Last week I had a virtual sit-down with a couple of my favorite writers from across the pond–Andrew Wilson and Alastair Roberts–and had a chat. Not only that, we recorded it and gave it a fancy name: “Casting Across the Pond.” That’s right kids, it’s our first podcast.
In this episode we take some time to talk about the connection between Jesus, the Old Testament, and our use of problem texts in our conversations on things like, say, the death penalty. It was a great convo and me excited for what’s to come.
You can find it here at Mere Orthodoxy, where Matt Anderson has graciously demanded that it be hosted. Please give it a listen and maybe share it with some friends. Thanks!!
I was going to write something this 4th of July, but I decided not to. It’s been a busy week already. Maybe next year. Still, as our nation celebrates Independence, I figured I’d offer up a few helpful links for your consideration:
First, Ryan Hoselton over at Christ and Pop Culture gives us a quick history lesson and reminds us:
On July 4th, Americans will wave our flags proudly, belt out our national songs triumphantly, and consume our barbecue and lemonade a little too freely. Why? Because we live in America, the best nation this planet has had the privilege to host. I’m grateful to be an American, and I enjoy the many freedoms and benefits that come with my citizenship. Nonetheless, our nation’s history has a track record for taking patriotism beyond gratitude and into nationalist idolatry. Many Americans through the years have harvested a superiority complex—a mentality and posture that has been harmful to our country and others. Patting our backs for our supreme eminence is not how we should be celebrating this holiday.
Brett McCracken offers up a defense of patriotism as nostalgia for home:
Patriotism is more existential than ideological, I think. It’s less about propagandistic justification for “exceptionalism-oriented” foreign policy (though it can be this) than it is a natural feeling of admiration and nostalgia for the place we call home.
My buddy Carson T. Clark offers up his annual downer of a post exposing 10 Myths about Independence Day (read at risk to your good mood):
This week a lot of American Christians are experiencing a patriotic fervor that’s premised upon historical falsehoods concerning our country’s origin. Let’s correct some of those misconceptions, shedding light on the Top 10 most unsightly facts that most of these folks haven’t heard, or refuse to acknowledge, about our country’s war for independence.
To lift your spirits, the best version of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” by Page CXVI. This one has been stripped of some the more nationally-idolatrous verses and is simply beautiful:
Finally, an apostolic injunction for Christians looking be faithful to King Jesus in the way they relate to their nation:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2, ESV)
I don’t care how obvious or cliche this is–this is Gladiator.
Is the legal and political downstream from culture, or vice versa? That’s the debate going on in religious conservative circles today. A rising number of voices, mostly in reaction to the excesses and missteps of the Religious Right, have been arguing that religious conservatives have been largely blind to the way that culture is upstream from law. In an effort to secure legal ground against progressive advances, the Right was ceding the deeper war for the imagination and affections of the populace. Gay marriage is an obvious example of this. As social conservatives secured dozens of temporary political victories, the vision of the general population was being captured through media narratives that were laying the groundwork for the generation-shaping, sea-change in popular opinion we’ve witnessed in the last few years.
While many of us might have been nodding our heads in agreement with this line of critique over the last couple of years, a jaunt into early church history might complicate the picture a bit. Peter Leithart’s fascinating cultural analysis of the Roman spectacles and their proscription by Constantine in Defending Constantine: The Twilight of An Empire and the Dawn of Christendom suggests a more intricate relationship between the two spheres than any strict dichotomy can capture.
You can read the rest of the piece here at Mere Orthodoxy.
So, I wrote a piece a while back on the way looking at our lives in the narrative key shapes the way we understand our moral situation. After some tuning up and heavy editing, Matthew Lee Anderson was kind enough to give me the honor of publishing it over at Mere Orthodoxy. You can read it HERE.
Reformedish 