Civilization’s Crisis and Europe’s Choices
Tue 05 Dec 2006 by David Aikman
Ideology, Intolerance, and Identity
Senior Fellow David Aikman discusses the European crisis highlighted by militant Islam and considers its sources, current factors, and—given historical precedents—the prospects for a revitalized Continent.
Atheism and Moral Clarity
Thu 30 Nov 2006 • Responses: 1 • by David Aikman
A recent book by a militant anti-theist helps to clarify the true sources of attack on our civilization.
A 2004 New York Times best-seller by Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason placed its author, a graduate in philosophy from Stanford, in the forefront of the forefront of anti-theists in America. In his latest book, Letter to a Christian Nation, published in September 2006, Harris brings his heavy artillery as close as he can to the walls of the church. His intention, he writes, is “to destroy the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms.” Welcome to the tradition of Voltaire, Engels, and an eccentric Soviet magazine founded under Lenin called The Godless.
The Christian faith has survived more learned and eloquent assaults than those of Sam Harris, and will doubtless continue to do so.
Reconnecting Spirituality and Knowledge
Thu 30 Nov 2006 by Mark D. Filiatreau
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology by Eugene Peterson. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005. 368 pages, including back matter.
“There comes a time for most of us when we discover a deep desire within us to live from the heart what we already know in our heads and do with our hands. But ‘to whom shall we go?’” —Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
It is a commonplace that Christian spirituality is not what it used to be. Then again, it never was—just read Paul’s letters to Corinth for a reminder. Nevertheless, each age has its particular challenges. The besetting problem for Christians in the industrialized West has long been a valorization of propositional knowledge and restless activity at the expense of other movements of the soul such as imagination, love, silence, and desire. Indeed, this privileging of the acquisition of knowledge is at the expense of “knowing” itself, as the word is meant in the Bible. Such an emphasis is a key to why the integrity and power that so radically changed the Roman Empire has long been missing—and it is the Evangelical wing of the church in North America that I’m talking about.
Reflections on the 2006 U.S. Elections
Wed 22 Nov 2006 by Al McDonald
A look backward and forward to put recent events in perspective
Senior Fellow Alonzo L. McDonald looks at likely outcomes of the 2006 elections and puts the situation in perspective in an essay directed particularly to friends outside America. He draws on his international career and an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the American national character and suggests what to expect from the U.S. in the next two years. More unilateralism may be in the forecast.
Gratitude and Leading in Challenging Times
Sat 18 Nov 2006 • Responses: 4 • by Fred Harburg
“Genuine gratitude in the face of difficulty is the attribute that most distinguishes the great from the good.”
Selfless gratitude—the ability to appreciate the goodness of life while simultaneously feeling deep empathy for the pain and suffering of others—is one of a leader’s most important qualities. Yet the anxieties of a world rife with terrorism, economic uncertainty, illnesses, hunger, and injustice, can choke the lifeblood from one’s sense of gratitude. What’s a leader to do?
In closely observing senior leaders from many different walks of life, I have seen that genuine gratitude in the face of difficulty is an attribute—perhaps the attribute—that most distinguishes the great from the good. There are three reasons gratitude is such an essential quality for men and women who are called to positions of service as leaders. First, gratitude is the key to authentic emotional connection. Second, it is the basis for emotional resilience. Finally, the expression of genuine gratitude unlocks the door to discretionary effort.
Kreeft Audio from Academy Week Away
Thu 16 Nov 2006 by TTF Staff
Peter Kreeft’s website is now making available MP3 audio from (some of) his talks at an Academy Week Away event in June 2005 where he talked about the worldview revealed in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
The lectures include question-and-answer time and feature material from Kreeft’s book, The Philosophy of Tolkien.
- Fated and Free—integration of predestination and freewill; an insightful perspective via Lord of the Rings
- Identity—The paradoxical nature of self
- Language of Beauty—Prose that no writer will want to miss! The power of words revealed by Lord of the Rings
Redeeming the Tongue
Tue 14 Nov 2006 by T. M. Moore
Conversation: A History of a Declining Art, by Stephen Miller (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 368 pages. ISBN 0300110308
Anyone who has ever led a discussion group knows how difficult it can be to get people to engage in conversation. Even when the focus is clear—as in a book group or Bible study—and materials have been handed out in advance, the discussion leader can feel like a dentist working without anesthetic as he yanks and tugs to pull out of the mouths of his participants some contribution for the group’s betterment.
Whereas the Scriptures mightily prize the power of the spoken word, few of the followers of Christ seem to care much about mastering those conversational techniques that could enable them to employ the gift of the tongue to edify, enlighten, delight, direct, challenge, and entertain one another. Our conversation is lacking. And in this, as Stephen Miller points out, we are but a reflection of the larger society of which we are a part.
Lennox on Dawkins
Tue 14 Nov 2006 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow John Lennox has a downloadable audio lecture and seminar discussing Richard Dawkins and his views on God, religion, and science.
The 2005 lecture is an MP3 hosted at bethinking.org. It’s 29 MB and runs over two hours, including questions and answers.
Sayers on Work
Fri 10 Nov 2006 by Peter Edman
A commenter on Dallas Willard’s article mentioned Dorothy L. Sayers’ essay, “Why Work?”
The essay was originally published as a pamphlet in 1942, and has been republished in several collections, two under the title, Creed or Chaos?. Currently, the essay is collected in “Letters to a Diminished Church” (an unfortunate title, as Sayers’ writings are appropriate for a wider audience). Here are two good chunks:
Cromartie and Loconte on Evangelicals in the Washington Post
Thu 09 Nov 2006 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellows Michael Cromartie and Joseph Loconte have an op-ed in the 8 November 2006 Washington Post.
“Let’s Stop Stereotyping Evangelicals”:
Of course it’s true that a handful of Christian figures reinforce the worst stereotypes of the movement. Their loopy and triumphalist claims are seized upon by lazy journalists and the direct-mail operatives of political opponents.
Yet it is dishonest to disparage the massive civic and democratic contribution of evangelicals by invoking the excesses of a tiny few.
