Evangelogia

The views expressed here are provided as a resource for furthering culturally-engaged leadership through theologically-informed reflection about every aspect of contemporary life. Neither Union University nor The Institute for Intellectual Discipleship necessarily endorse the content expressed in this blog. The content of each entry solely reflects the view of its author.

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As often as you drink this cup . . .

March 11, 2013 -

Commenting on New York’s impending restriction on container size for sugary drinks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday, “all we’re doing in New York is reminding you that it’s not in your interest to have too many empty calories.” Bloomberg went on to explain that “what government’s trying to do is to inform you that if you’re overweight and you have all these empty calories and you keep eating, that your health is going to suffer and you’re going to live a not as healthy and a shorter life.”

Without a doubt, it is a role of the state to seek the common good. As a matter of philosophical necessity, given the fallen nature of human beings, this will inevitably require that the individual liberty of some must, at times, be restricted for the sake of the well-being of the whole.... read more

Pious Sincerity vs. Truth

February 14, 2013 -

According to recent research by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, attitudes toward same-sex marriage in the US have been changing over the past decade. In short, moral opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage appears to be eroding. The Pew data shows that this shift is occurring in almost every demographic sector. It is particular pronounced among the young. And evangelicals are not immune to the declination.

For some, the eventual complete embrace of homosexual behavior as a morally legitimate way of life is inevitable. These “optimists” imagine a future in which objection to homosexual behavior will seem as backward and as morally reprehensible as advocating for slavery. Thus, like read more

What Christians Can Learn From Atheists (or Demons)

November 21, 2012 -

Those who explicitly reject the Gospel often grasp its demands more clearly than those who eagerly receive it. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor calls attention to this truth through the actions and words of a murderous nihilist called “the Misfit.” In the story’s climactic scene, the Misfit speaks frankly to his next victim - a self-centered grandmother whose half-hearted attachment to Christianity is rooted in its perceived socio-economic utility. The Misfit: “Jesus thrown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can - by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him.”

Quite provocatively, the Misfit articulates the sense in which Jesus came not &ldquo... read more

Evangelicals and Like-onography

July 3, 2012 -

If the creators and purveyors of Facebook ever decided to establish a Christian church, it would almost certainly not be evangelical. However, whatever obviousness such a claim possesses rests not on reasons one might suspect. The reason is this. Facebook’s ethos is decidedly sacramental; evangelicalism, despite its professed conviction in the power of the Word, is not.

On Sunday, Facebook released the latest installment in its iconography: a same-sex marriage icon. Now, same-sex couples, who are the beneficiaries (?) of state legislation ratifying same-sex unions, may publicly profess their “relationship status” in social-networking space using either the two-groom or two-bride cake-topper icon.

Having the sacramental assumptions that it does, Facebook’s leadership grasps the si... read more

James 3

May 27, 2012 -

In the order of reality, moral virtue takes priority, in both ontology and time, over aesthetic refinement. After all, Jesus did not say, “Be ye therefore possessors-of-good-taste, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is an aesthete.” But judging from the almost acerbic analysis in the blogosphere on the relationship between the tragic life and controversial work of Thomas Kinkade, Jesus should have reconsidered the relative importance of holiness in light of the all-surpassing significance of cultural discrimination.

Some criticisms of Kinkade’s legacy have been oblique, merely suggesting that perhaps those drawn to paintings of light are blinded by that to which they are attracted, empty luminous projections of otherwise dark souls. Others leave no room for interpretation: Kinkade’s work is “theologically dangerous... read more