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Category: Practical Theology

  • The Myth of the Good Heart: Syncretism

    [This post is part of the Idolatry series] Syncretism is the blending of differing philosophies into a heterogeneous whole. In the context of Christianity it is blending Christian and non-Christian beliefs and practices (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity, 167). In the case of Waking the Dead (here on out WTD), we see a core of seemingly traditional ideas…

  • The Myth of the Good Heart: Language

    [This post is part of the Idolatry series] This is the first of a fourt part look at John Eldredge’s Waking the Dead. His work was selected both for its popular acceptance, and for the fact that one of his central points in the book is that our heart is now good after being redeemed by Christ.…

  • Portraits

    [This post is part of the Idolatry series] I’m not sure if the delay in writing this particular entry was due to the subject matter or just because I’m a little rusty on writing anything besides Hebrew exegetical papers. It’s hard to say, but thankfully, though I thoroughly enjoyed the class, Hebrew 3 is over and I’m…

  • A Rather Vague Introduction

    [This post is part of the Idolatry series] Let’s be honest. Reading through pages and pages of my philosophical ruminations can sometimes be enlightening, but on the balance, its hard to find a practical take-a-way from a lot of it. Right? Some of that is endemic to the nature of what I sometimes write about,…

  • Death by Love: Letters From the Cross

    Death by Love is a book essentially written by pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church (in Seattle, not to be confused with the one in Michigan), but contains also help in writing by Dr. Gerry Breshears of Western Theological Seminary. The book is formatted as pastoral letters to people that pastor Mark has worked…

  • Metaphysics 101: Creator B.2

    [This post is part of the Philosophy 101 series] A very helpful book, although written a few years back before the Open Theists really came into their own, is The Providence of God by Paul Helm. He deals with many helpful subjects related to God’s providence in a mainly philosophical way. There’s very little Biblical exposition, but…

  • Change: Closing Thoughts and Transition

    In some ways, this may seem like an abrupt left turn in terms of blog content. However, I’m not sure how much can really be addressed in terms of how people change. All that would be left is specific application, and apart from case studies, that is not particularly feasible. Too short excurses are in…

  • Change: Theory and Practice

    It may be best as this point to continue onward, having hopefully established an underlying philosophy to the counseling task.[1] In terms of counseling theory, it should be noted that at the bottom of every counseling theory is a theory of personality, and at the bottom of every personality theory is a theory of motivation.[2]…

  • Change: The Arena

    [This post is part of the Change series] I know for the most part, this probably looked like another dead end blog idea. Something of the sort that picked up speed, clarified some issues, but then ultimately failed to connect it all back to anything of practical value. Indeed, it has been a while since…

  • Change: Moving from God to Man

    [This post is part of the Change series] This particular entry comes directly from a paper I just finished entitled “A Christian Philosophy of Change.” And you thought I just blogged for the fun of it. Actually, to the contrary I do blog for the fun of it, but I also blog wisely and pick…