Watch Alister McGrath discuss new C.S. Lewis biography

April 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment
video

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of his death, Oxford scholar and popular author Alister McGrath has released a new and illuminative biography of C.S. Lewis. Reviewers have given C.S. Lewis: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet a warm welcome. Here's McGrath presenting on the book at Wheaton College: Wheaton's Wade Center houses a collection of Lewis' papers -- along with a large wardrobe formerly belonging to Lewis into which a handful of children have been reportedly lost. I've … [Read more...]

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The harrowing of hell and the victory of Christ

March 30, 2013 By 19 Comments
Icon of the Resurrection

We read in the Apostle's Creed that Jesus “descended into hell.” Some Christians today are unsure about this idea, but it is an ancient and venerable belief of the church. We commemorate this descent on Holy Saturday, the somber sabbath following Christ's great labor on the cross. While his body rested in Joseph's crypt, the Lord entered hades. In this event we call the harrowing of hell, Christ entered not as victim, but as victor. He came to raze the place. There in the realm of the … [Read more...]

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Heaven is more than an endpoint. It’s a possibility right now

March 29, 2013 By 1 Comment
Detail from Hieronymus Bosch's 'Ascent of the Blessed'

There have been several very successful books on heaven in recent years, including Heaven is For Real, published at Thomas Nelson by my colleague Matt Baugher. The interest among readers is reasonable enough, considering that we're talking about our eternal destinies and all the hopes and fears that go along with them. Not a small topic. But let's expand the conversation. Heaven is more than an endpoint. When Christians pray the Lord's Prayer we ask that God's will would be done on earth … [Read more...]

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Christians suffering, dying in anonymity around the world: New book exposes their plight

March 28, 2013 By 2 Comments
Persecuted by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea

After gathering to protest the Muslim Brotherhood at their suburban Cairo headquarters, several of the demonstrators, mostly Coptic Christians, were dragged by Brotherhood thugs to a nearby mosque after Friday prayers and tortured. Mosque officials were apparently powerless to stop the hours-long assault, which for one man resulted in a broken skull, broken arm, bleeding in the right eye, and wounds from birdshot. I learned of the story yesterday morning, moments before attending a panel … [Read more...]

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What I read about when I read Rob Bell

March 24, 2013 By 27 Comments
Rob Bell, What We Talk About When We Talk About God

Any book of theology that starts with a epigraph by Tom Waits is arguably worth looking at. Such is Rob Bell's What We Talk About When We Talk About God. Since the 2011 publication of Love Wins, Bell's name has doubled as a lighting rod, the controversy having merely cooled, not diminished. I have no interest in revisiting that here. Nor do I have any interest in writing a negative review of his newest, aspects of which certainly could use the discerning squint of a jeweler's eye. Here I want … [Read more...]

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How to cultivate spiritual peace at work: Start with prayer, add patience

March 18, 2013 By 11 Comments
Anthony the Great

Things today seem more fragmented than ever. Try focusing on your job, for instance, amid the alerts for incoming email, social media updates, and meeting invites. Add to that phone calls, interrupting coworkers, and elastic tasks stretching past allotted times and squeezing into others. Nice knowing you, margin. And that's just what outsiders impose. Inside the mind there are -- at least for me -- forty-two stray thoughts trying to push to the fore, some succeeding and distracting me while I … [Read more...]

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So why should I care about monks?

March 13, 2013 By 11 Comments
video

There is probably no figure so countercultural today as the monk. Having retreated from the world he gives himself wholly to pray for it. Actor Jonathan Jackson brought some unexpected attention to these misunderstood intercessors as he received his fifth Emmy award. Watch: Who are the monks of Mount Athos? TV news magazine 60 Minutes wondered the same question and wangled an invitation for their crew to go and find out more. It's a good start for understanding why Christians of whatever … [Read more...]

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Through the joy and sorrow of Christian death

March 11, 2013 By 4 Comments
when you lose someone you love

A friend of mine lost her mother over the weekend. When I hear of the passing of someone close my mind wanders to a handful of passages I find comforting and reassuring. Though any effort is bound to be feeble and unworthy in the face of such a loss, I've gathered some of those passages here for whatever balm they offer. When someone dies in the Orthodox tradition, the body rests in the nave of the church before the funeral. During the wake, parishioners volunteer to read Psalms over the … [Read more...]

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Why should the devil have all the good theologians?

March 9, 2013 By 19 Comments
video

Welcome to another episode of Role Reversal Television, in which outspoken atheist Penn Jillette explains to Catholic pundit Piers Morgan why Catholic tradition doesn't change with the times. Orthodox Christians don't understand hierarchical power in this way, and evangelicals would object to even more here. But the spirit of the thing is one Catholics, Orthodox, and evangelicals can appreciate: The faith once delivered is not the faith that is edited and updated with the times. It … [Read more...]

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What’s with all the Christian tattoos? Am I missing out?

March 8, 2013 By 34 Comments
Cross tattoos

I used to want a tattoo. That was more than twenty years ago, back in high school when only the brave and cool and rebellious people got tattoos. Back then a neck tat meant you were hardcore. Today it means you're a 19-year-old sorority girl. I never did get the tattoo. I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to permanently etch on my epidermal canvas. Or what part of the canvas I would use. Something public? Or something I could cover up so my boss didn't think I was secretly the chief … [Read more...]

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