Msgr. Charles Pope, of the archdiocese of Washington, wrote a helpful post yesterday titled, ” Can a Catholic Accept Evolutionary Theory Uncritically? ” Although he addresses it to Catholics, I think most of my fellow evangelicals would agree with his approach: It is common to . . . . Continue Reading »
An interesting essay in the on-line NYT, by the primatologist Frans de Waal, gave me a bit of ideological whiplash. In “Morals Without God?” he attacks both human exceptionalism and the idea that science can produce morality. He is right about the latter assertion and wrong . . . . Continue Reading »
The use of what he calls “bang words” (obscenities included for effect), writes Barton Swaim, is “rhetorical cheating. It’s the forensic equivalent of pulling out a knife to win an argument.” In Oh, the Profanity! , he notes that in a Youtube video of the movies’ . . . . Continue Reading »
A parable produced by Beyond Relevance , which calls itself “an innovative blog for a culturally strategic church: What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? I was amused, anyway. The writer of Beyond Relevance works in a different ecclesial world than I do, and thinks the church and her life . . . . Continue Reading »
IVF has changed our attitudes and expectations about bearing children, and not necessarily for the better. Instead of unconditionally loving the child who we receive, some instead demand the right to obtain the child they want. And that can lead to litigation when the parents are . . . . Continue Reading »
The arrogance is gone, or perhaps better stated, hidden. The hubris has morphed into the appearance of humility. Some Democrats who less than a year ago were so unconcerned that most of the American people opposed Obamacare that they paraded on Capitol Hill in an in-your-face flip off before . . . . Continue Reading »
Psalm 119 is a lengthy paean to God’s law, which the author goes so far as to claim to love, as strange as that may sound to contemporary ears. Indeed the notion of loving a law is very far from most people’s thoughts. Why do we ourselves not love this law? William G. Witt, Professor of . . . . Continue Reading »
Wow. This is what happens when you tell insurance companies they can’t engage in underwriting. In Connecticut, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been given permission by state regulators to raise premiums by as much as 47%! Why? Obamacare. From the story:The state has given . . . . Continue Reading »
1. A Promiscuously Permissive, User-Friendly Jesus It is odd that we have made even Jesus into such a quivering mass of affirmation and oozing graciousness, considering how frequently, unguardedly, and gleefully Jesus told us that we were sinners. Anyone who thinks that Jesus was into . . . . Continue Reading »
In the history of the church, one of the most famous conflicts was between St. Bernard (d.1153), the charismatic abbot of Clairvaux, and Peter Abelard (d.1143), the brilliant medieval logician and theologian. St. Bernard thought that Abelard’s new approach to theology, an approach that . . . . Continue Reading »
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