Ethics and Culture

28/11/2023

Sometimes our Christianity can come to feel like a burden instead of a blessing. We are freed in Christ from the eternal penalty of our sin, but the process of sanctification continually reminds us of the weight of our continued sin. John reminds us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 Jn 1:8)

We are sinful people and yet Jesus calls us to “be perfect, as [our] heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48) As the reformers noted, we are simul iustus et pecattor––at once justified and a sinner.

How do we respond to this tension in our spiritual existence?

Kevin DeYoung’s book, Impossible Christianity is intended as a help to those who feel like living the faithful Christian life is really an unachievable burden. That isn’t the way this life ought to be. As Jesus reminds us, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:30)

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28/11/2023

Impossible Christianity isn’t DeYoung’s sexiest work. It is clearly and solidly written. It can be read in a couple of hours or subdivided to be consumed over a few days. It tends to be more sermonic than ground-breaking. Nevertheless, it is a good and helpful book. This is the sort of book that would be a great gift for the struggling parent of young children wondering how the treadmill of dishes, laundry, activities, and meals could matter in eternity. This is the sort of book that can serve as a reminder to those who are not leading ministries that their contributions are vitally important. Impossible Christianity offers a kind word for those who are struggling to find meaning in the repetition of daily life. As such, it is a valuable book for the church.

Kevin DeYoung’s book, ‘Impossible Christianity’ is intended as a help to those who feel like living the faithful Christian life is really an unachievable burden. That isn’t the way this life ought to be. As Jesus reminds us, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:30)

11/11/2023

I had the chance to interview a historian about his recent book on the History of Christianity in Wales. The book was engaging and encouraging--God did some amazing things through the tiny nation of Wales.

Never before has the whole story of Wales’s Christian past been told in one volume and in the English language.

31/10/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/how-the-west-got-weirder

Wilson’s book has explanatory power. Though it weighs in at nearly 300 pages of text, it is an engaging read.

24/10/2023

Guardrails keep us on the pathway. They prevent us from falling off the cliff. They give us comfort that, though the paneling on our car may be damaged, if we slip on the icy road, yet we will not die. A mountain road without those guardrails leaves us with a much greater fear. And that fear brings with it a greater pain. We experience that pain whether or not the worst happens, because we know there is a much higher likelihood that it will.

A review of 'A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits,' by Ashley Hales. (2021, IVP)

03/10/2023

More than a decade into our home education experience, Macauley’s book fairly represents what we have been trying to do. I commend For the Children’s Sake to parents trying to figure out how to make a choice about educational methodologies. The Charlotte Mason approach is worth consideration, at least. Macauley is realistic about the approach. She repeatedly notes areas in which she didn’t always get it right, because any educational process entails imperfect humans helping imperfect humans to learn. But she also provides illustrations of ways that her chosen approach can be self-correcting.

An overview and encouragement for the Charlotte Mason approach of education in the home or in a school.

19/09/2023

As a society, we need to think about the costs that technological expectations place on all of us. We need to think about how poor infrastructure exacts a permanent tax on each household. It may be that costly bike/walking trails and real bike lanes on roads could open up opportunities for reduced economic burdens in the long run. It may be that the cost of printing hard copies of things and not using the latest whizz-bang app could lower entry requirements for society.

As a society, we need to think about the costs that technological expectations place on all of us. We need to think about how poor infrastructure exacts a permanent tax on each household. It may be that costly bike/walking trails and real bike lanes on roads could open up opportunities for reduced e

12/09/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/school-and-wonder-at-gods-creation

Whether we are studying the interaction of heavenly bodies, the multiplication tables, or the differences between a noun and a pronoun, we should never cease to consider the big picture. The God who created all things did so with order and continues to maintain the world in that order. Our response

29/08/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/bavinck-helps-solve-the-riddle-of-life

For those seeking a new tool in their arsenal to encourage young believers to stay and others to come to faith, The Riddle of Life provides another solid option.

22/08/2023

It would be interesting to see the results of a “person on the street” poll of self-identified evangelical Christians on the question, “What is the most significant threat to the church?” I have a sneaking suspicion that the results would be much more indicative of the sources of media is most popular among the surveyed population than a real threat. Is the biggest threat CRT (are we even talking about that anymore?), “wokeism” (whatever that is), the effects of the sexual revolution, corporate greed and capitalism, political and social persecution of Christians, sexual abuse?

