by Daniel S. Trout
This second installment of “What does it mean to be a Christian Pacifist?” could also be titled “Hating the World but Loving the world.” This distinction is crucial because it is precisely the posture one must take if due regard is given to the ethics of the New Testament. While [...]
Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
…a Christian Pacifist? 2: The Church and the New Politic
Posted in Culture, Ethics/Law on April 13, 2007 | 4 Comments »
Gagging Imus: Another Episode of the Chandala
Posted in Culture on April 10, 2007 | 2 Comments »
by Daniel S. Trout
By now, most people a probably aware of the most recent episode involving Don Imus, the shock jock who most recently called the black women of the Rutgers lady b-ball team “nappy-headed hos” in an off-hand comment, then the following day referred to Al Sharpton and a black congresswoman as “you people.” [...]
Is there a Christian Economic Strategy?
Posted in Culture on March 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
It’s rather easy to rail (especially from one’s computer) against the modern Church’s cooperation with our decadent culture, but I wonder, particularly in regard to economics, if there is a system of trade/monetary exchange that is more authentically Christian. Both capitalism and communism fall grossly short because they presuppose a neutral arena [...]
America’s Culture War: Who’s Drawing the Order of Battle?
Posted in Culture on March 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
On page 50 of his book Culture Wars, James Davison Hunter lays out the basic thrust of his analysis: “we come to see that the contemporary culture war is ultimately a struggle over national identity–over the meaning of America, who we have been in the past, who we are now, and perhaps [...]
Christianity and Economics
Posted in Culture on February 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
Since the end of the 19th century, a lively controversy has grown within the “Christian” world over the economic system that best represents the mission of God’s Kingdom and/or best conforms to biblical norms and laws regarding trade and industry. This has come to a head in more recent decades with [...]
Symbols in Turmoil
Posted in Culture on February 28, 2007 | 1 Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
The removal of the bronze cross from the chapel on the William and Mary campus–justified in the name of political correctness to make the sanctuary more “religiously neutral”–broaches the alarming abuse of symbols in our contemporary culture. What is so interesting about the situation with the cross is the way it [...]
Imagination vs. Ideology: The Tragedy of Pan’s Labyrinth
Posted in Culture on January 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
********WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW********
For those who have seen the recent Guilleme del Toro film Pan’s Labyrinth, I am presupposing that Ofelia’s fantasy world is just that–a fantasy–the whimsy of a dreamy and undisciplined girl who spends much of her time under the spell of the flights she reads in her treasured books. [...]
Addressing Needs: Being the Compassionate Church
Posted in Culture on December 4, 2006 | 2 Comments »
by Daniel S. Trout
Particularly since the beginning of the last century, the matter of attending to human neediness within the larger culture has caused considerable befuddlement and division within the American Church. Two basic approaches emerged: the first, following the so-called “social gospel” of Walter Rauschenbusch went so far as to define the Church’s [...]
Not-So-Liberated: A Critique of Mary Daly
Posted in Culture on April 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel S. Trout
Numerous problems plague Mary Daly’s cry for women’s liberation in Beyond God the Father, but the reader’s initial criticism must note Daly’s own self-undermined credibility on page 48. She writes that women trapped in this chauvinist society suffer from a divided consciousness because they struggle between desiring authentic existence and acquiescing to [...]
A Contrast of Brian McLaren and Blaise Pascal
Posted in Culture on March 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
by Daniel Trout
The following comparison is based upon Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christian and Blaise Pascal’s Pensees. McLaren is a representative of the fast-growing, youth-oriented emergent church movement within contemporary American evangelicalism. The 17th century philosopher/apologist Pascal was a Roman Catholic with Jansenist inclinations who’s keen scientific mind and vigorous (though unfinished) defense [...]
