http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/ reflections on life and culture because of, for the sake of, and in light of the Gospel Copyright 2013 Union University Fri, 03 May 2013 16:18:29 CST http://www.uu.edu/images/Crest_Horizontal-300.jpg http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/ Commenting on New York’s impending restriction on container size for sugary drinks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg "http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/mar/10/ny-mayor-bloomberg-ban-large-sugary-drinks-country/">said http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=160 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=160 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:45:21 CST According to "http://features.pewforum.org/same-sex-marriage-attitudes/index.php">recent research by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, attitudes toward same-sex marriage in the US have been changing over the past decade.  http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=158 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=158 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:58:39 CST Those who explicitly reject the Gospel often grasp its demands more clearly than those who eagerly receive it.  In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor calls attention to this truth through the action http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=152 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=152 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:36:55 CST If the creators and purveyors of Facebook ever decided to establish a Christian church, it would almost certainly not be evangelical. However, whatever obviousness such a claim possesses rests not on reasons one might suspect. The r http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=143 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=143 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:01:38 CST In the order of reality, moral virtue takes priority, in both ontology and time, over aesthetic refinement.  After all, Jesus did not say, “Be ye therefore possessors-of-good-taste, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is an ae http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=142 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=142 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Sun, 27 May 2012 21:57:14 CST Right on cue, the anti-Christian media have warmed up more stale leftovers in (yet another) foolishly misguided attempt to contribute to the feast of Easter. This time, the "http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/04/11020390-holy- http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=138 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=138 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:27:34 CST Every wise six-year-old intuitively grasps what foolish old administrators frequently don’t.  The axiom of industrial logic (more + faster = better) is not universal in its application.  For example, the six-year-old knows http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=136 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=136 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:30:58 CST Although his fifteen minutes of fame has now begun to recede into the eternity of nanoseconds past, the popularity of Jeff Bethke’s viral "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY&feature=related">video “Why I http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=133 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=133 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:14:21 CST Causal explanations for sociological trends are notoriously slippery. Thus, it is the better part of prudence to avoid idle pontification in the mode of oversimplification. The sagacity of this counsel notwithstanding, Rick Santorum http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=132 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=132 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:03:15 CST Prior to the start of his public ministry, our Lord was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). For a period of 40 days, Christ wrestled with temptation through fasting and pra http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=130 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=130 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:45:26 CST It is an axiom of contemporary public discourse that with respect to participation in Reason, women and men are unequal. Feminists, of course, would deny this. Yet their incessant insistence upon the necessity of female voices in co http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=128 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=128 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:39:59 CST The Obama administration’s recent effort to placate those opposed to the assault on religious freedom is an occasion to reflect on the nature of moral complicity and the idea of material support that grounds the objection to rules requiring http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=124 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=124 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:34:14 CST It has now become commonplace, especially among the “new atheists” – self-appointed guardians of rationality, to distinguish between the clear, level-headed thinking that accompanies a rigorous scientific outlook on the http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=123 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=123 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:32:56 CST To invoke the rhetoric of natural law while deliberately refusing to offer the requisite obeisance to the reality of its demands is sophistry.  At today’s National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama offered "http://www.whitehou http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=122 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=122 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:23:39 CST Presidential candidate Rick Santorum "http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/santorum-gets-into-testy-debate-on-gay-marriage/">apparently created a minor brouhaha among some New Hampshire college students for the audacity of reason ( http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=121 http://www.uu.edu/institutes/id/evangelogia/blog.cfm?ID=121 jbarnard@uu.edu (Institute for Intellectual Discipleship at Union University) Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:40:43 CST