On Counting Baptists
In a previous post I reflected on Philip Jenkins’ work showing that Baptists are the only Christian denomination not growing globally. His followup today at the Anxious Bench deserves highlighting. If religious group X is well known in a society,…
On Worshiping America
Plenty of comments have already been made on the patriotic worship service at First Baptist Dallas last week. It really should not come as a surprise that “Court Evangelical” Robert Jeffress’ church held something like this. It should also not…
On The Ride of the Rohirrim
Throughout The Silmarillion the goodness of Men is directly connected to their affiliation with the Elves. In the First Age the Edain are the Men who resist Morgoth alongside the Elves, and grow greater in life, wisdom, art, culture, language, arms,…
On Patriotic Idolatry and the Christian Flag
I’ve written before on patriotic idolatry, something that infects a significant segment of American evangelicalism. I appreciated the recent Reformation 21 post by Donny Friederichsen on what he called patriot-olotry. When I was a child I was part of conservative…
On Enduring Light Overcoming the Dark
J.R.R. Tolkien united the stories of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings not just by creating a consistently compelling fictional universe, but by allowing echoes of The Silmarillion to be humming throughout the narrative of The Lord of the Rings….
