Author Archives: Chaplainmike

Books Worth Reading in 2007

UPDATE: What if the TR watchbloggers fisked this post for orthodoxy? It might look like this. I am frequently challenged in comments around here to come up with some kind of a book list. I’ve published a list of authors before, but never a list of books that I would recommend. The reasons became evidentContinue reading “Books Worth Reading in 2007”

Recommendation and Review: “Apocalypto”

Back in the day, Hollywood used to occasionally make a movie about the early Christians. Central to those films was a sense that the old world, the Roman world, the world of the old gods, was on the verge of collapse, while the new world shaped by the Christian vision was being born. Hollywood nowContinue reading “Recommendation and Review: “Apocalypto””

Riffs: 12:29:06: The Christian-Industrial Complex

A good friend mailed me a note the other day, asking my opinion of a book that was all the rage in his megachurch. It’s not the first time we’ve had that conversation. We’ve covered this ground many times because his church, like most of American megachurch evangelicalism, often behaves like a group of consumeristContinue reading “Riffs: 12:29:06: The Christian-Industrial Complex”

The Internet Monk’s Top Ten Web Sites of 2006

OK, you’re going to say that I’ve deserted last year’s list. I haven’t. I still love those sites, but I want this list to move on a bit. So here’s my “Top Ten” list of web sites that have really helped me this year. Feel free to add your own list in the comments. 10.Continue reading “The Internet Monk’s Top Ten Web Sites of 2006”

Christmas Eve 2006: A World Just Beyond Our Grasp

It is traditional for me to post something about Christmas. The following is adapted from a sermon preached at a local Baptist Church, December 24, 11:00 a.m. 2006. A Christ-filled, joyous Christmas to all my Internet Monk readers.. A World Just Beyond Our Grasp. (Luke 1:46-55; Hebrews 10:4-10) At the Spencer household, Christmas traditions areContinue reading “Christmas Eve 2006: A World Just Beyond Our Grasp”

Riffs: 12:23:06: “We’ve quit going to church.”

Brant Hanson and family are done with the church. You could have seen it coming. Further reading in the comment threads will reveal a switch to the kind of Christian community that many are exploring in house groups, stripped down and simplified fellowships, and informal networks of like-minded, de-megachurched families and individuals. I don’t readContinue reading “Riffs: 12:23:06: “We’ve quit going to church.””

Recommendation and Review: “The Pursuit of Happyness”

Every so often, Hollywood surprises you. Imagine that a major studio is making a movie starring a marquee quality African-American actor. The story is set in the Reagan-era 80’s, with an African-American protagonist who, despite being the top of his class and the class of his navy unit, is still on the verge of economicContinue reading “Recommendation and Review: “The Pursuit of Happyness””

A Brilliant Slice O’ Parody + Misc

Brilliant. That’s all I can say. Absolutely brilliant. This parody of the “Slice o Bot” needs all you to blogroll it, pass it on and appreciate its wholesome goodness. The Onion has nothing on this site. Of course, it’s hard to top the original, no matter how hard you try. On the personal side, IContinue reading “A Brilliant Slice O’ Parody + Misc”

The Third Week of Advent: The Unlikely Outrage of the Gospel of Light

This is a sermon written for the third week of Advent. It’s expanded from a talk I gave at soli deo, Tuesday, January 19th. For a complete and substantial response to Sam Harris’s book, Letters to a Christian Nation, see Douglas Wilson’s excellent series “Letters To Mr. Harris.” (Archived here, earliest one at the endContinue reading “The Third Week of Advent: The Unlikely Outrage of the Gospel of Light”