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Born May 18, 1953; got saved at Truett Memorial BC in Hayesville, NC 1959. On rigged ballot which I did not rig got Most Intellectual class of 71, Gaffney High School. Furman Grad, Sociology major but it was little tougher than Auburn football players had Had three dates with beautiful women the summer of 1978. Did not marry any of em. Never married anybody cause what was available was undesirable and what was desirable was unaffordable. Unlucky in love as they say and even still it is sometimes heartbreaking. Had a Pakistani Jr. Davis Cupper on the Ropes the summer of 84, City Courts, Rome Georgia I've a baby sitter, watched peoples homes while they were away on Vacation. Freelance writer, local consultant, screenwriter, and the best damn substitute teacher of Floyd County Georgia in mid 80's according to an anonymous kid passed me on main street a few years later when I went back to get a sandwich at Schroeders. Had some good moments in Collinsville as well. Ask Casey Mattox at www.clsnet.org if he will be honest about it. I try my best to make it to Bridges BBQ in Shelby NC at least four times a year.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Balmer engages the cultured despisers/Latest by JWood

Randall Balmer, of whom I have blogged often, engages the cultured despisers, likes of Chris Hitchens and Sam Harris at the Newsweek faith blog today. Balmer joins FBC Greenville South Carolina pastor Jeff Rogers--Rogers is former Furman proff and great friend of Wake Forest's Charles Kimball--in excellent rebuttal of the likes of Harris and Hitchens
Rogers Pulpitbytes blog is easily googled up. There you will find his August Sermon.

Randall's blog:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/randall_balmer/2007/09/beware_secular_fundamentalists/all_comments.html

Here is my comment I hope got posted on Balmer's blog today.

Randall:Russ Beene, John Killian, Matthew Morgan and other devotees down here in Bama--well Matthew is across the street from you now--continue to claim it an honor to have made your acquaintance.Wish you coulda said somethng about Andrew Sullivan's recent blog dissing the Baptists; then again there is lot of room for diss, in conjunction with a fine defense of deeper faith like you have given us today.You will find Killian's blog on Huckabee and Creation a delight.Want to say publicly looking forward with great anticipation to you coming to Greenville, South Carolina, home of Bob Jones and Furman, next March.Some who lurk here may want to google up Furman proff Jim Guth's Christlike defense of Bob Jones from the Christian Century back in April 2000. That is a shade of gray for sure the likes of Hitchens ought to consider.Down here we are praying you will be able to thread the needle with aplomb.Jeff the Baptist (Rogers, pastor of FBC Greenville) has done an excellent job on same topic as your blog today, Hitchens, Harris and the cultured despisers; Rogers did a great job in a sermon back in August up on his blog easily googled at pulpitbytes.Gettin the water ready for you to walk on down here.Sincere thanks for this post.Hope I didn't make this note too personal for public consumption, but got a young cousin in Alaska I am pointing to you for a deeper faith pilgrimage. Continue to hold the banner high.

And direct link to Jeff's Great sermon
http://pulpitbytes.blogspot.com/2007/08/isaiah-11-310-17-religion-poisons.html

And one more just in, with some reservations it may cloud a discussion already fogged by the fitfulness in which I have presented it.
Just came across this in current http://www.newyorker.com/ ; something that may take a little time to digest.
James Wood, the great literary critic has tackled the Psalms of Holy Scripture. And his title promises to resonate with a Biblical Scholar, David Jasper, I was fortunate to hear the summer of 2006 at Furman.
Just this summer, back in July, I heard James Wood give a lecture at Sewanee, about hour and half from me. It was quite an honor to be in the hearing of such a brilliant person. I blogged about it if you want to look July or early August.
But here is a link if some who deserve to be aware of such things by chance drop in on my "illustrious" blog here.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/10/01/071001crbo_books_wood

A child of faith who has pilgrimmed into the great land of the doubters and suspicious, I would not put Wood in same category of Harris and Hitchens.
I plan to drop in on Wood when I get to heaven. I think he will be there having a great discussion with Fleming Rutledtge, Will Campbell, Martin, Babs Taylor, Frady, Faulkner, Tolstoy, Emily Dickinson, Lincoln, Beyers Naude and the like.
Read this piece on the Psalms; and google up Jasper of the Sacred Writings of the Desert.
If you do you, are a worthy reader of my musings and perusings here.

And here on another note on a remarkable day for findings.
This from a blog by my friend Gus Niebuhr. I first met Gus when he was working for the Ajc back in 86. He came up to West Cartersville Ga to see what I knew about the Baptist takeover.
Found out later one of my former proffs at Furman was Gus's SSchool teacher back in Cambridge.
From Gus's August 4 blog at the religion site at Newsweek.
If you have beliefs you call religious, you will find yourself party to something that ever exceeds the human imagination. But you may see it reflected in part. So saying, I close with another remarkable writer, Emily Dickinson:


Tell all the Truth but tell it slant--
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind--

3 Comments:

Blogger John Killian said...

Brother Fox,
Thank you for the postive mention. Your blog is informative.

4:49 PM  
Blogger foxofbama said...

William Placher has a grand review of Hitchens book online Sept 27 at www.christiancentury.org
Among other things Placher contends most issues Hitchens raises were settled by serious students of his concerns long ago.

2:36 PM  
Blogger foxofbama said...

Here is one of Placher's finer comments. My apologies for not getting this quote the first time, but my cut and paste mechanism wasn't working dependably


Placher: I do not mean that there are always clear answers to the issues Hitchens raises, much less that the religious side would always win the debate. My point is simply that among serious people writing about these matters, the argument has often advanced a good many steps beyond where Hitchens is fighting it—so however good his basic questions are, and however enjoyable his style, it is hard to take his contribution to the conversation seriously.

2:44 PM  

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