26 May 2019

Trump's Economy and its Evangelical Apologists


There are different ways to read such articles. On the one hand one could read it with a sense of outrage and great umbrage at the crimes of the wealthy.
Others will read it and get angry and defend the status quo. Employing a multitude of Right-wing and Neoliberal arguments they will quash all complaints and morally denounce those who would dare to question economic and market orthodoxy.
But there's another way to read it. First, I reject the assumption of middle class norms. I don't judge the right or wrong of it for workers by the standards of the middle class. I realise the average worker expects vacation days, sick days, a pension and all the rest. I don't and I don't have any of those things... and I don't really care.
So do I disagree with the author of the piece?

25 May 2019

Corrosive and Compromised Dominionism


This article typifies what I think of when it comes to New Calvinism applied. This piece is run of the mill on The Gospel Coalition website and for them it's something to celebrate. For me, it's a cause for depression and it serves as a warning.
You will not understand the impulses behind their movement or my criticism of it unless you understand the key tenets of Dominionism which now is the dominant paradigm within Evangelicalism. The New Calvinism is some ways represents a super-charged intellectually robust expression of this and given the cultural angst within the Christian Right, perhaps it's no surprise that this Evangelical-friendly form of Calvinism is rapidly becoming a dominating force.

19 May 2019

Chiapas Troubles


For all the ecumenical bridges that have been built in the developed world between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, it's interesting that in Latin America the old animosity remains.