“Thus [Derrida] is not a linguistic idealist who denies the material existence of cups and tables; rather, in the line of Martin Heidegger (of Being and Time), he is what we might call–for lack of a better term–a comprehensive hermeneuticist who asserts the ubiquity of interpretation: all our experience is always already an interpretation” (James K.A. Smith, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, 39).
Monthly Archives: November 2014
“Ideas have legs.”
“But I want to follow Francis Schaeffer’s footsteps by taking philosophy very seriously precisely because it does impact everyday life. ‘Ideas have legs,’ and even in a culture of amusement, there is thought that shapes it” (James K.A. Smith, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, 20).
Potent Preaching
“If preaching is to be transformational, it must address the needs, hurts, temptations, and trials of listeners” (Eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, 26).
Handling the Pomo With Your “Nice Gloves”
“If we are going to do justice to postmodernism, our engagement with it needs to be characterized by charity–and charity requires time” (James K.A. Smith, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, 36).
Give Hope
“[I]f you tell a Christian, ‘Your problem is that you have been sinning,’ you give him hope, because he knows that Jesus Christ came to die for sin” (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 17).
Life Together
“The Christian home, then, is a place where sinful persons face the problems of a sinful world. Yet, they face them together with God and His resources, which are all centered in Christ (cf. Col. 2:3). Sinners live in the Christian home, but the sinless Savior lives there too. This is what makes the difference (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 13).
Sanctification As Presupposition
“A fundamental presupposition of the Christian faith is that there will be growth out of sin into righteousness” (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 12).
Thematic Unity
“Well-crafted speeches are like good jazz music–variations on a rich theme. They relate all content and delivery to one major thesis. . . . Listeners deserve to know the main point of any presentation. Therefore, we speakers ought to ask ourselves, What’s the principle point of my speech? That point is the speech’s main idea or thesis” (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 56-57).
Preaching
“Expository preaching is text-centered and audience-focused” (eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching: Connecting the Bible to People, 14).
Understand the Problem and Know What To Do About It
“A truly Christian home is a place where active sinners live; but it is also a place where the members of that home admit the fact and understand the problem, know what to do about it, and as a result grow by grace” (Jay E. Adams, Christian Living in the Home, 11).