Reflections on God … Man … Life
Can anything new be said on the anniversary of 9/11? Maybe we don’t need to hear anything new; perhaps we just need to be reminded that there are those out there who hate us. However, what is meant by “us?” America, you say? Yes, in the abstract, but what comprises America anymore? On 9/11, eighteen years ago today, members of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang together. At the moment, I can’t recall if they sang… Read more »
As I survey the current state of America—the spiritual/moral, political, and cultural aspects [what does that leave?]—I have grave concerns. But I’d like to offer a historian’s perspective on bad times. Since I teach American history, I have a more in-depth knowledge of what has transpired previously. I can imagine myself transported back into earlier eras and think about how I might have felt about current events at those times. Bad moral climates, disunity, and devastating government policies have cropped… Read more »
C. S. Lewis didn’t start out as a great Christian apologist. His imagination didn’t lead him to Narnia at first—that was a later development. In his earliest years, sent away to a boarding school at age nine, he had a kind of Christian faith, but only the kind that called for him to carry out certain duties such as prayer. And he lived in fear of hell. Perhaps that’s why he abandoned that childhood faith in his pre-teen years. One… Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »