• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wyatt Graham

Faith | Books | Culture

  • About
  • Podcast
  • Column

Culture

What Will Threaten the Church in 2019?

December 27, 2018 by wagraham 2 Comments

What will threaten the health of the church in 2019? While many threats may exist, one particularly comes to mind: a lack of love. Lovelessness deforms truth. It embraces evangelical jargon to puff up its ego. Yet this embrace represents an artifice of truth and not the real thing. To speak truly, we must speak the truth in love. That’s the realist truth. Truth devoid of love is a styrofoam staircase. It looks like the real thing but falls to pieces when anyone steps on it.

Today’s tribalistic culture deforms truth by making it a weapon of warfare. Political discourse thrives on discrediting the other side. It uses truth rather than honouring it. Winning is all that matters. Love-lacking speakers defile any truth in their words. For their true words become a “ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.” But truth without love is a halfway house that requires rehabilitation. This is because the realist truth analogically participates in God who is true, holy, just, and love. 

[Read more…] about What Will Threaten the Church in 2019?

Filed Under: Culture, Life

Language works at (at least) four levels: grammar, syntax, speech-acts, and rhetoric.

October 9, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Language is an objective reality that people have described through abstracting general use. One of the earliest theorists of language Dionysius Thrax (2nd ce. BC) sketched out a theory of grammar and syntax on the basis of assumed and stated rules of language. Like Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity became an assumed and unquestioned reality, so also laws of language have come to be understood—at least when it comes to grammar and syntax. Most will also affirm the reality of rhetoric—that the shape and form of speech matters for communication and that patterns of speech exists across cultures and can be discerned.

Yet fewer people are aware of speech-acts since the language to describe speech-acts is relatively new.  [Read more…] about Language works at (at least) four levels: grammar, syntax, speech-acts, and rhetoric.

Filed Under: Culture

Where the Differences Lie between Bruxy Cavey and (Reformed) Evangelicals

October 1, 2018 by wagraham 15 Comments

Recently, TGC Canada hosted an interview between Paul Carter and Bruxy Cavey. The former sought to understand Cavey given his influence in Ontario and beyond. One of the benefits of this conversation was to clarify what Cavey teaches and, secondarily, to help evangelicals understand why they believe what they do.

The reason why conversations like this one work is because of the nature of truth. God is true, his creation exhibits truth, and truth is therefore beautiful and attractive. Hence, whatever the ultimate result of the interview between Carter and Cavey is, we can be confident that the truth of God always finds its home in the hearts of his people.

Since this is so, consider the following three areas in which Cavey and evangelical Christians differ to understand the disagreements better so that we can search out the Scriptures for ourselves to find the truth. [Read more…] about Where the Differences Lie between Bruxy Cavey and (Reformed) Evangelicals

Filed Under: Culture, Theology

Ready, Aim, Misfire: Analyzing the Online Social Justice Debate

September 24, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

The current evangelical debate mainly exists online with four (or more) basic positions: (1) Some say that social justice and the Gospel are basically the same thing, (2) some emphasize that social justice necessary follows from the Gospel, (3)  some are mostly concerned that social justice does not replace the Gospel, and (4) some say that the Gospel does not necessarily entail engagement with social justice.

Within or around these four views are various positions that can overlap with broader cultural concerns. Jared Wilson, to my mind, has demonstrated how fluid some of these categories can be. With this said, I suggest a sort of moratorium on the debate because the same evangelicals who are debating each other basically agree with each other and don’t hold the positions that they assume the other side holds.

In other words, this whole debate is sadly about a misfired gun. [Read more…] about Ready, Aim, Misfire: Analyzing the Online Social Justice Debate

Filed Under: Culture

One Reason Why People Disagree on Social Justice

September 16, 2018 by wagraham 1 Comment

In the USA, some Christian leaders are debating the nature and place of social justice. One side wants to define the Gospel as a proclamation that does not entail social justice. The other side affirms that the Gospel alone saves while also emphasizing those saved by the Gospel will necessarily live by the Gospel, which means doing justice. As might be obvious, the difference here is slight but significant enough to warrant discussion.*

My observation here is that the debate partly revolves around how the Old Testament applies to the church today. By grasping this point, parts of the dispute become much clearer. And it is worth exploring how the Old Testament relates to us today because this knowledge will help believers live their life as they ought to (2 Tim 3:16). The discussion matters. [Read more…] about One Reason Why People Disagree on Social Justice

Filed Under: Culture

Episode 05: When You Need to Hire a Gang to Preach

July 17, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

The Banner for the Storied. On Faith and Failure podcast

Storied is a podcast that tells stories about faith and failure. And sometimes it recounts stories that are so ridiculous that they seem more fitted to Monty Python than to real life. So, listen in to learn about the past, to enjoy a good story, and to know more than you did before. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here or Stitcher here.

When Gregory of Nazianzus set up shop in Byzantium, he was in for a world of trouble. But he found that hiring a gang of Egyptian bouncers kept him safe so that he could preach the Nicene Faith.

[Read more…] about Episode 05: When You Need to Hire a Gang to Preach

Filed Under: Culture

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to page 7
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 11
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Want articles in your e-mail? Sign up here!

Is Song of Songs Allegorical? Five Questions I Might ask of the text

January 25, 2023 By wagraham Leave a Comment

Prosopology, Simply put

January 25, 2023 By wagraham Leave a Comment

If Language Makes us Smart, AI will make us Stupid

January 24, 2023 By wagraham 1 Comment

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in