All human beings secretly wish they could be orphans. An absurd statement? However improbable it might initially appear, if like Superman you were to come to earth from another planet, you would certainly be forgiven for drawing that conclusion. It would be hard to do otherwise if you were to scan the fiction written since the early nineteenth century. You would have to conclude that orphans – like Superman – are our idols. Before I substantiate the point, we should note... Read more
‘Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; Look, and see our reproach! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, Our houses to aliens. We have become orphans without a father, Our mothers are like widows.’ (Lamentations 5:1-3) The Bible regularly speaks of the Lord’s particular care and concern for the plight of the widow and the orphan. The reason why is obvious: neither has a family to help them in their distress. They are vulnerable to predators. There are countless charges... Read more
Over-caffeinated hysteria forms the backdrop of the Presidency of Donald Trump. At first, the hysteria seemed the inevitable aftermath of a particularly nasty and at times vitriolic political campaign. With two such dislikable and polarizing candidates, a winter of discontent was coming no matter who became the 45th President of the United States. But the range and intensity of the outrage seems to be growing every morning, and in a manner asymmetric with past elections. The asymmetry invites further reflection. It seems to me that... Read more
Donald J. Trump is a powerful rhetorician, and a clever politician. Against all odds, he has now been sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. His extraordinary and improbable rise to success ought to have led everyone at least to acknowledge that. But if you follow the vast majority of the comments in the mainstream media about his inaugural address, you could be excused for your ignorance of that fact. The condemnations in the fourth estate run the gamut, from the... Read more
National Geographic is not known for its religious fervor. That poses a problem when doing a series on the subject. For all the success of the New Atheists, a sceptical treatment would find a limited audience. The channel appears to be after a larger market share, which prompts its own kind of fervor. The Story of God has managed to cultivate a tone of gravitas about its subject without seriously investigating whether the true reverence of the believer, or the distasteful mockery... Read more
Conservative and progressive Christians both understand how important love is to the Christian faith. ‘Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.’ But conservatives are often accused of being unloving and even hypocritical in refusing to accept the normativity of the LGBT worldview. Some examination of this charge of hypocrisy is necessary. Hypocrisy and sincerity It is said that hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue. Our word hypocrisy arises from the stage. A hypocritēs... Read more
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opened in cinemas just before Christmas, an early present for its devoted fan base. The sales of the film suggest its success, and one reviewer I read put it in the ‘top 5’ of the eight films in the series. High praise, I guess. I’m not sure it is that good. With all due respect to the sensibilities of its many young fans, Rogue One strongly contends with Episodes I-III as the worst installment... Read more
It is said that hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue. Our word hypocrisy arises from the stage. A hypocritēs is an actor, a person who in the context of Classical Greek theatre is literally under the judgment of the spectators. Jesus employed the word satirically to condemn the Pharisees. They were terrible actors, and yet manipulated the audience to praise them for their godliness. They were a loving bunch. We live in an age that prizes sincerity... Read more
January 6 is the day of Epiphany in the church calendar. It’s the day when the three wise men arrived from the east to worship Jesus Christ, a child born of a virgin, the Lord of glory. True to form, the wise men were late. The event they had come to witness was of such moment that the span of human history is measured around it. The birth of Jesus Christ is so pregnant with meaning that the entire chronicle... Read more
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Hawkeye
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