At the Company Christmas Party

Married

As of last Saturday, I am happily married to the most wonderful woman in the world. We were married on December 16 at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. You can see a couple of photos from the reception here at the Cavie Family's blog. I will post more pictures when we get them. For now, here's one of my lovely wife, taken in Colonial Williamsburg, VA. Isn't she beautiful?

The Soul of the University

My friend the Friar has an interesting post over at his blog on the topic of the "dwindling power of the faculty" in universities today.

This touches on something I and another former professor of mine were discussing the other day. In any good university, the soul of what goes on is in the faculty and in the relationship between the teachers and students. The faculty preserve and guard knowledge, while passing it on to future generations of students, some of whom will eventually become teachers themselves. The university can rightly be said to exist for this purpose. Therefore, the job of school administrators and non-academic staff is to facilitate the work of the faculty and the learning of the students.

I think that the recent decline (some would say self-destruction) of my alma mater can be summed up in saying that the above isn't what happened. The president of the college (now the chancellor), did not understand the nature of his role. He assumed that the college was like the organization he had previously founded, which had scores of staff all working to accomplish his ends. Rather than dedicating himself to serving the students and the faculty by creating a place where liberal learning could take place, he assumed that the college existed to serve his goals, ambitions, and plans. Rather than protecting the faculty's space to teach truth in the manner they saw fit, he invaded that space by trying to architect a curriculum on his own model. Rather than understanding himself as part of a complex institution that existed for a purpose outside himself, he saw the college as an extension of himself or a tool he could wield at will. Any criticism of the way things were being done at the college, therefore, he saw as an affront and a personal attack on himself.

Sadly, it seems that this perspective is shared by the new president of the college, as well. Recent reports indicate that the president has said he believes that "honor should be given where it is due." Therefore he is considering handing back to the chancellor much of the power and authority that was seconded from him in his move from president to chancellor. Sad, and ill-advised, but not altogether surprising. The circumstances of the new president's hiring made it clear that he had been handpicked by the now-chancellor to be of like mind.

So, Mr. Chancellor, and Mr. President, listen to this advice: Do not persist in thinking that the college is yours to do with as you please. Do not continue to think that it is a tool you can use to "reclaim America" or some such end. Do not continue to assume that the faculty and the students are there to serve you. Find faculty who are trustworthy and competent (like the ones you alienated), and let them do their jobs. Trust them to teach the truth in their respective disciplines, even if you don't like every word they say or every conclusion their students come to. Dedicate yourselves to serving, rather than being served; to learning, rather than dictating, and there may yet be hope for your college.

Friedman and Freedom

Economist Milton Friedman died today, at the age of 94. Friedman is much admired by conservatives and libertarians for his work as the leader of the Chicago School of monetary economics. Friedman also wrote much on public policy, with the overarching goal of promoting individual liberty in society.

I have some admiration for the man myself, a remaining influence of my conservative upbringing and education. I am no economist, but Friedman undoubtedly did much to work against the harmful effects of a Keynesian approach to monetary policy and its promotion of a directed economy. However, I find myself increasingly at odds with conservatives, to some extent, and libertarians, to a much greater extent, when they promote individual freedom as the goal of public policy and the greatest good in society.

Part of this disgreement stems from my belief that the individual is not the basic unit of society--that is, all institutions, phenomena, mechanisms, cultures, and such cannot merely or fundamentally be thought of as a bunch of individuals working together in a particular way or for a specific purpose. To look at them through the lens of the individual is potentially to miss the created structure of these institutions as such, and so to misunderstand their nature. For example, a family is an institution created by God with a specific structure--father, mother, children--and ordained for particular roles and ends in the world. It is not merely a collection of individuals who bond together to express and experience love and commitment. Therefore, two men can't be or have a family together--biological considerations aside. Likewise, to assume that government exists to promote the liberty of individuals is to wrongly account for government's existence, structure, and purpose.

A related principle is that any government or institution created by God is obliged to be ordered by God's law. He reveals this law to us in part through nature, and more fully and more clearly in Scripture. The only model of a society ordered by divine law that we have in Scripture is that of Israel in the Old Testament. Looking at the law given to Israel seems to show that promoting right relationships, not individual freedom, is the greatest good in society. Thus a purely free market that takes no account for human selfishness (as sin, not simple economic self-interest) fails to properly restrain man's own impulses that would destroy relationships and twist them for his own purposes.

Now, freedom is not a bad thing. Jesus Christ came to set men free. But freedom, defined wrongly, is an idol that conservatives and liberals and libertarians alike must repent of. Freedom is found in loving submission to the Lord God, and that has implications for all of life. So as you think about the legacy of Milton Friedman, think carefully and critically. His work contains keen insight, but, like any man's, should be examined in light of the Word of God.

Happy Reformation Day!

This post is dedicated to David Snyder and Matt Brownfield. May we sing together again.

The Reformation Polka
by Robert Gebel

[Sung to the tune of "Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious"]

1. When I was just ein junger Mann I studied canon law;
While Erfurt was a challenge, it was just to please my Pa.
Then came the storm, the lightning struck, I called upon Saint Anne,
I shaved my head, I took my vows, an Augustinian! Oh...

Chorus:
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

2. When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St. Peter's profits soared,
I wrote a little notice for the All Saints' Bull'tin board:
"You cannot purchase merits, for we're justified by grace!
Here's 95 more reasons, Brother Tetzel, in your face!" Oh...

[Chorus]

3. They loved my tracts, adored my wit, all were exempleror;
The Pope, however, hauled me up before the Emperor.
"Are these your books? Do you recant?" King Charles did demand,
"I will not change my Diet, Sir, God help me here I stand!" Oh...

[Chorus]

4. Duke Frederick took the Wise approach, responding to my words,
By knighting "George" as hostage in the Kingdom of the Birds.
Use Brother Martin's model if the languages you seek,
Stay locked inside a castle with your Hebrew and your Greek! Oh...

