Posts that relate in some way to my books. Excludes administrative posts and most reviews of other people’s books.
What meaning is evoked in people’s minds by the word “sacrifice?” One of the things I like to do when teaching is to simply write a word on the board that is commonly used in Biblical and/or Christian discourse and get people to give me various things that this word means to them. I try…
I had mixed emotions about Barack Obama’s choice not to accept public financing of campaigns. On the one hand, as an advocate of free speech, I believe that public financing and campaign spending limits are a threat to free speech precisely where it needs to be most free. But on the other hand, I dislike…
The furor over this poor guy has illustrated to me one of the problems of presidential campaigning in America. It’s not about analyzing policies to determine who they impact, to what extent, and for what purpose, nor indeed it is about whether the policies will accomplish that purpose. It’s rather all about engaging people’s emotions….
In an article on MSNBC discussing how Obama is moving into some traditionally Republican territory, I found this quote: McCain, for his part, was returning to the argument that Obama’s credentials are too thin for the White House, his campaign and the Republican National Committee releasing ads focusing on experience and judgment. Here’s my problem…
Today is Blog Action Day, and though I didn’t get around to formally participating, I’m going to write a short post on dealing with poverty from a Christian perspective. I’m feeling idealistic, so beware! Since I first started thinking about issues of poverty, way back when I was a teenager (and fish were just working…
There are some basics about what evolution is and is not, and what the various positions of both creationists and evolutionists are, that everyone who steps into the debate should know. Some examples include the difference between a young earth and an old earth creationist. I’ve seen a few discussions in internet fora in which…
I’ve been very disappointed in the way this campaign has gone. Not that it’s that much more nasty than any other campaign. As I recall from previous elections, things get pretty emotional and nasty. My disappointment has been in the candidates who could have done much better for the country. Obama made a mistake, in…
Laura at Pursuing Holiness has a post titled How can Christians support Obama?. She begins: I am frustrated almost beyond belief that any Christian can support Obama. . . . She then outlines the reasons she has for believing that we cannot support Obama and provides links, describing these points as “well-substantiated.” Laura’s post falls…
As a follow-up to my notes on God’s Problem, I would like to comment briefly on how a diversity of explanations do coexist, and how they might justifiably do so. First, despite our best efforts to find logical explanations, in general people use case by case explanations pretty readily. They may believe that one person…
. . . was very relaxing. I actually never watch these debates because they are more a tribute to those who plan the event than to anything that either candidate is capable of saying. I would like to see a debate which allows the two candidates to confront and challenge one another. The real story…
