Ethics and Culture is a blog by Andrew J. Spencer. (@SpenceSpencer01)
Something has changed in the last decade or so. The change has been unthinkably rapid, incredibly widespread, and dangerously subversive. We've fallen into what Yascha Mounk calls "the identity trap."
Read MoreFive links worth following this week: Two reviews of a new book by Richard and Christopher Hays. An Alan Jacobs review of two annotated Wind and the Willows. Gavin Ortlund talks about fundamentalism. A great gospel work going on in Philly.
Read MoreYears after many of the Zeks––prisoners in the Soviet Union’s gulag system––had been released from their long captivity another round of arrests began. The standard sentence in Stalin’s purge of 1937 was 10 years for presumed political activity. Yet the system demanded so much more than that miserable internment. In 1949 the freed convicts, barely eking out existence as exiles in Siberia, were being absorbed into the Soviet bureaucratic machine once again. It had nothing to do with the people or their behavior, simply that they had once been convicted of political activity and had been born with a particular surname.
Read MoreThere are a host of hot takes coming out of the 2024 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis on June 11th and 12th. Many of them are helpful and many of them are not. Many of the interpretations of the meeting are stilted and simply dishonest. Some of them may reflect a real, but in my view excessive, angst about the decisions the messengers made.
Read MoreThe way we talk about humans also has moral implications, which are more significant than how we treat our pets. In his 2011 book, Less than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others, David Livingstone Smith explores how language changes culture and leads to the justification of extreme violence against others, especially when they become perceived as less than human.
Read MoreThe hope of Christians for creation is not that we will be able to make things entirely correct through our efforts. Rather, we work with the knowledge that we have been given a ministry of reconciliation, which includes all of creation (cf., Col 1:20; 2 Cor 5:16–18). We work toward reconciliation in hope, but recognize that hope will not be fulfilled until Christ comes again. Creation exists in futility in the present age because of God’s curse on creation. (Gen 3:17–19) Our task is to till the ground in hope, making our living, (Gen 3:20) looking forward to the moment when God supernaturally sets everything right.
Read MoreThis transient event was a reminder that there is order in the universe. There is design. Care was taken by a mind to create something that is wonder-full. And, if we’re willing to take a little of our time, we’re likely to get a glimpse of the transcendent even in this world of banal imminence. These moments are gifts from God to draw us out of the ordinary into a sense of awe at his nature. That is something no human mind can deny.
Read MoreMichael Rood of ‘Rood Awakening!’ ministries is careful to distance himself from Pharisaical traditions, but his teaching has more in common with the Judaizers Paul dealt harshly with throughout his life. His message is intended to lead them away from salvation.
Read MoreFor those who love reading and thinking about reading, this book is a delight. Perhaps it will not change the world, but it did enrich my soul.
Read MoreIn both books, Anderson notes that “distinguishing between good and bad questions is like distinguishing good and bad music.” He also highlights the “‘touch’ that separates great pianists from good ones” (Questions, 158; cf. Exploring, 164–65). There is an intangible quality, an eye, or a feel that differentiates the good from the great in every discipline. You can’t checklist your way to the Hall of Fame in a sport, to musical greatness, or to academic excellence. On the other hands, you can often checklist your way to adequacy. And adequacy is a precursor to excellence.
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