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A La Carte (December 17)

monday

Today’s Kindle deals include a long list of good deals from Crossway and Zondervan with a few others mixed in as well.

(Yesterday on the blog: A Pastoral Prayer from December)

What Happens When an Evangelical Pundit, Armed Only with 58K Twitter Followers and a Reference to the Bebbington Quadrilateral, Takes on a Historian

The title is a good description of what you’ll find in this article. I think this is important because it aptly shows how expertise is so often disregarded today. “On Thursday night a very interesting, revealing, and somewhat disturbing Twitter exchange took place between religion writer Jonathan Merritt and historian Thomas Kidd. Here is what happened…”

Reading The Jesus Storybook Bible in Iceland

This is a good read. “In the world’s most bookish country, evangelicals are taking up the ministry of translation.”

A Conversation with David Powlison

This is an encouraging conversation between Ed Welch and David Powlison. They discuss Powlison’s recent diagnosis of cancer.

What’s the Shortest International Border in the World?

The Canada-US border is the longest in the world. What’s the shortest?

Stop Saying 81 Percent of White Evangelicals Vote for Trump (It Was Probably Less Than Half)

Justin Taylor: “I know I’m fighting a losing battle with this post. It won’t go viral. It probably won’t change many minds. But I’ll give it a shot anyway. No matter how many times people make the claim, it is simply wrong to say that 81 percent of white evangelicals in the United States voted for Donald Trump to become president.”

Who Decides What Words Mean

I found this a fascinating one. “Decades before the rise of social media, polarisation plagued discussions about language. By and large, it still does. Everyone who cares about the topic is officially required to take one of two stances. Either you smugly preen about the mistakes you find abhorrent – this makes you a so-called prescriptivist – or you show off your knowledge of language change, and poke holes in the prescriptivists’ facts – this makes you a descriptivist. Group membership is mandatory, and the two are mutually exclusive.”

Travel Photographer of the Year Awards

There are some stunning photos on display here.

Flashback: One Man’s Honor Is Another Man’s Shame

As Christians we need to think carefully and biblically rather than simply accepting what the culture dictates. It is possible that Western children will have to make efforts to convince their parents they ought to be honored while people from other cultures may need to refuse to conform to some of the expectations placed upon them.

A true and faithful Christian does not make holy living an accidental thing. It is his great concern. As the business of the soldier is to fight, so the business of the Christian is to be like Christ.

—Jonathan Edwards

  • Educated, Free, Wealthy, and Privileged

    We are an educated people with high standards of literacy. We are a free people who enjoy religious liberty. We are a wealthy people with unlimited access to a nearly infinite quantity of Bibles. We are a privileged people who may not realize how blessed we are.

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    Weekend A La Carte (November 2)

    A La Carte: Coldplay’s prayer in Melbourne / Zombies, Heath Lambert, and gatekeeping biblical counseling / Keep the Feast (a new song) / Stop playing the numbers game / Squandering security / and more.

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    Free Stuff Fridays (Ligonier)

    This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Ligonier Ministries, who also sponsored the blog this week.  Yesterday was Reformation Day, when many Protestants celebrate the sixteenth-century recovery of the biblical gospel. It was while Martin Luther was studying the book of Romans that he rediscovered the doctrine of justification by faith alone. So, today…

  • Daily Liturgy Devotional

    Why Not Use a Daily Liturgy for Your Devotions?

    Trends come and go. Certain habits or interests rise for a time, wane, then rise again, often at unexpected moments. One of the recent trends I have found particularly surprising and also particularly interesting is the rise (or re-rise, if you prefer) of liturgy. This may be liturgy within formal worship services of the local…

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    A La Carte (November 1)

    A La Carte: When a Berkeley feminist had three sons / The tragedy of IVF / What if I don’t feel forgiven? / Piper on how not to respond to suffering / What sola scriptura protects us against / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable Christian Books for October 2024

    New and Notable Christian Books for October 2024

    As October draws to its close, I wanted to ensure you know about at least some of the most notable books it brought our way. I did not see quite the quantity of new books I have seen in some previous months, but there were still some special ones. For each, I’ve provided the publisher’s…