Category Archives: Culture

Sin Groupies

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

Christians of a liberal bent criticize their brothers and sisters in the religious right for not caring about the poor. Christians on the conservative side of the aisle chastise their left wing colleagues for being weak on sexual immorality. Yet, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Culture, Religion, Theology | Leave a comment

Putting Words in People’s Mouths

Posted on February 19, 2012 by

I am puzzled. I found an article that argued very forcefully that Jesus, without a doubt, would vote for the Democratic Party candidate for President–if he was a United States citizen today. Shortly afterwards, I came upon an article that … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Culture, History, Religion, Theology, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Coffee

Posted on February 14, 2012 by

As ubiquitous as coffee is today, its use is a relatively recent innovation in human affairs. The Romans and all those born in the first eight hundred years after the time of Jesus never got to “wake up and smell … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Leave a comment

And They Lived Happily Ever After

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

My wife and I met while she was an undergraduate and I was a graduate student. Many of our dates were spent at Denny’s eating French fries and studying to all hours. Even when we went places, we tended to … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Writing | Leave a comment

Conspiracy

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Conspiracy theories by their nature are, in my experience, impossible to discredit. It is not that they are not discreditable, but rather that the difficulty and amount of time necessary are disproportional to the value, generally. For instance, there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Infallibility

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

My wife is a third grade school teacher. She received her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies and then went for an extra year to get her teaching credential. She goes to conferences, she takes seminars, she takes college classes, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Hamburgers

Posted on January 3, 2012 by

There is nothing I like better than a good hamburger or cheeseburger. Some of my earliest memories of eating burgers come from visits in Ohio with my great aunt Loule. My mother and I would go with her to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture | Leave a comment

Chocolate

Posted on December 30, 2011 by

Chocolate is one of those things that we take for granted and probably can’t imagine not having around. And yet, like so many other things, its origins are relatively recent. No chocolate cakes were served at the first Thanksgiving, for … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History | Leave a comment

Fixing Social Ills

Posted on December 19, 2011 by

As a theologian, I unsurprisingly sometimes think about the poor. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew prophets spend most of their time on but two issues: idolatry and the treatment of the poor. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recorded … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Culture, Religion, Theology | Leave a comment

Quote for the Day

Posted on December 13, 2011 by

The world has actually been wired together by digital communications systems for a century and a half. Nothing that has happened during that time compares in its impact to the first exchange of messages between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History, Science, Technology | Leave a comment