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Douglas Wilson

Doug Wilson’s New Novel: Flags Out Front

May 9, 2017 by Andy Naselli

This book released last week:

Douglas Wilson. Flags Out Front: A Contrarian’s Daydream. Moscow, ID: Canon, 2016.

Why does reading Doug Wilson sometimes feels like a guilty pleasure? Well, I read his new novel last Saturday, and it was a jolly read.

I enjoyed it more than his last one—which I enjoyed. (See my review of Evangellyfish.)

I don’t want to give away the plot. Let’s just say it’s a clever story about religion and politics.

Here are twenty lines that made me smile: [Read more…] about Doug Wilson’s New Novel: Flags Out Front

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: Douglas Wilson, writing

Why Angry Men Often Seek Out Conservative Churches

July 19, 2016 by Andy Naselli

Doug Wilson explains why in “An Open Letter to an Angry Husband.” Spot on.

Related:

  1. Chris Moles, The Heart of Domestic Abuse: Gospel Solutions for Men Who Use Control and Violence in the Home (Bemidji, MN: Focus, 2015).
  2. Must a Wife Always Follow Her Husband’s Leadership?

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: complementarianism, Douglas Wilson

Should Churches Display the American Flag in Their Sanctuaries?

March 15, 2016 by Andy Naselli

I think Doug Wilson wins this three-way debate: “Should Churches Display the American Flag in Their Sanctuaries?” Christianity Today 56, no. 7 (2012): 82.

(Direct links to CT often don’t work unless you subscribe to CT. If that’s the case for you for the above link, just Google the title to view the whole article.)

The last line of Doug Wilson’s little essay still makes me grin:

This is why, in my ideal scenario, the elders who vote in session to remove the American flag from the sanctuary should all have that same flag on their pickup trucks, right next to the gun rack.

 

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: Douglas Wilson

Doug Wilson’s New Film: The Free Speech Apocalypse

October 17, 2015 by Andy Naselli

Last night Jenni and I watched Doug Wilson’s new 90-minute film: The Free Speech Apocalypse (Amazon). Then I listened to it again this afternoon.

It releases in November. Doug Wilson blogged about it two days ago.

Here’s a 3-minute preview:

Some thoughts: [Read more…] about Doug Wilson’s New Film: The Free Speech Apocalypse

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: Douglas Wilson, films, John Piper

Rhetoric

November 15, 2012 by Andy Naselli

I wish this had been my textbook in one of my speech classes:

Douglas Wilson and N. D. Wilson. The Rhetoric Companion: A Student’s Guide to Power in Persuasion. Moscow, ID: Canon, 2011. [Read more…] about Rhetoric

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Douglas Wilson, preaching

Evangellyfish: A Novel by Doug Wilson

July 31, 2012 by Andy Naselli

The latest edition of Themelios released this morning.

Here’s one of my book reviews (pp. 417–18).

* * * * * * *

Douglas Wilson. Evangellyfish. Moscow, ID : Canon, 2012. 228 pp. $21.00.

So far this year I’ve read eight books by Douglas Wilson, and reading him usually evokes one of three responses:

  1. I strongly agree. Witty, pithy, insightful. I wish I would’ve written that.
  2. I strongly agree, but an improved tone could win others over. (Think Tim Keller.)
  3. I strongly disagree, and the tone is off-putting. (For example, in March 2012 he called the NIV a “gender bender” translation, asking, “Who wants a Bible translation with hormone shots and breast implants?”)

Evangellyfish evokes the first two responses but with a few caveats.

The book is unlike any other I’ve read by Wilson: it’s a novel, and it’s satire. Wilson’s other writings have doses of satire, but this is 228 pages of non-stop satire. I don’t want to give away the storyline, so I’ll be vague on those details. Basically, the book is a story of two pastors: (1) a sleazy, sex-crazed mega-church pastor and (2) a faithful, down-to-earth Reformed Baptist pastor with an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary. And there are lots of other colorful characters.

On the one hand, this book may not be for you. First, it’s preoccupied with sex. Though it contains nothing explicit, many (most?) scenes are suggestive. Second, it includes realistically coarse language when depicting what crude characters are thinking or saying: e.g., “Who the hell” (p. 21), “what the hell” (p. 99), and “damn” (pp. 24, 35, 111, 156, 179 [2x], 192, 209). Third, Wilson directs his satire almost exclusively at mega-churches in generic evangelicalism. Hardly any of the barbs hit close to home for conservative evangelicals who are robustly confessional. Even worse, the book may instill a prejudice in those readers and tempt them to look down on or be suspicious of all large churches in vanilla evangelicalism as being led by slick hypocrites and filled with superficial attenders.

