Theology Central
Theology Central exists as a place of conversation and information for faculty and friends of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. Posts include seminary news, information, and opinion pieces about ministry, theology, and scholarship.What Is Capitalism?
As an increasing number of evangelicals grow hostile toward capitalism, it’s useful to have a simple definition. Writing for the Intercollegiate Review, Paul Mueller provides that kind of simple definition. He also discusses several varieties of capitalism, detailing strengths and weaknesses. For example,
Unfortunately for us, the outcome of both the public-private partnerships of the Bush administration and the social consciousness and corporate responsibility of the Clinton and Obama administrations has been what people are increasingly calling “crony capitalism.” Under crony capitalism, private owners of the means of production use the coercive power of government to advance their own interests. While we see high-profile cases of large corporations receiving government favors in the news, cronyism runs deep in our society through zoning and permit laws, occupational licensing, and numerous other barriers to free entry into the economy and free competition. These protective rules enrich incumbents at the expense of consumers and would-be competitors. But another effect of crony capitalism has been the increasing power of the Washington bureaucracy to direct economic activity—undermining capitalism itself.
Did Hobby Lobby Do Wrong?
“This is what you call a terrible testimony,” says Michael Heiser, scholar-in-residence at Logos Bible Software. “Simply disgraceful and dishonest. Sure, lets lie and break the law so we can can fill out our Bible museum. I hope this goes viral and shames the whole lot of them.”
On the other hand, Jeffrey A. Tucker writing for the Foundation for Economic Education says, “The attack on Hobby Lobby is incoherent and unjust.” He defends the retailer against accusations of hypocrisy after the $3 million fine. “What Hobby Lobby was doing could have finally saved this sacred history on behalf of the whole of humanity. . . . Hobby Lobby deserves praise, not condemnation, for these actions. “
Oh, This Is Just Peachy
“Make America Great Again” is now a CCLI licensed Christian worship song. See Jonathan Aigner at Ponder Anew.
Hoc Est Corpus Meum
Apparently, transubstantiation cannot occur without gluten. The Pope declares that the Eucharist cannot be celebrated with gluten-free bread.
The bread used in the celebration of the Most Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice must be unleavened, purely of wheat, and recently made so that there is no danger of decomposition. It follows therefore that bread made from another substance, even if it is grain, or if it is mixed with another substance different from wheat to such an extent that it would not commonly be considered wheat bread, does not constitute valid matter for confecting the Sacrifice and the Eucharistic Sacrament. It is a grave abuse to introduce other substances, such as fruit or sugar or honey, into the bread for confecting the Eucharist. Hosts should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools.
Somebody Finally Noticed
Joe Thorn writes on “Entertainment and Worship” for Tabletalk Magazine. His thesis?
One of the more dangerous drifts happening in our local churches today is within our corporate worship. In many churches there is a de-emphasis on the means of grace (Scripture, prayer, and the sacraments or ordinances), and a reliance on entertainment. Some try to balance the two in the name of reaching more people with the gospel, but there is an inescapable danger in overvaluing entertainment and implementing it in corporate worship.
Say it ain’t so, Joe!
UW Eau Claire Drops Restriction against Religious Teaching
The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire includes community service among the learning requirements for its students. To meet this requirement, students were permitted to engage in activities that involved teaching and persuasion, but they were not allowed to engage in religious teaching or persuasion. Believing that this policy discriminated against their religious activities, students filed suit against the university.
In an out-of-court settlement, the university has dropped the policy and has agreed to pay the fees for the students’ attorneys. Read about it at Religion Clause.
Hobby Lobby Surrenders Cuneiforms, Pays Fine
Hobby Lobby issued a statement on July 5 stating that it has reached a settlement with the United States Attorney’s Office concerning its purchase of clay cuneiform tablets. The statement reads in part,
The Company was new to the world of acquiring these items, and did not fully appreciate the complexities of the acquisitions process. This resulted in some regrettable mistakes. The Company imprudently relied on dealers and shippers who, in hindsight, did not understand the correct way to document and ship these items. However, since learning of these errors, the Company has been an active participant with the government’s investigation and supports its efforts to protect the world’s ancient heritage. At no time did Hobby Lobby ever purchase items from dealers in Iraq or from anyone who indicated that they acquired items from that country. Hobby Lobby condemns such conduct and has always acted with the intent to protect ancient items of cultural and historical importance. Hobby Lobby has implemented acquisition policies and procedures based on the industry’s highest standards established by the Association of Art Museum Directors (“AAMD”). The AAMD policies have been vetted by global museum directors and lawmakers alike, and represent the gold standard for protecting ancient heritage artifacts.
According to the Christian Post, the settlement includes a $3 million fine for Hobby Lobby.
Two Academic Firings
Both reports come from the Chronicle of Higher Education. In an opinion piece, conservative Jonathan Marks defends liberal Lisa Durden, who was fired as the result of a spat over Black activism. Then Sarah Brown reports on Keith Fink’s claim that he was fired from UCLA for his (conservative) advocacy of free speech.