The greatest threat to the church is adoption of materialistic comforts as the priority instead of pursuing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

01/08/2023

This is a book that offers encouragement to those early in their Alzheimer’s journey. There is dignity for those who suffer from the malady. Subtly, Martin encourages readers to examine the assumption that we are our memories and that we cease to be who we are as a result of cognitive decline. Kathleen’s distinct personality remains with her to the end; that offers hope for all parties in the face of diagnosis.

This is a book that offers encouragement to those early in their Alzheimer’s journey. There is dignity for those who suffer from the malady. Kathleen’s distinct personality remains with her to the end; that offers hope for all parties in the face

25/07/2023

Putting the Socratic method to work to develop curiosity is a good thing. Encouraging honest exploring of different viewpoints among people of all ages would improve our discourse. As Socrates’s life demonstrates, the toxic discourse is nothing new.

Putting the Socratic method to work to develop curiosity is a good thing. Encouraging honest exploring of different viewpoints among people of all ages would improve our discourse. As Socrates’s life demonstrates, the toxic discourse is nothing new. Aside from the potential for Utilitarianism to b...

18/07/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/glorify-god-by-thinking-well

If we learned how to ask better questions of Scripture in our Bible studies, we might get beyond “What does this passage mean to you?” to ask why Peter quotes so much from the Old Testament. Persistence in pursuing clear lines of question, researching, and moving to the next step might get us fr...

10/07/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/i-met-reality-while-riding-on-a-lion

In The Lion’s Country: C. S. Lewis’s Theory of the Real, Charlie Starr wades into deep water with Narnia creator. His book helps uncover a unified theme in Lewis’s work, pointing toward the objective moral order of the universe. The book provides some concrete forms for daunting, abstract ques...

04/07/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/a-balanced-portrait-of-a-flawed-saint

Austen does not dig for unnecessary dirt and seek to discredit Elisabeth Elliot or those around her. However, she does present a more complete picture of the strengths and weaknesses of this formidable woman than Vaughn does. Elliot was far from perfect, but she was still used by God.

20/06/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/remembering-the-soviet-century

Books like The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World, by Karl Schlögel offer a window into a past that threatens to be misrepresented.

11/06/2023

There is no question that my absolute favorite part of the annual meeting of the SBC is meeting with my friends who are serving Christ around the globe. But the friendliness and sharing isn’t limited to those we already know. Every messenger in that room has the most important thing in common. We all share a love for Jesus Christ and a desire to see his name made great. We may have differing opinions on how to go about that mission. Some of those differences may be more or less important. At the end of the day, I’ve never found anyone at the convention that doesn’t want to talk about God’s work in their corner of the world.

Every messenger at the SBC has the most important thing in common. We all share a love for Jesus Christ and a desire to see his name made great.

05/06/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/slogans-culture-war-from-a-distance

How many ideas have we absorbed from our culture without considering the underlying logic? Some may be good, but some may be wicked.

23/05/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/in-defense-of-the-great-conversation

The point Montás makes well is that there is value for everyone in exploring significant works by great minds. There is value in a core curriculum that exposes students to thinkers who aren’t like them and have different ideas about the world.

15/05/2023

http://www.ethicsandculture.com/blog/2023/creative-productivity-through-rest

There are thousands of books about trying to crack the productivity code. As someone who feels perpetually busy, with more books to read than I could ever actually consume and more dreams that I have life for, the desire to be more efficient and more effective has a real weight. After all, there is

01/05/2023

Brooks argues that to age gracefully we must adapt our expectations. It simply isn’t feasible for a fifty year old to expect the same results with the same effort as someone in their mid-twenties. In fact, we are likely to work ourselves to death is we try to even those things out. That is why burnout around middle age is so common. Rather than crash and burn, we should attempt to adjust our expectations gradually. We should remember that we are going to die and live with both the anticipation of what that means and the realization of the limitations that brings. As a result, we should focus more on deep relationships, our spiritual journey (which for Brooks is a blend of Eastern religion and Roman Catholicism), be honest about our changing expectations with those around, and ultimately look for new opportunities that can best use our changing abilities.

Getting old is not for wimps, as the saying goes. I was about thirty when changing my sleep patterns to do rotating shiftwork became much more difficult. In the past decade or so I’ve found it more challenging to read and absorb as fast as I used to. (To be fair, that may have more to do with my s...

11/04/2023

This book offers a good introduction into Plantinga’s work. For scholars working their way into philosophy on their own, Welty’s volume offers handholds to find a way into the work of a premier Christian philosopher. This was an encouraging volume as again and again it became clear that Christianity is intellectually credible and that we have good reasons to believe, whatever the world may say.

