The Usury Dilemma Revisited (II)

To me the issue is not about specifically paying usury or even enabling those who sin by taking it from me. I don't expect otherwise from the world - though I do admit I struggle with loving these people who right and left beat me down and steal the money right out of my pocket - money I literally earned by my own sweat. And unlike them I labour assiduously to be honest and fair in my dealings - to my own hurt if need be. I would rather have a clear conscience then shrug my shoulders and be like them.

My real issue is with those Christians who have jumped the fence and stand on the Babylonian side - exploiting not just society at large but fellow Christians. I expect the lost to engage in dog-eat-dog ethics - Darwin's survival of the fittest. This is as old as Cain and Lamech. But I do have a problem with the Christians who have entrenched themselves in the system and are right at home in these various industries and sectors of society - making money hand over fist on the basis of what is essentially legal extortion and Babylonian alchemy. I have a problem with Christians who have baptised this law of the jungle, this atheistic ethic that is completely opposed to New Testament religion.

A Different Sort of Non-Aligned Movement

When trying to explain how a First Reformation and non-resistance view might operate in today's world and how we might bear witness with regard to events, culture, and geopolitics - and yet not be part of it, I was reminded of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War.

Ashurbanipal, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Leaders of Other Evil Empires

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reagan-evil-empire/

During the Cold War there were three years that stand out - periods in which tension was high and the world stood on the brink of nuclear conflagration. 1962 easily ranks first with the Cuban Missile Crisis. 1973 usually ranks second in connection to the Yom Kippur War and the US raising of the DefCon alert to an elevated '3' - signalling preparations for potential war. The DefCon was not raised by the Americans in 1983, but Moscow was on high alert and many consider it to be one of the most tense periods of the Cold War.

What is Good Art? Dominionist Aesthetics versus the Detachment-Discernment Ethos of New Testament Pilgrim Christianity (II)

Rather than reduce art to the Hellenistic categories of the good, true, and beautiful our understanding needs to be both wide and nuanced.

What is Good Art? Dominionist Aesthetics versus the Detachment-Discernment Ethos of New Testament Pilgrim Christianity (I)

https://g3min.org/art-that-accords-with-sound-doctrine/

This G3 article represents yet another attempt to formulate a Christian theology of art. It's clear enough that since the Scriptures don't speak to this - and verses have to be grasped at, the exercise is not one of doctrinal elaboration but philosophy cast in theological terms.

Athens, Jerusalem, and the Foundations of Ancient Thought

For more than twenty years I have been fascinated by various similarities between aspects of ancient Greek philosophy and that of ancient India. As one reads of Pythagoras, Plato, some of the pre-Socratics, and the Orphic tradition, one cannot help but notice the striking parallels within the philosophical strains flowing from the Subcontinent. The explanations for this are many but often lacking.

The Heretic King of Bohemia

I recently finished Frederick Heymann's George of Bohemia: King of Heretics (1965, Princeton University Press). It's a weighty and laborious read but necessary for anyone seeking to understand the history of Hussitism.

Rome vs. Geneva

I've been unable to find the source for the quote but there's a statement made by someone in the 18th or 19th century about how the civilisational clash is between Rome and Geneva. The point being, the Geneva in question is not the Geneva of Calvin but of Rousseau and Voltaire. In other words Geneva represents not the Reformation but the Enlightenment.

The Architect of Modern Evangelicalism (II)

In many cases his interpretation of culture, politics, and geo-politics will leave the American reader confused. Profoundly conservative, his views on economics are not at all in line with the American Right - and certainly not its waxing Libertarian wing. He condemns laissez-faire policies and the utilitarian arguments that capitalism so often resorts to. He understands that 'money creates power' and warns against it - but then still spends the whole of his life chasing after power and relying on alliances with those who possess wealth. I find it remarkable that he clearly understood and accepted the notion that a Christian political order without a regenerate populace would necessarily result in an oppressive system. It's something American Evangelicals largely do not grasp and of course they don't want to hear it as it flies in the face of the narratives about freedom and liberty. Americans can still dream and fantasize in a way never afforded to the claustrophobic ordering of nations in Europe.

A British Evangelical's take on Faith, Work, and Culture War

https://evangelicalfocus.com/multimedia/video/24261/Dan_Strange:_Faith,_work_and_Culture_Wars

There's a lot packed into this 12-minute interview. If you have your eyes and ears open it's rather instructive. But first, consider the context.