[Chorus]

5. Let's raise our steins and Concord Books while gathered in this place,
And spread the word that 'catholic' is spelled with lower case;
The Word remains unfettered when the Spirit gets his chance,
So come on, Katy, drop your lute, and join us in our dance! Oh...

[Chorus]

Schism

If you've been under the mistaken impression that Baptists are just a bunch of schismatic heretics, or if you've heard people expressing this opinion, check out this post on the current state of various Anglican bodies in the United States. Whenever churches fail to follow Scripture's model for church government and think that a bishop or a general assembly has authority over their congregation, these kind of separations will naturally ensue.

Words

I've been tagged by my fiancée, Andrea, with a word meme. Apparently this is some version of those delightful little word-assoctiona icebreaker games where people who don't know each other (and don't really want to) sit uncomfortably in a circle and pretend that the third or fourth thing that came into their heads at the mention of a certain word was actually the first response they thought of. This promises to be a more enjoyable version, I hope.

At any rate, here are the words with which I've been tagged, and my responses:

WEDDING: Andrea; church; lots of planning still to do; ghastly formalwear

BOOK: Library; old friends; learning; too much money spent on Amazon

BREAD: Hot crusty goodness; whole-wheat; Panera

NAP: The thing I wish I could get more of; Rip van Winkle; Sunday afternoons; why don't they furnish cubicles with beds?

I'm afraid thinking about bread and naps has made me too sleepy to think of who else to tag. Oh, well. If you're reading this and you have a blog, consider yourself tagged.

Hymn

Jerusalem, my happy home!
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my labors have an end,
Thy joys when shall I see?

Thy saints are crowned with glory great;
They see God face to face;
They triumph still, they still rejoice
Most happy is their case.

When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
And pearly gates behold?
Thy bulwarks, with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold?

There happier bowers than Eden’s bloom,
Nor sin nor sorrow know:
Blest seats, through rude and stormy scenes,
I onward press to you.

Why should I shrink at pain and woe?
Or feel at death dismay?
I’ve Canaan’s goodly land in view,
And realms of endless day.

From every tribe doth music rise,
All nations form the choir:
Ten thousand times that man were blessed
That might this music hear.

Jerusalem, my happy home!
God grant that I may see
Thine endless joys and of the same
Partaker ever be!

O Christ do Thou my soul prepare
For that bright home of love;
That I may see Thee and adore,
With all Thy saints above.

~Joseph Bromehead, 1748-1826; alt. st. Andrew Sherwood, 2005

John Calvin was a Baptist?

We Baptists are often criticized by our Reformed friends for our belief that baptism is a profession of the faith of the one being baptized. Such a definition, the argument goes, makes baptism too much an individualistic thing, all about me-'n-Jesus, with no necessary reference to the larger body of Christ. I wonder if they realize that John Calvin said the same about baptism? Granted, Calvin had a lot of other things to say about the significance of baptism, many of which are helpful as well, and which I can happily agree with even as a Reformed Baptist.

From Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, chapter 15:

Baptism serves as our confession before men, in as much as it is a mark by which we openly declare that we wish to be ranked among the people of God, by which we testify that we concur with all Christians in the worship of one God, and in one religion; by which, in short, we publicly assert our faith, so that not only do our hearts breathe, but our tongues also, and all the members of our body, in every way they can, proclaim the praise of God. In this way, as is meet, every thing we have is made subservient to the glory of God, which ought everywhere to be displayed, and others are stimulated by our example to the same course. To this Paul referred when he asked the Corinthians whether or not they had been baptised in the name of Christ, (1 Cor. 1: 13;) intimating, that by the very circumstance of having been baptised in his name, they had devoted themselves to him, had sworn and bound themselves in allegiance to him before men, so that they could no longer confess any other than Christ alone, unless they would abjure the confession which they had made in baptism.

Yes, baptism is more than simply a profession of faith. Calvin knew that, and so do we. It is a sign and seal of God's grace. It is the rite by which one is united to the visible church. It is a symbol of regeneration and a picture of heart circumcision. It is more than merely a profession of faith. But it is inescapably a profession of faith.

On Being Reformed and Baptist

If you haven't noticed it already, in the comments on one of my recent posts there's a brief discussion of a recent LifeWay poll on Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. This coincides with a recent article on young evangelical Calvinists in Christianity Today. The discussion continues over at Gregory Baus's blog, with his post on Calvinism in the SBC, and in the comments on that post.

Also, David Koyzis wonders if becoming soteriologically Calvinistic mustn't lead Baptists to reconsider other areas of theology, as well. The answer, at least in my case, is yes. An understanding of God's sovereignty in salvation--and especially an understanding of the history of that doctrine--can't help but affect other areas of our thought as well. See my comment on his post for more.

For the Rest of You

I realize that my previous post on "Online Style" may not be of interest to some folks who just don't like dressing up. Well, here's a link for you too: http://www.businessbibs.com

Arr.

Online Style

One of my hobbies is reading and learning about men's clothing and style. Some have said I have a passion for fashion, and, while that has a nice ring, the word "fashion" has some unpleasant connotations that I prefer to avoid.

At any rate, I thought it'd be interesting to do a quick tour of some of the online resources I've found helpful in learning about how to dress well.

Ask Andy About Clothes is a great site with some helpful articles on dressing, but the real treasure here is in the Forums, where hundreds of men (and a few women) talk with an astonishing degree of knowledge about sartorial matters.

The London Lounge is another, similar forum, but devoted more specifically to what's known as "bespoke," or custom-made clothing.

Styleforum is yet another similar forums site, albeit one that I don't visit very often.

There are also several blogs that are fascinating in this category:

The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman, is a New York photographer who is constantly shooting photos of well-dressed people on the streets of the Big Apple.

