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.

Ian Brady

One of the big news items at the moment is the death of Moors murderer Ian Brady (no relation, although it does strike you when you see headlines such as MONSTER BRADY IS DEAD and Burn in Hell Brady). His final death does raise the question of capital punishment. If he and his partner in crime, Myra Hindley, had been put to death years ago wouldn't that have been better. Clearly it makes financial sense but no-one wants to argue that way. When you think of the trauma that the families of the victims have gone through and the undoubted torture it was for Brady in the end it hardly sounds like the action of a humane society. I know there are a thousand problems with capital punishment and its administration but if you think of the abolition of capital punishment as an experiment surely there is an argument to say it has badly failed.

No comments: