Mere musings on culture, life, and theology by Samuel James
Samuel James on March 30, 2017 Right now the Big Thing On Twitter™ is the "Billy Graham Rule." A new debate was flared up by news that Vice President Mike Pence practiced his own form of the rule. Some well-followed progressives wasted no time before lambasting Mr. Pence as a sexist. Some well-followed progressive evangelicals likewise jumped in by chastising the…
Read More
Samuel James on March 27, 2017 I was reminded recently of one of my favorite anecdotes from Russell Moore. It's about the day that Dr. Carl F.H. Henry told him that the next great Christian leaders were probably pagans right now: Several of us were lamenting the miserable shape of the church, about so much doctrinal vacuity, vapid preaching, non-existent discipleship. We…
Read More
Samuel James on March 23, 2017 I've finished reading Rod Dreher's "The Benedict Option." In my view, it's a fine book, one that articulates a theologically faithful response to the West's cultural moment. I'll have more thoughts on it later (and a brief review in a forthcoming issue of the ERLC's Light Magazine) , but for now I want to share a couple…
Read More
Samuel James on March 21, 2017 When the history of Hollywood's current creative stagnation is written, we very well might regard the new live action version of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” as the quintessential movie of the era. It is a remarkably efficient summation both of nostalgia’s culture’s strengths and its weaknesses. Like a newly illustrated edition of your favorite novel,…
Read More
Samuel James on March 18, 2017 Growing up, I did not see my father angry often. But it did happen. If my father was angry with me, it was almost certainly for one of two reasons. Either I had disrespected my mother, or else I had been cruel to my younger sister. On those occasions I did witness and endure my…
Read More
Samuel James on March 16, 2017 My issue with pieces like this one comes down to a question of good-faith. In a certain context, given some mutual assumptions and amongst people who share particular convictions, arguing from the New Testament to a certain political program can be persuasive and valuable. The trouble comes when such an argument appears ex nihilo in…
Read More
Samuel James on March 16, 2017 Today I'm re-upping this post from May 2016. Timothy George’s profile of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and its senior pastor, Mark Dever, is a joy to read. It was a joy for me personally because my wife and I are members of a church in Louisville that owes much to Dever and Capitol Hill. My…
Read More
Samuel James on March 14, 2017 Snark, which the American Heritage Dictionary defines as a "snide, sarcastic, or disrespectful attitude," is the basic currency of online writing. Without mockery, sarcasm, or innuendo, a majority of published internet writing would simply evaporate. That's unfortunate, because among the low forms of discourse, snark might be at the very bottom. It is the least…
Read More
Samuel James on March 12, 2017 I think Ross Douthat is exactly right about the need for some kind of positive, strategic response to the smartphone age. "Compulsions are rarely harmless," he writes, and therein lies the key point: Digital addiction is real, and its long term consequences, though mysterious now, will not be something to receive with gladness. Some may…
Read More
Samuel James on March 10, 2017 While reading Charlotte Allen's nice takedown of a fearmongering Washington Post piece about homeschooling, I was reminded again how hard it can be to extinguish certain anxieties. The anti-homeschooling activists profiled by the Post have had difficult life experiences inside homeschooling. That shouldn't be minimized or ridiculed. But, as Allen points out, the rhetoric of these anti-homeschooling crusaders…
Read More