Nietzsche doesn’t get invited to many Christmas parties. Something about declaring “God is dead” has made him persona non grata at gatherings of Christians.But, before dismissing him, let us first note that his most famous aphorism was, in fact, correct. By the late 19th century, in European intellectual circles, God was, indeed, dead. It wasn’t always so; look back at the writings of earlier generations and you find a plethora of Christian intellectuals. Even the non-Christian … [Read more...] about Nietzsche and the Apostle Paul
Christianity
Chesterton and the Elves
Are elves real? (Yes, I hear your groan. Bear with me a second.) Are you sure about your answer? Why are you so sure? G. K. Chesterton raises this question in Orthodoxy. (There is even a chapter entitled “The Ethics of Elfland”!) This tells you everything you need to know about what a curious book Orthodoxy is. At one level, the book looks like it is an attempt to prove the truth of Christianity. Chesterton certainly spends a lot of time explaining why he thinks Christianity is true. … [Read more...] about Chesterton and the Elves
Narrative Apologetics
Imagine a 1000 page book explaining Christianity. You don’t have to imagine every page, but think for a minute how you would structure it. What comes first? What do you explain in it? How do you make it persuasive? Now, ask yourself this: how similar is the structure of the book you just imagined to the structure of the Bible? Did you have lots of genealogies? Or the whole section of the Law? Or the minor prophets? Most importantly, how many stories were there in your book? Alister … [Read more...] about Narrative Apologetics
Tartuffe, Kanye, and Saul of Tarsus
Consider Tartuffe, Moliere’s play about a scoundrel who pretends to be a pious man in order to convince a wealthy dupe to hand over all his wealth. The play is funny, which you knew became Moliere wrote it. It raises some interesting questions about what it means to be dishonest. If I act better than I am, does that mean I am dishonest? Suppose I am a terrible person, but in public, I act like a good person. Is that bad? Hard to say Yes to that. We read this in one of my reading groups. … [Read more...] about Tartuffe, Kanye, and Saul of Tarsus
Bondage of the Will
Martin Luther is rather obviously one of the Great Polemicists. Indeed, if the standard of greatness is influence, then he is inarguably the Greatest Polemicist. His most important works inaugurate the Reformation. Those works are fun to read; he goes for blood. Consider the title alone of one of them: The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In that essay, Luther draws on the Old Testament narrative to argue that the Pope and his minions in Rome are the equivalent of the Babylonians who … [Read more...] about Bondage of the Will
The Structure of Confessions
Augustine’s Confessions has a curious structure. It is divided into 13 chapters. The first nine read like autobiography; Augustine tells the story of his life concentrating on all the sins he has committed. He confesses them, and then he points constantly to God who is the real object of Augustine’s attention. Lots of things we can learn and ponder from these nine chapters. But, then, in Chapter 10, the book takes a rather stunning turn for those reading it for the first time. Chapter 10 is … [Read more...] about The Structure of Confessions