Film Noir Buff is the pseudonym of a fellow who has written lots of interesting, if overly wordy, essays on clothing and style.

English Cut is the blog of an English tailor, Thomas Mahon, who specializes in bespoke suits. Tom is, if not the first blogging tailor, almost certainly the best-known one.

Martin Stall is another bespoke tailor with a blog, and a friend of Tom Mahon's. He works from the Netherlands.

Desmond Merrion is another British tailor with more great insights on what goes into making a well-done custom suit.

Darren Beaman posts pictures of some of his bespoke creations on his blog, though his has been idle since June.

Solomon Animashaun is a fellow sartorial fan who posts pictures of some of the clothes he likes and owns, though his blog is also idle for the time being.

And that, dear friends, along with a few books I may mention later, is how I came to know as much as I do about dressing well.

To Daniel, whoever you are

Dear "Daniel":

Just wanted to send you a friendly note, and, since I don't know who you are, I'm posting it on my blog.

Apparently sometime in the last couple of weeks you've inadvertently written down your phone number incorrectly on a form somewhere. Or maybe your business cards were misprinted, and you haven't noticed yet. In any case, you're giving people a phone number that isn't yours. It's mine.

If this were an isolated incident, Daniel, I wouldn't be worried. I've gotten wrong-number calls before when people misdialed the number they intended to call. No big deal. But when I get your phone calls on a near-daily basis, I begin to be slightly annoyed. More than anything, though, I just want to be sure you aren't missing important calls. I mean, who knows? The people who call me expecting to find you could be trying to offer you a new job. Or they could be trying to tell you your housing application has gone through. I don't think I've recognized Ed McMahon's voice (from Publishers' Clearing House) on any of the calls, but who knows what could be next? I think you can see this is a pretty big deal, and I recommend you do something to fix the situation soon. For your own good, and for my sanity's sake.

P.S. If you're my friend Daniel S., and you've given my number out intentionally as a joke, I'll get you.

Housekeeping

I've pared down my blogroll a bit, the better to indicate which blogs I actually read on a semi-regular basis. I'm toying with breaking it out and categorizing them, but this is it for now.
If you're offended I've left you off, I'm sorry--just send me an email and let me know.

I Belong

In a very helpful sermon on Ruth 3, yesterday, my pastor Mark Dever asked this probing question: "I wonder whose you would say you are. To whom do you belong? Do you have anyone in your life who directs you, who guides you? Anyone in your life who cares that much? Anyone in your life who points you to the good in the way Naomi did Ruth?"

Mark was directly addressing non-Christians, but the idea of belonging is one that Christians need to remember to think deeply about, as well. As a child, whenever I was about to go spend time with friends and my mother wanted me to be on my best behavior, she often said when I was leaving, "Remember whose you are." She knew that just telling me to behave, to do this or not to do that, would never be as effective as reminding me that what I did and said mattered more than I usually realized. What I did reflected on my family, whose name I share. Most importantly, what I did mattered to the Lord.

I'm reminded again of the wonderful first question and response of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

I belong, first and foremost, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

I belong to an earthly family, whose name and blood and history I share; to parents, who have invested their lives in raising me in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Very soon I will belong to a wonderful wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony.

I belong to the 536 saints of God known as Capitol Hill Baptist Church, with whom I have covenanted and pledged to walk together in brotherly love.

Without these belongings, life would be a cold, comfortless, disconnected and frustrating existence. But by the grace of God, I belong. Thanks be to God.

Hymn

The love of Christ is rich and free;
Fixed on His own eternally;
Nor earth, nor hell, can it remove;
Long as He lives, His own He’ll love

His loving heart engaged to be
Their everlasting Surety;
’Twas love that took their cause in hand,
And love maintains it to the end

Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety’s heart away;
He’ll love His own to endless day

Love has redeemed His sheep with blood;
And love will bring them safe to God;
Love calls them all from death to life;
And love will finish all their strife

He loves through every changing scene,
Nor aught from Him can Zion wean;
Not all the wanderings of her heart
Can make His love for her depart

At death, beyond the grave, He’ll love;
In endless bliss, His own shall prove
The blazing glory of that love
Which never could from them remove

~ William Gadsby, 1773-1844. In 1793, Gads­by joined the Bap­tist Church at Co­ven­try, and in 1798 be­gan to preach. In 1800, a cha­pel was built for him at Des­ford, Lei­ces­ter­shire, and two years lat­er ano­ther in the town of Hinck­ley. In 1805, he moved to Man­ches­ter, be­com­ing min­is­ter of a cha­pel in Roch­dale Road, where he con­tin­ued un­til his death.

The Happy Couple

Here's a photo of Andrea and me immediately after she accepted my proposal.

I love the (entirely unintentional) composition of this picture with green elements--my shirt, her coat, the fallen leaves, moss on the stones.

"I have thrust myself into this maze...

...Haply to wive and thrive as best I may."
(W. Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, 1.2.56-7)

Attention, loyal blog readers! As of last Saturday afternoon, I am engaged to be married to the lovely Andrea Ruffner. I asked her to marry me on the grounds of the National Cathedral in Washington, a beautiful place that has become rather special to us. To my delight, she said yes.

Andrea and I met last fall when she began attending Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where I was serving as a pastoral intern for the semester. I had the opportunity to sit in on her membership interview with the pastor, and was immediately interested as I heard her testimony of God's grace in her life. We found shortly thereafter that we had a number of interests in common, including literature, theology, education, and more. Our friendship developed over the next few months, and we began dating in May.

It didn't take me long to realize she is one of God's greatest kindnesses to me, and I've fallen deeply in love with her. As some of you are no doubt thinking, it's true, I'm rather overmatched. She's smarter, better-looking, better-educated, and in every other way outclasses me, but please have pity on me and don't try to talk her out of this.

We look forward to a life spent learning to love one another, serve one another, and live together as an image of Christ and His Church.

