tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-207508172024-03-13T20:32:53.428-07:00Rebuilding the RuinsTowards a Reformed-Evangelical Social RenaissanceJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-57436908110910807932008-01-27T14:17:00.000-08:002008-01-27T14:21:44.661-08:00Myth of National DefenseJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-24056606110540023162008-01-20T15:13:00.000-08:002008-01-20T15:17:55.854-08:00The Ancient German Love of LibertyExcellent quote from Gibbon,"The love of liberty was the ruliing passiion of the Germans; the enjoyment oof itt thheri best treasure; the word hhatt expressed tthat ennjoyment the most pleasng tto the ear. tthey deserved, they maintained, they assumed the honorable ephttet of Freemen oor Franks, which concealed, thoough itt did not extinguish the several states of the confederacy.' Chapter 9.i J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-45561593651399968822008-01-12T13:40:00.000-08:002008-01-12T13:41:30.355-08:00Fairy Tales and TheologyFrom John Milbank, "Alternative Protestantism," in Radical Orthodoxy and the Reformed Tradition.ok, this is still kind of esoteric, but it dovetails with some other things I have been reading. Recently Celtic scholar John Carey has shown how perfectly orthodox Irish poet-theologians of the very early Middle Ages contrsued the Celtic gods as semi-fallen angels or esle as unfallen human beings J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-46457205642978605962007-12-30T06:52:00.000-08:002007-12-30T07:01:19.944-08:00More on Cromwell/MarxismTexasBob noted that "Is it possible to have any economic freedom in a theocratic state?," or something to that effect. That's a loaded question. I understand what he is getting at, but the phrasing of the question is where I take issue. 1) First, I don't like the phrase "theocratic state." When people talk of the state, they usually have the modern monopolist-territorial taxation machine in J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-8386438456688556182007-12-22T18:09:00.000-08:002007-12-22T18:24:01.687-08:00Cromwell and MarxismI know, the title is misleading, given Marxism's inherent atheism. Being said, Marxist historians are more faithful interpreters of Oliver Cromwell and political Puritanism than modern day Reformed historians. Interspersed are comments from Lester de Koster's outstanding study on the social elements of Calvin's preaching, of which Cromwell was the best applier. "Cromwell saw the Christian life J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-27691064145996187352007-12-12T16:08:00.000-08:002007-12-12T16:11:38.178-08:00political cartoonsJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-91049893249627888782007-10-24T17:18:00.000-07:002007-10-24T17:19:37.949-07:00DanteI am reading (trying to finish) Dante's Divine Comedy. It is quite good. While I disagree with the implicit premise of Purgatorio, it is masterful psychology.J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-17132957687062424452007-10-16T19:03:00.000-07:002007-10-16T19:04:48.800-07:00Can Intrusion Ethics Maintain Moral Absolutes?I want to take intrusion ethics to task. I am disturbed by the popularity of men like Hart, Kline, Lee Irons, and essentially most of the Modern Reformation staff. I fear that their attack on normative ethics, particularly its Reformed expression (I have documented where the RTS faculty accused Bahnsen of being too Puritan, but we won't go there) will have a sharp backlash in the next J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com304tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-20136361161734191142007-10-03T14:45:00.001-07:002007-10-03T14:47:44.267-07:00Bayou PicturesJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-35159233265583783692007-09-22T07:08:00.001-07:002007-09-22T07:08:56.973-07:00Premillennial post coming soonWhen I am not busy (which won't happen) I plan to put together my thoughts on premillennialism and show how it ties in with other doctrines.J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-75618863247437957642007-09-16T17:01:00.000-07:002007-09-16T17:02:25.511-07:00Review of Lucas' biography on DabneyI began this biography on Robert Lewis Dabney with mixed emotions. On one hand I was glad a new biography was written on Dabney. I view Dabney as one of the more heroic Christian leaders of the American church. There should be a plethora of material on him. For this reason, Lucas is to be praised. On the other hand, sadly, if one is not a Southron, it is hard to understand Dabney. This proved to J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-67244137300581477192007-09-14T20:11:00.000-07:002007-09-14T20:14:02.407-07:00The Incomparable ChristDeo volente, I am exhorting on Hebrews 1:3-4 at my church in a few weeks. The basics of the outline:1. The Word.2. The Inheritance3. The GlorySome resources I found helpful:Russell Moore's teaching on the materialGreg Bahnsen's message on said passage.J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-91618716015218793612007-08-31T16:08:00.000-07:002007-08-31T16:11:04.910-07:00For Crown and CovenantIn my opinion the Scottish Covenanters were among the greatest heroes of the faith. Purves tells of men who would rather die than say, "God save the King." They differed from their Puritan Cousins whereas the Puritans resisted Stuart Tyranny because it trampled on the rights of English Free-men. The Covenanters resisted Stuart Tyranny because it trampled on the Crown Rights of King Jesus and his J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-24191350758008053572007-08-26T18:24:00.000-07:002007-08-26T18:25:20.220-07:00A Communist has Second ThoughtsThe great historian professor Eugene Genovese was an open Marxist for much of his career. By the mid 90s, however, he was having his