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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The parable of the hip professor and the vulgar masses

9He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a hip yuppie seminary prof. and the other a middle-class Christian. 11The seminary prof., standing by himself, prayed thus:

‘God(-dess), I thank you that I’m not like the vulgar masses–damnable suburbanites who drive minivans and shop at strip-malls. 12 I alleviate world poverty by writing book reviews on recondite issues in religious epistemology. I know how to use all the right buzzwords. I own a mechanical back-patter. I minister to the downtrodden by buying overpriced books on poverty that tell other people to do something about poverty. I extol Ivy League infidels who defend abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, Stalinism, suicide-bombers, honor-killings, and the Khmer Rouge–cuz that does so much to raise the quality of life.’

2 comments:

  1. Before I read the Parable of the Hip Professor and the Vulgar Masses I had read Professor Rauser's description of himself:

    "Randal Rauser is a systematic and analytic theologian of evangelical persuasion. He is driven by apologetic concerns and above all by the tireless pursuit of truth. The downside is that this requires him to recognize when he is wrong (which is often) for truth is complex and it offers us no guarantees that we shall always find it. At the same time, Randal does not despair of finding truth, for he believes that in a profound sense Jesus Christ is the truth.

    For Randal, being like Jesus means knowing the truth, loving the truth, and living the truth. As Randal seeks to live the truth he promotes a culture of life that is anti-militaristic and pro-family, pro-environment and anti-abortion, anti-consumerist and pro-animal. A disciple on the way … alas, he is not half as smart or as good or as right as he thinks he is.

    Randal blogs here on matters of apologetics, theology and philosophy and also on matters of faith and culture as “The Tentative Apologist” (at The Christian Post)."

    I do agree with Randal about this one part:

    "he is not half as smart or as good or as right as he thinks he is."

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