Pride and Humility at War Lanier Burns is senior research professor of theology at Dallas Theological Seminary.   Since 1973 he has served as president of Asian Christian Academy in Bangalore, India. David George Moore conducted the following interview. Some of Dave’s videos can be found at www.mooreengaging.com. [Personal note: During my first semester at Dallas Seminary I took a theology class with Lanier. It is where I first experienced the life-giving reality of a theology professor preaching his class material!]... Read more

Ah, Italian pizza: People have been eating pizza, in one form or another, for centuries. As far back as antiquity, pieces of flatbread, topped with savouries, served as a simple and tasty meal for those who could not afford plates, or who were on the go. These early pizzas appear in Virgil’s Aeneid. Shortly after arriving in Latium, Aeneas and his crew sat down beneath a tree and laid out ‘thin wheaten cakes as platters for their meal’. They then scattered... Read more

From Steve Carter, teaching pastor at Willow Creek. Thank you for this public apology (and more can be read at the link). Last night, I had a chance to share with the Elders what has been on my heart.   On Wednesday, Scot McKnight wrote a post expressing concern that a profound injustice has been done regarding the women who made allegations against Bill Hybels and the subsequent Elder process investigating those claims. I agree with this conclusion.   Specifically,... Read more

https://soundcloud.com/user-212639123/paul-and-the-desire-for-fame-kr-96 How should Christians view achieving fame, status, and honor? In the ancient world, males were especially addicted to achieving as much fame and honor as possible.  This honor was pursued along what was known as the cursus honorum. The cursus honorum was the path to achieve this status.  It would be nice if the present world didn’t suffer from this unhealthy approach to life, but we know it all too well. Paul has some subversive and important words to Christians in the ancient... Read more

By Mike Glenn One of the hottest musical artists in the nation right now is Chris Stapleton. His recent song, “Tennessee Whiskey” and the album it was on, “Traveler,” sold over 2 million copies. The song is a well-played twist on the typical Nashville drinking song. Instead of drinking, Stapleton sings to his wife that he’s quit drinking to get “high on your love all of the time.” That was 2015. When the song first came out, everyone wanted to... Read more

I’ve been quite busy this last week – so I’m posting a lightly edited repeat of an older post. This is one I really think we need to take to heart. Quite awhile ago now Alister McGrath published a short book well worth reading: Doubting: Growing Through the Uncertainties of Faith. At one point in this book he makes the following observation: It is very common for Christians to find themselves isolated at work or ridiculed for their faith. They... Read more

What does it mean to pray that “thy kingdom come”? We are looking at Philip Ziegler, Militant Grace: The Apocalyptic Turn and the Future of Christian Theology. It is eschatological, it is theological, and it is christological, and opens with theological abstraction that becomes more clear as the chapter proceeds: In short, I suggest that praying “Thy Kingdom Come’ faithfully means inhabiting an eschatological field shaped decisively by both christological and apocalyptic coordinates, and that petitioning God in just this way... Read more