Reading

I've updated my sidebar with a link to my reading list on Allconsuming.net. The old reading list I had posted there hadn't been updated since last December or so, and I figured it was time for a change.

Disclaimer: The times associated with my beginning and ending the various books are not necessarily accurate. That's a list containing books I've been working through for months, as well as some that I've started in the last couple of weeks.

Reformation History

If you have never studied or read much about the Protestant Reformation, It would be an invaluable way for you better to understand the origins of the various strands of Protestantism that are around today, and a wonderful look at the way God has preserved the witness of the Gospel in His church. Right now I'm reading Diarmid MacCulloch's excellent The Reformation: A History. It's a hefty volume, at 864 pages, but it's excellent. I'm about two hundred pages into it so far, and I'm amazed at MacCulloch's evenhanded treatment of the events, and more importantly the ideas, of the Reformation. Unlike many secular historians today, he takes seriously the idea that people are often moved to do extraordinary things because of what they believe--not simply because of political, social, economic, or psychological factors under the guise of religious belief.

One key selection:

The old Church was immensely strong, and that strength could only have been overcome by the explosive power of an idea. The idea proved to be a new statement of Augustine's ideas on salvation. That is why there is so much description of apparently abstract thought in my account of the Reformation, and why the discussion of this abstract though sometimes has to get extremely intricate. Monarchs, priests, nuns. merchants, farmers, labourers were seized by ideas which tore through their experiences and new memories and made them behave in new ways, sometimes admirable, sometimes monstrous. Social or political history cannot do without theology in understanding the sixteenth century.

Goals

Like many people, I believe that having goals and intentionally working to achieve them is important. It's a useful way of ordering my life rightly for meaningful ends. The Bible clearly paints a picture of the Christian life that is ordered, disciplined, and working toward one great goal--knowing and loving and glorifying God in Jesus Christ. This is the great end that every Christian is called to, and in some sense all our other goals should be things that aid us in the task of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

One interesting and potentially useful web tool for keeping track of goals and desires is 43 Things. It allows you to see how many others are working on the same goal (to a limited extent; they have to be phrased in exactly the same way). I've made a list of goals--some great and all-encompassing, many smaller and less weighty--that you can find here. They appear in no particular order. Whether I use this tool for keeping track of my goals or not, at least the process of thinking through what I want to do and writing some of it down was very helpful.

The Gifts of God for the People of God

You scored as Calvin. You are John Calvin. You have a Nestorian Christology and separate the Divinity and Humanity of Jesus. You believe only those who have faith are united to Christ, who is present spiritually, yet you call this "Real." Calvin 88% Zwingli 69% Luther 50% Catholic 13% Unitarian 0% Eucharistic theology created with QuizFarm.com

I don't know about Nestorian Christology--in fact I reject attempts to separate (rather than distinguish) Jesus' humanity and divinity. I have found Calvin's commentary on the Lord's Supper helpful, though.

Wonder Woman?

Wanna see something funny?

Ok. Go to Technorati.com.
Search for my blog's URL--"http//jeffcavanaugh.blogspot.com"--and see all the blogs that Technorati finds linking to mine.
Now go to page two, and look at the last entry.

Wonder woman? Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman? What on earth does a blog about an upcoming film adaptation of a comic book by the director of such small-screen classics as Buffy the Vampire Slayer have to do with me or my blog?

I'm confused. And, even more frustratingly, I can't find a single reference to my blog on the whole site, not even in its source code.


Maybe Baus can help me out here--he seems to be pretty good at philosophical analysis of comic-book characters.

One Book...

Last week I saw a book meme on Gideon Strauss' blog, and wondered if it would make it around to me. Looks like it has--I've been tagged byThabiti Anyabwile.

1. One book that changed your life: Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology, R.C. Sproul. Credit for this one goes to my dad, who lent me the book when I asked him as a teenager what this "Reformed" thing that I'd been hearing about meant.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: 1984, George Orwell

3. One book I’d want on a desert island: The biggest collection of Spurgeon's sermons available

4. One book that made me laugh: Right Behind, Nathan Wilson

5. One book that made me cry: A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis

6. One book that you wish had been written: On Baptism, by Polycarp (a disciple of the Apostle John)--in which he explicitly settles the question of whether the church under and immediately following the Apostles baptized infants or not

7. One book you wish had never been written: The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, John Maynard Keynes

8. One book that you are currently reading: The Reformation: A History, Diarmid McCullough

9. One book that you’ve been meaning to read: Biblical Theology, Geerhardus Vos. Own it, read the first few chapters last summer, never finished it.

Now I tag...Emily O'Neal, Kyle Newcomer, and John Letoto.

Broken

This has got to be one of the greatest sites ever: This Is Broken

Generosity Added to Love

"She went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love--which is always a tremendous task, dear friends, a mammoth task."

~ O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi.

That phrase--"the ravages made by generosity added to love"--is one of the most beautiful and profound things I've heard in a long time. It stopped me in my tracks when I heard it, and I was so startled by its simple beauty that forgot what I was doing. O. Henry's short story about a young husband and wife who each sacrifice what is most dear to them so they can show generosity to one another is, likewise, one of the more delightful things I've read recently. It's an amazing picture of the generosity and wisdom of love, and a tremendous encouragement to display the sacrificial love of Christ. You can find the text of the story online here, and an audio recording here.

Seersucker Style

At the risk of being censured for self-promotion, I refer you here for a story in the Washington Times on the popularity of seersucker suits in Washington which quotes me. It's not a bad article, all things considered.

God's Grandeur

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.


And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

~ GMH.

