First Baptist Church of Perryville

29 October 2008

The Municipal Gospel

Joseph Chamberlain’s heart soared as he listened to the oratory of the Reverend George Dawson at the dedication of the Free Reference Library in Birmingham, England. An industrialist and the grandfather of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Joseph was inspired by Dawson’s pronouncement that “a town is a solemn organism through which should flow, and in which should be shaped all the highest, loftiest and truest ends of man’s intellectual and moral nature.”1 This was the heart of what would come to be called “the municipal gospel,” a belief that the government can enoble humanity simply by changing the environment. Chamberlain and Dawson would become its high priests. Unfortunately, they were Unitarians.2 (more…)

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26 October 2008

The Fruit of Prayer

Mr George Jack

Scripture Reference: John 15:1-17

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25 October 2008

Socialism: Sent from Heaven?

  —Frédéric Bastiat (1801 – 1850)

The French economist, statesman, and writer, Frédéric Bastiat, lived through some of France’s most turbulent years in the aftermath of the 1789 Revolution. The revolutionaries insisted on the government taking over, by force if necessary, the ownership and control of the means of production. Then these politicians would manage and distribute the country’s wealth. In response, Bastiat was a tireless exponent of free trade and a critic of socialism, questioning the capacity and warrant of socialists to make choices on behalf of people. (more…)

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23 October 2008

“Muscular Christianity” and the Transformation of Sport

One of the most striking social changes in England in the Victorian era (1837-1900) was the way in which the cruel sports like cock-fighting and bear-baiting, which had been such a feature of the previous century,1 were gradually replaced by new mass spectator sports like football (rugby and soccer), cricket, and tennis. As one historian has put it, this together with the widespread establishment of new public parks and sports grounds “contributed to the emancipation of the body and mind of millions. They have altered the spirit and the physique of our people.”2 (more…)

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21 October 2008

How Christianity Conquered Rome

Famine and war had recently afflicted Caesarea, so when the plague hit in the early fourth century, the populace was already weakened and unable to withstand this additional blow. The populace began fleeing the city, one of the larger ones of the Roman Empire, for safety in the countryside.¹ However, in the midst of the fleeing inhabitants, at least one group was staying behind, the Christians. Bishop of the city and historian of the early church, Eusebius, recorded that during the plague, “All day long some of them [the Christians] tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them. Others gathered together from all parts of the city a multitude of those withered from famine and distributed bread to them all.”^{2 (more…)}