The streak is over.

Tonight, the final show of Ken Jenning’s run on Jeopardy airs. Jennings has followed Gates into the Halls of the Geek Immortals.

His streak will never be challenged. At least not until my brother comes down to visit.

David Brooks’ latest editorial heralds John Stott as an “authentic representative” of evangelicals. It’s a good piece that makes Stott sound like his English predecessor Chesterton:

“He is always exploring paradoxes. Jesus teaches humility, so why does he talk about himself so much? What does it mean to gain power through weakness, or freedom through obedience? In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously.”

I worshipped next to Stott when he visited Oxford’s St. Aldate’s Anglican Church. I watched and listened and was thoroughly impressed when he remembered a fan from a few years prior. He struck me as everything Brooks commends him to be: “humble and self-critical, but also confident, joyful and optimistic.”

I’m bringing it back.

I’m not the only one who thinks Gnosticism has influenced evangelical theology. From Peter Leithart (someone who has read, oh, just about everything):

“VanderZee, however, does not simply repeat Reformed slogans, but brings in voices and perspectives from other traditions (Schmemann is quoted a good bit, and William Cavanagh makes an appearance or two), and updates sacramental theology in all the right directions. He aims his main criticisms against evangelical Protestant anti-sacramentalism, which he sees, quite rightly, as a manifestation of gnosticism. This book would make a wonderful text for a class on sacraments, or even for a church reading group, since it’s written in a popular style.”

Yes, I know. Not conclusive in any way, shape or form. Yet it provides a good opportunity to recommend Leithart’s blog. It’s always intelligent, diverse, and interesting.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.

Traditionally a time of pentitence, Advent affords us the opportunity to look ahead to the second coming of the Christ, before we celebrate His first. As my priest pointed out this morning, the earliest epistles of the New Testament are full of hope and expectation of Christ’s imminent return. The later epistles (contra some current Pauline scholarship) do not lose this focus. One need only spend a few hours reading Phillipians before noticing the overwhelming presence of eschatological language.

Christ came the first time proclaiming, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Even his disciples managed to misinterpret Him by expecting Him to overthrow Rome. The Kingdom is unlike any Kingdom yet seen, for now it remains unseen. The fulfillment, though is yet to come:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

The notion that this King will establish, through violence, His Kingdom over the earth is offensive to our most sophisticated sensibilities. It is the same revulsion one feels when reaching the end of Lewis’s That Hideous Strength. It is impossible to not wonder along with Mrs. Dimble whether the brutality of Merlin was a bit too uncompromising. In similar fashion, the notion of a King remains too unsophisticated, too archaic for our democratic, egalitarian ears. The presence of a King means the presence of an authority which cannot be challenged, a difficult doctrine to those trained in the art of questioning authority as a means of escaping it.

Yet the Kingdom is among us, and it awaits its fulfillment. Logres and Britian stand in tension with each other–the Kingdom of God is not, and cannot be the Kingdom of Man. Neither can the Kingdom of God merely baptize the Kingdom of Man. The Kingdom of Man must be undone, and so the King must come again. It is His Kingdom, He alone can establish it. The King of the Gospels, the Dying King, is the same One who is given authority over all things.

So what is left for us? As Joshua spoke to the people of Israel, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve.” We have the opportunity to join in the Army of God, and to fight the forces of Britian and of Evil here and now, in the battles that precede the end. Yet we are not ready for the end. Instead, the work left for us is to obey and wait, to watch and pray.

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
–The Book of Common Prayer

As my brother points out, Rossi’s maintained a forty-two vote lead in the Washington gubenatorial race recount.

Interesting quote from Gregoire in her statement (as published by Bloomberg):

“Voters have a sacred right to have their ballots counted. That’s been our goal throughout this process,” Gregoire said in a statement. “We want every vote to be counted. But that hasn’t happened yet.”

Sacred right? Sacred right? I am intrigued to know my brother’s (promised) thoughts on this issue–what does ground the right to vote, anyway? I’m all for Democracy, but I’m suspicious of those who equate Democracy with religion. Here’s for a strong division between Church and State, at least until the Kingdom comes.

