Category Archives: Culture commentary

Post Indiana RFRA review by NY Times Columnists Review

Posted on April 6, 2015 by PaulVK

David Brooks: Go Slow, Be Civil Charles Blow: Gender is a construct, discrimination has to stop Frank Bruni: Evolved Christians have already gone past this, the holdouts will become irrelevant. Ross Douthat: The church can’t change on this score and … Continue reading →

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A Little Culture War Chiasmus

Posted on April 2, 2015 by PaulVK

A. Why Isn’t the Bible or the Church So Obviously Better?!  This question in my experience is the seedbed of skepticism and doubt for Christians and non-Christians alike especially when it comes to specific practicalities of life. B. 20th Century … Continue reading →

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How Affirming Same Sex Marriage Is Part of the Modern Secular State telling Christianity as a Religion to Learn its New Place

Posted on March 26, 2015 by PaulVK

The Growing Target of Affirming I mentioned in a previous post that church open and affirming statements are vague and I suspect will increasingly be outdated. The affirmation that I suspected is being asked or demanded is this, that the … Continue reading →

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Has “Open and Affirming” as a Church Response to Gender Plurality Already Peaked?

Posted on March 23, 2015 by PaulVK

The Language of Open and Affirming When I started this I knew enough that “Affirming” was a label. Yesterday I thought I’d try to figure out how the label is used. Apparently it isn’t use with precision. The “open and … Continue reading →

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Planet Fitness and Obama’s Christianity

Posted on March 13, 2015 by PaulVK

Responding to a thread in CRC Voices on this piece on President Obama’s Christianity Conversation turned to the CRC Office of Social Justice I noted the Planet Fitness dust-up in Midland Michigan and CS Lewis’s piece on Christians and politics. … Continue reading →

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How May Secularisms be the source of Modern sometimes Violent Fundamentalisms?

Posted on January 16, 2015 by PaulVK

Why do wealthy Muslims Radicalize and Attack?  “Giving Excuses The Terrorists haven’t asked for” But “they hate our way of life” doesn’t answer the “why” question. “Excuses” makes it sound like identifying reasons for radicalization excuses the violence. I don’t … Continue reading →

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These Three Remain: Outrage, Insight and Tribalism, but the Greatest of These is Outrage

Posted on December 20, 2014 by PaulVK

For Religion on the Internet: These three remain: outrage, insight, tribalism, but the greatest of these is outrage.  Outrage is to self-righteousness as lust is to adultery.  Slate called 2014 the year of outrage. I’m sure 2013 was close and … Continue reading →

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The Insufficiency of Incarnation

Posted on December 2, 2014 by PaulVK

Looking for A Bigger Truth  Do Justice Blog has been doing a #listenatthemargins series. I haven’t been a faithful daily reader, listener, watcher but I’ve caught a number of them. Here is one that really stuck with me. A very creative … Continue reading →

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Surprise! No one Expects Brain Plasticity! And Why It Impacts our Relationships and Our Spirit

Posted on November 8, 2014 by PaulVK

Surprise! No one expects brain plasticity! In The Body Keeps the Score the author writes Research from these new disciplines has revealed that trauma produces actual physiological changes, including a recalibration of the brain’s alarm system, an increase in stress … Continue reading →

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Christian Narrative Shift

Posted on October 9, 2014 by PaulVK

Came across this in the Brittany cancer-suicide discussion. At the same time I’m studying Levitical “scaling disease” law. How can we understand the experience of the unclean exile? The “unclean” who live in exile (again distinct from the kind of … Continue reading →

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