Tag: First Things

  • Dan

    Quiet, prophetic words

    There are moments. They seem like accidents. At the time, they may seem obvious, but get just past that moment and not note it, there is sometimes regret at missing the opportunity to pay a little more attention.

  • Dan

    The need for basic building blocks in our lives

    We can bemoan the loss of national institutions, but at some point we need to have a funeral and move on to the resurrection of new ideas.

  • Dan

    Angst without the guidance

    This article from First Things is a critique of Matthew Vine’s work on homosexuality. THAT will get some comments (possibly), but that is NOT what I want to focus on. What I want to focus on is the bottom of the article in this paragraph: We do not judge a Christian teacher only by his age or experience, to be…

  • Dan

    Regaining Pastors as Theologians

    The First Things article I referred to in my last post continues to challenge me. I may not have the role of a “wider theologian”, but I feel I must be the best theologian possible for my congregation. I don’t want to live in the realm of pragmatics or just practics. Yet, pastoral theology has a “practical” side to it.…

  • Dan

    Pastor and Theologian

    A great article from First Things provokes some thoughts for me. I want to be faithful as a leader, a pastor, and expositor of the Word. These thoughts are good: The drain of our wider theologians from the pastorate to the academy has resulted in a two-fold problem. First, the theological water-level of our local parishes has dropped considerably. Inasmuch…

  • Dan

    Social Justice

    One of things I try to be in life is “an equal opportunity offender.” In that spirit, I am going to poke the sacred cow of Glenn Beck. I am a Pentecostal pastor who was raised conservative (politically as well as theologically). I am still more conservative politically than liberal, but I have no qualms with calling things out. On…

  • Dan

    Do We Understand the Times?

    I just finished my first Stanley Hauerwas article. I have heard his name for quite awhile but had never ventured into any of his writings. I finally linked to one and read it. Normally when I read such intelligent pieces having a dictionary by my side is helpful. Even that didn’t help. I understood the words. Individually. When he put…

  • Dan

    Learning from the Pentecostal Monks

    I am lecturing on my favorite subject: Pentecostal monks. One monk who has been influential in my life has been Evagrius Ponticus. In preparing my lectures, I came across this thought from R.R. Reno in “Fighting the Noon Day Devil”: There are no intellectual solutions to spiritual problems. Acedia is fought with spiritual discipline. We hate that. We fantasize about…