We now come to my final post in my book analysis of Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. In this post, I am going to fly through chapters 6-8 and then give my reflections and thoughts on the book as a whole, as well as what I feel are the underlying issues that have made…
Here in Part 5 of my book analysis of Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, I am primarily going to cover chapter 5 of his book, “Cultural Assimilation and ‘Genocide,’” in which, among other things, he discusses the Canadian residential schools. The issue of these residential schools has been a major flashpoint of controversy on…
At this point in my book analysis of Nigel Biggar’s Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, in this post, I’m going to provide brief overviews of both Chapter 3 (“Human Equality, Cultural Superiority, and Racism”) and Chapter 4 (“Land, Settlers, and Conquest”). I want to write no more than two posts after this one. Chapter 3: Human…
Chapter 2: From Slavery to Anti-Slavery—Summary and ReactionBiggar begins Chapter 2 by pushing back against the current narrative put forth by the likes of the “Rhodes Must Fall” and “Black Lives Matter” movements regarding colonialism and slavery—namely that colonialism and slavery are inseparable and that white supremacy was at the root of it all. Biggar…
With the Introduction of Nigel Biggar’s book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning out of the way, I am now ready to go through his book, chapter by chapter and trace his fundamental arguments concerning British Imperialism. In this post, I’m tackling chapter 1. Chapter 1: Motives, Good and BadThe first chapter in Nigel Biggar’s book deals…
Earlier this year at Regent College, where I got my first MA in 1995-1997, there was a fairly heated dust-up concerning the British scholar (and Regent alum) Nigel Biggar. The Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford, he had been invited to give a lecture about the British Empire and the…
Here in my final post on Candida Moss’s book, The Myth of Persecution, I will cover Chapter 7: “The Invention of the Persecuted Church,” and Chapter 8: “The Dangerous Legacy of a Martyrdom Complex.” After that, I will give my concluding thoughts to the book as a whole. Chapter 7: The Invention of the Persecuted…
In what is shaping up to be a five-part book analysis series, here in Part 4 of my look at Candida Moss’s book, The Myth of Persecution, I will be looking at her Chapter 5 (“Why Did the Romans Dislike Christians?”) and Chapter 6 (“The Myth of Martyrs”). Warning…I get a bit snarky in this…
This week in Arkansas, we’ve had a bit of a few cold, wintry days, which means school has been canceled. And that means I have a few extra days to cover Candida Moss’s book, The Myth of Persecution. Today, I’m going to be looking at Chapter 4: “How Persecuted Were the Early Christians?” Chapter 4:…
Here in Part 2 of my look at Candida Moss’s The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom, I’m going to try to look at chapters 2-3. Let’s dive right in… Chapter 2: Christians Borrowing of Jewish and Pagan Martyrdom TraditionsMoss’s basic argument in chapter 2 is that early Christians invented…