Author Archives: James Ernest

The people complaining about the rebranding of Aunt Jemima don’t know history and would rather deny its significance than learn it. They see only an inoffensive picture of a normal woman who happens to be black. But the people who are offended are not just seeing what is there in front of their eyes rightContinue reading “On eating Aunt Jemima syrup sacrificed to idols”

“Been following some of your facebook posts. How do you reconcile your views with passages like Ephesians 4:2 and others that require us to submit to and pray for those who God has placed in positions of authority over us? Just wondering . . . “ That’s a question I received today from one ofContinue reading “On respecting and submitting to the governing authorities”

Jesus was not a rioter or insurrectionist. Well, unless you want to get picky about that one time in the temple when he got into a little property damage and some lashing out with a whip at the correctly licensed, tax-paying merchants and bankers. Or twice, depending on how you prefer to deal with chronologicalContinue reading “Jesus hates rioters”

“You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time. They’re going to run over you. You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate,” the president told governors. Not everybody studied Latin (or Greek, or Hebrew). With apologies to those for whom this is old hat, here’s aContinue reading “To dominate or not to dominate? That is the question”

“Nationwide, video footage has played a key role in exposing police abuses during the protests that ignited over Floyd’s death after a Minneapolis officer was captured pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck. “In Philadelphia on Wednesday, a Temple University student was released from jail on charges of assaulting a police officer during a protest afterContinue reading “The police problem”

This passage from Paul’s Letter to the earliest Christians at Rome comes up from time to time when American Christians today talk about how their attitudes toward government. What better way to spend an hour this Sunday afternoon than offering up a few questions for thought or for group discussion on how we apply thisContinue reading “Romans 13 in the USA: Questions for thought and discussion”

In my experience with MDs, stockbrokers, architects, dentists, accountants and other STEM-trained professionals, when they are speaking within the area in which they are trained and licensed to practice, they are usually careful and reliable; but the critical skills that they learned within their discipline don’t transfer outside their discipline. In political-social conversations, and inContinue reading “STEM and the humanities”

My undergrad professor and advisor Arthur Holmes used to arrive early for the history of philosophy class he taught in the east wing of Edman Chapel at Wheaton College in fall 1982. He chatted amiably with us sophomores, gamely fielding the semi-idle questions we lobbed at him just because we kind of idolized him andContinue reading “Masking the image of God”