to worship that spurns the "CEO model" of the church.

As for the big-business church and CEO preachers selling Jesus "to a consumer market," Webber urges a return to "the incarnate nature of the church," which he describes as "a need to rediscover the very nature of the church as the presence of God in the world."

To that end, Webber dares here to promote the ancient vows of stability, fidelity, and obedience—as modeled by the Rule of Saint Benedict—along with orderly prayer, study, and work. Such elements help evangelicals encounter Christ in daily life, he writes. .... [the review]

Spirituality Squared | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Are Our Children Learning Enough About Whales?

Whether about whales, ordinary Americans, or the self-esteem of the African continent, ONN has broadcast stories not well covered by the major media. Here is one of them:

In The Know: Are Our Children Learning Enough About Whales?
In The Know: Are Our Children Learning Enough About Whales?

"A gospel contrary to the one we preached..."

Albert Mohler has made his final contribution to the Beliefnet debate with Orson Scott Card about the relationship of Mormonism to Christianity.

The debate has never been about whether Mormons are good Americans or would make good neighbors. I dare say that most American Evangelicals and traditional Roman Catholics would find more in common with Mormons in terms of child-rearing, sexual morality, the protection of marriage and family, and a host of other issues, than they would with liberal Catholics or liberal Protestants. No argument there.

The debate is not over Mitt Romney or his right to run for President of the United States. ....

The debate is not over the right of Mormons to hold their faith, promote their faith, and spread their faith. That, too, is a constitutional right – the same right that protects the religious liberty of all persons of all faiths and no faith.

For me, and as the question was posed to me, the issue is theological. That is why I cannot answer the question except as I have from the start.

Here is the bottom line. As an Evangelical Christian – a Christian who holds to the “traditional Christian orthodoxy” of the Church – I do not believe that Mormonism leads to salvation. To the contrary, I believe that it is a false gospel that, however sincere and kind its adherents may be, leads to eternal death rather than to eternal life.

Indeed, I believe that Mormonism is a prime example of what the Apostle Paul warned the Church to reject – “a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you” [Galatians 1:8-9].

And thus I must end where I began. Mormonism is not just another form of Christianity – it is incompatible with “traditional Christian orthodoxy.”

Beliefnet: Blogalogue - Debates About Faith, www.AlbertMohler.com: Are Mormons "Christians?" - Ending Where I Began

William Tyndale

The Catechizer over at The Wittenberg Door has posted an account of William Tyndale's life in two parts: Part 1, and Part 2. He summarizes Tyndale's contribution:

Tyndale’s translations were the foundations for Miles Coverdale’s Great Bible (1539) and later for the Geneva Bible (1557). As a matter of fact, about 90% of the Geneva Bible’s New Testement was Tyndale’s work. In addition, the 54 scholars who produced the 1611 Authorized Version (King James) bible relied heavily upon Tyndale’s translations, although they did not give him credit.

Tyndale is also known as a pioneer in the biblical languages. He introduced several words into the English language, such as Jehovah, Passover, scapegoat, and atonement.

The Wittenberg Door: William Tyndale - Part 1, Part 2

Debt-free after college

The College of the Ozarks, in Point Lookout, Missouri, received very favorable coverage in the New York Times this morning. The article says it's a good school, but

...what is truly different about Hard Work U. — as the college styles itself — is that all 1,345 students must work 15 hours per week to pay off the entire cost of tuition — $15,900 per year. If they work summers, as one-third are doing this summer, they pay off their $4,400 room and board as well. Work study is not an option as it is at most campuses; it is the college’s raison d’être.

This is a college that is philosophically opposed to students starting careers with an Ozark mountain of debt — 95 percent graduate debt free — and it believes that students who put sweat equity into their education value it more. ....

The College of the Ozarks — a four-year college since 1965, and rated No. 30 by U.S. News and World Report among Midwestern colleges offering both liberal arts and professional degrees — is one of seven so-called work colleges. Six describe themselves as Christian institutions and often, like Ozarks, are socially and politically conservative.

