(Click here for Part 1) (Part 2) As I said in part 2, there is much to commend on Derek’s new album, “Mockingbird.” But as I also indicated there, I will now address some items that I think are not so good. First, pacifism plays a big part on this album. That Derek embraces pacifism as the only Christian alternative comes through loud and clear in the song “My Enemies Are Men Like Me.” I don’t know how else to understand the following lines except as condemnation of anyone who might argue for the possibility of a just war: peace by way of war is like purity by…
-
-
Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 2)
(Click here for Part 1) When I got home from the Derek Webb concert on Tuesday night, I shot off a blog that was in protest of what I thought was an overtly left-wing political message on Webb’s new album “Mockingbird.” But I later deleted what I wrote because I came to the conclusion that Derek’s message actually deserved a little more serious consideration than I had given it. So that is why this has turned into a three part series. My initial response, however, was provoked in part by how the concert-goers received Derek’s lefty-friendly message. Consider, for example, the response from the crowd when Derek sang these lines:…
-
The Gospel of Judas: A Transparent Fiction
What should we make of the discovery of this new Gospel of Judas that has been unearthed in the sands of Egypt? The media and unfortunately some biblical scholars of note would have us think that this document represents voices from the early centuries of Christianity that need to be given a hearing as we assess who the Jesus of history was. Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels are among those scholars of the opinion that earliest Christianity was not a monolithic movement. There were many different Christian groups in the first century, but we just don’t know much about the “other” groups because their voices were suppressed by the orthodox…
-
Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 1)
I just returned home from a Derek Webb concert. Derek’s venue was the Gypsy Tea Room near downtown Dallas in the area known by locals as Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum used to be the hip part of town, the place where all the young urban twenty-somethings would descend every weekend for dining, music, and club hopping. This once very popular center has declined over the past several years as most of the nightlife has moved to the new and trendy “uptown” area. If you have ever been to a Christian concert, you might have been surprised by this one. When I saw and heard the Marilyn Manson style death-metal band…
-
Botched Abortions You Haven’t Heard About
The vaunted “safe, legal, and rare†abortions that we’ve heard so much about may be legal, but they are hardly rare, and in the following story are not safe either (that is, safe for the mother, since they are never safe for the baby). The F.D.A. has now received reports that six women in the United States died after taking RU-486, or Mifeprex. A seventh died in Canada. The two most recent deaths and two of the previous four underwent their procedures at Planned Parenthood clinics, a spokeswoman said . . . Since reporting drug side effects is voluntary in the United States, it is possible that more women have…
-
Bart Ehrman on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewartâ€
Bart Ehrman has been making the media rounds with the publication of his new book Misquoting Jesus. Recently, he promoted his book on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart†(click here and scroll down to “Bart Ehrman†to stream the video). (HT: Daniel Streett) I reviewed Misquoting Jesus on this blog a couple of months ago. In that review I made the observation that Ehrman often mixes in higher critical conjectures that do not have anything to do with the manuscript tradition per se. This serves his polemical purpose of undermining the reliability of the Bible, but it does not help the lay reader who is being introduced to the…
-
Scratching My Head at Derek Webb
I love Derek Webb. I first started listening to his music in 1994 when I was in college and when he was in Caedmon’s Call. I will never forget the first time I saw Derek perform live with Caedmon’s (circa 1995). It was at Tulane University in New Orleans, and I and the other hundred or so people were mesmerized for the entire concert. When I heard Derek sing and play “Bus Driver” that night, he became my favorite of the group. It was one of the best shows I’d ever been to. Caedmon’s Call was supposed to be playing Christian music, but it didn’t sound like any of the…
-
Clubbing Clooney
Peggy Noonan has a penchant for rhetoric, and sometimes she can be downright harsh. You should check out her piece on George Clooney’s acceptance speech at last Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, “Boy in a Bubble: What George Clooney doesn’t know about life.†Here’s a devastating snippet: George Clooney is Hollywood now. He is charming and beautiful and cool, but he is not Orson Welles . . . Orson Welles was an artist. George Clooney is a fellow who read an article and now wants to tell us the truth, if we can handle it. The Missional Baptist Blog thinks I was pretty harsh in my critique of George Clooney in my…
-
Have You Heard about Jason McElwain?
This is the kind of story that makes your heart full and your eyes well up with tears. It’s a Rudy-esque tale about a kid with autism. It’s the story of Jason McElwain, and it’s so good that the movie studios are already lining up to make a movie about him. Jason McElwain is the waterboy for his high school basketball team, and he’s also their biggest fan. Because Jason is a senior and the team’s most ardent supporter, the coach decided to let him suit-up with the team for the last home game of the season. Then, the coach actually let him play for the last four minutes of…
-
Not a Fan of “Crashâ€
Last night, “Crash†won the Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I saw “Crash,†but I am not a fan of the movie. I thought that it was hokey and superficial in its treatment of a serious subject. In an essay for MSNBC.com, Erik Lundegaard sums it up well. But what is [the movie] saying? That we all bear some form of racism. That we all “stereotype†other races. That, when pressured, racist sentiments spill out of us as easily as escaped air. Here’s my take. Yes, we all bear some form of racism — that’s obvious. Yes, we all “stereotype†other races in some fashion — that’s…
