A Contemplation for Holy Saturday

Yesterday, we celebrated Good Friday – the Day Jesus, Lord of all the heavens and the earth, was brutally crucified and died for our sins. Each of the four Gospels gives and account of this. And we know that tomorrow we will celebrate the Resurrection – the central fact of the Christian faith. But what about today?

It’s time to be men

Groping, rape, and all forms of aggressive, non-consensual sexuality are evil. Period. Full stop.

It is a troubling sign of our times that, given accusations of sexual misconduct by a public figure, the knee-jerk reaction of many Americans is to politicize it. If a news headline reads, “Woman accuses politician of rape,” it’s as if everyone holds their breath waiting to see what party the politician belongs to before they react.

The Bible Tells Me So, by Peter Enns – a review

The Bible Tells Me So, by Peter Enns, New York: Harper One, 2014, 267 pp, $12.78 paperback.

What do you do when the Bible doesn’t behave? Well, if you follow the lead of Peter Enns, you decide that the Canaanite genocide never happened, that the creation narratives were designed by post-exilic writers to justify and support Israel’s national identity, and that stories of Jesus’ birth in the Gospels were embellished in order to underscore the broader implications of Jesus’ life and work.

Learning Theology with the Church Fathers – a review

A pastor once said to me, “If you want information about God, books written in the last five years are great. But, if you want intimacy with God read books written at least 500 years ago.” He was drawing my attention to the fact that the authors of the first 1500 years of the Christian era wrote with a markedly different focus and depth than their more contemporary counterparts. For some, however, picking up a copy of Augustine’s Confessions or Chrysostom’s On Providence is a daunting task. Perhaps a modern book that interacts heavily with these classic texts is what is needed.

Why I am an Egalitarian

As a student of theology and history, I have had the privilege of engaging theological opinions that are very diverse and, often, at odds with “the way I was raised.” Just as some denominations use theological distinctives to clarify their identity, I began some time ago to self-identify myself in terms of categories of theological thought.

On the air for St. Patrick’s Day

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of returning to the airwaves with my good friends, Gator and Denise, over at KYKN Radio. I’ve been on with them several times before, here, and here are a couple of the segments.

Wait!

Today I began reading Psalm 25, and I was stopped dead in my tracks by verse 3: “Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed.” I thought of how “waiting” is characteristic of God’s people,

Providence and Poppery – The Siege of Louisbourg in the Preaching of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield

The Siege of Louisbourg, by Larry Ostola (1758)

 

In the mid-eighteenth century, the American continent was a hotbed of conflict. By the mid-1740s, the British had strengthened their hold on the northeastern part of the continent, expelling the Spanish and the Portuguese from modern-day New York and Delaware, and their sights were set on dominance of the eastern seaboard.

A Girl, a Lion, and a King

At the beginning of this year, I was prompted to read C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. I’d read some of them before, but have never read the entire series.

The Great Compromise – When Good Men Support Donald Trump

 

As a Christian, who holds traditionally conservative values, and who supports a biblical worldview, this presidential election has been the most troubling I have ever seen.