Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Gambling The Bible nowhere condemns gambling, and so we need to be careful in our assessment of it. Let me begin by making a strong case against gambling. Then I will surprise most readers by pointing out that gambling may not always be sinful. The reader should bear in mind…
Tim Powers, The Stress of Her Regard (Ace Books, 1991). Reviewed by Jeffrey Meyers. Tim Power’s latest novel is now available in paperback. The story is set in early nineteenth century England and Italy, in the world of the poets John Keats, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron. Michael Crawford, a…
A close supporter of Biblical Horizons asks whether it is proper and wise to get involved in all the boycotts that Christians are being asked to observe today. She raises the point that Paul’s advice about eating meat sacrificed to idols seems relevant to the discussion. I think she is…
Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in the fourth year of his reign, which was 480 years after Israel came out of Egypt, the year A.M. 2993 (1 Kings 6:1). Seven years later, in the year A.M. 3000, the Temple building was finished (1 Kings 6:38). The…
Several months back, a candidate for ordination was being examined for entrance into the Presbytery of which I am a member. The candidate had a good deal of trouble with the exam on the sacraments, stumbling badly as he tried to define the "nature of the sacrament." Apparently in an…
Exploring the influence of televangelism on American religion in his book, The Struggle for America’s Soul , Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow presents a typical, though hypothetical, case study: Mabel Miller. Mabel lives alone, thousands of miles from her family. She grew up in a Baptist Church, but now, approaching 65,…
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Sennett again: “The number of men aged fifty-five to sixty-four at work in the United States has dropped from nearly 80 percent in 1970 to 65 percent in 1990.” Trends are similar in Western Europe. Older workers are often downsized, perceived as inflexible deadwood, too critical of management, apt to…
To return to one of my recent obsessions: The flexible economy described by Sennett seems inimical to the cultivation of gratitude, one of the key components or grounds of loyalty. Employers have various sorts of incentives (stock prices, meeting market demands with flexible specializations) to dispense with employees who have…
Sennett claims that the apparent decentralization of power in flexible organizations is only apparent. In fact, power remains concentrated in the hands of top level managers, often enhanced by the surveillance capabilities of contemporary technologies. The actual practice of flextime illustrates the point. When employees are given leave to work…
Sennett summarizes a study from the early 1990s done by the American Management Association, which found that “repeated downsizings produce ‘lower profits and declining worker productivity.’” The study found “less than half the companies achieved their experience reduction goals; fewer than one-third increased profitability” and only one-quarter increased productivity. The…
As Richard Sennett points out in his stimulating book, The Corrosion of Character , Marx was not the first to suggest that the factory system was dehumanizing and alienating. Nor was Daniel Bell first to spot the effects of capitalism on values and moral character. Sennett argues that Adam Smith’s…
INTRODUCTION Yahweh’s promise to David (2 Samuel 7) about an eternal dynasty overshadows the whole book of Kings, and the story of Kings is about Yahweh’s faithfulness to David in the face of all threats and challenges. Here, David’s dynasty is nearly destroyed by a daughter of Ahab, but Yahweh…
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