Bavinck on Calvin on Common Grace

"[Because of God's common grace], not only is an orderly civil society made possible among men, but arts and sciences develop, which are not to be despised. For these should be considered gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is true the Holy Spirit as a spirit of sanctification dwells in believers only, but as a spirit of life, of wisdom and of power He works also in those who do not believe. No Christian, therefore, should despise these gifts; on the contrary, he should honor art and science, music and philosophy and various other products of the human mind as praestantissima Spiritus dona [most outstanding gifts of the Spirit], and make the most of them for his own personal use."

~ Herman Bavinck, Calvin and Common Grace, tr. Geerhardus Vos

Consumer Worship

John Parker, a priest in the Orthodox Church in America, has an excellent article on church worship services in this month's issue of Touchstone Magazine. Therein, he discusses the increasing market-driven commodification of many modern Christian worship services. Churches today are determining what they do in their public services (and when and where they hold the services) by what the consumers--baptized, believing members or not--want, rather than by the Word of God and tradition. As a result, they have forgotten that the audience of worship is the triune God, and that the purpose of the church's public gatherings is primarily for God's people to worship Him corporately and to be built up in faith by Word and sacrament. Though Rev. Parker and I would undoubtedly come to significantly different conclusions regarding the details of the worship service, we share the fundamental perspective that it is for the Church, not "seekers" or "consumers" or "the unchurched." And it is God who determines how his people are to approach him--not the latest fad or gimmick that will get people in the doors.

Redemption Through Christ

THE second Adam, sov'reign Lord of all,
Did, by his Father's authorizing call,
From bosom of eternal love descend,
To save the guilty race that him offend;
To treat an everlasting peace with those,
Who were, and ever would have been his foes.
His errand, never-ending life to give
To them, whose malice would not let him live;
To make a match with rebels, and espouse
The brat which at his love her spite avows.
Himself he humbled, to depress her pride,
And make his mortal foe his loving bride.
But, ere there marriage can be solemniz'd,
All lets must be remov'd, all parties pleas'd.
Law-righteousness requir'd, must be procur'd,
Law-vengeance threatned, must be full endur'd,
Stern justice must have credit by the match,
Sweet mercy by the heart the bride must catch.
Poor Bankrupt! all her debt must first be paid,
Her former husband in the grave be laid:
Her present Lover must be at the cost,
To save and ransom to the uttermost.
If all these things this Suitor kind can do,
Then he may win her, and her blessing too.
Hard terms indeed! while death's the first demand:
But love is strong as death, to take the upper hand
To carry on the suit, and make it good,
Though at the dearest rate of wounds and blood.
The burden's heavy, but the back is broad,
The glorious Lover is the mighty God.

~The first part of one of several "Gospel Sonnets" by Ralph Erskine [1685-1752], an 18th-century Scottish preacher and pastor. The son of a Puritan minister who was forced out of his living by the 1662 Act of Uniformity, Erskine pastored--first Dumferline Abbey, then Queen Street Church--for over forty years. Throughout his life, Erskine was dedicated to expositional preaching and considered it the most important work of his ministry. He was also a gifted poet, and was fond of setting forth systems of divinity and engaging false doctrine in verse.

Visually Speaking

This is my blog's source code, rendered graphically. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it looks pretty cool. Get your own here.

Hymn

Come, let us join our cheerful songs
with angels round the throne.
ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
but all their joys are one.

"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
"to be exalted thus!"
"Worthy the Lamb," our hearts reply,
"for he was slain for us!"

Jesus is worthy to receive
honor and power divine;
and blessings more than we can give,
be, Lord, forever thine.

Let all that dwell above the sky,
and air, and earth, and seas,
conspire to lift thy glories high,
and speak thine endless praise!

The whole creation join in one,
to bless the sacred Name
of him who sits upon the throne,
and to adore the Lamb.

~ Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Watts’ fa­ther was Non­con­form­ist im­pris­oned twice for his re­li­gious views. Isaac learned Greek, Latin, and He­brew un­der Mr. Pin­horn, Rec­tor of All Saints, and head­mas­ter of the Gram­mar School in South­amp­ton. Isaac’s taste for verse showed it­self in ear­ly child­hood, and his prom­ise caused a lo­cal doc­tor and other friends to of­fer him a un­i­ver­si­ty ed­u­ca­tion, as­sum­ing he would be or­dained in the Church of Eng­land. How­ev­er, Isaac de­clined and in­stead en­tered a Non­con­for­mist Acad­e­my...

Writing

When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write, if the copy is right. If however, your copy falls over, you must right your copy. If you write religious services you write rite, and have the right to copyright the rite you write. Very conservative people write right copy, and have the right to copyright the right copy they write. A right wing cleric would write right rite, and has the right to copyright the right rite he has the right to write. His editor has the job of making the right rite copy right before the copyright can be right. Should Jim Wright decide to write right rite, then Wright would write right rite, which Wright has the right to copyright. Duplicating that rite would copy Wright right rite, and violate copyright, which Wright would have the right to right. Right?

Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore

Whew. 

Blogging Apostasy?

A disgrace to humanity no more, David Cooper is back on the blogging wagon. He's covering events within the Episcopal Church (USA), which in the last couple of weeks has been continuing to pursue apostasy hand over fist at its annual General Convention. It seems the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians (USA) are competing for the honor of being the least recognizably Christian denomination in the US.

My heart and prayers go out to all the local churches (to say nothing of individual members) who are fighting to preserve an orthodox witness to the Gospel within their denominations. Don't stop fighting heresy--whether you elect to do it from within or without.

Hymn

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly hosts;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Praise God, to Whom all blessings be;
Praise Him, who stand on His decree;
Praise Him Who hath redeemed thy soul;
Praise God, His virtues now extol.

Praise God, in Whom all blessings rest;
Praise Him, His faithfulness attest;
Praise Him with joyful, rev'rent tune;
Praise Holy Godhead, all triune.

