Another Good Argument for Blogs

January 13, 2012 By scotmcknight 6 Comments

By Maia Szalavitz:

Blogging is often considered self-indulgent and the Internet a threat to teenage mental health.  But a new study finds that adolescents with social problems who blog may benefit from the added social connectivity.

Previous research shows that simply writing about personal misfortune can be healing— and that breaking down a traumatic experience into a coherent narrative is often a key part of recovering from conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other after-effects of trauma, like depression.

The new study, however, finds that online writing may be even more helpful, at least for teenagers who feel isolated and have difficulty socializing.  Israeli researchers studied 161 teens (aged 14-17) who were experiencing significant social anxiety and distress in interacting with their peers.  Most of those who agreed to participate were girls but 37 boys also took part…. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Writing & Blogging 6 Comments

That Authority Question, That Credibility Question

January 13, 2012 By scotmcknight 13 Comments

The authority question, when it comes to science, often becomes charisma instead of intelligence and reason but evangelicalism is marked by ambiguity on the credibility questions. See this excellent piece by Molly Worthen:

When it comes to history, many evangelicals reject the world-class historians in their own fold — such scholars as Mark Noll and George Marsden, who advocate a balanced account of Christianity’s role in early America — in favor of the amateur David Barton’s evangelical makeover of Washington and Madison.

Why would anyone heed ersatz “experts” over trained authorities far more qualified to comment on the origins of life or the worldview of the founding fathers? Drawing on case studies of evangelical gurus, Stephens and Giberson argue that intellectual authority works differently in the “parallel culture” of evangelicalism. In this world of prophecy conferences and home-­schooling curriculums, a dash of charisma, a media empire and a firm stance on the right side of the line between “us” and “them” matter more than a fancy degree…. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Science and Faith 13 Comments

What to Wear to Church?

January 13, 2012 By scotmcknight 33 Comments

Duane Litfin weighs in on how what we wear to church reflects more than what we wear. I have lived through the days when we wore our Sunday best to now wearing blue jeans.

What do you think? Does what we wear say something more?

I want to suggest that church services have changed in emphasis — from a worship service more to instruction, education, fellowship, etc — and I wonder if this is as much the reason for the change in clothing. In other words, do we compare our attire at church to the priests in the temple? Is the NT gathering likened to a worship service or to the temple? How does the NT describe the weekly gathering, or any gathering? What was its primary function?

The so-called “worship wars” of recent years may have produced a winner. Many congregations remain divided between traditional and contemporary styles, but in most places the contemporary appears to have gained the upper hand.

What’s more, our worship services have become increasingly relaxed and informal affairs. You can see it in what we wear. Church for today’s worshipers is not a dress-up event. Whatever is clean and comfortable seems sufficient. Christian students in particular have been taught by their seniors — or has it been the reverse?— that when it comes to church, attire doesn’t much matter. They understand there is nothing particularly spiritual about a dress or a coat and tie. God is scarcely impressed by such things. “People look at the outward appearance,” we are reminded, “but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7)…. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Church 33 Comments

Nick Kristof is right: it begins early, in the home

January 13, 2012 By scotmcknight 9 Comments

Kris and I both appreciated this article by Nick Kristof: love, hugs, and family attentiveness is where it all begins and where it can all crumble with toxic stress. Moms and dads, love those babies.

PERHAPS the most widespread peril children face isn’t guns, swimming pools or speeding cars. Rather, scientists are suggesting that it may be “toxic stress” early in life, or even before birth.

This month, the American Academy of Pediatrics is issuing a landmark warning that this toxic stress can harm children for life. I’m as skeptical as anyone of headlines from new medical studies (Coffee is good for you! Coffee is bad for you!), but that’s not what this is.

Rather, this is a “policy statement” from the premier association of pediatricians, based on two decades of scientific research. This has revolutionary implications for medicine and for how we can more effectively chip away at poverty and crime. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education 9 Comments

Pure Soterian Gospel

January 13, 2012 By scotmcknight 18 Comments

Martin Luther, as summarized and quoted by Jaroslav Pelikan, in Divine Rhetoric (pp. 90), from Luther’s own Introduction to his New Testament:

“John’s Gospel and St Paul’s Epistles, especially that to the Romans, and St Peter’s first Epistle are the true kernel and marrow of all the books.” A few sentences later he [Luther] added Galatians and Ephesians to Romans, but he did not add the synoptic Gospels to St John. For, as he explained, “John’s Gospel is the one, fine, true, and chief Gospel, and is far, far to be preferred over the other three and place high above them. So, too, the Epistles of St Paul and St Peter far surpass the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.“

I ask yet again: Is 1 Corinthians 15 the gospel? Is the gospel found in the sermons in the Acts? Why did they call the first four books of the New Testament “The Gospel”? All of this is discussed in The King Jesus Gospel.

Filed Under: Gospel 18 Comments