On the other hand, Evangellyfish may be just what you’re looking for. Like almost everything Wilson writes, it’s witty, funny, and edifying. Especially edifying are the end of the story and how he portrays the Reformed Baptist pastor’s marriage and family. While this novel depicts sin, it doesn’t glorify it; sin is dark and has miserable consequences in this life.

Here are some examples of Wilson’s humorous verve:

  • “Mitchell’s mother had always called church choirs the war department. Luther once said that when Satan fell, he fell into the choir loft” (p. 12).
  • “[H]is pulpit ministrations had left the congregation in an exhausted frame of mind, and parishioners would go home after the message, recline on the sofa, and pant” (p. 67).
  • “[S]he was one of those rare individuals whose wise and sagacious appearance was immediately contradicted as soon as she opened her mouth” (p. 74).
  • “Johnny was not really a highly trained logician, and would simply go as he was directed, as long as the suggested direction did not conflict with the tangled bundle of platitudes, loosely tied with string, that made up his worldview” (p. 100).
  • “Michelle was a smart woman, but it must also be said she had always been a ‘will that be on the test?’ kind of smart” (p. 105).
  • “[T]he repercussions did not seriously affect Chad’s ministry at all. In fact, he got a book deal with Zondervan out of it— Walking With Christ Through Divorce” (p. 108).
  • “[A]fter repeating several phrases unnecessarily (the sermonic equivalent of a blinking fuel gauge), John decided that he had to wrap up. He didn’t feel any better. He felt like he had just tried to give a tar baby a bath in vegetable oil. Lester didn’t look any cleaner, and John just felt gunked” (p. 140).
  • “Pastoral snarls are like the mercies of God—they are new every morning” (p. 175).
  • “[T]hat kind of anger is like manna. Even if it is good, it goes bad overnight if you try to keep it” (p. 224).

Wilson said in one interview, “I want this book to come across to intelligent readers as ‘funny, dark, and redemptive.’” By those criteria, he succeeded.

Andrew David Naselli
The Gospel Coalition
Moore, South Carolina, USA

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: Douglas Wilson, evangelicalism

Douglas Wilson on Parenting

March 21, 2012 by Andy Naselli

I recently read three short books by Douglas Wilson on the family after some friends recommended them for their insights on parenting:

  1. Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing. Moscow, ID: Canon, 1997. 170 pp.
  2. Federal Husband. Moscow, ID: Canon, 1999. 110 pp.
  3. Future Men: Raising Boys to Fight Giants. 2nd ed. Moscow, ID: Canon, 2012. 199 pp.

   

I’ve read only a handful of Wilson’s other books (including a pithy one on writing but none of his controversial writings on federal vision or slavery), and I’ve subscribed to his “Blog & Mablog” for years.

My wife just finished carefully reading Wilson’s The Case for Classical Christian Education (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003). We agree with each other that reading Wilson often evokes one of three responses: [Read more…] about Douglas Wilson on Parenting

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: Douglas Wilson, marriage, parenting

Must a Wife Always Follow Her Husband’s Leadership?

February 10, 2012 by Andy Naselli

Do you have a category for Abigail? Everything about the story in 1 Samuel 25 commends Abigail, who is a foil for her wicked and foolish husband Nabal. For example, verse 3 describes her as “intelligent and beautiful” and her husband as “surly and mean.”

(The below picture is from The Action Bible.)

I emailed this to a friend earlier this week:

I was just reflecting on the story of Nabal and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25. This nicely illustrates a difference between authoritarianism and complementarianism.

Authoritarianism would say that Abigail sinned by not “submitting” to Nabal since she sent David and his men a lavish gift without telling Nabal, who had expressly refused to give David and his men anything.

Complementarianism would commend Abigail for wisely not following her wicked husband and for shrewdly saving her household in a way that honored the Lord.

Are you aware of any books or articles making this connection? It’s an important one, I think, especially re how alleged complementarians (who are really authoritarians) encourage women to endure sinful abuse of various kinds in the name of submission.

The next day another friend of mine posted this from Nancy Wilson’s Building Her House: Commonsensical Wisdom for Christian Women:

The commands of submission and obedience are only difficult when we disagree with our husbands. If we agree with them and do what they say, it can hardly be called submission. Submission comes into play when we differ with them over an issue, but we defer to them and willingly give way.

But what about when the husband is in sin? This is a very important issue. What if the husband has adopted a wrong attitude and is heading in the wrong direction? Is a wife obligated to go along? It all depends.

[Read more…] about Must a Wife Always Follow Her Husband’s Leadership?

Filed Under: Practical Theology Tagged With: complementarianism, Douglas Wilson

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