One of the many evils war brings in its train, an evil we had thought long banished from our shores, is the scourge of prohibition. At least among our armed forces. This article by a civilian military employee is from the delightfully irreverent Modern Drunkard Magazine and discusses life on a dry (at least officially)…

William Placher is a Presbyterian theologian in the “postliberal” (Hans Frei, George Lindbeck) tradition, but one who actually writes in a very clear and accessible style. A theologian writing for laymen rather than other academics! Imagine! (I’m looking at you, John Milbank.) Anyway, I’ve gotten a lot out of Placher’s writing. His book The Domestication…

When I was in college I reviewed John Shelby Spong’s Why Christianity Must Change or Die for our undergraduate philosophy journal. Though I didn’t consider myself a Christian (or even a theist) at the time, I was flabbergasted by Spong’s sloppy arguments which were full of straw-men, distortions, and ad hominem attacks. I knew that…

Here’s an interview with the author of Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries and Other Christians in Disguise (via A Conservative Blog for Peace). Who are the avant-garde Orthodox?These were orthodox Christian thinkers and artists who were not theologians and made important and somewhat revolutionary contributions to various secular disciplines. They’re interesting people because they’re both subversive…

Via Thunderstruck, an article about hip young Christians: They pile onto couches in a Longview living room to watch a DVD about sex, bearing the signs of hip young adulthood — flip flops, muscle Ts, alt-country cowboy hats, tattoos, piercings, moussed ‘dos.Leafing through their Bibles, they listen to a DVD-recorded pastor discuss the Song of…

I’m curious what translation of the Bible folks use most frequently and/or find the most helpful. I still read the beaten up copy of the Revised Standard Version with the red faux leather cover I got when I “graduated” from Sunday school at Hillside Presbyterian in 1984. It may be time for an upgrade, so…

I recently finished C.S. Lewis’ Reflections on the Psalms, and he had some things to say on the question of Scripture’s inspiration as well as the realtionship between the OT and the NT that I thought were blog-worthy. In chapter 10 Lewis takes up the question of “second meanings.” How is that the church can…

People are rightly horrified by the killing of an innocent man in the London subway who police mistook for a terrorist. The Philly Inquirer ran a heart-wrenching story today on the man – Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian who came to Great Britain in search of a better life. What I couldn’t help but…

Trailer for Walk the Line (Johnny Cash biopic) online (via Amy Welborn). And is Phoenix doing his own singing? Sounds like it.

I am 22% Hippie. What? Am I a Republican? Why did I even bother taking this test?! I guess I’ll go back to my George W. Bush fan club and tell them I just wasted 10 minutes of my life. At least I don’t stink, man. Take theHippie Test@ FualiDotCom