Daily Archives: April 29, 2008

Reflections on Evangelical Blogs (1)

In a recent post at the collaborative blog, Pen and Parchment, where one is is never wont to find standard conservative evangelical fare, these two axioms are put forth at the beginning of a discussion of the much belaboured evangelical discussion of women in ministry:

“There are some things that women are better at than men.”

“There are some things that men are better at than women.”

Frankly I have no idea what these alleged “things” could be unless they were perhaps “getting pregnant” or “entering the world’s strongest man competition.”  Such propositions, elevated to the status of theological axioms are far more than unhelpful, they are downright conversation stoppers.  Oh, and they’re patently false.  I defy anyone to enumerate a list of these supposed things that women and men are always better or lesser abled in.  You don’t have to be a left-leaning wack job to see that such statements are blatantly ideological and self-serving.

Christian Desire in a Culture of Pornography

Jason Byassee has a great article in the January edition of First Things on the culture of internet pornography.  Here’s just two paragraphs:

“Early Christians were baptized nude. It is one of the most striking images from the early Church, all the more so given our forebears’ supposed repression and our age’s proud liberation. When Paul says we are those who “have stripped off the old self with its practices” and been clothed “with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness,” ancient Christians took the language ­literally enough to remove their outer garments and emerge from the water as naked as the day they were born and then be covered with a white garment, symbolizing the purity of the eighth day of creation.

“Perhaps it should not surprise that ancient Christians were comfortable with earthy talk of nakedness. Many of today’s churches have bought the culture’s lie that religion is not about sex or anything else of much importance. But, as theologian Sarah Coakley has so brilliantly said, ancient Christian reflection on desire shows that Freud is exactly wrong: Talk about God is not repressed talk about sexuality; talk about sex is, in fact, repressed talk about God. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, porn users are not to be rebuked for desiring too much but for desiring too little.”

Rev. Wright at the National Press Club

This is absolutely necessary viewing by those that wish to understand the recent controversies about black liberation theology in current American political discourse.  Reverend Wright should be commended for his courage and prophetic stance in a culture of amnesia which continues to avoid telling the truth about its own history.

Part 1:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM6-K1MicZU]

Part 2:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6BQMQAx0-Y]

Part 3:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pekVHn2jWYQ]

Part 4:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0fGH86DPag&feature=related]

Part 5:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YJW0nevW38]

Part 6:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWejjxWQWfE]

H/T: David

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