Monthly Archives: January 2018

A COMMON OCCURRENCE IN PREACHING

The following is not an uncommon occurrence for me while preparing to preach…

Not always, but there are certainly times of struggle either to make sense of the text and/or to make sure I really believe it.  As the Puritans liked to say, make sure to preach to yourself before you preach to others.  Really believing the Word of God is more difficult than determining its proper meaning.

Then God brings light, many times much light, and I can’t write fast enough.

It is one reason I don’t like to preach every week.  The process of preparation is best if I have months to mull and consider a text.  I want to stew on it for a long time.

I take many notes and ask many questions.  Commentaries come at the end to make sure I am in the ballpark of sound exegesis.

All this is one reason why I wish lead pastors preached less frequently.  It would be better for them and for the congregation.

 

PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS

Alan Jacobs posted his list of top five “public intellectuals.” 

Most influential public intellectuals?

Alan’s choices are good.  If we are going to take both the words seriously in “public intellectual,” there are others who are not out in public as much as they used to be (Chomsky) or have recently died (Eco).  My “on deck” list to complement Alan’s:

Paul Krugman

Thomas Friedman

David Brooks

Fareed Zacharia

Neil deGrasse Tyson

WHY THE HUMANITIES?

As Aristotle, Plato’s most famous student, suggests at the beginning of the Nicomachean Ethics, “precision is not to be sought for alike in all discussions.” Similarly, we should not expect the humanities to be driven or dominated by the objectives of science. Plato teaches us that part of the liberal arts’ enduring mission is precisely to critique these objectives.

The rest is here: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Big-Brains-Small-Minds/236480