Heather L. Hart
The Antichrist: It’s not who you think
Nicolae Carpathia made a great villain. He was “The Antichrist,” born from an ancient Roman lineage, remarkably intelligent and athletic, manipulative and unbelievably successful in business. Naturally, that led him to politics and soon he was the Supreme Potentate. He was the sort of character we love to hate. In the book his life takes a turn with an assassination, a resurrection, the indwelling of Satan, and an eventual appointment in the Lake of Fire. This is the imaginary character of The Antichrist that many of us absorbed in the 90s. The book makes for creative fiction, but it is not about the antichrist.
This issue is big enough that I’m posting my Substack post here.
The Centrality of Empathy for Godly Pastors
It has been brought to my attention by a number of friends, readers, and students that some pastors and professors and leaders are
putting down empathy as a virtue for Christians and especially for pastors. I have myself heard a pastor in Chicagoland say he does not have empathy. From what I’ve seen of him I would agree, but I say so in grief.
From the best I can tell these denouncers of empathy are distinguishing the virtue of compassion from the potential vice of empathy. The former means to “suffer with” and the latter “to suffer in.” Or, to “feel with” and “feel in.” The former is rational; the latter appears to be less (that) rational, and perhaps irrational. At least in their constructions, it’s OK to suffer with but not to suffer in.
David George Moore
It’s been my privilege to be in the personal spaces of several writers. Among others, Pulitzer winner Tony Horwitz warmly welcomed me at his home on Martha’s Vineyard as did William F. Buckley at his place on Long Island Sound.
I have interviewed over 200 authors. Everyone has their own style with reading, capturing what they have read, research, and then writing. As I writer myself, I have settled on an approach I feel comfortable with.
Scott Newstok is professor of English and founding director of the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment at Rhodes College. Among other works, he is the author of the recently released How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education. How to Think like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education (Skills for Scholars): Newstok, Scott: 9780691227696: Amazon.com: Books
Our weekly selection of links across the web.
Scot McKnight
Good morning!
According to new reports evangelical evangelist, teacher, author and lay theologian Beth Moore, one of the most successful and widely influential Christian women in America, has finally, publicly broken ties with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). This was probably an agonizing decision for her, but I applaud her for making it. The SBC has many problems and among them is a certain (ahem) inhospitality toward female speakers unless they totally toe the line with regard to the SBC’s complementarian stance. Finally Moore became so uncomfortable with that stance and its affects on herself and women in general that she broke off her relationship with America’s largest Protestant denomination and its publishing arm Lifeway.
One of the most popular and thoughtful evangelical bloggers on the web, Scot McKnight discusses theology and current events in conversation with others.