At Ozarks, drinking is forbidden, men and women live in separate dormitories and students must attend seven chapel services a year, whatever religion they are. The political outlook is evident in campus speakers like Margaret Thatcher and Tommy Franks, the retired general who led the Iraq invasion.

The college is one of seven belonging to the WorkColleges Consortium.

Fight Song at Ozarks: Work Hard and Avoid Debt - New York Times

John Piper

John Piper, along with Mark Dever and a few others, always seems worth reading and hearing. Several of his sermons that are available online are linked below:

The sermon that John Piper delivered at the organizing sessions of The Gospel Coalition was titled "The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and the New Earth." It, along with several sermons by others, is linked here and from the image on the left.

Several sermons Piper preached at The Passion Conference have been posted at the Desiring God site here. One of them is "How Our Suffering Glorifies the Greatness of the Grace of God."

The Gospel Coalition | Media, Desiring God: The Passion Conference Videos

Prince Caspian

"Glumpuddle" at NarniaWeb has had a chance to visit the set and shares what he saw and was told. Among others, he interviewed Andrew Adamson, the director.

NarniaWeb - NarniaWeb Visits the Prince Caspian Set!

Careless and dishonest polemic

Thomas Piatak in "Hitchens' Hubris" once again demonstrates why reading God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens, would be time wasted.

Taki's Top Drawer: Hitchens' Hubris

"Thy will be done...."

Several years ago Bruce Wilkinson wrote and published, to great success, The Prayer of Jabez. This is the prayer, found in I Chronicles 4:10:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" And God granted him that which he requested. [KJV]

Many Christians have read the book, and it has many advocates and critics within the Christian community [one of the critical books was titled The Mantra of Jabez]. In the book's preface, Wilkinson says "I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers.... I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God." Unfortunately some have taken the petitions for blessing, and "enlarging my coast," and "keeping me from evil" as a prayer for health and wealth which God cannot refuse. Another take on the prayer was offered in a sermon by Spurgeon around 1870:

Is it certainly a blessing to get an answer to your prayer after your own mind? I always like to qualify my most earnest prayer with, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." Not only ought I to do it, but I would like to do it, because otherwise I might ask for something which it would be dangerous for me to receive. God might give it me in anger, and I might find little sweetness in the grant, but much soreness in the grief it caused me. You remember how Israel of old asked for flesh, and God gave them quails; but while the meat was yet in their mouths the wrath of God came upon them. Ask for the meat, if you like, but always put in this: "Lord, if this is not a real blessing, do not give it me." "Bless me indeed." .... Do not be quite so sure that what you think an answer to prayer is any proof of divine love. It may leave much room for thee to seek unto the Lord, saying, "Oh that thou wouldest blessed me indeed!" So sometimes great exhilaration of spirit, liveliness of heart, even though it be religious joy, may not always be a blessing. .... [the sermon]

Our Lord Himself prayed:

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” [Matthew 26:39, ESV]

And taught His disciples [and us] to pray:

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." [Matthew 6:9-13, KJV]

If the prayer of Jabez was intended to be a model for us - as the Lord's Prayer undoubtedly was - then it cannot be understood as "a prayer God always answers," or, at least, answers in a way we might prefer.

By God's grace may we grow into Him, so that what we ask for will truly be what He wants for us. Amen

Pyromaniacs: The Prayer of Jabez, The Prayer of Jabez

Authenticity

John Stott has delivered his final public address. The failure of Christians to be "Christ-like" is the most important barrier to evangelism:

Incarnational evangelism or entering into other people’s worlds with Christ-likeness, Stott noted, is essential to the church’s walk in the 21st century. However, our evangelistic efforts often lead to failure simply because we fail to look like the Christ we are proclaiming. Quoting John Poulton, Stott noted that, “The most effective preaching comes from those who embody their message. What communicates now are people, not words or ideas but rather personal authenticity, that is, Christ-likeness”.

