Author Archive

Is the Emerging Church Movement Waning? Deacon Hall’s Response

By Deacon Hall • Jan 10th, 2010 • Category: emergent, thinking

I’ve been reading up a little on some of the debate over whether or not the emerging church is dying. That is, I just read over Brian LePort’s insightful blog which tends to argue alongside a few other persons that, in fact, the movement is dying.  However, as someone not particularly connected to this debate [...]



Crazy Texan Monday Talks Ethics

By Deacon Hall • Jan 10th, 2010 • Category: engaging, philosophy

The Crazy Texan, Mr. Rick Roderick, has a great grasp of the development of ethics in the west.  If classical virtue ethics were concerned in developing persons with good character, modern ethics became concerned with quantification and instrumentalization.
To understand what I’m talking about, you should listen to this whole series, namely, “Philosophy and Human Values.” [...]



Luther Goes Progressive

By Deacon Hall • Jan 5th, 2010 • Category: quotes, thinking

With the Holiday season over, I am busily studying for my qualifying exams again.  As of now, I’m reading through Luther’s Greater Catechism. It’s a good work, and I always appreciate the vitriol with which Luther approaches any subject.  But there’s a section in this work that I, strangely, found especially refreshing.
First things first, the [...]



Crazy Texan Resolutions

By Deacon Hall • Jan 4th, 2010 • Category: engaging

I thought that the first Crazy Texan Monday for the  new year should contain in it a couple of resolutions…some Crazy Texan resolutions
For my first resolution, I will try to find myself a virtual reality suit for this coming year (see 1:57 of this video).
For my second resolution, I will try to publicly agree more [...]



3 Interesting Religions (A Meme)

By Deacon Hall • Dec 18th, 2009 • Category: philosophy, thinking

Mr. Tripp sent me an email today with a meme from James McGrath’s blog.  I thought it was a pretty interesting question, namely, by what three religions (other than your own) are you most fascinated.  In what follows, I try to answer as honestly as possible.
With that in mind, I’m mostly interested in the metaphysical and [...]



Bible in 5 Statments (Using 80s Movies)

By Deacon Hall • Dec 16th, 2009 • Category: bible stuff, engaging

So, here’s the thing.  I’m kinda new to this stuff on the “Internet.”  I’m actually kinda like the new kid in school.  Nobody really knows anything about me, so I don’t really get picked for many teams; and I don’t know anyone else, so I can’t really ask anyone to hang out.  Well, consider this [...]



Get your Secularization on

By Deacon Hall • Dec 16th, 2009 • Category: media, philosophy, public policy, thinking

I’d like to clue those of you who are interested in secularization into a website that’s extremely informative.  It’s a site recording a recent gathering of famous philosophers, including Juergan Habermas,  Charles Taylor, Judith Butler, and Cornel West.  I can’t remeber the occasion of this conference (all that information is on the first recording with [...]



Book Review by Deacon Hall

By Deacon Hall • Dec 14th, 2009 • Category: books, engaging, philosophy, science

I recently gave a book review for the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, 27.2 (Fall 2009). The book I reviewed is called The Open secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology by Alister E. McGrath. For any of you interested in the relationship between the naturalism, natural theology, and the Christian faith, the [...]



Crazy Texan Monday Goes Derridian

By Deacon Hall • Dec 14th, 2009 • Category: engaging, philosophy, pomo

Check out this Roderick video on Derrida. He deals, to no small degree, with the quintessential Derrida, namely, the meaning of deconstruction, a term that he understands to signify “housework (see 2:00 in).”
This lecture is still part of Roderick’s Self Under Siege lectures. And what I have realized are the most important points [...]



Mainline Leadership is Killing the Church?

By Deacon Hall • Dec 11th, 2009 • Category: emergent, thinking

Here’s a good article for you all that you might want to spend a little time with. It’s essentially saying that Mainline Churches, because of their social-stances, money, facilities, etc., should be growing. However, there’s a problem:
“George Barna… commented that mainline Protestant churches seem to have weathered the past decade better [...]