Reformed theologian Carl Trueman has pretty much come out as a supporter of the Benedict Option. He came to hear my speech in Baltimore the other night, and says it answered some of the questions he had about the Benedict Option. Excerpt:
The talk on Friday night made all of that clear. And it offered an outline of the assumptions of the Ben Op, which might be summarized as follows:
John McCormack at the Weekly Standard has a good piece asking whether social conservatives will be discredited by the Trump phenomenon. He begins by asking if social conservatives should vote for Trump, despite everything. Princeton’s Robbie George says the only thing that could justify such a vote is the Supreme Court — a huge reason, he says, but it’s not an open-and-shut case. More:
Merriam-Webster’s defines winsome as “generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence.” It’s a word you hear a lot in Evangelical circles, describing the attitude Christians should have (it is said) towards the world — this, as opposed to one of anger and dourness. And they’re right about that. It is possible, even necessary, to love Jesus without being mad about it. Christians treat others, even one’s enemies, with respect because that’s what we are commanded to do.
A world-renowned expert on the Italian mafia, journalist Roberto Saviano, says the UK is “the most corrupt country in the world”. Saviano has spent more than a decade exposing the criminal dealings of the Italian Mafia.
Denny Burk is having a melancholy Memorial Day. After reading the Gettysburg Address, he reflected:
I read this speech with heaviness of heart this year. It seems like the nation that Lincoln describes is slipping away. It seems less a “government of the people, by the people, for the people” than it is a people of the government, by the government, for the government. As the people decrease, the state increases. And the people have decreased in virtue, historical awareness, and commitment to ordered liberty “under God.”