Mike Wittmer

What I think. What I know. What I think I know.

  • eternal subordination in Barth

    Many complementarians ground their belief in male headship in the authority-submission structure of the Trinity.  As Paul writes, “the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3).  A growing number of egalitarians (e.g., Kevin Giles, Scot McKnight) accuse these…

  • two items of interest

    Driving at dusk in West Michigan in November is a bit like being dropped into a game of Frogger.  The deer are rutting and running this time of year, and last week a buck sprinted across the road right in front of my little car.  Unless that happens tonight, my 1990 Honda CRX will turn…

  • sexual sins

    Thank you for your provocative and helpful comments on my previous post (“three questions”) concerning homosexual practice.  I learned from you that churches and religious organizations are legally allowed to discriminate against practicing homosexuals and that no, there is no solid ground for a gay-friendly redefinition of marriage. I didn’t think I needed to say…

  • Bach and Freddy

    If you enjoy history you will love James Gaines’ Evening in the Palace of Reason.  I picked this up on the advice of Gene Veith, who said that you should put down whatever it is you are doing and read this book.  I happened to be grading papers at the time, so I did. This…

  • three questions

    Perhaps in part because of the recent election, the past week produced another round of finger wagging at conservatives who oppose gay marriage.  From the religion columnist of the Grand Rapids Press to Newsweek and Jon Stewart, we were reminded again that we are mean-spirited, afraid, stupid, and hopelessly out of date. I support the…

  • this conversation is really over

    Al Mohler has an interesting review of John Franke’s new book, Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth. Franke’s book seems to align with the emergent author I mentioned in “this conversation is over.”  Indeed, that author cites Franke’s book as support for viewing the Bible as our community library rather than our constitutional authority. Reading…

  • why I believe in God

    Consider these converging lines of evidence: 1. The starting pitchers of tomorrow night’s Game 1 of the World Series are the last recipients of the American League Cy Young Award, an award they won while pitching for the Cleveland Indians—the team which apparently did not inform their brand-new manager of those trades, for he said…

  • this conversation is over

    Over the weekend I skimmed an advance copy of an important book by a leading Emergent which is not yet released, so I’m not free to comment in depth or even state the author or title.  But something the author said made it clear to me that any chance of fruitful dialogue is now lost.…

  • a secular age

    Yesterday I started Charles Taylor’s massive book, A Secular Age (874 p.) which won the Templeton Prize in 2007.  Taylor’s story of how western society became secular is the sort of history I like—he paints with broad interpretive strokes which, while leaving plenty of room for quibbling over this detail or that, also enables us…

  • degree of difficulty

    Here is my latest entry for Our Daily Journey, the really cool and longer version of Our Daily Bread for twenty and thirtysomethings.  I tried to build a devotional around a few thoughts from Karl Barth, just to see if it could be done.  Let me know (gently) what you think. keeping up appearances read…