kingjames1, I have to say, as much as we may differ on whatever views, I love your honesty, and beyond that, your determination to stick around and force us to be intellectually honest. You keep us (though I should really say ‘me’) in check.

When I talk about cultural evangelicalism, I am referring to a cultural worldview shared by a fair few of the churches I grew up in. However, the word conjures up the popular, or lay-level, working out of evangelical theology, rather than the more intellectual figures of John Stott or D.A. Carson. When I hear evangelical, I think blind support for constitutional marriage amendments, Harry Potter condemnation, Da Vinci Code boycotting, Left Behind mania, etc, etc. Scary pseudo-Christian groupthink. This is indeed a cultural force to be reckoned with—and I would insist, a somewhat intellectually-lacking cultural force. But it would probably be a fair criticism to say that this is very simplistic on my part, since I am filtering out the intellectuals by using the word ‘evangelicalism’ in this way. Perhaps when Chuck Colson refers to ‘postmoderns’, he thinks less of the Walter Brueggemanns and Derridas, and more of the confused and clueless youths who ramble on about choosing their own truths in life. In that sense we are making the same oversight. Which, of course, is no excuse. Forgive me then, for my facile caricaturization. I confess that I frequently do struggle with an “emergent propensity for armchair philosophizing versus faithful action.” I was a philosophy major in college—hence the philosophizing. Perhaps that’s my problem.

I stand with you in your emphasis on “orthopraxis and love.” Forgive me then, for my lack of the latter, wherever I have been ‘less than generous’.

All the best,

-Daniel-