In the theology that launched the Crusades, the Muslim was not, first of all, an enemy to be defeated or a rival to be converted. He was something stranger and more useful than that. He was raw material for another man's salvation. The preachers who summoned Europe to holy war taught that a Christian could … Continue reading Made to Be Killed: How the Crusades Turned Murder into Atonement
The God Who Depends on No One: Aseity and the Trinity
One of the oldest and least negotiable ideas about God is that He depends on nothing. Everything else in existence leans on something. A tree needs soil, a child needs parents, a flame needs fuel, a building needs a foundation. God, by definition, leans on nothing at all. He is the one reality that exists … Continue reading The God Who Depends on No One: Aseity and the Trinity
The Bad Theology of 36:47
The verse stages a small drama. The believers are told to give from what God has provided. The disbelievers answer with something that sounds almost devout: [36:47] When they are told, "Give from GOD's provisions to you," those who disbelieve say to those who believe, "Why should we give to those whom GOD could feed, … Continue reading The Bad Theology of 36:47
Prophets & the Development of the Human Mind
In Moses & Aaron and the Allegory of the Mind, we read a single prophetic narrative as a map of the mind's internal architecture: Moses as the perceiving faculty that meets God directly, Aaron as the articulating faculty that renders the encounter into language, the Children of Israel as the flesh, the Samarian as the … Continue reading Prophets & the Development of the Human Mind
Addressed From Faraway: The World Beneath the Quran’s Words
There is a comfortable illusion buried in the idea of a common language. We assume that if two people hold the same words, they hold the same meanings. Point at a table, say "table," and the matter is settled. On this view, language is a kind of currency—a fixed set of tokens that anyone holding … Continue reading Addressed From Faraway: The World Beneath the Quran’s Words
The Missing End: Telos, and What Morality Lost When We Stopped Asking What Man Is For
Start with an acorn. Bury it, water it, wait. If nothing interferes, it does not become a tulip or a stone or a puddle. It becomes an oak. The oak is not an accident that happens to the acorn; in a real sense, the oak is what the acorn was for all along. The acorn … Continue reading The Missing End: Telos, and What Morality Lost When We Stopped Asking What Man Is For
Jesus’ Universal Operating System for Living Under Any Legal System
When Jesus told his followers to sit at the feet of the scribes and Pharisees, to observe everything they taught but not to follow their example (Matthew 23:2–3), he was issuing an instruction of remarkable subtlety. He was not critiquing the content of Jewish law, nor was he calling for its reform or abolition. He … Continue reading Jesus’ Universal Operating System for Living Under Any Legal System
Your god is what you ultimately orient yourself toward
In a previous article, we said that God gave the traveler two instruments. He gave a map—the revelation, a true representation of the terrain and of where the destination lies. And He gave a compass—the moral orientation written into the soul and refined by knowing who God is. We said that both are needed, that … Continue reading Your god is what you ultimately orient yourself toward
The Map and the Compass
Imagine you are handed the task of crossing unfamiliar terrain to reach a destination you have never seen. What do you need to arrive? Two things, and both are indispensable. You need an accurate map: a true representation of the land, its paths, its hazards, and where the destination actually lies. And you need to … Continue reading The Map and the Compass
The Loan God Asks For
There is something peculiar about the way the Quran describes charity. It calls it a loan, and it makes God the borrower. [2:245] Who would lend GOD a loan of righteousness, to have it repaid to them multiplied manifold? GOD is the One who provides and withholds, and to Him you will be returned. مَّن … Continue reading The Loan God Asks For
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