Wilson's Judaizing Call for Sacralist Architecture

https://building.christkirk.com/

For those familiar with Wilson's 1998 'Angels in the Architecture', this appeal for a new building is nothing new. It is but a continuation of his celebration of the Middle Ages, along with the usual refrain to 'live it up' and do everything on a grand scale - big buildings, big feasts, and all the rest. His ethos is one of triumphalism, an outworking of his over-realized eschatology, itself a result of his misreading of Scripture on a massive and dare I say mortal scale.

The Complexity of Contemporary Myths and Paul's Concerns in 2 Timothy 4

 In a recent sermon, the pastor (while dealing with 2 Timothy 4) addressed the issue of fables and myths that will be introduced into the Church by false teachers - ones sought after by congregations that will not hear the truth.

Musing on The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance and Forty Years that Shook the World (II)

All things considered, I don't disagree with Wyman's general narrative regarding the rise of the modern West and how it surpassed previous super-power states and cultures like that of the Ottoman Empire.

But rather than celebrate Capitalism and the way it has reshaped the world, I would offer some different narratives to consider.

Musing on The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance and Forty Years that Shook the World (I)

Patrick Wyman's The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance and Forty Years that Shook the World (published in 2021 by Twelve) focuses primarily on the years1490-1530. He argues this period was critical for understanding the modern world as the West moved through these four decades of transition.

In the process of surveying some of the main historical events of this period, he teases out key cultural markers that (he argues) set the stage for the coming period and the world we know today.

Rejecting the Aquinas Jubilee

https://theaquilareport.com/what-the-jubilee-of-aquinas-says-about-rome-and-roman-protestant-relations-in-some-quarters/

I appreciated some of the issues raised in this piece by Hervey. Thomas and Thomism have certainly been in the air as his memory and a set of larger questions concerning Roman Catholicism are being debated. In these unsettled times as Protestants and Evangelicals thirst for so-called Christian Civilisation, there's a desire to find some kind of historical and cultural continuity. Protestantism falls short in this regard, and as such many are looking farther back to a time that at least seems to be more cohesive. Whether it was something to celebrate or not is debatable. After all, error can (in theory) be coherent, and paganism can create cohesive societies.

Saving Christendom by Repackaging the Roman Beast

https://americanreformer.org/2023/10/providence-and-empire/

This unfortunate article was reposted at The Aquila Report and there seems to be more and more of this sort of thing as of late. The whole of theology (and even thought) is increasingly subordinated to the concerns and interests of Dominionist ideology and hence the growing concern with political and cultural thinking. Ironically, the more these 'civilisation' paths are pursued, the more readers are likely to turn to Rome as in many respects the narratives of the Magisterial Reformation and its legacy begin to collapse. And so in that regard one might say that such articles are doubly pernicious.

Two Kingdoms and the Reformed Tradition (III)

It must be granted the appeal to different understandings of law and its implications for Kingdom thinking by Evans is rather astute and is worthy of more reflection – but that's a question of historical theology and while interesting, is of a secondary importance. In terms of the question of Law vis-à-vis the New Testament, the Lutheran Law/Gospel paradigm is certainly artificial and forced, an outworking of the school's absolutising of Sola Fide – to the detriment of other aspects of soteriology, in particular sanctification. The Reformed understanding is more nuanced and remains a point of contention – different camps understanding it in different ways. There certainly is a case to be made (and one badly needed!)for a Law-Gospel distinction in terms of Redemptive History, but this is not the same as the Lutheran attempt to relegate all New Testament imperatives to a contrived category of law.

Inbox: Protestantism as Progress

I was asked to elaborate a bit on the question of proto-Protestantism's relationship to Magisterial Protestantism and the question of conservative vs. progressive movements.

Dominionist Eisegesis and Doctrinal Cowardice

https://caldronpool.com/the-gospel-has-many-political-implications-for-a-nation/

New Calvinist pastor Matthew Littlefield asserts that those who believe the Church should not engage in politics are guilty of trumpeting ignorance. He then proceeds to elaborate what he believes are the political implications of the gospel.

Revelation 18: The Merchant Princes of Babylon, Their Sorceries, Mammon and Medicine

Revelation 18.23 refers to the sorceries of fallen Babylon. It could be a reference to Babylon in general or more specifically to the merchants of Babylon. Ultimately it doesn't matter as the mercantile-mammon driven activity of its 'great men' are part and parcel representative of the Babylonian system as a whole along with its larger list of deceptions and evil.