Category: Christians & Culture

Commentary, from a Biblical perspective, on current events that are primarily cultural. There may be some overlap with politics and government, but the emphasis is on broader societal developments apart from politics, which also includes analysis of specific individuals.

Seek Good, Not Evil, That You May Live

  

Whenever you read Scripture, you never know what might stand out to you—usually something you don’t expect. That’s how the Spirit of God works. This morning I was reading in the Old Testament book of Amos, a prophet who spoke directly to the people of Israel about their sins. They thought they were doing fine and that God accepted their worship. Amos had a different message for them. Chapter five is filled with thoughts and phrases that pierced my own… Read more »

The Glorious Last Battle

  

I finished my project of preparing all seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia for teaching this fall and winter at my church. Each one was a joy to develop, but I looked forward the most to doing the final book in the series, The Last Battle. When I teach my basic C. S. Lewis course at the university, this is the one Narnia book I have students read. Most are already familiar with The Lion, the Witch, and the… Read more »

A Historic, Yet Controversial, Revival

  

One of the events I talk about in my classes is the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky back in 1801. That’s the subject of the e-mail I received yesterday from the Christian History Institute. I thought it was well worth sharing. On Thursday, 6 August 1801, the camp meeting at Cane Ridge, Kentucky finally broke up. Late in the eighteenth century, both pastors and Christian laity in Kentucky recognized the deep spiritual need in their region. Most peopl3 living on… Read more »

The Poison of Subjectivism & the Loss of Freedom

  

C. S. Lewis was no fan of politics. He had listened to political discussions from his youth, as his father was a lawyer with the government, but he found such talk ultimately unsatisfying. Yet that doesn’t mean he wasn’t concerned about good governing and the basis for understanding what is necessary for it. So even though he shied away from writing too much on politics per se, he never avoided advocating foundational concepts that applied to a society—government and culture… Read more »

Remaining Faithful to Biblical Truth

  

I have never been at such odds with American culture. That’s fine, if being at odds means I’m remaining faithful to Biblical standards of morality. But there is a price to pay for being faithful. Some Christians are experiencing legal nightmares due to their stance. That hasn’t happened to me yet, but everyone who refuses to bow to the new immorality will receive criticism, sometimes harsh criticism, in some way. For instance, try saying something like this publicly and see… Read more »

Only the Scent or Echo of the Real Thing

  

“What does not satisfy when we find it,” wrote C. S. Lewis, “was not the thing we were desiring.” That short statement came in the middle of his first Christian book, The Pilgrim’s Regress, and it summarizes the whole point of the book, wherein the protagonist comes back to the Christian faith that he didn’t desire at the outset of his journey: he finally realizes that what he was running away from was the real thing after all. The book… Read more »

When the Curtain Comes Down on the Play

  

“It seems to me impossible to retain in any recognisable form our belief in the Divinity of Christ and the truth of the Christian revelation,” C. S. Lewis remarked, “while abandoning, or even persistently neglecting, the promised, and threatened, Return.” The world likes Christ’s first coming, His nativity, because we get presents and feel-good Hallmark movies—you know, that amorphous “Christmas spirit” that is bereft of the Christ of Christmas. The Second Coming concept, though, as Lewis notes, is, for some,… Read more »