Langham Partnership: John Stott's Final Public Address

Escaping Reality for a fantasy land?

John Mark Reynolds argues that "Potter, Narnia, and Spiderman Matter in a Serious World."

Potter, Narnia, and Spiderman Matter in a Serious World | Scriptorium Daily

Rules for Evangelical Politics

Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical advisor to the DNC, often reminds anyone who will listen that, "God is not a Republican…or a Democrat." This is almost certainly true, for as Biola professor John Mark Reynolds notes, "He's probably a monarchist."

Joe Carter begins a post today with the paragraph above. It is an annoying habit of liberal and apolitical evangelicals to assume that those of us who are politically engaged conservatives believe that "God is on our side," when, no doubt like them, we are fallibly but conscientiously endeavoring to be on His. Democratic politics requires the citizen to make choices, almost always between imperfect options, and in these choices, as in every other aspect of life, we need to do our best to do His will as we discern it.

Carter continues:

.... Political choices are almost always moral choices. Such decisions are fraught with moral danger and each Christian, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, must determine for themselves how best to follow their conscience.

Obviously some decisions are easier than others. Despite the excuses we may make for our historical-cultural setting, no Biblically oriented evangelical should ever support a candidate who condones such evils as "outrages against human dignity" (i.e., slavery, racial segregation, torture, abortion). Other times the options may force a choice among the lesser of two or more evils (pro-abortion candidate Hillary Clinton, pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani, or a pro-life third party candidate?). In each case, though, the choice should be to follow one's conscience in applying Biblical principles to political decisions.

The occasion for Carter's comment was the publication of a list of "Rules for Evangelical Politics" by David Gushee, to most of which Carter takes exception. Carter is convincing.

the evangelical outpost: Politically Correct Politics: Gushee's Rules for Evangelical Politics

It is far better to agree to disagree than to pretend

Reacting to Albert Mohler's column "No, I'm not offended," about the Vatican statement on the Church, Carl Olsen at Ignatius Insight writes "None given, none taken." He concludes with this:

...[I]f Mohler wasn't willing to say these things, I'd doubt that he was really a conservative, evangelical Southern Baptist. He thinks the Pope and the Catholic Church are wrong; I think that he is wrong, which is obviously why he's Baptist and I'm Catholic. At first glance, this might appear to be a daunting roadblock. Personally, I find it refreshing, especially after seeing so many crocodile tears spilled by Catholics who are either clueless about authentic Catholic doctrine, or who are so enamored with a false understanding of tolerance that they happily toss Truth out the window of their politically-correct cubicles. Mohler, to his credit, understands Catholic teaching better than such people. And I think he actually respects it far more than they do as well. In the end, I think, it is far better to agree to disagree than to pretend that what we believe doesn't really matter.

Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: None given, none taken

The interval in between

Tony Snow, the President's press secretary, has cancer. He is a Christian. In an article for Christianity Today he describes how he has come to think about disease and death.

Those of us with potentially fatal diseases—and there are millions in America today—find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.

The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.

I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this—because of it—God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face. ....

I sat by my best friend's bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was a humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. "I'm going to try to beat [this cancer]," he told me several months before he died. "But if I don't, I'll see you on the other side."

His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn't promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity—filled with life and love we cannot comprehend—and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms. ....

What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don't know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place—in the hollow of God's hand.

Cancer's Unexpected Blessings | Christianity Today

"...in ways we never dreamed of."

Touchstone continues to put on-line early issues of the magazine. The passage below is from a 1990 article by Wayne Martindale of Wheaton College titled "C. S. Lewis on Gender Language in the Bible." At the end of the article, he passes on Lewis' good advice about how to deal with difficult passages of Scripture:

Lewis writes that baffling, even shocking passages in the Bible must be allowed to stand. He explains that our responsibility, when we don’t understand certain passages is to let them alone until a greater person will come along who knows how to read them rightly. When a person does come to understand such passages, Lewis explains, the result will be that God will appear “good and just and gracious in ways we never dreamed of.”

