The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.

Life's ironies


Three things in mind here.
You may have seen the clip of Barack Obama revealing that he was unsure of how many states he is now President of. The irony, of course, is that Bush would have known that one (I guess).
Then there is Obama's mess up with the Presidential oath (whoever's fault it was). Apparently in an effort to undercut conspiracy theorists it was decided to do it again (as two previous presidents have). For some reason, however, there was no Bible available and some newspapers are already saying that there is conspiracy keen internet traffic asking why Obama did not swear on the Bible the second time round!
The other thing is this debate over whether the BBC is going to show an appeal for Palestine. The whole facade of the BBC reporting on the BBC gets me. (It's like me doing a report on my own blog - now there's an idea). The real irony here, though, of course, is that far more publicity has been generated for the appeal than would ever have been given had the BBC simply broadcast it. (Perhaps another irony is that IMHO the BBC has been rather biased towards the Palestinians).
(There is some argument about what qualifies as ironic, but all senses of irony revolve around the perceived notion of an incongruity between what is said and what is meant; or between an understanding of reality, or an expectation of a reality, and what actually happens.)

1 comment:

Alan said...

Oh yes, Gary. The BBC is SO irritating with its arrogant belief that the BBC itself is so interesting and newsworthy. We can get BBC News 24 here in France but we have switched to Sky News. I prefer the BBC presenters but the smugness is unbearable.