doubts. He writes,[QUOTE]Having scoffed at the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount we ended a seventy year experiment with socialism with little more to our credit than tens of millions of corpses. HOw could we have survived politically were it not for J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-36065242767761362812007-08-23T18:02:00.000-07:002007-08-23T18:04:06.560-07:00Labour and the "Manliness of Soul"For the godly man, work is a delight and often provides godly manliness. Quote: History shows also, than an artificial and luxurious mode of living surely affects the literary taste of a nation. The simplicity of thought is banished. The manliness of soul which proceeds from labor, struggles with difficulty and intercourse with nature, becomes rare. R.L. Dabney, "Simplicity of PulpitJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-60123271047092474092007-08-20T19:08:00.000-07:002007-08-20T19:09:53.193-07:00The Suffering and Joy of Christ-thrilled soulsThis is from Fair Sunshine,There was no fear of faith in those "Christ-thrilled souls" and they triumphed over every power that could be brought against them. They overcame the world by their faith. Quote: King, Parliament, Church and Army, all heard afresh and clear that "the bleeding remnant" would obey God rather than men, and live, and die if need be, for the Crown Rights of their J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-10296699389409881342007-08-18T16:52:00.001-07:002007-08-18T16:54:05.339-07:00Calvinists not fatalistsAs Calvinists we hold to the decree of a Personal being; fate, on the other hand, is merely the connection of impersonal causes and effects.I got this gem from W.G.T. Shedd's Dogmatic Theology, new edition, page 322.J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-21412047024187011732007-08-17T19:12:00.000-07:002007-08-17T19:14:02.807-07:00R.L. Dabney and the Rising of VirginiaThis is from Dabney's biography on Stonewall Jackson.But when the tyrant tried the perilous experiment, he was startled by a result as unexpected as that which followed the touch of Ithuriel's spear. She, whom he thought a patient, hesitating, helpless paralytic, flamed up at the insolent touch, like a pyramid of fire, and Virginia stood forth again in her immortal youth, the unterrified J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-14657684474233339902007-08-14T19:19:00.000-07:002007-08-14T19:21:59.881-07:00George Washington's Sacred FireDr Lillback gives us a masterful display of Christian historiography.Thesis: George Washington was neither a Deist nor a modern Fundamentalist Evangelical. Rather, he was an orthodox Latitudinarian within the Anglican church. This means that while he did not have the outward, expressive, emotional zeal of 20th century counterparts, he did have a real faith in a Personal Triune God, and sucha J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-9195326445190519312007-08-12T14:54:00.000-07:002007-08-12T14:59:52.792-07:00Stardust: Movie ReviewI saw "Stardust" this weekend. All in all it was a delightful fairy-tale fantasy film. The characters, while at times dense, were fun and enjoyable all the same. Tristan, the hero, crosses a barrier and finds himself in another world. There he finds what a real falling star is, and the difference between conditional and unconditional love. The heroes in the movie do not conquer by force of J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-10958084680595603812007-08-08T20:37:00.000-07:002007-08-08T20:40:26.242-07:00Future TopicsI said I would talk about why I moved to historic premillennialism. I do want to talk about that, but I don't want to seem like one of those guys who does nothing but talk about eschatology. So I am holding off on the moment.I found some old John Owen works that I would like to eventually study: The Mortification of Sin and Display of Arminianism. I have read most of the Death of Death in theJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-36601643549116964222007-08-07T20:38:00.000-07:002007-08-07T20:40:22.556-07:00Nihilism or the NazareneCS Lewis made a chilling observation:If you dip into any college, or school, or parish, or family – anything you like – at a given point in its history, you always find that there was a time before that point when there was more elbow room and contrast weren’t quite so sharp; and that there’s going to be a time after that point when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even moreJ. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-10056146080777471232007-08-06T13:24:00.000-07:002007-08-06T13:25:39.990-07:00More apologetics in actionScroll down to reply # 18. My handle is Liberalism's Worst Nightmare. This was a lot of fun.J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-27874858945411386392007-08-05T16:31:00.001-07:002007-08-05T16:31:54.768-07:00Fictional dialogues with a scepticThis is for an assignment, and I am having fun with it. Carl is a reference to the great Carl F H Henry. Madeline is a reference to Madeline Murray O'Hare.Morality of Knowledge (Epistemology)Carl: I will hold that unless you maintain biblical revelation, you have no foundation for knowledge or ethics.Madeline: I have problems with that statement.Carl: I gathered as much. Go on.Madeline: For J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20750817.post-22751858585102031482007-08-04T11:52:00.000-07:002007-08-05T14:17:04.244-07:00Why I changed eschatologyI used to hold to theonomic postmillennialism. Recently, I have come to embrace historic premillennialism. (For the record, my views on theonomy haven't changed all that much). What made me change? I might do a series of posts on why I changed my eschatological positions.J. B. Aitkenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15616638312087360239noreply@blogger.com2