Though he is not a household name in most circles, Alvin Plantinga is a major figure in Christian academics. He is the sort of scholar who was able to be at the top of his  non-theological field as a Christian while arguing for an explicit Christian perspective. That is, Plantinga was a phi

21/03/2023

Tolkien is popular because he points to something deep and meaningful. For many years I struggled to articular why I read The Hobbit dozens of times and have read The Lord of the Rings about once a year for many years. Kreeft provides an easier path to understanding the powerful vision under the surface of The Lord of the Rings that draws thoughtful readers back again and again. It isn’t simply that Tolkien wrote with a greater detail and presented a more thoroughly consistent world than any other fantasy writer. Rather, it is that the world he created is overlaid on the greatest and truest myth there ever was—Christianity. Tolkien’s creation points toward reality as it really is and as it is described by Christianity.

There are many who have fallen into the well of wonder in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and not considered why the story is so compelling. Many of those who have fallen in love with Tolkien’s world have never asked why the story is so compelling, why the world seems so unfathomably deep, and w...

13/03/2023

The book is slender. This new edition, with a foreword by Matthew Lee Anderson, and a new afterword by the author, is only a little over one hundred pages. It is carefully argued and likely a bit dense for those not familiar with this sort of moral reasoning. The book, however, is well worth the time it takes to read it. Davenant Institute has done a remarkable service in producing a second edition of an increasingly important book.

De-Fragmenting Modernity - A Review February 20, 2023 by Andrew Spencer in Book Review Paul Tyson’s 2017 book, De-fragmenting Modernity: Reintegrating Knowledge with Wisdom, Belief with Truth, and Reality with Being, is a place for those trying to bring order back to the modern world. This is not ...

20/02/2023

Tyson is critical of modernity. Here he joins a line of other voices, which includes those who would like to return to some sort of pre-medieval synthesis and those who think that even the misshapen constraints of modernity are too restrictive. Tyson deals less with the cultural impacts of modernity than he does with the philosophical roots of modernity. The beginning of an answer to what ails modernity, according to Tyson, is restoring the concept of ontology (the study of being) to the cultural imagination and then bringing being, wisdom, and truth back together in conversation. This process begins with the reconstruction of basic cultural assumptions, which begins by recognizing one’s hidden preconceptions and then trying to reconcile them with another set. The challenge is real.

Paul Tyson’s 2017 book, De-fragmenting Modernity: Reintegrating Knowledge with Wisdom, Belief with Truth, and Reality with Being , is a place for those trying to bring order back to the modern world. This is not a book for the philosophical novice, and even those familiar with language like episte

14/02/2023

Whether you read these plays in preparation for Easter or at another point during the year, it will be spiritually beneficial. If this is your first time through The Man Born to be King, feel free to skip the front matter and notes to dive into the text. However, for those who are interested in the story behind the text, what Wehr provides through her annotations is well worth the time to pause and investigate. This new volume is solid scholarship accompanying a remarkable text. It should be read well and widely.

In the midst of World War II in the U.K. and all the drama that it entailed, there was some additional drama about a drama. At the center of the hubbub was novelist, playwright, and translator Dorothy L. Sayers. Perhaps best known for her detective novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, Sayers was als

30/01/2023

In The Ethics of Authenticity, Taylor discusses three malaises of modernity: (1) Individualism; (2) The primacy of instrumental reasoning; and (3) The soft despotism of systems that are trying to maintain modernity’s grip. Individualism is, Taylor recognizes, both a major accomplishment of modernity and one of its most troubling attributes. It is a good thing that the personhood and agency of an individual has been recognized and greater freedom has come to make real human progress. At the same time, the loss of the sense of belonging, of purpose, and of one’s proper place within the cosmos was swept away by what has become, in more extreme iterations, an existentialism full of dread.

Charles Taylor is one of the critics of modernity whose work cannot be avoided. Taylor’s framework for understanding contemporary Western culture has been invoked, discussed, or critiqued widely in past few decades.

17/01/2023

On Getting Out of Bed is an encouraging book. It is the sort of book that Christians should read to better understand the struggles of others, but also to have a better theology of suffering and hope before their own day of struggles arise. There is a persistent theme of hope throughout the book. The message is that the fight is hard but worth it. This book, which is Noble’s third, is the best of them so far. The social commentary he offers in Disruptive Witness and You are Not Your Own is important. The practical hope he writes about in On Getting Out of Bed is the antidote to many of the malaises that modernity has afflicted us with. In short, this is a book that Christians should be familiar with. Pastors should have extra copies to give away. It would be a good book to study in a small group from time to time. This will likely be the best and most useful new book I encounter this year.

