The Tulip Driven Life

             By: Thomas F. Booher             I was a bit concerned that John Macleod’s Scottish Theology would be a hard and dry read given it was taken from lectures. There are some expected deviations and rabbit trails but most of them were interesting, and it was pleasant to read MacLeod’s Scottish way of putting things. This is essentially a summary of four hundred years of Scottish theology, from the time just before the Reformation to 1938 when the addresses were delivered. The goal will be to highlight some of the major changes in Scotland’s church history and see how they compare to our own history in the United States.             Prior to the Reformation Scotland was a free and independent nation, but aristocrats ran things poorly and the clergy itself was wealthy and immoral. Scotland’s freedom had the benefit of allo...

By: Thomas F. Booher  I am working on another book, which will tentatively bear the title of this post. Anyone interested in reading the whole book in advance and is willing to endorse it can do so. It would be much appreciated. That goes for anyone who is reformed, famous or not, married or single. Below is an excerpt from the book, containing part of chapter 1:  ​The hope I want to offer you, dear young and single Calvinist, is that God sets us free from having to compete with others in order to win the girl or catch the guy’s eye. Yes, the liberating truth of real Christian marriage is that in Christ you have been accepted as His bride, and because of that, you can be acceptable to any likeminded believer. ​What am I saying? Am I saying that we can cut through all the red tape of having to find the person with the perfect personality, gorgeous eyes, financial stability, similar sense of humor, and same career goals? ​In a word, yes. Yes. Because Chr...

By: Thomas F. Booher I was compelled to write this piece after reading this  article by none other than Russell Brand. The reason I was compelled is this: he bemoans the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and blames drug laws for making drug addicts seem immoral  (drug addicts being victims of a disease that could "attack" anyone). Indeed, the subheading of his post claims that Hoffman is another victim of extremely stupid drug laws.  Why are drug laws stupid? To quote Brand, "If drugs are illegal people who use drugs are criminals. We have set our moral compass on this erroneous premise, and we have strayed so far off course that the landscape we now inhabit provides us with no solutions and greatly increases the problem."  Then Brand makes the wild assertion that those who make the drug laws are "deliberately creating the worst imaginable circumstances to maximise the harm caused by substance misuse."  The war on drugs is politically mot...

By: Thomas F. Booher             How is the Gold Become Dim chronicles the decline of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., from its original intention to be faithful to the Westminster Standards and Reformed faith. The book was first published when many conservatives in the denomination were enacting measures to form a Continuing Presbyterian Church, which would become known as the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). At its founding the Southern Presbyterian Church was committed to the spirituality of the church, but over time and due to war, it began to leave its true calling for a social gospel and political agenda which consequently lead the denomination away from its Constitution and the Word of God.             By the mid 1930’s the PCUS began to seriously depart from its distinctives (22). The Hay Watson Smith case of 1929 opened doors for the denomination to beco...

                                          By: Thomas Booher Seeking a Better Country Hart and Muether’s Seeking A Better Country was written for the 300 th anniversary of Presbyterianism in America. The book traces American Presbyterianism from its inception, and rather than writing a revisionist history to celebrate and glamorize the men who were integral to the formation and growth of Presbyterianism, the author’s wrote for accuracy and to critique, not wishing to allow Presbyterians to distort the reality of their heritage, but rather to see it with its warts and bruises intact. The authors believe that all denominations of American Presbyterianism can and should trace their roots to the first presbytery in America in 1706, the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and t...

By: Thomas F. Booher Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars. Outcasts is the second book in Jill Williamson's Safe Lands series, and I have found the writing to be largely the same as the first book (for my remarks on that, go here , here , and here ). The back cover (of this advanced copy at least) will tell you what you need to know for the story. A family/tribe from Glenrock has been taken by force to the Safe Lands, where everyone has a disease that is slowly killing them, called the thin plague. The children are being held, and the women through artificial means are forced to bear children in the hopes that they are healthy and can repopulate the land.  The story revolves largely around three siblings, Levi, Mason, and Omar, who each have different personalities, strengths, and weaknesses that make it challenging for them to do what they must do. Levi is married, but the other two are dealing with romantic feelings which plays out quite well. Omar is a user, and I very ...

By: Christopher Larson This post originally appeared on Larson's own blog here Recently I read a chapter from Orson Scott Card’s book Characters and Viewpoint. I found a particular argument that he made fascinating enough to warrant a post of it’s own. I’ve always been a huge proponent of the “Show, don’t tell,” rule in literature. In case you’re not familiar with that rule, here’s a short breakdown of the differences between the two. TELLING: Bob grabbed the grocery list, headed for the door, then remembered he needed to tell his Mom where he was going. With that accomplished, he finally turned the handle and was off to the store. SHOWING: “Hey Mom, where did you put the grocery list?” Bob yelled. “It’s on the counter, honey,” his Mother replied. Bob turned on his heel to look at the counter. Sure enough, there was the list. Grabbing it, he ran to the door, then paused. “Mom! I’m going to the store!” “Have fun!” I always assumed that the second w...