Some Tenebrae Musings
As the time for Tenebrae (Latin “darkness”) services has come again, one thinks of the shrinking circle of light in the Passion narrative...
Why Voting for a Third-Party Presidential Candidate Is Not a Valid Option
As we Canadians observe the American presidential election in various ratios of bemusement and horror, one position seems to stick out as...
Installation Address at Crandall University
As we approach the start of a new academic year, I’ve returned to the Maritimes after a summer at home in North Vancouver to take up my...
Life on the Fifth of July
We Canadians and Americans have just emerged from the holiday weekend celebrating our respective countries’ nativities and histories....
What Will We Want Jesus to Want from Us?
Reading in Matthew 14 this morning, I was impressed afresh at the Apostle Peter’s audacity. I wonder if I, on the verge of 2016, will...
Pay for Part-Time Teaching
A friend writes: I’m a full time pastor, but teach a couple of courses at small Christian colleges/seminaries. How do I begin to think...
Top 10 Reasons Pastors Should Avoid Politics
National Public Radio, among many other sources, features news of hundreds of American pastors attending workshops to learn how better to...
My Dinner with Mako
Just back from New York City. Had never visited it, having visited so many, many US cities over the years. San Diego, Los Angeles, San...
Right in the Wrong(est) Places
The Epistle to the Philippians begins with Paul identifying himself as a “slave of Messiah Jesus.” And, at the time, he might have felt...
Christmas Thoughts toward New Year’s Eve
Not only do I hope that the combination of Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve—two bacchanaliae designed to subvert and submerge any “Christmas...
Resurrection…to More of the Same?
Yesterday was the big celebration of the astonishing gift of “another life,” as they say in video games. How will you spend it?
Christian Scholars and the Public University: A Promising Conference
Our friends over at Cardus are working with other fine institutions to present what looks to be an extraordinary conference this autumn....
In (Abashed) Praise of Diligence
Here are a few Proverbs, taken from a half-dozen similar ones: 12:27 The lazy do not roast their game, but the diligent obtain precious...
Downward Mobility
I thank God I don’t have to thank “God-in-general,” or some alternative deity. Yes, the God of the Bible is called “God” because, in the...
Some Post-Election Hopeful Realism
In my book, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World, I devote a chapter to the theology of culture of C. S. Lewis. In...
Happy New Year!
It’s September 1 and the beginning of the real new year. December 31/January 1 is a good mid-year pause to party and/or ponder. But...
Hoping to Get Noticed
I don’t get enough attention. You might think I do, but I don’t. Do you? I’ll bet you don’t, either. Some people get more attention than...
"Getting Ready for Glory"–Academic Style
A few posts ago, I enjoyed writing to you about Steve Bell’s grandmother as described in a story by Steve and a song by Carolyn Arends,...
Practice Makes Perfect
Life here, now, is about life here, now, and also about the life here, then. We Christians live in the hope of the Second Coming of...
"Ring by Spring"? Giving Women Alternative Futures
Here in Upland, Indiana, I’ve been told by reliable people at Taylor University that many, many of their young women come to college with...