Worth Reading - 9/20/24
Here are a few links worth following this week:
Matthew Arbo writes about the need for Protestant ethicists and the challenge those ethicists face:
“It often seems that protestants do not really understand what Christian ethics is, as a theological discipline or reasoning practice. I’ve heard all manner of definitions. The most common equate ethics with personal piety, which is unquestionably part but by no means the whole of Christian ethics. ”
2. Denny Burk raises valid questions about the use of deceit in the culture wars. A trend that is growing among self-styled Christian conservatives, and which they attempt to justify biblically:
“Nothing could be clearer from Scripture than our obligation to speak the truth. Over the centuries, Christians have thought long and hard about what our moral obligation is if speaking the truth conflicts with another moral duty. I happen to hold the view known as non-contradicting absolutism, which says that moral norms only come into apparent conflict but never into actual conflict. If we understood the situation and our duties correctly, we would see that there is a way of escape no matter the situation (see 1 Corinthians 10:13).”
3. Obbie Todd calls for greater nuance in reading historically:
“Many American historians today suffer from the same condition we’re witnessing in contemporary politics: being overly simplistic. Their narratives are too flat. Their figures are either good or bad, their plots boil down to having too much power or not enough, and their histories are either polemical or hagiographic. The founding fathers were either evangelical Christians who desired God’s glory above all or white supremacists motivated solely by self-interest and the perpetuation of slavery. Abraham Lincoln was either a radical abolitionist or a tyrant. Social reformers were either anarchists or champions of universal human equality.
These kinds of dualistic narratives sometimes feel more like the Star Wars universe than American history. But that’s not real life. Americans who fought against prejudice often had their own prejudices. People who were oppressed often oppressed others. Theologians with great ideas often didn’t live up to those ideas. If we don’t have nuance (and an eye for irony), history can leave us starry-eyed at the past and discouraged by the present.”
4. A grippingly personal article from James Wood about his shift away from personal autonomy.
“What I needed was not freedom from others, retaining an easy opt-out clause for every relationship. What I needed was a relationship with the one who is “nearer to me than I am to myself,” as Augustine said, and whose love frees me to know and be known by others, a freedom that leads to mutual service (Gal. 5). I needed freedom in fellowship, not freedom from commitment and obligation. I am so glad I have found it in the church. It’s what I pray for others, what I desire for everyone whose grasped-for “freedom” has gone sour, whose lack of tether has led them to the end of themselves. You are not your own; you are not alone.”
5. Brett McCracken talks about Metamodernism in detail in this interview:
Do you love C. S. Lewis? Read these essays about the Christian Mind based on Lewis’s work:
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Reading your Bible is a battle. There’s a reason why Paul lists Scripture as the sword of the Spirit in his discussion of the armor of God (Eph. 6:17). More even than that, Scripture reveals God’s character and is, thus, central to worshiping well (Psalm 119). That’s why reading the Bible is a battle.