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Wyatt Graham

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New and Old Complementarian Thinking: Returning to the Old Paths of Natural Law

March 26, 2022 by wagraham 2 Comments

Complementarian thinking largely draws on natural law as its general foundation. But grace does not destroy but supports and perfects nature. And so the church, the new creation by that special revelation in Christ, maintains this distinction in the church (e.g., in 1 Tim 2).

[Read more…] about New and Old Complementarian Thinking: Returning to the Old Paths of Natural Law

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Complementarianism, Natural Law

Paul Uses Bible Verses And Common Notions to Instruct Children

March 26, 2022 by wagraham 1 Comment

pen on paper

Paul in Ephesians 6 addresses children directly (!) and aims to persuade them to obey their parents for two reasons:

[Read more…] about Paul Uses Bible Verses And Common Notions to Instruct Children

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Parenting

LARPing Manliness: Or What Is true Courage?

March 24, 2022 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Emmanuel Macron recently cosplayed as Volodymyr Zelensky. The normally well-coiffed president of France let his facial hair grow out and wore a military hoodie like his Ukrainian counterpart. The whole event was a photo-op, a sort of cosplay (costume play) because Macron wants to be viewed like the courageous Zelensky.

We can at least understand the performative act here. Maybe it was even well-intentioned. After all, Macron may have desired to mimic Zelensky in a show of support, but it missed the mark.

Political leaders are not alone in their pursuit of performative cosplay. Sigma males, Christian masculinity gurus, and more besides present themselves as being at the top of the male hierarchy and invite others to grow under them. 

I suppose I would not call this cosplay. LARPing is the right term. LARPing or live-action role-playing refers to the act of dressing up like a character, usually to play a game (see here). As the name indicates, these characters play roles in the game.  [Read more…] about LARPing Manliness: Or What Is true Courage?

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Courage, Manliness, Virtue

Byung-Chul Han: The Smartphone as a Digital Teddy Bear? And why the smartphone destroys empathy.

February 10, 2022 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Byung-Chul Han, in his recent work, Undinge, speaks about how children get stuffies as a sort of transitional object—it helps them feel safe until they are ready for the real world. They talk to the stuffy, play with it, hug it. It’s soft and they feel its softness.

The Smartphone, in contrast, has a hard surface, and so we feel our own presses. It presents to us what we want, when we want. It’s not a digital teddy bear that remains always the bear, not shifting with our whims. The smart does though. Unlike the teddy whom we keep for years, we replace smartphones. There is no permenance.

[Read more…] about Byung-Chul Han: The Smartphone as a Digital Teddy Bear? And why the smartphone destroys empathy.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Byung-Chul Han, Smartphone

The Metaverse Promises to Disconnect Us from the Stability that Points to God

February 3, 2022 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Facebook, now Meta, promises to create a metaverse. The metaverse will allow us to experience a life beyond what is possible for us now. We can instantly communicate with anyone in the world. We can constantly see and experience new things. Information and data will be accessible to us in new and visually pleasing ways. 

Recently, a buyer spent $450,000 to purchase a plot of virtual land next to SnoopDogg in the latter’s virtual world. It is not as though the transition to the metaverse will be difficult. During the pandemic, days of Netflix and video games were the norm. Already, people play online games, creating communities (or clans). They spend hours a day on it. The digital world becomes their real world. 

The same sort of thing already happens on social media. Many of us spend hours on Instagram and TikTok and other platforms. We live for the like. We live to see another short video to entertain us. A whole culture has popped up through YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. It is the real-life of many, the life that feels closest and most important. 

The metaverse adds a new way of living in the digital world. The transition will not be difficult, as long as the technology works. We already live in a time where material objects have been replaced by digital technology. [Read more…] about The Metaverse Promises to Disconnect Us from the Stability that Points to God

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: Byung-Chul Han, Metaverse, technology

Owning Less, But Experiencing More: A Theological Crisis in the Making

January 31, 2022 by wagraham 1 Comment

We are becoming a nation of mobile-renters. We have joined a gig economy. We use ride-shares. We rent office space. We rent housing. We rent mobile offices. We own less and less—we do not even own our e-books and e-media which often revert back to the copyright holder at our death. A video game no longer has a box. It is a digital download. 

The World Economic Forum tells us we will own nothing and be happy. Ida Auken said, “Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.” Or as their marketing said, “You will own nothing. And you’ll be happy.”

Governments have done little to avoid this future. The Canadian government has promised $10 a day of childcare. This makes it easier for both parents to work, which they will have to do in order to pay for the taxes to support childcare. Single-income families will not be able to afford houses. And if both parents work, there is less need to have a standard home. Besides, who can afford one? Renting is the way to go. The USA has likewise pulled back on supporting families through financial support for children or support for longer maternity leave. 

The way in which we work has also contributed to this alienation from home, possessions, and family. For most of history, agricultural workers worked as a family. Everyone worked at home. Husbands and wives with children in appropriate ways supported the family. In the Roman era, many businesses were part of a residence. So a husband might work at the front of the home, a wife inside the residence. They partnered in appropriate ways. 

But now the nature of work, a movement from working with our hands to work with our digits—pressing buttons, digital work—has alienated us from the land, the fabric of the world around us.  [Read more…] about Owning Less, But Experiencing More: A Theological Crisis in the Making

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: conservatism, technology

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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.

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Could Adam not Have Sinned? Some Augustinian Considerations

April 30, 2022 By wagraham Leave a Comment

Build More Christian Institutions

March 31, 2022 By wagraham Leave a Comment

New and Old Complementarian Thinking: Returning to the Old Paths of Natural Law

March 26, 2022 By wagraham 2 Comments

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