Daniel Taylor's Blog, page 2

RELUCTANT FOR TRANSCENDENCE

I am scheduled to go on a three-day silent retreat with the Jesuits today and I don’t want to go. Worse, I don’t exactly know why. I have done this twice before at the same place and found each experience valuable. After about six weeks of a full and overfull house (filled with people I love, I should add), an uninterrupted time of listening to teaching and meditating and praying should be very attractive. My tentative conclusion—arrived at after writing the last sentence—is that I want to limit my time ...

JUDGING VERSUS JUDGMENTAL

I’m returned from a very pleasant and enlightening two weeks in Greece (including Crete) and ready now to once again set the world straight on any number of topics. Somebody’s got to do it.
The sermon Sunday in my church focused on the latter part of John 5, including the assertion that God the Father has given the role of judge to Christ the Son (v 27). Our pastor cited a survey indicating that the number one reason that unchurched millennials give for not attending church is that church people are ...

READING THE PAPER WITHOUT GETTING ANGRY—IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT

I have a friend whose story of his long-dead grandparents has shaped my interactions with my wife, Jayne. He says his crotchety grandpa liked to read the paper out loud, offering opinions freely (and often scornfully) on the state of the world. The grandmother, who found this extremely irritating, would respond with a bitter, “You don’t know nuttin’,” and after a short pause, “You don’t know a damn thing!” After which he would snap his paper and humph. For some reason, my wife has found this a useful response regarding ...

BLESSINGS AND ABUSES AT A RAINY WRITERS CONFERENCE

(Composed Sunday, April 15 in the Grand Rapids airport)
I am approaching hour five of my time in the Grand Rapids airport, and the airlines now tell us we will be leaving in another four hours or so. But I don’t believe them. They’ve been changing their story all day long.
Speaking of stories, I heard some good ones the last four days at Calvin College’s 2018 edition of the Festival of Faith and Writing. And told a few. And learned some things. One speaker said, “Stories don’t happen. Events happen. Stories ...

THE GIFT OF KINDRED SPIRITS

I write this from a place in Michigan at which, every two years, there is a gathering of spirits. The place is Calvin College and the occasion is their bi-annual Festival of Faith and Writing. The spirits are kindred spirits, people who understand me and who I understand, though we are largely unknown to each other. I want to put in a good word for kindred spirits.
A kindred spirit is not the same as a friend, loved one, family member, or person one respects and values—though any of these could ...

THE LOGIC OF HOLY WEEK

Why is Holy Week a big deal to so many Christians? It wasn’t so much to the Baptists I grew up with in Texas and California. At least I don’t remember it being so. Easter Sunday? Yes, that was a big day. We celebrated the Resurrection enthusiastically (and I won’t make any snide remarks about Easter hats or chocolate bunnies). And we took Good Friday seriously. But the rest of the week was just the typical Monday to Thursday (as were the weeks prior).
Since that childhood, I’ve hung out more with ...

MUSIC, THEOLOGY AND BOOK CLUBS: SINGING YOUR WAY TO BELIEF

I belong to a book club for two reasons: I enjoy the company and it leads me to read books that I would not otherwise read—or even know of. Tonight we are going to discuss Music and Theology by Don Saliers. I am almost a blank slate when it comes to music (high or pop) because I missed the “music appreciation” class offered in eighth grade (“not my fault” being the all purpose wail of slackers). And I associate formal theology with highly abstract philosophizing about “the ground of being” ...

PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE or CONSERVATIVE PROGRESSIVE?

 
At my age I’m lucky to remember anything. So I do not chastise myself, God, or gluten for remembering something I read many years ago, while not remembering the name of either the book (it was a slim paperback with, I think, a gray cover) or the author (a prominent Christian writer of the generation before mine, but apparently not prominent enough for my brain to retain the name). The assertion that I recall is that any “moderate” position on an important issue should not be a mere averaging of ...

THINGS THAT DON’T BOTHER ME (As Much As Others Think They Should)

 
I’m all over the map on political and social issues (and sometimes off it). My friends and family tend to be more consistently on one side or another of any given fence. I do not claim this speaks well of me. A person’s ability to “see all sides” of an issue can result in detachment, passivity, or paralysis. Most who achieve great things are single-minded.
As a “progressive conservative” (I just made that up, but think I’ll claim the label), I am often not bothered by things that others think I ...

REASON, RISK, AND MEANING: BALANCING HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE

Whenever I hear someone claim that they only believe what is demonstrated by reason and science, I want to smile. If that person is in my presence I try to suppress it, lest they think I am making fun of them, which only results in their launching into a grand (and often irritated) defense of both as the way to truth.
It is not that I don’t believe in reason or value science. It’s just that both reason and science work best with a large dose of humility. Thinking either is ...