Tony Woodlief | Author

theology

On scientism

Those of you who read what I scribble here and elsewhere know I nurse a few curious theories about science, like that it ought to remain distinct from scientism, and that the scientific process taught in schools is hokum, and that reductionism is just as nonsensical when it comes to dominate the physical sciences as …

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On false compassion

The challenge when debating a liberal Christian is that he is bound by neither Scripture nor tradition but sentiment. He is therefore free to embrace both sin and sinner, and thereby appear more loving, more magnanimous, than his opponents. This magnanimity carries a subtle condescension, as in the first sentence of Dave Barnhart’s recent essay, …

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On miracles

“A miracle is not the breaking of the laws of the fallen world, it is the re-establishment of the laws of the kingdom of God…”  (Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, Living Prayer, p. 71-2)

Of God and Baal

The great division within man is rooted not in ideology or religion or tribe, but in darkness and death, counterposed against light and life, which comes not from man but is placed within him. The line separating dark from light is the battleground of the soul, and it runs, as Solzhenitsyn said, through the heart …

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The light burden

This past Sunday I took a couple of my sons to St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Wichita. If you’re not familiar with the Orthodox services, a good portion of them are conducted while the congregation stands. After a particularly long stretch of standing, Caleb leans in to me and whispers, “Dad, do we stand …

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Eloquence vs Utilitarianism

After reading John Wilson’s delightful review of Denis Donoghue’s On Eloquence, I made a note to eventually read the book. Listening to John Piper’s recent muddle-headed misinterpretation of Wilson makes me wish I had time to read the book right away. In a nutshell, whereas Wilson celebrates the beauty of words (and newborns, and well-made churches, …

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Modern madness

A quote from my patron saint, were I to have one, which maybe I do and simply don’t realize it: “A time is coming when people will go mad and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying: ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’” — St. Anthony the …

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Renaissance Radical

Something that has always bothered me about the theological enterprise is an undercurrent of arrogance, the notion that we possess so clear a discernment that we can build mental boxes to contain the wild God of the ages. I once heard a sermon where the pastor quoted a brilliant theologian, who was commending Jesus for …

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