Evangelical Cliimate Initiative

I had been pretty disheartened last Saturday by Washington Post story noting that the National Association of Evangelicals would not issue a statement regarding global warming (“climate change” in newspeak). The NAE’s initiative on this was basically derailed by the usual unholy trinity of James Dobson, Chuck Colson, and Richard Land (Al Moehler must have…

God is Love: Benedict XVI’s First Encyclical

The New York Times is, unsurprisingly, “surprised” that Benedict XVI’s first encyclical (Deus caritas est) would be concerned with love. Their surprise is due to the fact that they’d bought the story of Ratzinger the Inquisitor rather than engaging the history of his work. I’ve not yet had a chance to read the encyclical closely…

Christian Scholars, Public Intellectuals, and the Challenges of Finitude

I’ve found myself bumping up against my finitude quite a lot in the past month, which has got me to thinking some about the unique challenges for Christian scholars who want to also try to play the role of public intellectuals. (Gideon Strauss’s recent Comment article on the New York intellectuals furthered my thinking on…

God-Branding?

In print I have been critical of Biola University–well, more specifically, their philosophy department. This little piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education only adds grist to my mill. In it, the college’s “director of brand management” describes Biola’s approach–what they call “God-branding.” As far as I can tell, this is not a spoof.