Category Archives: Culture commentary

My Case for a Holy Hypocrisy

Posted on June 1, 2012 by PaulVK

“The church is full of hypocrites” I regularly see Gandhi’s famous Christ quote on a bumper sticker at my child’s school. “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Fair enough. … Continue reading →

Posted in CRC, Culture commentary, Institutional Church, On the way to Sunday's sermon, Understanding the Bible | 4 Comments

Strong Culture/ Weak Culture and Suspicion

Posted on May 25, 2012 by PaulVK

Douthat’s Chapter 5 Heresy Douthat’s “Bad Religion” has gotten mixed reviews. The book complains about the loss of cultural power of the orthodoxies of the mid 20th century represented by Reinhold Niebuhr, Billy Graham, MLK Jr. and the Roman Catholic … Continue reading →

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Tim Keller’s Gospel

Posted on May 23, 2012 by PaulVK

Pt. 6 of The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism Homosexuality as Justice Litmus Test This video of Tim Keller handling the question of homosexuality nicely illustrates both our postmodern context and how Tim Keller’s theological adjustment of Reformed theology differs … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture commentary, Missional, theological | Tagged | 6 Comments

Sex and Gender labels

Posted on May 22, 2012 by PaulVK

Thought of this last week but only wrote it down after reading Pete VanderBeek’s post on Voices about the two transexual, transgender friends across the street from where he’s living. His reflection was that they have very complicated lives indeed. … Continue reading →

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The Emergent Bizarro Twins of Mars Hill

Posted on May 18, 2012 by PaulVK

Pt. 3 of The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism The Dream of Resurrecting the First Century At the core of the Protestant ethos is the dream that the root vine of the church of Jesus Christ can be tapped by … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture commentary, Institutional Church, philosophical reflection | 2 Comments

The Post-modern Logic behind Emergent Calvinism

Posted on May 18, 2012 by PaulVK

What cultural conditions helped give rise to the surprising re-emergence of Reformed movement? Many of us who were part of ethnic and historical Reformed churches while appreciating our tradition sometimes considered it sort of an acquired taste. The evangelistic power … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture commentary, philosophical reflection, theological | 6 Comments

Augustine, Calvinism, and a Catechism of Suspicion

Posted on May 17, 2012 by PaulVK

The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism Pt. 1: Postmodernity’s Submarine Races Suspicion Has A Long History Postmoderns were not the first to be deeply suspicious of motives. The suggestion by talking serpent in the garden to the woman was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture commentary, Quotations | 2 Comments

Postmodernity’s Submarine Races

Posted on May 17, 2012 by PaulVK

Pt. 1 of The Postmodern Logic Behind Emergent Calvinism Defining Postmodernity I first heard the submarine race joke before I was old enough to get it. I remember my grade school brain racing to try to figure out “where in … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture commentary, philosophical reflection, Quotations | Tagged | 4 Comments

Christianity is not about being nice

Posted on May 16, 2012 by PaulVK

Love I believe Christianity is about learning to love everyone, all the way up to and including our enemies. In most cases our real enemies are not people far off, or people we can push away, speak ill of or … Continue reading →

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On Images

Posted on May 16, 2012 by PaulVK

Tripping over to Ann Voskamp’s blog, seeing the most recent posting. Her blog is amazing, moving, beautiful, but it is also nostalgic, opening up a window into a world that I know a lot of people yearn for or are deeply … Continue reading →

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