Author: Tom Leinbach

Virtually no one today would deny that the Roman Catholic Church at the time of the Protestant Reformation was in need of reform. And that includes modern-day Catholics.

It is well known that the church had become overly involved in worldly matters, perhaps especially in politics. Bishops and archbishops served as princes and other such positions of power. They held vast amounts of wealth and owned large tracts of land. Their worldly power was considerable.

Not only that, a system of indulgences had developed where the faithful were urged to give money to the church in order to secure a fortuitous slot in heaven. To be crass about it, you literally could buy yourself out of Purgatory and straight into heaven.

Indeed, there were other issues, many theological in nature, far too extensive to detail here. But suffice it to say, there was considerable discontent within and without the church.

Continue reading “My Beef with the Reformation”

Today, we in the West are completely sold on the idea of democracy, despite the fact that this was not always so.

One is reminded of Winston Churchill’s apparent endorsement: “Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

This quote is often used to defend democracy against all comers. But is this what Churchill meant? While giving it relative merit, his was not a ringing endorsement.

Surely he was aware that the ancient philosophers, in attempting to determine the best political regime, had rejected democracy out of hand.

Continue reading “Is the Kingdom of God a Democracy?”

Whether we realize it or not, we’re children of the Enlightenment. This is both a good thing and a not so good thing.

It’s good in that the Enlightenment freed the individual from a feudal system that forced people into predetermined slots. It enshrined human rights and liberated people to pursue lives independent of the often-arbitrary constraints of traditional European society.

The downside is that such individualism failed to account for the central importance of community for human flourishing, along with its corresponding responsibilities. While the Enlightenment stressed individual liberty, it implicitly denied communal duties.

Worse still, the Enlightenment effectively jettisoned the accumulated wisdom of the ages in an effort to begin history anew. The foundations and authority upon which traditional society had rested – the church, the family, the crown (political order), history, tradition, laws, customs, norms, and communal life in general – were now suspect.

Continue reading “Why I’m Not an Evangelical (Though Sometimes Wish I Were)”

I recently came across a timely article in our local newspaper written by a former colleague. The subject was how to heal our nation from the strife and conflict we witness daily. No small task, that.

The pastor, daunted by the assigned undertaking, notes the importance of healthy communication in helping facilitate such healing. He is quick to point out that the purpose of dialogue is not necessarily to eliminate disagreements but to make them productive and growth-producing, rather than leading to ever-greater chaos.

How might this be achieved? By basing all communication on “common values of truth and respect” which, among other things, involves “listening responsibly.” Perhaps most importantly, it must include prayer and, more generally, “[turning] to God for help.”

Shortly after reading this, I came across an editorial in the journal Inside Higher Ed by David R. Harris, president of Union College, a small elite liberal arts school in upstate New York. The subject was free speech. Notably, in the fourth paragraph he makes this startling admission: “I oppose free speech on college campuses.”

Continue reading “Civility”

Mirriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Mea culpa as meaning “‘through my fault’ in Latin, [which] comes from a prayer of confession in the Catholic Church. Said by itself, it’s an exclamation of apology or remorse that is used to mean ‘It was my fault’ or ‘I apologize.’” 

So what do I have to apologize for? Well, nothing really. And why might that be? Because there’s method to my madness.

Specifically, I’m referring to my tendency to look at social and theological problems rather than what some might consider more uplifting themes. The glass is always half-empty. It’s negative, not positive. And it’s depressing too.

Back when I was in divinity school I took a second master’s degree in pastoral counseling. I thought that was what I wanted to do. But after 2 or 3 years serving a church, I decided that the church was where I belonged.

Continue reading “Apologia”

In 2011, a new twist to the standard murder mystery emerged. The television show that started it all was “The Killing,” a Danish production. A plethora of shows later copied its wild success. The genre today is known as “Nordic noir” or “Scandinavian noir” or, in abbreviated form, “Scandi noir.”

The shows all have an easily identifiable quality. The landscapes are unrelentingly bleak and the mood dark and morally complex. Underneath the still, placid settled-ness of Nordic culture lurks untold evils, ready to pounce at any moment, producing an unnerving, eerie sort of suspense.

The language is spare, the pacing slow and anguished. The characters appear world-weary, drained of feeling. It’s as if they’re just going through the motions, while external forces draw them inexorably towards an unknown but stealthy oblivion. All human interactions are muted, if not utterly joyless. They walk through an inhospitable and unforgiving world as if zombies.

Continue reading “Scandi Noir and the Charm of Disenchantment”

My father used to relate the story with considerable affection and humor. The date was Sunday, December 7, 1941, otherwise known as the “day of infamy.” Pearl Harbor Day. My father’s mother called her two sisters in Bethlehem, PA to tell them her husband, my grandfather, had died suddenly of a heart attack in Virginia. He had been scheduled to preach that morning at the dedication of a new church.

Aunt Lucy, my great-aunt, received the news somberly, and then offered this memorable gem, a line that lives on in family lore: “Oh dear,” she sighed heavily, “the cat died today too!”

Nothing like keeping things in perspective. God bless her.

My grandfather is pictured above, a photograph from the cover of the Messenger, the flagship publication of the Evangelical and Reformed Church (now part of the U.C.C.).

Continue reading “Acts 6”

I know what you’re thinking. This post is about the recent “Varsity Blues” scandal involving wealthy parents (including at least a few Hollywood stars) bribing elite colleges and universities to admit their children.

But it’s not about that, really.

It’s not even about the broader scandal of college admissions in general (such as race-based and legacy admissions) or the scandal of easy access to federal loan money which not only has left countless students with crushing debt, but has led to steep increases in tuition (well above the cost of living) and directly abetted the vast expansion of campus building projects and high-end amenities (in order to compete with other colleges similarly flush with this same loan money). And don’t get me started on the consequent and exponential increases in staff and faculty!

The real scandal, I would submit, is how colleges and universities have all but lost their original purpose, their very reason for being.

Continue reading “College Scandals”

For decades I’ve listened to well-meaning people in the church (mostly pastors) tell me we need to change. Change, change, change. It’s all the rage, I tell you. And it’s presented as if it’s pretty much the solution to all that ails us.

And what is it that ails us? The implosion of the Protestant mainline church, for one. As these churches have struggled for decades with diminished numbers, stressed budgets, and an increasing loss of public relevance, the default solution is…change.

Often such change is foisted on long-standing church members who aren’t quite sure what all this change-talk is really about.

Years ago, I served as interim pastor at a historic downtown church. As the fortunes of the city declined over the years, as people fled in great numbers to the suburbs, and as the weed of secularism spread its tentacles over ever-larger swathes of America, the church was struggling.

Continue reading “Cut Flowers and Mighty Oaks”

G.K. Chesterton, referencing the Modernist era, once said: “A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason.”

As you may recall, Modernism, beginning with the Enlightenment, sought to replace tradition with Reason. All human problems would thus be fixed. Me thinks Chesterton was on to something.

Today we live in a bifurcated culture. One might even call it schizophrenic. Which is to say there exists two camps where never the twain shall meet: socialism and capitalism. Both, believe it or not, are kissing cousins.

Capitalism, in a generalized sense, is the Enlightenment’s idea of the free market which sought to empower the individual over and against the feudal system of land owner and serf.

Continue reading “The Empty Shrine”