Anyone who lives long enough will come to the day they aren’t sure if getting out of bed is worth it. Maybe it won’t be getting out of bed per se , but perhaps persisting in daily activity in the face of a difficult monotony.

10/01/2023

What if sometimes the quitting is the best way to make progress in life? Annie Duke’s recent book, Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, is about looking at quitting in a different way and recognizing that sometimes it is really the best choice available. Duke was once a professional poker player. She recognizes, as Kenny Rogers used to sing, “You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” One of the basic skills every poker player needs to have is recognizing when the odds are stacking against you and folding the hand. Quit is really about learning to recognize when it is time to step away from a hand so that you can play another hand. It’s about learning when to quit.

Quitters never win and winners never quit. At least, that’s what I’ve heard many times so far in my middle-aged existence. Many of the cultural myths that we celebrate tell the stories of underdogs who didn’t quit when they were up against unthinkable odds and someone came through. Stories lik...

04/01/2023

The book begins by outlining many of the reasons why we are unsettled. Crouch notes loneliness, isolation, and a radical shift from the way of life that humanity has existed in for millennia. We have become largely anonymous. Ironically, in a world where there is very little privacy, we are truly known by very few people. One of the negative results of a great deal of technology has been the loss of dependence of people on one another. According to Crouch, we have traded in our personhood for power.

As we navigate modernity, sometimes it is hard to know what we are looking for. What is it that we are seeking? Andy Crouch pursues that question in his recent book, The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World . Crouch, who was a one-time editor-in-chief of Chris

26/12/2022

The wisdom pyramid is helpful. It may not perfectly reflect the opportunities we have, but it should be something we aspire to replicate. Our problem is that most of us have reversed the pyramid. We live online and dabble in the others. It’s a good thought to try to wean ourselves off our phones and the internet (except my blog, of course), and spend more time at the bottom of the pyramid. After all, we should be seeking wisdom. And wisdom is best found in the words of the author of the universe. Indeed, where else shall we go, for Christ has the words of eternal life? (John 6:68)

We don’t hear as much about wisdom these days in modern discourse. We hear about expertise, eloquence, and clarity. None of those three things are bad things in and of themselves, but they are a far cry from wisdom. Any good Bible reader can tell you that wisdom is a good thing. Wisdom is person

19/12/2022

Liddell’s life is more than interesting; it is convicting. That he seemed to be just as much at his best in a prison camp as he was in a relaxing situation is a testament to his character. His character is one that Christians should seek to emulate.

Reading biographies of significant Christians can be encouraging. The sorts of people about whom biographies are written are often those through whom God has done some impressive things. Sometimes the study of such Christians is a good reminder that God can do great things through ordinary, flawed p

24/05/2022

Not everyone has the advantage of being homeschooled, having parents who teach and emphasize learning, or that have excelled in school and are able to help break down mental barriers when they arise. A Mind for Numbers is a treasure for those who are trying to figure out studying on their own, attempting to help a student grow when they aren’t really good students themselves, or looking for ways to restructure curriculum to set students up for success. The target audience of the book is high schoolers, but this is the sort of volume that is useful for college students or adult learners trying to retool for a better career, get a new certificate, or conquer a challenge that previously defeated them. Oakley’s story is intriguing. Though she is now and engineering professor, she once believed she was incapable of doing math. At some point along the way, a family crisis led to an untimely move with an unhelpful teacher in a new school, all of which resulted in Oakley missing some key links in her mathematical understanding that made it hard for her to follow along in later efforts in the subject. Her natural reaction was the “sour grapes” approach, where she decided that math just wasn’t her thing and that was ok because it was a dumb subject anyway. She later enlisted in the Army, became a language specialist, earned a degree in Slavic languages, but came to realize that the career opportunities in that narrow field were quite limited. So, she decided to see if she could retrain herself to love math, and she pursued a degree in engineering. The end result being a lot of work to learn how to learn, a PhD in engineering, and a deep interested in the learning process. Much of A Mind for Numbers is really just a plan to become a better student through better time management and prioritization techniques. There are no gimmicks about doing special online puzzles to improve spatial reasoning or whatever. Oakley offers explanations on why starting with easy problems, working examples in the textbook, and doing least-liked jobs first are part of getting through new or difficult subjects.