And what should our attitude be when, all about, the voices of theologians go up in a demand for changes in gender language in the Bible? Can we afford to ignore the experts? Here is a final caution from Lewis: “When you turn from the New Testament to modern scholars, remember that you go among them as a sheep among wolves. Naturalistic assumptions, beggings of the question . . . will meet you on every side—even from the pens of clergymen.” There is only one safe course: let us not try to conform the Word of God to suit our own standards, but let us conform our standards to suit the Word of God.

All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.
(1 Pet. 1:24–25)

Touchstone Archives: C. S. Lewis on Gender Language in the Bible

Christians, bards, magic and spells

GetReligion isn't impressed with a Washington Post story this morning, heralding that a "Christian Fantasy Genre Builds Niche Without Hogwarts, Muggles or Spells."

This story contains all of the Bible verse quotations that one needs to know that, yes, there are people in Christian pews who are not comfortable with wizards, wands, spells and what not. But, folks, that is a really old, old story, too. In fact, one of the most serious holes in this long story is linked precisely to that fact.

. . . (Critics) have said that J.K. Rowling’s series gives Harry Potter deity-like powers, although he has no known religion. Critics also say that the books lack a definitive portrayal of good and evil. (Harry does engage in some occasional fibbing, and his skills at deceiving adults are well honed). A few critics have said that the lightning-bolt scar on Harry’s forehead represents the mark of the antichrist.

Rowling has dismissed such claims as “absurd.”

But Christian fantasy writers avoid those issues. Some deal with Christianity in overt ways, setting their stories in biblical times. Others follow in the footsteps of Christian fantasy writer C.S. Lewis, using allegory and symbolism to illustrate Christian themes.

The team at the Post that produced this story does not seem to realize that wizards and magic appear in the Narnia books and that there used to be people who were offended by these books, too. And it goes without saying that the same could be said of the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, who expressed his strong Catholic faith in much more subtle ways. Believe me, the Tolkien bashers are still out there.

Meanwhile, there are other popular writers in the fantasy world whose work has long appealed to believers and nonbelievers alike. One of my favorites is Stephen Lawhead, whose work — much of it Celtic in nature — tends to be published by “Christian” companies in North America and by “secular” publishers elsewhere. Go figure. Needless to say, bards and magic play major roles in his books and you’ll find them in all kinds of bookstores. Book two of his Raven/Hood trilogy is about to come out. (Yes, Raven Hood.)

So this anti-Potter CCF story is, for me, a stretch on several levels.

Meanwhile, there is also a chance that the Post buried the lede, for most of its readers. Near the bottom we learn:

Many religious leaders have rejected such objections. They have said that the books have a strong moral message. Some even see Christian symbolism in them.

Christian parenting guru James Dobson has praised the Potter books.

Update 7/20: Apparently Dobson does not approve of the Potter books.

Harry Potter and the Tired Story Hooks » GetReligion

Crusaders

The positive uses of the words "crusade" and "crusader" have almost disappeared from public discourse. As recently as World War II, Eisenhower engaged in a "Crusade for Europe." The terms, today, supposedly remind us [and especially the Islamic world] of an unprovoked, imperialistic, assault on an innocent and peaceful, advanced civilization. But Muslims had previously conquered much that had been Christian - the Levant, north Africa - and their attacks would continue to threaten Europe for centuries. Once, the Crusades were viewed simplistically as a war for good against evil. Now, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. History doesn't provide very many instances in which all the heroes and villains are clearly on opposing sides, and the Crusades aren't among them. A recent history, Christopher Tyerman's God's War: A New History of the Crusades, is reviewed in Christianity Today by Alfred J. Andrea. An excerpt:

Adjectives for God's War almost fail. "Comprehensive," "monumental," and "epic" come to mind, and they are appropriate but scarcely adequate.

In brief, this is a work by a master historian that will replace Runciman's classic as the standard survey in the field. ....

