Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Word Ambiguities

    HT: Language Log

  • Christian Carnival CCCXL Posted

    … at The Jevlir Caravansary.  Check it out!

  • Christian Carnival Coming

    I’m hosting it at my Jevlir Caravansary blog.  Deadline is midnight tonight.

  • List of Online Lexicons

    Polycarp has a very useful list of online lexicons.

  • Gordon Fee on Reading Revelation

    … and the Bible as a whole, but with a focus on his new commentary on Revelation.

    The video  is at the Grace Communion International web site and is well worth watching.  I would probably be a bit harder on the idea of literal interpretation for the Bible overall than Dr. Fee is, but he is spot on regarding the book of Revelation.

  • On C. S. Lewis

    There’s an article in the Touchstone archives by Bishop Wright which I find very interesting, largely because it expresses some of my own feelings regarding Lewis.

    C. S. Lewis is, of course, a brilliant writer. I enjoy reading even those things with which I disagree, and not just because I like to be challenged. He simply uses the language brilliantly. I would also say that the book Mere Christianity played a role in my Christian life both when I was a student, and then when I was returning to church. At the same time, I don’t use a great deal of the apologetics that Lewis used in supporting my own faith in discussions with others. The trilemna, for example, doesn’t work for me as an argument for the divinity of Jesus. It does help clarify things, I believe, at a certain point, but it is not, in itself, convincing.

    I have also observed what Wright notes as well, that C. S. Lewis, though often embraced by conservative evangelicals, was not one himself. I would note that even from my more liberal perspective, I find Lewis’s view of inspiration to be a bit beyond where I want to go. Nonetheless, I think I can understand the value of Lewis to evangelicals in that he makes some fairly viable statements on some of the essentials, and he provides us with expressions of many other ideas that are valuable in themselves.

    All in all, thanks to Bishop Wright for helping clarify some of my own thinking about one of my favorite authors. (Wright himself is another, though he tends to be a little less delightful in style!)

  • Gordon Fee Discusses Interpreting Revelation

    … in this video, which has been all over the biblioblogosphere.  Sorry, I don’t even remember where I first saw it.

  • PNJ Picks 2 for Governor

    Our local excuse for the press, the Pensacola News Journal, is in endorsements season, and like many papers, they pick one in each of the primaries. Thus they have endorsed one Republican and one Democrat for governor.

    I should note first that I have a problem with newspapers or media organizations endorsing politicians. I don’t mind individual journalists expressing their opinion. But newspaper endorsements have always seemed questionable to me. Of course, if it is a journal with an expressed political position, there may be some justification.

    But to pick one in each primary implies, in my view, that there is somehow a “best” candidate without consideration of ideas, the sort of good general public servant. But I would not want to vote for an extremely efficient administrator, for example, who would promote (efficiently, of course) ideas of which I disapproved.

    I think the news media should inform us about the candidates. They could list all the elements they use in their endorsements and then compare the candidates–without actually endorsing someone.

    I must confess that I only read the PNJ when someone forwards me an article, or when it turns up in one of my topic-based news searches. So perhaps I’m not entirely objective about them either. But this isn’t really just about the PNJ. This is a frequent practice by newspapers, and I don’t think it’s a positive contribution to the political system.

  • Boycott BP – Maybe Not!

    I live on the Gulf Coast, but I’ve continued to go to BP gas stations. Yes, I deplore what has happened, and the negligence involved, though I think our national push for more and cheaper oil is an underlying cause of the problem.

    But I hadn’t blogged about it. Allan Bevere did so on his blog. I agree with him completely.

  • Quote of the Day – Passives

    From Language Log:

    If passives were UFOs, the country would be frantic over all the sightings, but the Air Force wouldn’t be scrambling any jets.

    I have two pet peeves with regard to passives. First, there are those who find passives where there are none, as in the post cited by Language Log. Second, there are those who refuse to use any passives at all. It’s quite possible to overuse passives, but sometimes a passive is appropriate, and sometimes it provides variety.