Last week I wrote briefly about Rachel Held Evans’ year of living biblically. Her stated aim is to live out what the Bible teaches about womanhood. Today she writes about her difficulty in adopting the “gentle and quiet spirit” commanded in 1 Peter 3:4. To help develop such a spirit, she has incorporated contemplative prayer into her morning routine, “particularly breathing exercises, lectio divina, and centered prayer.” She appeals to the teaching of contemplative masters—both Buddha and the Proverbs—as sources for learning how to master “the volatile human spirit.” Just a reminder, Thomas Nelson has agreed to publish her book in 2012.

Trevin Wax has an insightful post on those who avoid the term “inerrancy” because of its “baggage.” He writes: “No label comes without baggage. The question is not whether we will claim labels for ourselves, but whether we will be courageous enough to stake out our positions clearly. “If I uphold the idea of inerrancy but want nothing to do with the term, I’m unintentionally loading myself up with a different kind of baggage. Sure, people may equate an affirmation of inerrancy with a literalist interpretation of Scripture. But disavowing the term inerrancy also has baggage. I group myself with people who may not believe in the historicity of miracles,…

David Mills has a great piece about so-called “mere Christianity” over at the First Things blog. He tweaks C. S. Lewis’ metaphor of the house with many rooms, and I think it’s insightful. Mills is a committed Roman Catholic, and he doesn’t mind honest disagreement among friends. In short, he argues that there’s a real and substantial difference between Protestants and Catholics—a difference that can’t be papered over by an appeal to “mere Christianity.”