Among the...misconceptions that Tyerman attacks head on is one that Runciman did not articulate but which has become fashionable today. It says that medieval holy wars between the Cross and the Crescent led directly to such phenomena as Western imperialism and contemporary Islamic anger over a presumed millennium-long assault on it by the Christian West.

Tyerman dismisses such putative connections as nonsensical inventions. In doing so, he mirrors an emerging consensus among Crusade historians that the Islamic world largely forgot about the Crusades after 1300. After all, it had been the victor, and under Ottoman leadership, it put Christian Europe on the defensive for about 400 years. All of this changed around 1900. At that time, Muslim anger over European imperial designs on the Middle East provided sufficient context for it to create the image of the "crusading Christian West."

A book that runs more than 1,000 pages (including notes) might be ponderous and unreadable. It is not. Tyerman's touch is light, his prose sparkles, and his delightful wit gives it spice. ....

Onward, Christian Soldiers | Christianity Today

Faith and science

At least one scientist who is also an atheist thinks those who find science and faith irreconcilable ignore the empirical evidence. Dale Carrico, quoted at the Acton Institute blog:

Given all the atheist militancy raising a ruckus lately, I suppose it isn’t too surprising that I am stumbling upon more regular and more baldly dismissive declarations these days about the ineradicable incompatibility of science and religion among Science’s self-appointed Elite Champions online.

I’ve been a perfectly convinced and rather cheerfully nonjudgmental atheist for well over twenty years at this point, but I must say that I think it is arrant nonsense to claim that scientific and religious practices or scientific and religious beliefs are incompatible, given the overabundant evidence of people who weave them together in their lives every day so conspicuously. A little respect for the facts you claim so to cherish, people?

World Magazine interviews Michael Behe [behind the subscription wall], who believes neither in "Creationism" nor in "random natural selection." He does, however, believe that God created this universe, with all its pain and suffering:

I'm no deist. I'm a Christian who believes strongly in an active, loving God. Yet as C.S. Lewis insisted, Aslan is "not a tame lion." God answered Job's complaint of suffering not by denying it, but by His majesty and transcendence. God did not place us in a toy world, with all the sharp edges smoothed. Rather, along with the pleasant, He designed a world containing real physical danger: tigers with claws, and remarkable parasites with sophisticated molecular technology. We Christians especially should expect to suffer in this life and, much worse, to witness those dear to us suffer. Yet our faith assures us that through the mystery of suffering with Christ, God will draw out much good.

Acton Institute PowerBlog: Speaking of 'Priestly' Science, World Magazine: Darwin Slayer

Thin places

God guide me with Thy wisdom God chastise me with Thy justice, God help me with Thy mercy, God protect me with Thy strength.

God fill me with Thy fullness, God shield me with Thy shade, God fill me with Thy grace, For the sake of Thine Anointed Son.

Jesus Christ of the seed of David, Visiting One of the Temple, Sacrificial Lamb of the Garden, Who died for me.

Christianity Today has a slide show of images of sites related to Ireland's early Christian heritage. The photographer describes his experience:

Between the spring of 1997 and the fall of 1999, I made three trips to Ireland. Traveling from site to site, I felt like I was on my own pilgrimage. Indeed, while visiting some of these special places, such as Clonmacnoise or Skellig Michael, I felt like I was physically in a place between earth and heaven—what Irish Christians called a "thin place."

During these trips, my purpose was primarily to photograph what remains on the sites of early Christian Ireland. The images included in "Early Light" are documentary but also interpretive, as I've attempted to suggest the underlying spiritual heritage of the places I visited. ....

Early Light Slide Show

Proper, moral, and needed

The new Congressman from Georgia's 10th District, Dr. Paul Broun proposed a pretty good "four-way test" that he intends to apply before deciding whether to vote for legislation:

1. Is it constitutional and a proper function of government?
2. Is it morally correct?
3. Is it something we really need?
4. Is it something we can afford?

http://www.qando.net/ - Shocker in GA, but a good one in my opinion

"...a style more John Wayne than Jimmy Cagney."

