Category Archives: Worldview and Culture

Scientists Long for Meaning Too

Posted on October 15, 2022 by salooper57

(Approximate reading time: four minutes.) If I understand him correctly, the theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind, who teaches at Stanford, contends that matter entering a black hole is preserved in the form of data. Should a black hole consume our world, … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Faith, Theology, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Communities of Love and Belonging

Posted on October 1, 2022 by salooper57

The people of this generation are living through a sea change but as is often the case, those on the sea are liable not to notice it until it is too late. The term “sea change” has had two primary … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Church Life, Marriage and Family, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

No Angst Over Declining Political Clout

Posted on September 24, 2022 by salooper57

What changes would the Republican Party make if Christians, who have been a key bloc within their base, could no longer deliver enough votes to compete with Democrats for national offices? How would the party react to a 12 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, In the News, Mission, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

How Did Jesus Treat Women?

Posted on September 10, 2022 by salooper57

To read some Bible scholars, one would think that Jesus viewed women through a twenty-first century feminist lens. Other equally-well regarded scholars, seem to think that Jesus looked at women through a pre-Nineteenth Amendment lens. It seems to me that … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Marriage and Family, relationships, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

News Consumption May Be Affecting You Adversely

Posted on September 3, 2022 by salooper57

During the last few years, I have seen people break off relationships with family and church because they had been transported into pandemic-related stories, election stories, and war stories. This has happened among both liberal and conservative media consumers.

A critic might contend that something similar occurs among consumers of the Christian gospel. Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, In the News, relationships, Truthfulness, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Abortion Is an Important, but not an Ultimate, Issue

Posted on July 23, 2022 by salooper57

With humans displaced from God (and, therefore, from each other), secondary errors are unavoidable. In the absence of God, humans invest penultimate things – many good and necessary in themselves – with ultimate standing, to their own detriment. As G. K. Chesterton noted long ago, “When a man stops believing in God, he doesn’t then believe in nothing; he believes anything.” Continue reading →

Posted in In the News, Spiritual life, Theology, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

What Do You Think of Church People?

Posted on July 16, 2022 by salooper57

Another church person trope, as prevalent as the hypocrite, is the stuffed shirt, the religious bore. Unchurched people believe that their churched counterparts are prigs. Unchurched intellectuals presume they are dolts. Church people are straight arrows, stuffy, and prudish. Fifteen minutes in their presence feels like an eternity. Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Church, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Watch Out for “Christian” Nationalism

Posted on June 18, 2022 by salooper57

Briefly defined, nationalism is an attitude that gives priority of place and standing to the nation. Nationalists subordinate other commitments to that of supporting the nation and seeking its wellbeing. This differs from patriotism, for a patriot can honor and sacrifice for their country without elevating its importance above other primary commitments. Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, In the News, Theology, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Is Christianity Hard or Easy?

Posted on June 4, 2022 by salooper57

Is Christianity hard or easy? That was the question C. S. Lewis asked and helpfully answered almost 80 years ago. Lewis believed that Christianity is hard – impossible even – if approached from one direction, and easy – or at … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Faith, Spiritual life, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Reason Art Got Ugly

Posted on May 21, 2022 by salooper57

The performance arts have also become enamored with ugliness, preferring darkness to light, and antiheroes to heroes. Today, antiheroes are artistically interesting, but heroes are boring. Antiheroes represent truth. Heroes are a fantasy. These days, no one is making films with “High Noon” plots or Will Kane-like heroes. Darkness – think of the recent Batman films – is in vogue. Continue reading →

Posted in Theology, Truthfulness, Worldview and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment