faulker05

MEDICAL HIATUS        I have managed to break my arm.  I slipped on the ice while walking my dog.  Alas, this reduces me to one-finger typing, so I don't think I'll be doing a lot of writing.  This may last several weeks, so I wanted to let you all know that I'm not likely to post much in the way of original essays while I'm in a cast.  I will try to post links to some interesting things when I can, however.  In the meantime, while this is a definitely an inconvenience, I am grateful it is not more serious.  I'll be back as soon as I am able! Photo credit: Andrew Petro, Wikicommons, CC-BY-SA 2.0

BUT WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY (AND ITS COROLLARY, WE’VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE) Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.                                    Isaiah 43:19            Anyone who has ever been involved in church committees is familiar with the cry, “But we’ve always done it that way!”   Whether the topic is the order of service, the language of the prayers, the color of the carpet, or where the cups for coffee hour are stored, church folk are resistant to change.   Of course, this is not unique to church folk (try changing the menu for family holidays), but “the way things have always been” does seem to have a particularly strong pull in our places o...

THE WHOLE LOGIC OF BEING CHRISTIAN "Cruelty is the worst of heresies."                                                Humphrey Primatt       I have tried to argue in several of my posts that the theology of animal welfare is not just something for animal lovers to be concerned about.  It is fundamental to our very creation in God's image, something Bruce Waltke has called "fundamental to . . . the entirety of scripture."[1]  Moreover, our relationships with animals are grounded in our understanding of the right use of power, a theme that runs throughout the Bible.  David Clough has called understanding these relationships " a vital theological task ," and Matthew Scully has explained that these relationships have to do with "the whole logic of being Chris...