Why I Should Study Slower
In preparing for a lecture I am to give later this week at the University of Calgary on “Putting God in His Place: Does Theology Belong...
Walt Whitman on Ecclesiastes…and Philippians 3
Hast never come to thee an hour, A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bubbles, fashions, wealth? These eager...
Well, Maybe, Sister Anne…
Concerned friends have asked me about Anne Graham Lotz’s recent call to prayer that will culminate tomorrow (July 7) in a 7-hour time of...
Renovations…of All Kinds
Renovations… always require more demolition than we had anticipated, always make a bigger mess than we had hoped, always take longer than...
“Warning: May Contain Peanuts”: Trigger Warnings, Pedagogy, and Common Sense
I wish there had been a “trigger warning” during my music history course in 1980. I was finishing my undergraduate degree at Queen’s...
No “God of the Gaps”…in Life
This post carries on from the last one: God is not our “everything.” God made us, in fact, with lots of needs that must be filled in lots...
What’s It Worth to You?
A friend of mine, Ralph Winter, has produced a wide range of movies, and many of them share a common trait: a character with super...
These Be Your Gods, O Vancouver
As I face a new week and seek to get properly oriented on a Monday morning, my reading in Acts arrests me. When Stephen is recounting to...
Before You Talk or Write about Homosexuality…
A few friendly tips, if I may, for those Christian leaders, preachers, professors, pundits, activists, and anyone else who wants to...
Big Decisions and Our Biggest Concerns
A friend has asked recently about whether he and his wife ought to keep possession of a luxurious cottage they inherited in lake country....
What Can You Do?
I recently returned from speaking to a warm and appreciative group of teachers in Edmonton, Alberta. And I was moved by one teacher’s...
Actually, It Isn’t Just about “Being”: It’s about “Doing,” Too
A Christian friend whom I know to be godly, serious, pious…and very successful in a highly competitive and demanding career…sent me the...
Freedom of the Child vs. Freedom of the Adult
LIke, I expect, most of my contemporaries, I wrestle with the concept of freedom. I have resisted the claim of certain philosophers and...
Accepting Praise
When our sons took piano lessons, they were taught to bow properly. Now that is a skill otherwise rather rare in contemporary Canadian...
Genuine Faith in the Real World
Thomas Merton, writing in New Seeds of Contemplation (1961), reminds us that “our faith is weak. Indeed, too often the weakest thing...
Listening to the Unlikely
Here is an incontrovertible truth: I enjoy expressing my opinion. Anyone who blogs joins me in that category, as does anyone who tweets...
Merton Channels Screwtape
Here’s a challenging passage from Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation that will bring many of us up short: The devil is not afraid...
More Merton: On the Humility to Withdraw from Glory
I’m just back from being up front and vocal for almost a week. I flew down to Cupertino (= AppleLand), California, to serve alongside the...
Rationality and Morality: Another Instance of Their Organic Relationship
Can bad people be smart? Of course…and more’s the pity, of course. But there are important respects in which being bad in certain...
Give Wisdom Time to Work: S-P-I-R
Proverbs 16:23: “The mind of the wise makes their speech judicious, and adds persuasiveness to their lips.” When I get into trouble, it’s...