July 29, 2016 I’m reading a great book, David Halberstam’s The Fifties. It’s a journalistic look at major cultural (e.g., Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe) and political (e.g., Joseph McCarthy, Eisenhower) moments in America in the 1950s. Here are three excerpts from chapters on political trends. Although describing political dynamics in the 1950s, they are also … More American Politics: Nothing New Under the Sun
July 7, 2016 So, I’m writing a book on how to read and understand the Bible. The book is for undergraduates, not for theological professionals, so rhetoric becomes an important consideration–how to find the right way of saying things so that communication actually occurs. Communication in theological subjects is a challenge for several reasons. The … More Theology, Politics, and Rhetoric
We still have a highly conservative, rural Evangelical voice that is inflexible in its politics and fearful of urbanites, immigrants, and everything else that is different from traditional rural culture. … More Prohibition and Apocalyptic Politics
We are entering election season; hyperbolic rhetoric is already fills the political air like humidity in the South. We all know that often political rhetoric often seems to be about one thing but is really about something else–it has a subtext that is known but not talked about. Discussions about immigration are, for some people, … More The “Jews” in John’s Gospel
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