~First verse, Thomas Ken, 1837-1711. Ken trained at Win­ches­ter and New Coll­ege, Ox­ford, and was or­dained an Ang­li­can priest in 1662. In 1663, he be­came Rec­tor of Lit­tle East­on, and Rec­tor of Wood­hay and Pre­ben­da­ry of Win­ches­ter in 1669. He pub­lished a Man­u­al of Pray­ers, for the use of the schol­ars of Win­ches­ter Coll­ege, in 1674. He was brief­ly chap­lain to Prin­cess Ma­ry, and lat­er to the Brit­ish fleet. He be­came Bi­shop of Bath and Wells in 1685. He was one of sev­er­al bi­shops im­pris­oned in the Tow­er of Lon­don for re­fus­ing to sign James II’s “De­clar­a­tion of In­dul­gence” (hop­ing to re­store Ca­thol­i­cism in Eng­land); he was tried and ac­quit­ted. Ken wrote much po­e­try, pu­blished post­hu­mous­ly in 1721.

Second and third verses, my own.

Well Said

Judah gets it.  So does Kevin.  So do Missy and Galen. There's a pattern here.

Why doesn't Patrick Henry College's administration get it?

Alma Mater Cecidit

Recent events at Patrick Henry College, whence I graduated last year, have sparked quite a bit of media coverage. I will refrain from commenting for now, but here are some of the stories for your perusal:

Chronicle of Higher Education

Christianity Today

Leesburg Today

Andrew Sullivan

Marc Fisher (Wash. Post)

More About This Blog

I have more thoughts related to my earlier musings on what to do with this blog. As I am someone who intends to go to seminary in the not-too-distant future and hopes to be the main preaching elder at a church someday, it would seem obvious that this space would be a good place for me to develop my skills in biblical exposition and sermonizing. After all, that's what lots of pastors and aspiring pastors do with their blogs. Pick a text, and write on it. To some folks, it might seem odd that I would choose to write on they might consider lesser subjects than the Bible.

Continue reading this post...

Nostalgia

Remember the good old days when Napster was free, and you could tie up your home phone line for hours at a time downloading music at what now seems like a snail's pace?  Well, the good old days are back, sorta.  In an effort to break into Apple's stranglehold on the music-downloading business, Napster now allows registered users to listen to a song five times for free, after which you can buy it or pay Napster's subscription fee for unlimited access to music.  Not quite as good as the days before RIAA went crazy, but that's still a lot of free music.  Check it out.

 

Hat tip: Stephen & Sarah.

Science (fiction) and faith

If you like science fiction, check out Arthur C. Clarke's short story, The Star.  Clarke explores the centuries old-question of the relationship between science and faith, in a story that is as powerful and startling as it is brief.  Clarke won a Hugo Award in 1956 for this story.

 

Sci-fi has never made much of an impact among the great works of western literature, with only the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne available in the "classics" section of your local library or bookstore.  Nonetheless, I think the genre has gotten short shrift and is capable of carrying the same literary weight as other forms of fiction.  Though lots of the sci-fi that is out there is written purely for entertainment and in that respect aspires little higher than a Harlequin romance, many sci-fi novels are quite well written and explore important social, philosophical, and personal issues.  One good example is my favorite modern sci-fi author, Timothy Zahn, who in his recent novels has explored marriage and irony.

Currently reading

There are in fact quite a number of things I'm currently reading, including Preachers and Preaching, Mind: A Brief Introduction, The Cross-Centered Life, Beyond the Fall of Night, and From Embers to a Flame: How God Can Revitalize Your Church, just to name a few. I have a habit of starting a book before I finish the one(s) I was already working through, and sometimes it makes it seem like quite a triumph to actually finish one.

At any rate, a smaller work I've discovered recently is an article by Herman Bavinck called Calvin and Common Grace. I've long been interested in the doctrine of common grace and what various theologians and Christian authors think of its importance, and this is, so far, an interesting treatment of the subject in manageable size. Bavinck takes a high view of the value of learning from the wisdom of so-called pagans:

The good philosophical thoughts and ethical precepts found scattered through the pagan world receive in Christ their unity and center. They stand for the desire which in Christ finds its satisfaction; they represent the question to which Christ gives the answer; they are the idea of which Christ furnishes the reality. The pagan world, especially in its philosophy, is a pedagogy unto Christ; Aristotle, like John the Baptist, is the forerunner of Christ. It behooves the Christians to enrich their temple with the vessels of the Egyptians and to adorn the crown of Christ, their king, with the pearls brought up from the sea of paganism.

Hymn

O day of rest and gladness, of day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness, most beautiful, most bright:
On Thee, the high and lowly, through ages joined in tune,
Sing holy, holy, holy, to the great God Triune.

On Thee, at the creation, the light first had its birth;
On Thee, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth;
On Thee, our Lord, victorious, the Spirit sent from heaven,
And thus on Thee, most glorious, a triple light was given.

Thou art a port, protected from storms that round us rise;
A garden, intersected with streams of paradise;
Thou art a cooling fountain in life’s dry, dreary sand;
From thee, like Pisgah’s mountain, we view our promised land.

Thou art a holy ladder, where angels go and come;
Each Sunday finds us gladder, nearer to heaven, our home;
A day of sweet refection, thou art a day of love,
A day of resurrection from earth to things above.

Today on weary nations the heavenly manna falls;
To holy convocations the silver trumpet calls,
Where Gospel light is glowing with pure and radiant beams,
And living water flowing, with soul refreshing streams.

New graces ever gaining from this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining to spirits of the blessed.
To Holy Ghost be praises, to Father, and to Son;
The church her voice upraises to Thee, blessed Three in One.

~ Christopher Wordsworth, 1807-1885

Nephew of po­et William Wordsworth, Christ­o­pher was both a schol­ar and ath­lete in his stu­dent days. La­ter, he served as head­mas­ter of Har­row Boys School (1836-1850), which Winston Churchill would at­tend a cen­tu­ry or so lat­er. Words­worth was al­so Vicar at Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berk­shire (1850-1869), and Arch­dea­con of West­minster, and be­came Bi­shop of Lincoln in 1868. A rec­og­nized Greek scholar, he al­so wrote the­o­log­ic­al and other works. Of his hymns, he said, “It is the first du­ty of a hymn to teach sound doc­trine and thence to save souls.”

