Recent Blog Entries
Top 10 Recent Developments You...
04/30/2012
I haven't blogged much this Spring and some of you have asked for an update, so here goes:
1. I received my first royalties check for a…
Does Yoder Need a Defense?
03/23/2012
Branson Parler has recently written a devastating critique of Paul Martens' new book, The Heterodox Yoder. Though I appreciate what…
End of Sacrifice Under Review
03/19/2012
The End of Sacrifice has received decent press over the past few weeks. Chris Smith wrote a brief review for the Englewood Review of…
Relishing the View from the Foot...
02/14/2012
Here is a sermon I delivered at GLCC a few years ago and then again recently at Delta Community Christian Church. It unpacks the abiding…
A good way to think about the Restoration...
01/04/2012
"It would follow that there is no point at which a renewed recourse to the apostolic writings and their point to Jesus cannot renew us. In…
Recent Writings
Christ Did Not Come To Abolish the Natural Law But To Fulfill It
08/26/2011 Unpublished Writings
This essay serves as a companion to my essay titled "With and Against the Grain: Stanley Hauerwas and the Tumultuous Tale of Natural Law." It raises and answers ten questions about natural law theory--questions about what it is, whether it has biblical support, whether we can witness without it, and whether we should abandon it altogether.
The End of Sacrifice
06/14/2011 Unpublished Writings
This essay introduces the basic contours of Yoder's perspective on capital punishment by showcasing his careful biblical exegesis and penetrating cultural analysis. Yoder's core argument is that capital punishment is ritual/cultic practice that accomplishes an important function in society, that the death of Christ has fulfilled that function, and that Christians have a responsibility to proclaim Christ's work and its implications.
With and Against the Grain
06/01/2011 Unpublished Writings
Christians have long believed that since God is creator all humans may learn something about God by carefully studying his creation, and vice versa. Modernity, however, drove a wedge between God's self-revelation in Christ and the natural order that came into existence through Christ. This essay summarizes Stanley Hauerwas' account of natural law's promising early emergence, unfortunate modern decline, and hopeful Barthian recovery.
