Dear Friends,
I know The Square Inch has been a bit quiet this week. I’ve been in preparation mode for another bout of travel. On Friday I will be speaking at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at their Kingdom Come Conference. Yes, yes. I see that speaker lineup and wonder what I’m doing there, too. If I bump into Tim Tebow, I’m going to walk up to him and say, “Mr. Tebow, I know you’ve been waiting for this for a long time. So I’d like to give you the opportunity to get a selfie with me.”
I’m actually there because I’m privileged to represent Westminster Theological Seminary, along with Dr. Scott Oliphint, as part of its Faith In The Public Square initiative. The title of my talk is “Sirens In Stereo: Confronting Cultural Challenges From Left and Right.” It is certainly difficult for Christians to navigate our polarized cultural and political world, so I’m going to attempt to provide some help in doing that.
So I haven’t been paying too much attention to current events, but here are some things that did catch my eye!
I know The Atlantic has a poor reputation among conservatives. It’s a pretty left-wing outfit, and I have a hard time forgiving them for firing Kevin Williamson for his pro-life views after two days on the job a few years ago. This is even after Kevin told Jeffery Goldberg that there would be pushback among his employees, and Goldberg brushed it off. Only to suddenly cave to the Jacobins. Truly pathetic.
What is not pathetic is some of the long-form journalism The Atlantic publishes. Case in point, Ariel Sabar’s article, “The ‘Secret’ Gospel and a Scandalous New Episode in the Life of Jesus.” It’s the story of “Secret Mark,” a document supposedly discovered by New Testament scholar Morton Smith in 1958. Sabar explores the history not just of this spurious document, but the history of Morton Smith himself and it is a pretty riveting read. And so well-written. If you can access that without a paywall, please do.
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