Two-year review

You may have noticed that things have been somewhat quiescent here on my blog for the last few months. Part of the reason for that, I'm sure, is simple laziness. A great deal of it, however, is the fact that I'm sort of at a loss as to what I should be doing with this project.

I started it two years ago in hopes that it would do for me something no journal has ever done: exercise and develop my writing skills by giving me a space in which to publish things I write. While the blog has therefore been for myself as much as anyone else, I had hoped that the semi-public nature of the thing would motivate me to keep it up and write regularly.

Well, it's been two years now, and I think the results have been mixed. There have been periods when I posted rather frequently. Working an overnight security shift for a semester and needing something to keep me awake helped that. So did my internship at the church in which I wrote 3000-5000 words a week. There have also been periods, though, where posting was much less frequent and substantially less substantial.

I want to keep the blog going, because it has been a good exercise for me, even if I haven't always kept it updated frequently. I certainly have written more than I would have without it. The trouble is that I'm not sure what to do with it. I've never been comfortable with using it as an online diary, the way some folks do with their blogs. Anyone who has been around the blogosphere for very long is familiar with the divide between linkers and thinkers--that is, between those who mainly link to interesting work produced by others and those who mainly write down their own thoughts. I've tried to be mainly a thinker, but consistently producing interesting original material is hard work. My respect for those who write regular columns has risen immensely since I started blogging.

Over the last two years, I've covered a wide range of subjects with my posts, including politics, philosophy, theology, ecclesiology, book and film reviews, poetry and literature, and more. Though it reflects the broad range of my interests, I'm not quite satisfied with this, and I think I would benefit from focusing my writing more narrowly on a specific discipline, topic, or field of interest. It might give me an incentive to do more specific, focused study and research than I've done before. I think it would also make my blog more interesting, at least to some people, than the average ramblings of an armchair philosopher--which you can find on literally thousands of personal blogs. I guess I need a thesis for my blog. Trouble is, I'm not sure what that should be.

So, until I solve this problem and figure out what exactly to do with this thing that occupies my free time and doesn't make me any money, I suspect it'll continue mostly as it has up to this point--a somewhat meandering window on the things I'm thinking, reading, and writing.

Hymn

Poor sinner, dejected with fear,
Unbosom thy mind to the Lamb;
No wrath on His brow He does wear,
Nor will He poor mourners condemn;
His arm of omnipotent grace
Is able and willing to save;
A sweet and a permanent peace
He’ll freely and faithfully give.

Come just as thou art, with thy woe,
Fall down at the feet of the Lamb;
He will not, He cannot say, “Go”,
But surely will take out thy stain
A fountain is opened for sin,
And thousands its virtues have proved
He’ll take thee, and plunge thee therein,
And wash thee from filth in His blood.

The soul that on Jesus relies,
He’ll never, no never deceive;
He freely and faithfully gives
More blessings than we can conceive;
Yea, down to old age He will keep,
Nor will He forsake us at last;
He knows and is known by His sheep;
They’re His, and He will hold them fast.

~William Gadsby, 1773-1844

In 1793, Gadsby joined the Baptist Church at Coventry, and in 1798 began to preach. In 1800, a chapel was built for him at Desford, Leicestershire, and two years later another in the town of Hinckley. In 1805, he moved to Manchester, becoming minister of a chapel in Rochdale Road, where he continued until his death. (source: cyberhymnal.org)

Dancing Words

In honor of National Poetry Month, which I just recently found out about, here are a couple of selections from one of my favorite poets, Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Summa

THE BEST ideal is the true
And other truth is none.
All glory be ascribèd to
The holy Three in One.

The Windhover
To Christ Our Lord

I CAUGHT this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.

The Examined Life

A sermon preached on April 23, 2006, in the evening service at Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Lamentations 3:40 – “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”

About two and a half millennia ago, while on trial for his life before the citizens of Athens, charged with atheism and corrupting the city’s youth, the Greek philosopher Socrates offered a defense of the life he had lived. His actions and his words, the things that had gotten him in trouble, he said were the product of his philosophical, contemplative way of life, of his pursuit of the truth. From this defense comes what may be his most famous statement: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” He showed that he truly believed that statement, as he chose to have a death sentence carried out on him rather than go into exile or change his way of life.

Well, what do you think? Is Socrates right? Is self-examination the key to the good life, the only kind of life that is worth living? It certainly doesn’t seem that most people in our society today live as though this were the case. Among the things that we often turn to for meaning, fulfillment, and a happy life—money, possessions, pleasure, work, whatever—contemplation and self-examination probably doesn’t rate very high on the list. In some ways, one might say our society isn't altogether different from the one with which Socrates clashed so many years ago.

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Christianity and Films

My friend Thomas, an aspiring filmmaker and one of the most creative men I know, often posts on a Christian approach to film and art over at his blog, Trinity Station. Examples here, here, and here. He always has good things to say (or at least interesting links).

Also of interest on this topic, and what prompted me to do this post, are a couple of episodes of the White Horse Inn radio show where the hosts interview Brian Godawa, a Reformed Christian screenwriter who did the film To End All Wars. Their conversation with Brian focuses mainly on how to engage with and interpret films as a Christian on a more substantive level than simply counting how many times the F-word occur in them. The interview is well worth your time, and can be found here and here. Godawa also appears to have a movie blog over at the Chalcedon Foundation's website, which I just discovered and haven't yet had time to browse much.

I may have posted this before, but it's worth doing again. Check out the Semi-Pelagian Narrower Catechism. It's a hoot.

