The Christian case for Sir Harry Flashman…or something…
Flashman’s actions throughout the book are hysterically funny mix of bravery and cowardice. He is at once noble and despicable; admirable and deplorable. He…
What I’ve Been Writing
Over the past eighteen months, I have been blessed to be free to pursue the vocation of a writer as very few are ever…
“Then in Distress We Upraise” (3)
Time once again for #MelanchthonMonday! This is the third installment dealing with a petitionary poem by Joachim Camerarius and its Nachleben. In Part 1,…
To the Fallen
I thought about writing a post today but in light of events in Afghanistan I thought I would do something more simple and simply…
Two Cheers for the Great Man Theory of History
Thus British military historian Charles Oman in the incipit of Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic (1902): There was a time, not so…
Evangelizing Environmentalists With Medieval Cosmology
How can retrieving a medieval cosmology help us reach an eco-conscious modern world?
Giving Voice to the Voiceless Creation
Last week, I was honored by the opportunity to address the students, parents, and faculty of Greyfriars Classical School in Matthews, NC for the…
The Heresy of (Protestant) Americanism
The United States did not inaugurate Protestant faith and doctrine. Protestant churches—Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed—preexisted the American republic. Yet Americanist presumptions have been taken…
Erasmus on Funding Church Music
In 1500, the churches were full of musicians rather than theologians. And Erasmus was not happy.
London Calling
One of my sons is reading Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” for school this week. Not having ever read it myself, I decided…
Calvin Against Iconoclasm
In his biography of the great reformer John Calvin, Bruce Gordon repeatedly points out that Calvin opposed iconoclasm (see pgs. 283, 323-327 of Gordon’s…
“Then in Distress We Upraise” (2)
Time for “Melanchthon Monday”! Last week I introduced a poem by Melanchthon’s friend, Joachim Camerarius. Here is the poem again, first in Latin: In…
Afghanistan, the Pulpit, and the Myth of Progress
How do we do right by the tragedies of Afghanistan in the pulpit?
Charles Hodge, Wrong About Calvin and the Reformed Doctrine of Eucharistic Presence
After beating up on Nevin, it’s only right that I turn some attention to Charles Hodge. While the main edge of his criticism of…
Afghanistan, the Reformation, and American Empire.
Americans are not a chosen people; Americans Christians are not special morally or spiritually. Americans are sinful humans just like the rest of humanity.
“Then in Distress We Upraise” (1)
Time for another “Melanchthon Monday”! Now, you may be surprised, given that today’s poem is not (um) by Melanchthon. But wait! It still works!…
Nevin the Organic Progressive
My last post on Nevin won the hearts and minds of all reasonable men, and so I thought I would do well to add…
Face It, Nevin Was Nuts
When I was in seminary, the Mercersburg theology of Philip Schaff and John Williamson Nevin was enjoying a significant revival. Lots of books, masters…
On Being a Christian in Late Modernity (Part 4: Why the Man/Machine Relation is a Man/Man Relation)
13. Taking the mid 19th century as our point of departure in understanding modernity, I have (so far) focused merely on the question of…
Church Music Is Just the Worst (Circa 1530)
In Joseph Herl’s excellent Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict, he quotes Luther responding to his congregation in…
*The Color of Compromise*, Evangelical Calvinism, and atoning for history.
The unique wedding of Evangelical Reformed moralism to the question of anti-racism might lead to a certain type of radicalism wherein anyone not entirely…
Smashing the World’s Strength in Weakness: St. Lawrence’s Day
August 10 marks the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, burned alive on the gridiron in the third century. He is the subject…
Moby Dick as Protestant Midrash and the road to Progressive Evangelicalism.
Melville seems to lead us to the conclusion that Ahab’s sin was not his hatred of the whale, but his pursuit of a certain…
A Question of Funding
One of the central hypotheses that this blog will explore, over the long haul, is the following: ever since the Reformation, it has been…
“O, May the Church Ever Stand”: Melanchthon Prays in Poetry
For today’s installment of “Melanchthon Mondays” has us moving from secular back to sacred matters. The following poem is one of several prayers in…
Abraham Lincoln: Common Good AND Liberal Conservative.
Lincoln’s embodiment of the best of the liberal conservative political tradition was illustrated by the cautious but substantive way he sought to end the…
Edmund Burke, Magisterial Whig Protestant
I know, I know–I still owe one more post on Burke eviscerating fantasist utopian “justice” lunatics. I’m saving up my energy for that one.…
Education of Joachim Cureus at Wittenberg
“On July 31, 1554, the degree of master of philosophy was publicly conferred on Cureus by the most illustrious and eminent dean of the…
Talking About White Theology Instead Of Talking To Each Other
On July 19th, Dr. Gregory Thompson and Pastor Duke Kwon published a response to a book review they had received from Dr. Kevin DeYoung.…
Western Novels, The Good Book, and the Modern Immigration Debate
For all of its imperfections, the American republic did in fact eventually nurture something along the lines of a healthy multiracial and pluralistic community
The Ethics of Masking in an Unending Pandemic
After a brief summer of freedom, the United States is reeling under a fresh assault of coronavirus, the India-bred Delta variant having proved more…
Via Media, But Between What?
I am finishing up Diarmaid MacCulloch’s biography of Thomas Cranmer. Over all it’s a superb work of history, even if MacCulloch inserts his own…
Divine Heroism, Divine Song
This one’s for the John Wayne fans. Our poem for today’s edition of “Melanchthon Mondays” is on a similar theme to last week’s, but…
The Last Liberal Conservative Pt Deux: The French Connection
Liberal conservatism is most often associated with the United Kingdom, but liberal conservative political parties exercised power across Europe from the end of the…
Why Liturgy Makes Better Preaching
At a basic level, good liturgy is an insurance policy against bad preaching.
On Being a Christian in Late Modernity (Part 3: How Mankind Discovered “Going to Work”)
9. If our point of departure in understanding modernity is “that moment in which some humans decided they were modern,” then the epochal fracture…
Names Writ in Water
The grave of John Keats in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome famously reads, “Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.” While doing…
Church Music Is Just the Worst (Circa 1840)
I would like to start a series of short blogposts, “Church Music Is Just the Worst (Circa)” focusing on primary sources and first-hand accounts…
Elevator Music from Hell
Last time, we saw Edmund Burke’s claim that it was unjust to punish a man for a name to which he happens to be…
The Last Liberal Conservative
Liberal Conservatives in the Nineteenth Century, unlike latter-day libertarians who claim their mantle, understood that institutional might and power played a role in liberal…
