We kind of just do it for fun
As the Ref Pack told Slate Magazine this week, we "kind of do the podcast for fun." That's even the case now, despite doing it under the distinctly unfunny iron fist of the Mad Woman in the Attic. As one…
Category Postcards from Palookaville
A Guest Review: McKnight on Brenneman
Earlier this year, Scot McKnight kindly invited me to review Theo Hobson's Reinventing Liberal Christianity for his blog. In return, I asked him to review Todd Brenneman's new book, Homespun Gospel. Being myself broadly sympathetic to Brenneman's thesis, I knew…
Identity Confusion
World magazine has an article this week on the appointment of a celibate gay counselor at Wheaton College. While the evangelical jury still appears to be out on whether same-sex attraction is in itself sinful, the comments of President Ryken…
And just because we can….
By popular demand, we reprint here the picture of Paul Levy's wedding, as referred to in this week's podcast. We trust it will be a source of comfort and hope for you. Sadly, 'The Encouraging Tour of Paul Levy's Library'…
The Mad Woman Builds Our Brand
In honour of the fact that there is no way, no way at all, that Reformed evangelicalism has been remotely corrupted by celebrity culture, Top Men, 'great leaders,' or self-promotion, the Mad Woman in the Attic has not only designed…
Oden and Optimism about the Mainline
A significant part of Thomas Oden's autobiography is taken up with his account of his life in the mainline United Methodist Church and how this was affected by his repudiation of his early liberalism and his discovery of a creedal…
On Oden 2: Regarding the Dropping of Names and the Twaddle of Twitter
Aimee’s post earlier this week pointed to the complex relationship that inevitably exists between legitimate publicity and self-promotion. When one ends and the other begins is not easy to discern. George Orwell commented that all writers are to some extent…
The Mad Woman Speaks!
Listeners to this week's podcast who persevere to the (bald and) bitter end are in for a special treat: the voice of the axe wielding Mad Woman calling from the Attic as she rebukes Todd Pruitt for indulging one of…
Oden’s Patrimony
We three Ref Packers are all reading Thomas C. Oden’s beautifully written autobiography, A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir, and will be posting numerous reflections on it, as well as making it the subject of a podcast.…
Friendship sexualized, trivialized, and For Profit
On this week’s Spin, the Ref Pack deals with various aspects of pastoral ministry and culminates in a discussion of friendship. Three friends discuss friendship, albeit under the unfriendly, cold, and calculating gaze of the Mad Woman in the Attic.…