I just finished Taylor Branch's The Clinton Tapes. President Bill Clinton and Branch collaborated on an oral history project spanning Clinton's two terms in office. Clinton kept the tape recordings, but Branch made notes and tape recorded his own recollections after each session. The result is this book, which provides an interesting insight into the internals of a presidency.

If you are in to presidential history, I highly recommend it.

I probably spend too much time griping about my country's flaws instead of praising its virtues. While it is true that I am rarely pleased by the government, there is so much more about the US which I love. So, without further ado, and in no particular order:

Freedoms

I really enjoy the political freedoms which we have in the US. In particular I appreciate the freedom from established religion. It has fostered a rich Christian heritage in this country, which I believe has been squelched by the state churches of Europe. Being of the anabaptist persuasion, I have no patience for the concept of a "state church," so I am glad to be free of it.

Another freedom which is pertinent to this post is the freedom of speech and the press. It would be very silly of me to spend so much time publishing critical articles on my blog without expressing thankfulness for my right to do so without legal consequence. Freedom of speech is also a boon for preaching the Gospel. We are fortunate to not have to worry about smuggling Bibles or meeting under ground (and therefore we ought to help those Christians who do have such oppression).

The Land

Almost any person will think that their homeland is the most beautiful land on earth. But I think the US can make an especially good claim in this area. We have an exceptional quantity and variety of wilderness to enjoy. Dry deserts to mountain peaks to tropical islands, we've got it, and in abundance. We of course benefit richly from the resources of our bountiful land. Read more »

I am in the midst of a multi-year crossroads in my Christian understanding of politics. The half-life of my political opinions is about two weeks, and this has been going on for years. I suppose I am not unique in this, and I predict after some time I'll tire of constant internal debate and settle down with one of the two major parties in the US. Note to my future self: shame on you!

I don't even have a decently defined range at the moment. Honestly, I'm going to come down somewhere between anarchy and Marxism (endpoints are inclusive), with libertarianism and mainstream US politics being major waypoints. For now, I am feeling my way through. My current political credo is "Render unto Caesar," which is more of a quip than a philosophy I admit, but I know my final resting place will have to comply with that maxim.

My political meandering is like a planet in a binary star system. There are two major poles which battle for influence. The first of these poles is Jesus' teaching on non-violence and non-resistance. I happen to believe that Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount can and should be applied by Christians living today. I do not think it is a sermon for the upcoming Kingdom of Heaven.  To those who assert that it represents an impossible ideal, I counter that Jesus, living as a human in the City of Man, lived out his teaching. Perhaps some day my interpretation will change, but for the moment, this is how I understand the teaching. So I have a problem with violence. All government is predicated on violence. Therefore I have a problem with government. Read more »

In a post entitled "Is the Bible that big of a mystery," Dan Wallace explores the tension between the necessity of learning biblical languages and the propensity of such learners to pride or even gnosticism. It is of course an excellent read. I think that it is important for biblical scholars to regularly remind themselves of their proper role within the church. Wallace, who wrote one of the most popular New Testament Greek grammars, is a particularly good source for this admonition.

Part of Wallace's article touches on the importance of original langue training for ministry:

It should be obvious to all Bible-believing Christians that those who are training for ministry ought to know the languages. This is a sine qua non. They must know them because they are teachers of the church, leaders of the flock. They are not called ‘shepherds’ for no reason.

It probably comes as no surprise that Wallace holds that Bible-believing Christians should learn the languages for ministry. What is interesting is how he phrases it here. This provides an excellent opportunity for my hobby of checking doctrinal statements to see if God or the scriptures are listed first. A quick check of the Dallas Theological Seminary (where Wallace teaches) website reveals that they indeed affirm scripture as primary. It would follow then that Christian ministers should be better with the scriptures than with theology proper, if the ordering of the doctrinal statement has any logical bearing on orthopraxy (maybe it doesn't, though). Read more »