Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Bible and Theology

November 05, 2013

Worship as a Political Activity

Today many Christians in America will engage in the political activity of voting. But as Peter Leithart reminds us, worship is the leading political activity of Christians: Christians are engaged in political action just by being part of the church. Continue Reading...
November 04, 2013

Kant and Christian Theology

Today at Ethika Politika, I explore the relevance of the work of Immanuel Kant for conservative Christians: Immanuel Kant does not always receive the fairest treatment among self-styled conservative theologians. Continue Reading...
October 31, 2013

Reformation and the Need for Truth

Martin Luther “did more than any single man to make modern history the development of revolution,” declared Lord Acton. (Lectures on Modern History) The Protestant Reformation profoundly changed the trajectory of Western Civilization. Continue Reading...
October 31, 2013

Diversity Is The Basis of Society

In a recent review of Christena Cleveland’s Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart, Paul Louis Metzger wonders, “What leads people to associate with those who are similar, while distancing themselves from diverse others? Continue Reading...
October 14, 2013

Greece’s ‘Golden Dawn’ Thrives as Economy Tanks

From the Financial Times: Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has penetrated the country’s police force, set up caches of heavy weapons in remote locations and trained its recruits to carry out brutal attacks against immigrants and political opponents, according to the country’s top security official. Continue Reading...
October 03, 2013

Jim Wallis on the Shutdown: ‘It’s Unbiblical’

Christians are frequently accused of conflating politics and religion. And not surprisingly, Christians like me are often frustrated by such claims. Whenever I hear such slurs my first inclination is to push back by asking who exactly can rightfully be accused of such confusion. Continue Reading...
September 27, 2013

Surplus = Happiness, Deficit = Misery

Joe Carter points to a Lifehacker article that sums up two basic equations that lead to the creation of wealth (with what I consider to be a clarifying correction applied in the first formula): Income spending = surplus Surplus x time = wealth Likewise, Wilhelm Röpke, in his A Humane Economy, points to two equations arising from classical literature that connect surplus with happiness and deficit to misery (the Micawber Principle). Continue Reading...
September 27, 2013

Presuppositions Matter, So Let’s Work Together

It is truly amazing to encounter Protestants who believe that their views on theology and justice are objective and neutral — as if the Fall did not happen. In a recent discussion about the sacraments, a leader of an international ministry said to me, “If hermeneutics involves being taught to believe a certain theology, then it is not true hermeneutics. Continue Reading...