Doctrine quiz

How well do you know basic Christian doctrine? Try your hand at this quiz from the White Horse Inn. Answers to follow later.

Questions About God and Christ (Answer True or False)
1. Jesus was God, but only appeared to be human.
2. Jesus was the first of all God’s created beings.
3. Jesus had a human body and divine soul.
4. In the Old Testament, God was known as the Father, in the New Testament, as the Son, and after Pentecost, as the Holy Spirit.
5. Mary is the mother of God.
6. God chooses people because he knows in advance they will choose him.

Questions About Salvation (Answer True or False)
7. The only way we can be saved is by the perfect conformity to the law of God.
8. We are saved by grace after all that we can do.
9. I am saved because of my decision to accept Christ.
10. God is so sovereign, he can change his mind.
11. The Bible teaches that there is an age of accountability, and that children who die before this age go to heaven because they are innocent.
12. If I die with unconfessed sin, I will not go to heaven.
13. The main motivation for holiness is fear of punishment and hope of reward.
14. God cannot hold someone guilty for the sins of another.
15. Justification is the process by which a person, through faith in Christ and sorrow for his sins, receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and so becomes a child of God.
16. God cannot require of us anything which cannot be performed.
17. True Christians believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible.
18. God helps those who help themselves is a biblically sound principle.
19. Though no one is perfect, the Lord looks on the heart to see who really loves him

John Piper, Thug Style

John Piper, Alistair Begg, and others get into the hip-hop scene. I'm gonna see if I can get Mark to do his next sermon to some beats. 2 Corinthians 8, anyone?

TL4L!

Calvinist?

"We would like to spell out what we believe the Scripture teaches on these five points. Our great desire is to honor God by understanding and believing his truth revealed in Scripture. We are open to changing any of our ideas which can be shown to contradict the truth of Scripture. We do not have any vested interest in John Calvin himself, and we find some of what he taught to be wrong. But in general we are willing to let ourselves be called Calvinists on the five points, because we find the Calvinist position to be Biblical.

"We share the sentiments of Jonathan Edwards who said in the Preface to his great book on THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL, 'I should not take it at all amiss, to be called a Calvinist, for distinction's sake: though I utterly disclaim a dependence on Calvin, or believing the doctrines which I hold, because he believed and taught them; and cannot justly be charged with believing in every thing just as he taught.'"

~Bethlehem Baptist Church staff, "What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism"

Evangelicals and C.S. Lewis

This evening on the way to the evening service at church, my friend who's from Northern Ireland asked my opinion of an interesting phenomenon he's noticed. Evangelicals in the U.S., he points out, generally love the writings of C.S. Lewis, and look to him in many respects as something of a spiritual mentor or guide. Lewis, however, was not himself an evangelical, and had some theological views that most evangelicals today would find troubling. In Britain, it seems, most evangelicals are aware of this, and while they might appreciate some of Lewis' works, they wouldn't nearly treat him as much of a patron saint as Americans do. Why, then, is it that your average American evangelical would probably tend to trust Lewis as someone whose writings are generally faithful to Scripture and trustworthy?

I have enjoyed several of Lewis' works myself, and I appreciate the gift of clear, thoughtful, imaginative communication that God clearly bestowed on him, but I'm curious about this. Is it that American Christians are generally fairly theologically ignorant and undiscriminating? Maybe the average member of Wherever Bible Church wouldn't expect to get along with an Episcopalian spiritually, but, not knowing much about Lewis' affiliation, doesn't know or care enough about theology to know problematic material when he or she reads it?

I'm just musing here, and I'm curious to know what others think. Why do you think American evangelicals regard Lewis so highly?

T4G Blog

I don't often plug others's blogs (I let my blogroll in the sidebar do that for me), but here's one you must see: the Together for the Gospel Blog. Mark Dever, Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, and Lig Duncan, all blogging together. Great stuff. Hanging out with any one of these men is quite an experience (well, I haven't met Lig yet), but get two or more of them in a room together, and buckle your seatbelts! Read this blog, and it'll be almost like spending time with them.

Honestly, I'm just amused by the fact that Mark Dever--who doesn't even own a cell phone--is now blogging.

A ministry opportunity for you (shameless begging)

Beloved readers, the internship that produced so much of the material you've seen in this space in recent months has come to a close. That means I'm hunting for a job at the moment, and it also means I'm flat broke. So, if you feel so inclined, donations in support of this blog and its author would be most welcome. You could be building the Kingdom of God, too, by supporting a would-be future pastor.

More on Elders and Baptists

My friend Randa asks a good question in the comments on my last post. Where do I find in scripture that elder leadership should be in a congregational context? Where does the Bible teach that the whole church ultimately has responsibility for issues of discipline and doctrine? I thought the answer was worth a blog post in its own right, as it's a bit more lengthy than would suit a comment.

I draw a distinction between normal leadership and ultimate authority. God has indeed given elders to his church to lead and shepherd the flock. Those who are Godly men, apt to teach, especially those who normally have the responsibility of publicly teaching the Word of God, are to be the ones who lead, shape and guide the church in its normal life. Church members, in turn, have an obligation to submit to and obey the leaders God has given them, so long as they don't teach or practice contra the Scriptures.

Continue reading this post...

Baptists and Elders

Another essay from my recently-completed internship at Capitol Hill Baptist Church


In today’s evangelical world, it seems most people don’t give a lot of thought to how the Bible says that the church should be governed and led. For those in established denominations, those conversations are several hundred years in the past. For those in non-denominational churches, the assumption seems to be that whatever works or is most effective is generally what should be done. As Mark Dever makes clear in the last chapter of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, however, God has in fact given us a pattern for church leadership in His Word, the Bible. Those of us who value the Bible and intend to submit to its rule in all of faith and life would do well to understand and follow the Biblical model of church leadership.

Continue reading this post...