About a year ago, I had a conversation with an old friend who had just returned from an 18-month tour of duty in Iraq. I asked Patrick if he thought the prospects for success in Iraq were really as bleak as American news reports make them out to be. His response was clear: “We can’t win unless the Iraqis want to win, and they are not taking responsibility.” A year later this still appears to be the case. The U.S. has the brute force required to pacify Iraq and could bomb the country into submission if it wanted to. But, of course, the U.S. prefers a political solution over a…
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The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views
I just received a new book from InterVarsity Press that I will be reviewing in a forthcoming edition of The Criswell Theological Review. When I finish the book (it’s in my queue!) and write the review, I will post it on this blog. In the meantime, I wanted to post a notice of its release. The title of the book is The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views with contributions by Greg Boyd, Joel Green, Bruce Reichenbach, and Tom Schreiner. Boyd defends the Christus Victor view, Schreiner the penal substitution view, Reichenbach the “Healing” view, and Green the “Kaleidoscopic” view.
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Trinitarianism and Orthodoxy in the Emergent Village
Tony Jones, the national director of Emergent Village, is not happy about Brett Kunkle’s ETS paper which argues that some leaders in the emerging conversation have opened the way to unorthodoxy. I have read Kunkle’s paper, and I think he is on to something despite the protest of Tony Jones. I won’t rehash the argument of the paper here, but I will point out one aspect of Kunkle’s presentation that is particularly troubling.
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Atheist Agonistes in the Postmodern World
There is an outstanding OP-ED in today’s New York Times declaring the bankruptcy of the Enlightenment and the atheism it spawned. In “Atheist Agonistes” Richard Schweder writes:
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Holiday Doldrums?
Does anyone else need a pick-me-up after at the end of November? After viewing the annual spectacle known as “black Friday,” I know I do. I typically feel like Charlie Brown at this time of year. I need something more than crass commercialism to get me into the real spirit of Christmas. I’ve found that there’s nothing quite like a rousing rendition of “O Holy Night” to renew one’s yuletide cheer.
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Daker Is No Faker
If you don’t know who John Daker is, you are about to find out. Before I introduce you to him, however, you should know that I am one of his biggest fans. As a matter of fact, I like his singing so much that I play his video performance for my students about once a semester. That is why I want to share it with you also.
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Should College Administrators Blog?
The New York Times has an interesting story about college and university presidents who blog. The story is titled “Erasing Divide, College Leaders Take to Blogging.” The story explores the risks that a leader takes whenever he/she decides to keep a blog:
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McCain’s Baggage Going in to 2008
Senator John McCain has always been sort of a gadfly within the Republican party, and I think this fact will create some difficulties for him as he runs for President in 2008. Many conservatives have had persistent questions about his conservative bona fides, and Hugh Hewitt writes about what may very well be the heaviest baggage that McCain carries into 2008:
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Back from Washington, D.C.
I have been out of pocket for the last week or so as I was attending the 58th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) in Washington, D.C. I just returned Sunday night and am getting back in the saddle on this blog. I have already posted a brief response to all of you who have commented on the paper that I presented at the conference. In this post, I thought I would like to share just a few overall reflections concerning my trip to D.C.
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Epilogue on the Apostle Paul and Anti-Americanism
Thanks to all of you who have responded to the paper that I presented last week at the 58th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) in Washington, D.C. I have received helpful feedback/critiques from both those who attended my presentation and from those who read this blog. I already knew that my paper would be controversial, and this hunch was confirmed during my presentation in one telling moment.