JP's Magnum Opus

J.P. Moreland, who I recently praised for his sincere Christan scholarship, has just published his magnum opus -- Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power.

This will certainly part of my summer reading. Here are two blog posts concerning the book -- one by JP, and one by orthodox Christian, John Mark Reynolds.

Moreland's book Love Your God with All Your Mind probably changed the course of my life. It was that book that led me to seminary, and then to doctoral work in philosophy. He is a lucid writer, a fiery activist, and a keen intellect. A little corny, though.

Highlights

I'm hoping to punch those electric paddles into my blog, should "clear!" and give it a jolt. I don't know how long the revival will last, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

My blog is about 2 years old now, and I'll be dadgummed if I haven't put together a decent post or two. Here are some highlights on the subjcet of community worth a second look.

Lewis on Love
Fear and Friendship
Friendship in LOTR
Thinking of Others
Wendell Berry on Life
Looking for God in the Fridge
The Evil of Gift-certificates

Inference to the Favored Explanation (IFE)

IBE (Inference to the Best Explanation) is a standard move for conservative Christians who seek to defend certain claims.

The Design Argument for God's existence is just such a case. Look at all the initial conditions required for a life-producing and life-supporting universe. Their concurrence is astronomically improbable. Best explanation? Divine monkey business.

Certain ID arguments are also of this sort. Look at the irreducible complexity of molecular machines. Best explanation? Chance and natural selection or divine design? Design is more plausible if you don't already have anti-theistic prejudices. I'm in favor of both of these arguments.

BUT WAIT!!!

What about the fossil record? Look at how all our fossil evidence seems to fall into a nice branching-type pattern, showing the relationships between various species. Best explanation? Hmmm. Assuming the evidence does in fact appear this way (and honest, expertly-trained scientists believe it does), then IBE seems to demand prima facie assent to evolution.

The alternative? IFE. I don't want to be guilty of that. I'm just trying to be honest in my search for truth.

Does Anybody Read This Thing?

I've been more absent then present this year -- is anyone still out there? Leave a comment.

Cho as Gollum

The shooting brought to mind another previous post I did on Fear and Friendship

Who Was Watching Cho?

I haven't posted anything of my own in a while, because I keep finding great stuff written by other people. Here's the best thing I read anywhere on the VaTech tragedy.

Sit on this

"there are no successful churches"
~ Eugene Peterson, from the introduction to Working the Angles.

Sit on that for a while.

JP Moreland on Answered Prayer

A scholar and a true Christian. There aren't many men or women of whom I could use both descriptions. JP Moreland is one.

In this blog post, JP does two things for us: first, he tells us how to recognize answered prayer; second, he encourages us to keep record of our requests and answers as a sort of "ebenezer." Of course, the assumption (gulp) is that we are actually praying on occassion.

It's a great read. While you're there, you should check out other posts on that blog -- it's a group blog by some profs at Biola/Talbot.

The Best Friday

Good Friday. Thank you, Lord Jesus.