After the 2004 election, in which the states that went for Bush formed a relatively neat geographical unity and in all the states that went for Kerry maps and T-shirts were circulating labeling the Republican states as ‘Jesusland,’ I thought, […]
Evangelicals
A Linguistic Test: Blue Kennel’s First
I have been reading a work called From Bible Belt to Sun Belt by Darren Dochuk about how settlement from the western South [Texas and bordering states] in the 1930s and 40s reshaped California evangelicalism and culture. It inspired me to give my […]
Earned Success
Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute and public conservative spokesman, has been writing and speaking recently about happiness. He spoke at the recent Christian Community Development Conference, and declared that money does not necessarily bring happiness except that […]
Does Justice Equal Entitlement: A Book Review
Marvin Olasky, one of the most saintly people I know, has also done a review of Timothy Keller”s new book, Generous Justice. I’m sure it is superior to mine. Nevertheless, I think I have something to say.Timothy Keller, the […]
Inflation
Michael Brendan Dougherty says that the Fed has, under Bernanke, pursued an expansionist philosophy of letting asset prices rise and never trying to limit or deflate “bubbles.” This is a different one than it followed in the Paul Volcker era, […]
The Place of Sharia Law in a Free Society
There has been some controversy recently, because the Archbishop of Canterbury, no less, suggested that sharia law could in some ways be incorporated into the British law code. This suggestion created a certain amount of outrage; and in the last […]
The H-word, and the Other H-word
In the ‘60s we had a lot of slang phrases using the word “head” – “head trip” “got a crazy idea in his head” “feed your head” (Jefferson Airplane) “we’d like to change your head” (The Beatles) “out of my […]
Bahnsen on D’Souza and Catholic Protestants
This is my opportunity to introduce my friend David Bahnsen to Blue Kennel readers. I myself happened to be under the impression that before D”Souza relocated to NYC he was in fact attending an evangelical megachurch in San Diego. But […]
American Christianity – Soon a Phenomenon of the Educated?
For years and years we have been fed with the story that orthodox Christianity and other conservative and demanding religions were primarily, though not exclusively, the domain of the less educated, and that the highly educated were inclined toward more […]
The Value of Inheritance
In a recent newsletter of the evangelical The Gathering, Erik Johnson and Gabriel Schulze discuss the question of whether it is wise to leave money to your children. I have some opinions about that. Here are the options: As Ron […]