Did Martin Luther lay a foundation for George Orwell?

Luther’s stand against authoritarianism foreshadowed our use of ‘plain reason’ and personal judgement, says Sandison, or empiricism and individualism, as we might say. Luther siezing on St. Paul’s “Prove all things” to defend his position provides ” a motto not only for himself, but for that moral and intellectual movement which was to exert, down to our own day, a major creative influence on the development of Western culture.” [via Books, Inq.]

Author Glenn Lucke writes about an upcoming book by Tullian Tchividjian, called Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World By Being Different. The blurbs listed on Amazon.com are a bit stunning. Here are a few:

“With the right balance of reproof and encouragement, critique and construction, Unfashionable displays with succinct, vivid, and engaging clarity the relevance of the gospel over the trivialities that dominate our lives and our churches right now. The message of this book is of ultimate importance and its presentation is compelling.”

–Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor, Westminster Seminary in California and host of The White Horse Inn

“Although the Ancient Israelites were called by God to be a ‘holy nation’ they failed to reach their world because they were so much like it. Today’s church is succumbing to the same error. And this is what makes Tullian Tchividjian’s book Unfashionable so prophetic and such a book for this day. May the church take note– and reach the world!”

–R. Kent Hughes, Sr. Pastor Emeritus, College Church in Wheaton

“It is not easy to stand athwart the tides of the culture and challenge them without sounding either terribly prissy or hopelessly out of date. How can a thoughtful Christian be genuinely contemporary while never succumbing to the merely faddish and temporary? The challenges are enormous–but they are also tied to the most elementary tenets of Christian faithfulness. Tullian Tchividjian is a helpful and engaging guide through these troubled waters.”

–D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and author of Christ and Culture Revisited

“Tullian masterfully articulates the importance of the ‘both, and’–showing that in order for Christians to make a profound difference in our world we must both gain a full understanding of the Gospel and express it practically in our world.”

–Gabe Lyons, Founder of Q and co-author of UnChristian