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A La Carte (12/10)

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The Year’s Best Music
CT offers a rather bizarre roundup of the year’s best music (99% of which none of us have ever heard of). Like this: “John Darnielle calls himself a ‘Catholic atheist,’ but he knows his Bible, and writes twelve songs based on specific verses here. This album, sparsely acoustic and beautiful, is neither ‘worship’ nor ‘Christian’ music per se, but it feels sacramental, with its intimate production and songs of beauty, depravity, faith, violence, love, hopelessness, hope, life, and death–kind of like, you know, the Bible.” I enjoy CT’s music reviews, but this list is a mess.


An Amazon Factoid
My buddy Jesse shares an Amazon factoid that I found really fascinating. Amazon could sell all of its product at cost and still make money. He explains how.


Deals @ ChristianAudio
If you’re into audio books you’ll want to check out the deals at ChristianAudio. Among the deals they are offering you a $10 gift certificate for every $25 gift certificate you buy for someone else.


Appalachian Conference on Theology
West Virginian’s take note: Randolph Street Baptist Church is hosting Steven Lawson for a conference on theology and the church.


Top 10 Everything
TIME offers up their top 10 of everything from 2009.


A Statement from Ligon Duncan
Ligon Duncan has issued a statement on The Manhattan Declaration. “The issue boils down to a matter of judgment, not a disagreement in principle, between those Council members who signed and didn’t sign. The non-signers believe that the content of the document and the associations of the primary authors imply an ECT-like confusion about the Gospel. The signers believe that the explicit assertions and emphasis of the documents relate only to areas of principled social-ethical agreement between evangelicals and non-evangelicals. Further, they believe that it is important for individuals from the major quadrants of the historic Christian tradition to speak on these pressing matters in solidarity.”


  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

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    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…