This issue opens with a fine article by M. Whitcomb Hess on William Law, noted for his treatise “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.” Law never married, and perhaps you, like me, will wonder whether it is easier to live such a life if one is single. I must confess that the role of husband and father seems to complicate matters, as I’m sure that of wife and mother does also; but this neither diminishes my “serious call” nor excuses my failures.
I was moved when reading William Van Deburg’s account of “The Tragedy of Frederick Douglass.” He asks a hard question: Have white evangelicals really profited from the mistakes made in the treatment of this black brother, who was keenly hurt by the failure of Christians to live up to their profession?
D. G. Kehl tackles what he calls “subliminal seduction,” the shaping of our attitudes by the use of “sneaky stimuli” of which we have no conscious awareness. Kehl tells us how we can offset this pernicious practice so that the Devil will not get the advantage over us.
Happy reading to you all in an issue crammed full of profitable things!
