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New York Times: The Great Seduction |
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Written by Paul Dean
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Thursday, 03 July 2008 |
David Brooks writes: “The people who created this country built a moral structure around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and self-indulgence. Benjamin Franklin spread a practical gospel that emphasized hard work, temperance and frugality. Millions of parents, preachers, newspaper editors and teachers expounded the message. The result was quite remarkable. The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal. Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country’s moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money. Sixty-two scholars have signed on to a report by the Institute for American Values and other think tanks called, “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” examining the results of all this. This may be damning with faint praise, but it’s one of the most important think-tank reports you’ll read this year.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r=1&em&ex
=1213416000&en=4ec06791b4ad57d5&ei=5087%0A&oref=sloginWrite Comment (0 Comments) |
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Evangelical Writers Challenged to Avoid Alienating the Unchurched |
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Written by Paul Dean
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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
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http://www.churchexecutive.com/news.asp?N_ID=1265
Evangelical writers nearly always alienate non-evangelicals in their works, noted long-time Christian writer and editor Tim McLaughlin. McLaughlin contends that evangelicals include personal information in a biography to establish credibility based on religious standards rather than professional.
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"An Evangelical Manifesto" Ponders Politics |
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Written by Paul Dean
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
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“An Evangelical Manifesto” was released this past week with eighty signatories. It is important to understand the purpose and the content of this manifesto. In their own words, “An Evangelical Manifesto is an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for.Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Aim at "Spiritually Interested" Sparks "The Shack" Sales |
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Written by Paul Dean
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
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That this novel is popular is not surprising considering the spiritual but relativistic society we have become. What should be surprising, however, is the popularity the book has gained among Christians. Of course, that popularity highlights major problems in the church today.Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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