New Writing: Homeschooling, Scripture in Christian Ethics, and A Study Bible
Come Read Some New Stuff!
From now until the end of Thursday, subscriptions are discounted. This will be the last discount I’m running for the time being. If you subscribe this week, I’ll enter your name into a drawing of the new study Bible featured below! This week, I’ll kick off a couple of new features of supporting subscribers: fair warning!
Next time we’ll begin our journey into the Ten Commandments, but today, a brief note about a slew of recent writing that all became available at once.
Another Study Bible? Yes: Another Study Bible!
About four years ago, Preston Sprinkle approached me about writing notes for a new kind of ethics study Bible. And so, if you want to have a walkthrough on innumerable passages in Scripture pertaining to war and violence, look no further. The other contributors are really good, and I think this will be a very interesting aid to folks looking to get a handle on some of Scripture’s moral vision.
Come order it here, or take advantage of the supporting member sale, and you might get one for free!
The Role of Scripture in Christian Ethics
Luke Bretherton is a very smart man, and ridiculously well-read. I mean, the man has read and commented on nearly everything. So, reviewing his primer on Christian ethics was a challenge, in that there’s a great deal to appreciate about it. And yet: I have questions with the way in which Scripture figures into the architecture of the book. Specifically, I have questions as to whether Scripture is like other sources of moral wisdom, or if it is the frame which makes possible other sources, whether one can have the moral precepts of Scripture without taking on board the way God is described in defined moral terms.
You should definitely read the book if so inclined, but it’s also worth asking whether Scripture is the kind of source which can be included in a deliberative framework.
Check out the review here.
Homeschooling for the Common Good
As a part of their “back to school” features, I wrote for Christianity Today about our adventure in homeschooling. It was not a journey we ever anticipated going on, but one which we’ve very much enjoyed. But every journey and choice requires us to knit it into our sense of self, of who we are, and homeschooling is not exception. In particular, I wrestle with the question of what it means to value a common good, but to value it in a different way.
Check out the piece here (unlocked).
Had never thought about it in this way, but I like it.
"To support the peace of the city is not, Justin argued, the same as using the means of the city: By pursuing the common good in a uniquely Christian way, he said, Christians bear witness to what cities are meant to be."