Andrew Kelley

@drjohnmeade No one is looking at anything but the Loebs my man.

Full office is not quite ready to show, but 1st edition of Field’s edition of Origen’s Hexapla has found its new home.

@mjjhoskin Hey what beach is this

It's not just a beach towel, it's pure dead brilliant!

@corycbrock @UnionTheology Me.

I’m now able to supervise PhD’s through Union School of Theology. I can only take 1 at a time but if anyone is interested in modern Dutch theology, systematic theology generally, or homiletics, check things out here: ust.ac.uk/phd-supervisors @UnionTheology

@pjgurry My contention is that modern NT studies is just slowly figuring out that Calvin was in fact right. So yes. I will do a presentation ripped right from the institutes as if it were my own (which is kind of the move in academia).

@drosjk Will you be our first presenter?

Might start an SBL session called “Reading the NT within Christianity.”

Directed by John Carpenter.

@lukestamps @jttheophilus

The intermediate state (the soul's presence with Christ in heaven immediately upon death) is real and a source of great comfort for believers.

I hope whoever invented magnetic sand stubs their toe today.

Perhaps no other word in the English language has shifted in meaning like “justice.” It has become one of the central cultural disagreements dividing families, churches, and communities. Just saying the word conjures into the mind everything from police brutality to LGBT+ issues to abortion to labor laws. In 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑁𝑜𝑤: 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠. 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠, Ryan Holiday, best-selling author and media strategist, approaches justice as a form of common sense. He’s not entirely off base. Everyone in the modern world (religious or not) affirms the goodness of justice. However, as Alasdair MacIntyre shows in 𝑊ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒? 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦?, agreement on what justice entails and how to achieve it may be unobtainable. As Holiday’s argument progresses from an emphasis on personal integrity to communal equity to personal spirituality rooted in the oneness of human beings, the diversity of conceptions of justice among worldviews emerges. It quickly becomes clear that Holiday’s Stoicism, though increasingly popular among young men, presents a false morality that’s unable to support the justice he hopes to encourage. 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 The assumption that everyone knows what justice looks like is baked into Holiday’s worldview. He writes, “You know justice when you see it—or, on a more visceral level, you feel it, especially its absence and its opposite” (xxii). Justice is so obvious that to debate it is to delay it. Though justice is supposed to be internally obvious, we must align ourselves to an external authority: “This is what we are after, affixing justice as north on our compass, the North Star to our lives, letting it guide and direct us, through good times and bad” (xxiv). This “North Star” is outside the individual, but it isn’t objective. It’s chosen by each individual from various options. Holiday gives examples: “Loyalty. A love of the game. A desire to keep your hands clean. The confidence to compete fairly with the best. Integrity” (101). Those examples show that Holiday’s concept of justice has two main sources—human reason and human example. Holiday is correct that humanity has an innate sense of order in the universe (cf. Eccl. 3:11; Rom. 1:18–21), yet his Stoic justice trends toward a pragmatism that Christians should resist. His “justice” is whatever seems to result in a positive social outcome. In contrast, true justice isn’t found purely by human intuition or trusting in a chosen “North Star.” It proceeds from God’s character and is described in God’s Word (Deut. 32:4). Contemporary versions of Stoicism are attractive because they encourage socially beneficial characteristics like integrity, generosity, and a willingness to forgive. Yet these are often built on utilitarian foundations such as desiring to be happy with ourselves, hoping for reciprocity, not breaking promises to ourselves, avoiding being attacked by our enemies, getting closer to heaven, eliciting help or avoiding harm, and being “great.” Holiday’s version of Stoicism fits well within our culture of expressive individualism, but it has no room for the chief end of humanity, which is to “glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 Holiday draws from ancient Stoics, particularly Marcus Aurelius, throughout the book, which is the third in a series on cardinal virtues. Yet there’s more classical liberalism or modern secularism in his understanding of justice than anything ancient philosophers would’ve recognized. These differences don’t matter much to Holiday, because he’s optimistic that everyone can get along, that we do share basic presuppositions, and that we can arrive at common conclusions through dialogue and human reason. Differences of opinion are, therefore, superficial. As Holiday opines, “All the philosophical and religious traditions—from Confucius to Christianity, Plato to Hobbes and Kant—revolve around some version of the golden rule” (xxii). Yet we can see how this perspective flattens religions and philosophies. This perception of commonality leads to a dizzying variety of exemplars of justice in the book, including Harry Truman, Malcolm X, Florence Nightingale, Harvey Milk, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesus Christ, and many more. It’s hard to imagine Gandhi, a pacifist, feeling proud that his name is in a list of particularly just human beings with Truman, who authorized the use of the atomic bomb. The stories Holiday shares are always engaging and often compelling, but they mute the substantial differences these figures have concerning justice. It also isn’t clear that Holiday’s interpretation of figures is consistent with their actual views. For example, he argues that Malcolm X “walked away from hatred and toward the light, toward love. He outgrew separatism and embraced the concepts of human rights and human unity” (315). I wonder whether Malcolm X would’ve affirmed this secular and pluralistic vision of the good life, even after he left the Nation of Islam. 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 One natural consequence of flattening these diverse worldviews is that it creates the illusion of a shared vision of progress. Holiday celebrates a diverse list of political efforts and workers as signs of increasing justice: “Animal rights. Environmental rights. Voting rights. Gay rights. Consumer rights. Reproductive rights. Antipoverty activists. Anticolonial activists. Peace activists. Prison reformers. Fighters of human trafficking. Free speech advocates” (128). According to Holiday, these are examples of “seeking a more perfect union, [and of] realizing the true promise of the social contract” (128). This shared vision of justice might have been believable and inspiring before the fracturing of the monoculture over the past couple of decades. But civil society’s fabric has been torn apart by the dramatic cultural shifts in my lifetime. A subjective vision of justice, even with majority consensus, isn’t enough to bring us back together. Holiday’s efforts present a false optimism about the future. Through common grace, Holiday is often correct in its conclusions about justice. He provides a point of contact for Christians to graciously debate the nature of justice. This common ground helps explain why some Christians find Stoicism attractive. Furthermore, Holiday’s writing is always interesting and sometimes compelling in its assertions. Yet a Stoic worldview lacks the bedrock on which notions of justice must stand. In the end, 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑁𝑜𝑤 is a reminder that Stoicism as a moral system falls far short of the Christian ideal. ----- 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 by Andrew Kelley. A review of 'Right Thing, Right Now' by Ryan Holiday. Which books are must-reads? Which should be avoided? Let us do the hard work for you. Sign up for an essential monthly roundup of book reviews by trusted voices at tgc.org/newsletters!

