January 2025 – Anthony G. Flood

Happy Birthday, Wé Ani! (2025 Edition)

[I got the date right last year, but this year’s birthday tribute was two days late! She was born on the 23rd of January, 1999. I apologize for the error.—A.G.F., March 1, 2025]

In the late ‘70s, I overheard my social democrat Marxist roommate, while laying out[1] an issue of his new political journal, make it clear to a supporter who disagreed with an editorial decision: “This is my journal! Should I convert to Buddhism, this becomes a Buddhist journal!” I feel that way about this site.

My occasional posts about Wé Ani [way AH-nee], a wondrous musical performer, may seem out of place on this site, devoted as it is to theology, philosophy, and history. What her performances have meant to my soul[2], however, justifies my noticing her doings from time to time. Her 26^th birthday is one of those times.

AnthonyGFlood.com will not become more of a Wé Ani fan platform than it currently is; it will serve as an outlet for the joy her music brings me. If I’ve lost some of you, I understand.

(In a hurry? Skip down to “Taste and See: Five Indispensable Wé Ani Performances.”)

Here are snippets of posts that capture my sentiments and may move you to read them in context. If they inspire you to check out her videos and ask, “Where has she been all my life?,” then they have served their purpose. Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Wé Ani! (2025 Edition)”

Trump’s dream: A merit-based and color-blind society

His courage and oratory are almost enough to explain how he came to lead the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). We must not, however, overlook his profession: he was the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, an academically trained preacher in the Baptist tradition. Such titles bestow an odor of sanctity. They didn’t deflect the assassin’s bullet—ultimately set into motion by whom, we may never know[1]—but they shouldn’t inhibit us from questioning his message.

Unfortunately, the latter was the Social(ist) Gospel (SG), not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the wolf of socialism in sheep’s clothing of biblical passages. King’s education was downstream to the theology of SG’s American fountainhead, Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918), who at Rochester Theological Seminary had studied under the orthodox Reformed Baptist theologian Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836–1921).[2]

More immediately, King came under the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) and Howard Thurman (1899-1981).[3] Neither man held Jesus’ view of Scripture. The Bible may be profound, insightful, inspiring, they thought, even “inspired,” but not breathed-out by God, the status which it claims for itself, and all that follows from that status.[4] Through reading Thurman the young King discovered the maverick Hindu Mohandas Gandhi.[5]

“So what?,” you may ask. Here’s what: King denied Jesus’ divinity[6] and resurrection[7]. The Bible was not, for King, the inerrant word of God. Such an opinion is nonsense, the product of a naïve, bygone era. For him, it was quite errant. Continue reading “Trump’s dream: A merit-based and color-blind society”

Jimmy and Joe: Progressive bookends of a (soon-to-be-bygone?) era

When the truth is being obscured, one may make an exception to the nil nisi bonum rule.

Joe Biden sold his soul to the Progressives, but Jimmy Carter began his public life as one. The peanut farmer’s folksy demeanor masked his support for the Left’s agenda, arguably more scandalous than “Scranton Joe’s” scam because of Carter’s Christian credentials. Continue reading “Jimmy and Joe: Progressive bookends of a (soon-to-be-bygone?) era”

I really do have a lot of books in need of new custodians

In November of 2023, I spelled out my book problem. Since then a reminder has sat atop the right column of this site’s home page: “Books for Sale! Click and then scroll down to the list under the covers of the books I authored. If something interests you, ask me about it.”

The link will take you to a long but only partial listing of books available. Tell me your interests (philosophy, theology, history, politics, and so forth). You might be pleasantly surprised to see what this bookworm has lovingly curated over the past half-century. It can’t hurt to ask.

If you’re still in the book-treasuring stage of life, please use my contact page to tell me, generally or specifically, your areas of interest. If I have something you’re interested in, we can work out the terms and logistics.

It would be a shame for any of them to be trashed.

Your move.

Anthony G. Flood

“Born again”: Born of Tradition, not Scripture. Otis Q. Sellers’s translation of γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (John 3:3)

Heartland, Ford for President propaganda, October 1976 issue.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter (1924-2024), running for president the first time, made news by describing himself as a “born-again Christian,” the first candidate in history to do so.[1] He brought that descriptor into public awareness.

Not long after, I discovered the writings of Otis Q. Sellers (1901-1992), an autodidact devoted to Bible study. I was surprised to learn that he rejected “born again” as a translation of γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (gennēthē anōthen) in John 3:3, which the King Jimmy Version (and almost every other English translation) renders “You must be born again.”

Then briefly attracted to the “dispensensationalism” underlying Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth, I deem it a blessing that Sellers’s study of γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν redirected my studies.

Unfortunately, we’re culturally stuck with “born again” along with the theology that attaches to the Holy Spirit’s enlightening work the unbiblical notion of “baptismal regeneration.” The traditional (mis)translation directs attention, not to begetting, but to birthing. Continue reading ““Born again”: Born of Tradition, not Scripture. Otis Q. Sellers’s translation of γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (John 3:3)”