I have heard many people argue they can never succeed in a certain field of study because, they say, “I’m just not a math person.” The idea is that there are fields of knowledge that it requires some innate set of skills to gain any sort of foothold. For the sake of debate, we might set aside ...

17/05/2022

The book is a middle grade level chapter book that follows twins, Nomi and Emmet, as they have a wild adventure where they get sucked into stories that turn out to be part of the biblical story line. There’s a little bit of mystery, a little bit of Never Ending Story, some repentance and moral truth telling, along with unmistakable elements of biblical theology. The story is carried along with riddles that will likely seem transparent to an educated reader, but which will be engaging for the 9-13 year-old target audience. There are twenty-five concise chapters that keep the plot moving along in the 135 page volume. Readers that have cut their teeth on The Mysterious Benedict Society and similar tomes will find this book a light snack in comparison. But there is some meat in the content, so the authors included a Reader’s Guide at the end that helps make clear the symbolism for kids that need a little help putting the pieces together.

How do you get biblical theology to your children? For those of us committed to discipling our children by helping them understand the big picture of Scripture as one narrative of God’s providence from creation to the fall, then through his redemption and final consummation, this can be a daunting

02/05/2022

The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis is an instructive book that may serve for some readers as an introduction to sources often unknown to contemporary readers. For those coming to Lewis anew, being pointed to Boethius and Dante, for example, may open up new worlds for explorations and broader reading lists for continued digging. Baxter’s book is a good one. It is thoroughly readable and can be consumed by someone without an advanced degree in literature, philosophy, or theology. It is engaging and carefully constructed. For those that love C. S. Lewis, it is a welcome exploration in a cherished topic. This is a book that belongs on the shelf of the Lewis scholar, the teacher hoping to get a student engaged in some deeper thinking. More significantly, it belongs in the hands of a reader hoping to be delighted and broadened through the reading experience.

For some people another book about C. S. Lewis leaves them scratching their head wondering what else there is to say. For other people new analysis of Lewis’ grocery shopping habits would be a must read. I can say that I am much closer to being in the second camp than the first, though I have reac...

18/04/2022

t’s challenging to sum up the contents simply, but it might be fair to say that, having looked at modernity’s answers to life’s most pressing questions, Chesterton is explaining why Christianity provides the best description for the world as it exists. He begins by showing the circularity of materialistic arguments for the world and the better answer he found in Christianity. The argument moves on from there. This isn’t a typical apologetics book, but trust me, it’s worth your while. The latest edition of Orthodoxy from B&H is worth the money. It is a handsome edition and the notes add value rather than distracting from the quality of the text. If you haven’t read it at all, get some version of the book and pick it up. You’ll thank me later.

If you haven’t read G. K. Chesterton, you should take the opportunity to do so. He’s humorous, incisive, perceptive, witty, and a fierce defender of the Christian faith. Chesterton’s Everlasting Man is one of the volumes that contributed to the conversion of C. S. Lewis. Some find his contrari...

11/04/2022

One of the interesting benefits of reading a book like this over thirty years old is that it skips a generation. The authors that I recognize are mainly the ones still being discussed today, so Schall’s reading lists can point us back to older books of substances that may further help clear away the cobwebs of the contemporary cacophony. There is nothing new under the sun, but Schall provides access to the ongoing debates that doesn’t include the gaps and blind spots of the latest cycle of blogs.

The Preacher who gave us Ecclesiastes famously wrote, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecc 1:9) This is true in many arenas, but those who read old books will find it true of controversies, antagonisms, and the...

04/04/2022

Homeschool continues to grow in popularity. Some of this is due to curriculum concerns. Some due to COVID protocols and the unpredictability of schools that continue to alternate between in person and remote learning. Others, I think, have leaned toward homeschooling because the homebound instruction during the earliest stages of the pandemic showed them that parent-led learning was possible. There are many reasons to homeschool, but I think the best reasons include it being a form of learning that fits the needs of the student. So, for example, it may be better for a student with special needs to get the attention available from a local public school. Or, for a parent and child whose personalities clash, it may be better to commit to a private religious school. For those of us that have options, it is good to consider which one serves the student the best.

Homeschool continues to grow in popularity. Some of this is due to curriculum concerns. Some due to COVID protocols and the unpredictability of schools that continue to alternate between in person and remote learning. Others, I think, have leaned toward homeschooling because the homebound instructio