Category Archives: Wilderness Wanderings

Has Anything Changed Since Everything Changed?

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 12, 2011

All of the fanfare surrounding the tenth anniversary of 9/11 left the Calvinistic, dour side of me cold and a bit cynical. Part of the problem was the fixation westerners have, with our base-10 system of math, to give more weight to anniversaries that fall on the five’s and ten’s than, say, to the perfect… Read More→

Posted in Wilderness Wanderings | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Confessional Intuition

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 6, 2011

Worldviews are overrated. Intuition matters. At least, that’s the impression readers may take away from a thoughtful review of a new book on philanthropy by Jeff Cain, a former colleague and now the co-founder of American Philanthropic. The book in question is Do More Than Give: The Six Practices of Donors Who Change the World,… Read More→

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It Doesn’t Require a Worldview To Know What’s Wrong with Higher Education

By D. G. Hart | Published: September 2, 2011

From Joseph Epstein’s review in the Wall Street Journal of The Cambridge History of the American Novel: Only 40 or 50 years ago, English departments attracted men and women who wrote books of general intellectual interest and had names known outside the academy—Perry Miller, Aileen Ward, Walter Jackson Bate, Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Joseph Wood Krutch,… Read More→

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Lay Plumbing

By D. G. Hart | Published: May 31, 2011

Since relocating to Michigan I have not only had to think about whether Christians plumb differently from non-Christians. I have also had to think and act plumbingly. First, I had to purchase a toilet auger to unblock a clogged septic line. Then, I had to figure out how to displace a large puddle that had… Read More→

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Oldlife.org 101

By D. G. Hart | Published: May 30, 2011

Regular readers of Oldlife likely don’t need any explanation about the nature of this site but those unfamiliar with the medium or genre of blogging may need some guidance on how to read the posts published here. Genre may sound like a high-faluttin’ word to affix to a blog, suggesting some kind of artifice or… Read More→

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Taking Every Cat Captive

By D. G. Hart | Published: May 20, 2011

Partly to help out a friend, and also to acknowledge the pleasant companionship of our two felines, Isabelle and Cordelia, I reprint below a piece from the Spring 2009 issue of the Nicotine Theological Journal that followed the death of my first and my wife’s favorite pet, Skippie. Despite all their charms, our current cat… Read More→

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What Bushy Top and Stringer Bell Might Teach Us About Mr. Laden

By D. G. Hart | Published: May 2, 2011

After saying my morning prayers (see, I am devout), tending to the livestock, and fixing the coffee, I tuned into my favorite radio show (my wife’s most hated) to learn not only that Phillies had lost but that Osama Bin Laden had lost his life. To hear sports-talk radio hosts commenting on life, death, and… Read More→

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My Kind of Lutheran (about me, remember?)

By D. G. Hart | Published: April 29, 2011

First they gave us Martin Luther, then Garrison Keillor (okay, that one was indirect), and now Hans Fiene (thanks to our confessional Lutheran correspondent from Texas). You do have to love Christians who can be this orthodox and this funny. Mind you, I wouldn’t let Hans near the pulpit of our congregation, though he is… Read More→

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Advantages of Not Going to the Gospel Coalition Conference

By D. G. Hart | Published: April 14, 2011

Inspired by Darryl Dash’s (no relation) post on how to cope with not attending the Gospel Coalition conference (pointed out to me by one of our southern correspondents), I decided to use the theme to explore further differences between pietism and confessionalism. Dead Orthodox 1) Save money for trip to Vegas 2) See more hot… Read More→

Also posted in Application of Redemption | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

Hello, Rob Bell

By D. G. Hart | Published: March 24, 2011

According to one news story I read, Rob Bell’s embrace of God’s love has landed the Grand Rapid’s religious entrepreneur in Desiring God Ministries hell. The ultimate kiss off in the evangelical world is for John Piper to tweet, “Farewell Rob Bell.” But I am wondering why all the hoopla over Bell. If you do… Read More→

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