What both of these firings have in common is that the teachers were adjunct faculty members. Adjuncting has become a trend in higher education. Colleges and universities are more reluctant than ever to pay tenure-level salaries when they can hire adjuncts for a fraction of the cost. Furthermore, adjuncts have virtually no job security, working from course contract to course contract, sometimes for multiple institutions. Tenured professors are almost untouchable by academic administrators; adjunct teachers can be fired at a whim.
In the Nick of Time
This week: a historical piece on the “Conservative Baptist Conflict.”
Six Trees You Should Know
I’m not a prepper, but I am an outdoorsman. Here’s a nifty short article describing six trees that hikers, campers, and other outdoor types may find useful.
Incidentally, if you’re post-trib, then you really should know about such things.
CHEA Editorial on Nancy DeVos and Accreditation
The Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is the organization that accredits the accreditors. It recently published the first of a two-part editorial by John Bassett, president of Heritage University. Bassett observes,
During the Obama administration, despite large increases in Pell Grant funding, thevalues of peer-review accreditation were threatened by a Department of Educationbent on turning justifiable accountability to taxpayers into federal policies on higher education. Those policies were full of regulations that increasingly seemed to replace accreditation for continuous improvement of colleges, based on their individual missions, into a strategy of compliance and uniformity. It seemed only a matter of months before American colleges and universities would be overseen by a true Ministry of Higher Education, like those in Europe, and would lose that special value of having great diversity in the very kinds of our institutions. In many ways, the United States has the best system of higher education because it does not have a system of higher education. That specialness seemed threatened.
NEA to DeVos: Answer or Resign
Just when I thought that this particular union couldn’t get any more arrogant. Read about it at Education Week.
Magnificent!
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained . . .
Wilson on The Benedict Option
I have yet to read Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option. It’s on my list. It’s on my Kindle. But I have other things to do first.
Doug Wilson has read The Benedict Option. And he has opined about it. As usual, his opinion is worth reading. And startling.
And as though he meant to illustrate this melancholy fact, Dreher concludes by telling the story of how his friend Andrew Sullivan achieved serenity. “My friend Andrew Sullivan was one of the most prolific and influential bloggers on the Internet” (Loc. 3430), and one day just quit. In Sullivan’s words, “And so I decided, after 15 years, to live in reality” (Loc. 3438). Dreher met up with him a few months later, and found him “fit and glowing.”
Now what the heck? When it comes to the plague of same sex mirage, Andrew Sullivan is our very own Typhoid Mary. Stop for a minute. Let me change metaphors. This is like the Captain Dreher of the Titanic sending out an earnest set of distress signals, but wrapping up his Benedict SOSing with the observation that the iceberg appeared to be “fit and glowing.” I dare say. The iceberg was fine.
A Different Point of View
Spencer Grady-Pawl, writing for the American Humanist Association, offers a secularist perspective on the recent Southern Baptist Convention.
Incidentally, “Secular Humanism” is an oxymoron. “Christian Humanist,” however, is not.
Observations on Practical and Speculative Theology
Joel Zartman is an alumnus of Central Seminary. His ministry experience includes pastoring a church in Colombia. He is presently a doctoral student in theology at Westminster Seminary. Here Joel begins with an observation of Thomas à Kempis as a preface to a reflection on what theology is for. Here is his conclusion.
What I am sure of is this: you cannot drive a wedge between speculative and practical theology. They must be related. They have to be coordinated. The complex relationship should be clear to us, explicit. And we should beware of those who do not value both.
Leithart on the “Comic Trinity”
When Peter Leithart is good, he’s very good.
Christianity is comic because it is Trinitarian. Not only is history a comedy of death and resurrection, but this history reflects the eternal and basic comedy of the Father and Son in the Spirit, the eternal dynamic of mutual glorification within the Triune life.
Read more at the Theopolis Institute.
A Muslim on True Pluralism Versus Mere Relativism
Writing for the Witherspoon Institute, Ismail Royer responds to Bernie Sanders’s attempt to impose a religious test for public office: such people “are not protecting religious pluralism but are rather demanding that all public servants be relativists.”
Exactly.
Hear David Martyn Lloyd-Jones Preach
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s sermons are archived by the MLJ Trust. The archive includes recordings.
New Republic Picks Up Donn Ketcham Story
Kathryn Joyce has written a long form report on the Donn Ketcham scandal for the New Republic. Her report includes details that were absent from the PII report, released about a year ago. Astonishingly, Wendell Kempton’s name is only mentioned once in the story. Kempton was president of ABWE at the time Ketcham left the mission.
The New Republic is a journal of opinion on the social and political Left. Those on the Right, however, are also noticing. Conservative evangelical blogger Tim Challies linked to the New Republic piece, calling it a “devastating article about abuse within ABWE.” Those who had hoped that the scandal would die down after the release of the PII report must be pretty disappointed.
I was present at the GARBC annual meeting when the National Representative announced that a beloved missionary leader had fallen and was stepping out of ministry. As I recall, the National Representative at that time served on the board of ABWE. He said nothing at all about Ketcham’s preying on children. To this day we don’t know how many Bangladeshi children Ketcham may have assaulted.
The scandal isn’t dying. It’s getting bigger.
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