“Honoring Christ as holy gives us the willingness to suffer because it cuts the taproot of that which undermines so much of our apologetic practice—simple fear of man. @dzrishmawy.bsky.social www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/hono...

Tremendous book so far

Recent reads

Very good by @musaalgharbi.bsky.social musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/smart-peop... Being “smart” as an intellectual liability.

God does not rest on the seventh day simply to recover from the work he has done. Rather, rest is his nature. It completes the creation. It is the essence of creation. Thus, when we subordinate rest to work, we ignore the divine. Byung-Chul Han, Disappearance of Ritual, 36

Congrats to my colleague Kevin Vanhoozer on getting the CT award! I’m honored that Gender as Love was even in the running, even more by the kind words from Brian Brock.

Cate, my 2 year old: why is a panda? Me: yes, that is the metaphysical question. *Why* is the panda?

(First day on the internet): hey guys, what do you think about “Mary did you know?” I kinda like it but maybe she did?

Eventually Christians are gonna be spotted as the people with more than one kid, kids with disabilities that can be detected in utero, and their sickly and elderly still with them.

In light of this sad news, Dr. Ewan Golligher’s 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘦? 𝘈 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯-𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 is an excellent resource. You can hear my conversation with him about it here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d... premierchristian.news/en/news/arti...

If you’re in the pastoral office, it’s probably wise to go through first and second Timothy and Titus at least a couple of times a year, just as a vocational check in.

My latest at The Spectator: Against the new genre of divorce and adultery confessionals. www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

Argue with other Christians, like brothers and sisters. State your case clearly, and yet at the same time in the hope that the Spirit you share will either make their error plain to them or make it plain to you.

You actually just can’t know your Bible too well. You can read it for decade upon decade, and do specialized studies in every book and you’re always gonna come back with something new.

When you go through an identity/ideology shift, there are a few people who will annoy you as much as the person who believes what you did like five minutes ago.

I never knew what accounted for adults threatening to “take your nose” as a child. But now, as a father, I find myself unaccountably unable to stop taking my little girl’s nose. It is perfect and eminently stealable.

Part of the holiness of God means he is this particular God, the Holy One of Israel, who has acted in particular ways in history like the exodus and the exile. And he’s spoken in particular ways as in the 10 Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. much harder to put words into his mouth.

People have no qualms with a “Higher Power” that is functionally powerless and/or over which they can exert power (i.e., manipulate).

I know people have a metaphysical problem with the idea of a “interventionist” God, and I get the logic. I think it’s wrong, but I get it. Fundamentally, tho I wonder if we don’t like the idea of an interventionist God because that one can interfere with our plans.

This is a very good post, but my only thought here is that I think it’s a false dichotomy. Sam is not describing something other than political idolatry, but what political idolatry cashes out in: it looks like inevitable, boredom with the world outside of it and addiction.

This tracks with my prior reading of Peterson. A few points: 1. This is not new. There is a deep allergy to history at the core of some streams of Western culture. On which, see Michael Horton's recent "Shaman and Sage." Peterson just is the most recent iteration of a very old trend.

I don’t know how many college kids I talk to who are a mess inside, unsure of who they are, where they’re going, and what they should do. Telling them to go deeper into the chaos to find an answer is a recipe for more anxiety and paralysis.

This is the tip of a larger iceberg. I get into a few related patterns here. theopolisinstitute.com/twin-nativit...

Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭91‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭

“It takes more time and effort and delicacy to learn the silence of a people than to learn its sounds ... The learning of the grammar of silence is an art much more difficult to learn than the grammar of sounds.” — Ivan Illich, "The Eloquence of Silence"

Definitely a liability if we are overly online. Everything can be interpreted through the lens of virtual political squabbles. Having lots of offline non-politicized things that we care about is a very important part of healthy practice and 'conservative' in the best sense of the term.

🎄 Just a few days left to pre-order "Advent Homilies"! 17 sermons from St. Augustine to fill you with wonder this Christmas season.

playing Battleship with a child without saying "Your turn"

Therapy isn’t bad, but our ideas of what therapy is and is supposed to do have radically changed. mereorthodoxy.com/the-christia...

Just because, here is a lecture I gave a while back on the holiness of God. Sort of distilled a bunch of my dissertation research (though, it has moved on since then), and situated it pastorally. How does the Holiness of God hit our Secular Age. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuMC...

I also want to recommend going on walks with your little kids on a Monday morning. That is also very good.

The basic worldview Genesis 1 provides is necessary to the practice of science as we know it. As Alvin Plantinga suggests, the deep conflict between Christianity and science is only superficial. There’s actually deep concord. www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/scie...

Augustine: "Christ as God is the home country we are going to; Christ as man is the way we are going by. It's to him we are going, by him we are going"

I will say I do not like having to start completely fresh. Just a little fresh.

Shut it down now

Best teaching commentary on Galatians? And best one to hand a student small group leader? @zugzwanged.bsky.social @jenwilkin.bsky.social

The more frequently people attend religious services, the less liberal they are. And that's not just true for white people. It's all true for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and everyone else.

Me when I write a book about how social media deforms us but then also sign up for Bluesky

Sunday afternoon walks with the children are good. Yea, very good.

My first “womp womp” post about the site I have seen here is by Sam and I enjoy that. It is fitting.

What have I done?