Blogging has been sparse lately. I’ve been drowned in a downpour of term papers, reflection papers, and (seemingly) every other kind of paper. I’ll be here this week, which will make updating even more sporatic. In the meantime, read this criticism of analytic philosophy.

Sleep.

New research “proves” that thinking people sleep more soundly. Hmmmm…….maybe this means that people generally aren’t thinking.

Oh, and compared to the magazine, the Psychology Today website is bland and colorless. Apparently they really want you to subscribe!

They are a blowin.

I have just spent an hour attempting to find anything about this weeks Evangelical Theological Society meeting in San Antonio and have found nothing substantial. Apparently, the live-blogging phenomena has reached the classroom but not the lecture hall. Evangelicals are, once again, behind the times.

Rumor has it that J.P. Moreland and Albert Mohler delivered stinging rebukes of post-modern theology. A professor who just returned (I picked him up from the airport) said that Moreland’s criticisms were particularly severe. He (allegedly) included a challenge: if anyone could defeat his arguments, they should publish it so he could respond.

Yes, it’s hearsay, but it’s downright interesting and I will work on substantiating it as soon as I can. Moreland is a hero of mine. He’s never been afraid to call out the sins of the age (and of Biola!) and it sounds as though he has done it again, only on a broader scale. I’ll post confirmation just as soon as someone publishes something about it.

Personal friend and friend of Torrey Nancey Pearcey is getting press for her latest book, Total Truth. She’s secured a C-SPAN2 spot to talk about it. Total Truth offers the best explanation possible for why Kerry manages to be a Catholic while still supporting abortion. In short, he adopted the Fact/Value division and relegated his faith to the private sector. This was never so obvious as when he was questioned about it in the second(?) debate. Pearcey argues that once the Fact/Value split is adopted, religious claims (of any sort!) automatically lose credence in the public square. Pearcey also gives an excellent history of the evangelical movement. It’s brief, but insightful and illuminating, particularly if you are interested in the origins of evangelical anti-intellectualism.

It’s been some months since I have read it–I read an advanced copy–but I would recommend it to anyone interested in cultural analysis. Pearcey has her finger on the cultural pulse of America, and analyzes it (to mix metaphors!) as well as anyone.

That’s right.

It’s the Blessed Virgin Grilled Cheese Sandwhich and it can be yours for (currently) $69,107.

I knew the Catholic Church has talked about promoting Mary’s status to “co-redemptrix” with Christ, but this is taking it a bit far. Communion would never be the same…

Update: I added the link (which I forgot to do earlier). Only 4 days and 20 hours left, and it’s still the same price. Compare this running tally with these. Hey, some of us have different………..tastes.

Update 2: The selling price has been reduced as the BVGCS has gained national attention. The rules for bidding are a lot more strict as well. You still have time–it’s only at $7,600. At her return rate ($70,000 at local casinos in 10 years of ownership), it’s a better investment than a Roth IRA.

In other news, Bill get’s spam. Lots of it. MontyPythonesque amounts.

Allow me to echo my brother’s sentiments:

There is simply too much to do.

Sadly, he’s raised the bar on blogging: it’s now a “moral obligation…to blog constantly, blog well.”

Thanks, Jim. Now I’ve got to add repentance to my list.

It’s unbelievable how pregnant my soul is with thought.

Yes, that’s a very Platonic thing to say, but I’ve just spent 15 hours reading Plato. So there.

The weekend was unbelievable. I would love to turn the spoken logos into the written logos, but am finding myself (at this hour, at least) completely incapable. There is a summary here.

Why would the Philosopher-King cease looking at the forms to descend into the cave again? Why did the Demiurge create the world to begin with?

Answers. We’ve been given them. Or rather “it.” Or better, Him.

Thanks be to God our Father, who created us, and to His Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed us, and to the Holy Spirit, who helps us walk in the way of Holiness and Truth.

Tonight’s major revelation:

I am not a Platonist. Fundamentally, I think Good is not “beyond” Being. I do not see how this can be coherent.

Details to follow. Time for bed.