As the idea of homosexual marriage has become increasingly acceptable in American culture and as the legal institutions have begun to accommodate it, it has become increasingly popular among evangelical Christians to argue for a complete separation of Church and State on the issue of marriage. In a surprising twist, the patron saint of their [...]
Archive for June, 2008
June 30, 2008
2
The (Mis)Use of C.S. Lewis by Christian Libertarians
By Matthew Lee Anderson in Christianity and Culture
June 22, 2008
1
This Year in Jerusalem
By Tex in TravelAh, summer…a time of year to kick back, relax, sip some lemonade by the pool, and enjoy the slower pace of life. Maybe for some, but this year I’m doing everything I can to learn, travel, and think as much as possible before the cold snows of my hometown and the capricious whims of Uncle [...]
June 18, 2008
1
Music and the Soul
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, Music, Theology, Theology (Church)We’re living in a time when there is a manifest crisis of worship in the church. It’s almost as if we’re in the midst of a rebellion among people who find church less than meaningful. They’re bored. They see the experience of Sunday morning as an exercise in irrelevance. As a reaction against that, it [...]
June 16, 2008
3
Marriage: A Contract or Status?
By Matthew Lee Anderson in Christianity and CultureReading Jason Kuznicki and D.A. Ridgely’s recent posts about marriage made me curious about the historical developments in the American legal understanding of marriage. Kuznicki: Ultimately, I’d like civil marriage simply to be a form of contract, combined with some clear, legally binding advance directives about property and family affairs. Such an arrangement would have [...]
June 15, 2008
1
The Meaning of Marriage: Jason Kuznicki and Jennifer Roback Morse
By Matthew Lee Anderson in Christianity and CultureThe recent California Supreme Court decision to sanction homosexual marriage has launched the question of the State’s relationship to matrimony back into the public consciousness. Jennifer Roback Morse, who was speaking this last week at Acton, has recently written a provocative defense of traditional marriage. At least Jason Kuznicki of Positive Liberty found it so: [...]
June 13, 2008
8
Imperialism and the Liberal Left
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, EconomicsImperialism is a word most often found in the mouths of green and hip college students, slung about in derision of cold-hearted, greedy conservatives that do little more than suck the life, vitality, and cash out of the world’s “bottom billion.” Haughty sniffs and high blood pressure are usually joined with an emotional harangue lumping [...]
June 13, 2008
1
Uneasy Bedfellows?: Natural Law and Protestant Theology
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, Law, Philosophy, Theology, Theology (Revelation)If there is one idea that comes up in every lecture at Acton University, it is a particular view of the human person mentioned in shorthand as “Christian anthropology.” This view of the human being as a person made in the image of God, made free, and having an essence or nature is integral to [...]
June 12, 2008
1
Sex, Sushi & Salvation (Redux)
By Keith E. D. Buhler in Reviews (Books)“I sense a craving in our churches and youth groups for a deeper union with Christ.” (p.81) In Sex, Sushi, & Salvation Christian George has continued the informal literary tradition of On the Road and Blue Like Jazz to give us an idiosyncratic “storyized” introduction to the basic truths of the Christian worldview. Through a [...]
June 12, 2008
0
Mustafa Akyol on the Basic Compatibility of Islam with Free Market Economy
By Tex in East and West, Economics, IslamA special treat for the attendees of Acton University, Mustafa Akyol delivered a lunch lecture addressing the principles of Islam that are basically compatible with free markets and free societies. While his comments were brief and limited by the restraints of a lunch hour, Akyol delivered a coherent and thoughtful argument based on historical examples [...]
June 12, 2008
0
Christianity and Globalization: A Unity in Diversity
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, International PoliticsThe Judeo-Christian religion has always experienced a tension between expansion and isolation, universality and particularity. From the beginning of the history of the world as outlined in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, we are confronted with a view of mankind that has unity in diversity at its very core. The story of humanity opens in [...]
June 12, 2008
0
The Danger of Misplaced Pity
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, Economics, MissionsI have often found myself banging my head against the wall in frustration with the profligate waste of youthful energy exhibited by groups like Rock the Vote, Green Peace, and other groups that take on grave global issues which, if not obviously immoral are at least examples of injustice or a shriveling of human potential [...]
June 11, 2008
1
Difference: The Opportunity for Love
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, EconomicsA second intriguing idea (read the first here) suggested by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse in her lecture on the Economic Way of Thinking is that whereas politicians, socialists, and all sorts of folks that populate our opinion making industries see difference between individuals as a potential source of conflict, economists (at least those who endorse [...]
June 11, 2008
2
The Economic Way of Thinking
By Tex in Christianity and Culture, Economics, LawDr. Jennifer Roback Morse just delivered a fascinating lecture overviewing the basics of economic thinking. Beginning with the basic premises of economic science, she rapidly moved through the basic methods of economic inquiry, principles that are foundational to the science itself, before ending with a discussion of the basic instituitions of free markets. For someone [...]