My recent review of "Right Thing, Right Now" on @TGC thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/right-…

You don’t need therapy. You need to grill a steak in the dark and blast creed in your headphones.

@scottrswain Guys, it just stands for “nerd”

The “N” in N. Gray Sutanto stands for “Not gonna stop publishing impressive books any time soon.” Happy to have a copy of his latest in hand, his contribution to T&T Clark’s “Explorations in Reformed Theology” series.

No X, I'm not trying to buy any dogs.

@GriffLightning I’m in Manhattan what movie theatre do I go to. I want the @blankcheckpod experience.

@amjones1989 Gregg’s vs Tesco.

I’ve got 50 minutes to teach my World Geography class about something Scottish geography (human, regional, physical). What should talk about? Devolution? Urban-rural (Highland-Lowland) divide? Hit me up with ideas!

@mjjhoskin “Almost”

Thinking about that time I saw the Prima Porta Augustus with @drosjk and almost cried.

What a great team on flight 2457. Debbie, Holly, Tikia, Seran and Ship S made our flight awesome. @AmericanAir

@cjfresch Im not even going -- just always want Luke to be reminded of the wonders of living in the US

@drosjk I tried!

Update: I am going to SBL (yay!). Future years are up in the air. International travel needs to settle down significantly and/or PD funding needs to increase with the exponentially rising costs 😬 Anyways, looking forward to catching up in San Antonio! hmu if you wanna hang =D