Michelle Cottle, at the venerable and liberal New Republic, is not entirely satisfied that Fred Thompson is up to the challenge of running for President. The article contains much information about Thompson's background and prospects from a source not predisposed to wish him success. His laid-back image is viewed negatively by some, but those who support him (like me) view it very favorably:

Looking back over the sweep of Thompson's life, you get the picture of a nice, decent guy fortunate enough to have had a string of helping hands propel him along the road to success. "Fred's charmed," says Ingram. "I mean, from Lawrence County, which was [back then] a Democratic stronghold, to his relationship with Howard Baker, to representing Marie, to finding himself playing himself in her movie, to asking the pivotal Watergate question about the tapes ..." Here, Ingram pauses and backtracks a bit to assure me: "He's very serious. He's very thorough. But he's also been at the right place at the right time with charmed results." Far from undercutting his presidential prospects, this laid-back reputation fuels the seductive story line of Thompson as a Natural Born Leader - a man who excels because of his intrinsic worthiness, not any grinding ambition. "It's part of his appeal," says Tennessee Representative John Duncan, co-chair of the "Draft Fred" committee. "I don't think people like people totally obsessed with politics." "He gives the impression of a man who has things in perspective," agrees Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's lobbying shop. "It's been my impression that workaholics don't work out in the White House." ....

Update: 7/19 - Ed Morrissey didn't like the New Republic article at all. He takes more offense at its portrayal of conservatives than what it says about Thompson. He's right about that, but, considering the source, its treatment of Thompson wasn't bad. An excerpt from his post:

Cottle writes somewhat derisively about how his first wife had to help him mature, which shouldn't be much of a shock, since they got married at 17 - and having a son and daughter-in-law go through a similar situation, it's not surprising that getting married and having babies matures someone. What should be considered is the fact that Thompson went through college and law school while doing so, which isn't easy now and was tougher back then.

The article basically consists of one unsupported hypothesis after another. She accuses Stephen Hayes of having a "particularly intense man crush" on Fred because he wrote this: ""As we spoke, I was struck by the fact that Thompson didn't seem to be calibrating his answers for a presidential run. On issue after contentious issue, I got the sense from both his manner and the answer he gave me that he was just speaking extemporaneously." Cottle also reveals a certain lack of humor when discussing an Internet post that joked, "If Fred Thompson had been at Thermopylae, the movie would have been called 1." Had Cottle had a sense of humor, she would have realized that the joke pokes fun at the sweeping enthusiasm surrounding Fred.

The masculine mystique of Fred Thompson

Prayer as second-class speech

The Acton Institute posts about Jeremy Jerschina, who was not permitted to include a prayer in his valedictory address this spring:

...[O]fficials at Jeremy’s high school rejected his speech because of its religious content. Jeremy wanted to pray at the end of his address to acknowledge God as the reason for his academic success, but the principal of Bayonne High School and its board of education told him he could only give the speech if he left out the prayer. So Jeremy chose not to speak at all. ....

Hearing about Jeremy was a reminder to me that the increasing secularization of schools and other state-run organizations has real consequences for Christians. Most frightening is that religious expression is coming to be viewed as second-class speech. ....

It also made me think about how Christians react when Muslims, Hindus, Wiccans, etc. want to exercise their freedom of expression - we are (often rightly) accused of taking offense too easily at non-Christian demonstrations of religious sentiment. Perhaps it’s time for the Christian community to develop a tougher skin in this area. The minute we view others’ religious speech as second class, we give philosophical ground to those who would relegate our religious speech to sub-societal realms. Unless we’re prepared to retreat into the catacombs, we need to affirm the 1st Amendment’s guarantee to Americans of every creed.

And for my part, I’d be more “offended” to hear a narcissistic valedictorian praising himself than to hear a Muslim valedictorian praising Allah any day of the week.

Without A Prayer - Acton Institute PowerBlog