Tom Wright’s newest book is about virtue ethics, about how we move from where we are through habituation so we can arrive at the goal. This is all found in After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters . Having looked at virtue ethics in Jesus, Wright turns to Paul under the heading of “Three virtues, nine varieties of fruit, and one body” (chp. 6). How important is “church” to spiritual formation? Who do you think teaches formation in a way that... Read more
When we were down in Katy Texas, Marlin Fenn introduced me to Ruta Maya coffee, and he was kind enough to send me a bag of beans. Organic, medium roast — and very good. The coffee company is out of Austin Texas, and they are committed to “fair” trade and helping out the farmers of Latin America. Shade-grown, no fertilizers etc. Let’s give it up again for the local roasters who are committed to ecological health. Go ahead, let’s hear... Read more
Let’s say you move into a new community, one in which you know no one other than a person or two with whom you will be working your day job, and you are left to your own devices to pick a church. What criteria would you use? In reading Todd Hunter, Giving Church Another Chance: Finding New Meaning in Spiritual Practices, I got to thinking about that very question. Todd has moved from Vineyard to house church and now into... Read more
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more
Rob Merola was one of my finest (and “favoritest”) students at TEDS. He fell in love with another one of my favorites, Linda, and they are now married and ministering in Sterling Heights Virginia at St Matthew’s Episcopal. I follow his blog and when I saw he was reading You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto , I asked if he might review it for our blog. So, here it is… but I have a question first: What are you... Read more
I’ve been thinking of journeys recently. The last two days I sat in sessions at the Wheaton gathering on Evangelicals and the Early Church and heard a number journeys from a conservative evangelical past to a confessional evangelicalism or to Anglicanism or who dipped mightily into the early fathers, and I know plenty of stories of those who have walked across the Tiber or ended up in Constantinople by converting to Catholicism or Orthodoxy. Which brings me to a new... Read more
The best looking little Adidas SuperStar shoes I’ve ever seen! Aksel brings them to you, first thing in the morning, as a not-so-subtle hint that he’s ready to go outside. (And, if you have eyes to see, his shirt says “My Grandpa Rules!”) New website/blog: women church planters. Beautiful post; read it carefully and drop CAS a line of support. Urban youth workers — Do you know ReLoad? Parents — how many years left? (by Kathy Khang) Pastors — do... Read more
This review by James-Michael Smith, originally published at The Examiner, examines The Seven Samurai. In 1954 the late Japanese director Akira Kurosawa made a film that would go on to become the most critically-acclaimed film in all of Japanese cinema history–and one of the most acclaimed worldwide as well. That movie was called “Shichinin no Samurai” (“The Seven Samurai”). It was the story of a group of 7 masterless samurai who agreed to help defend a farming village from bandits... Read more
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Recent Commentaries
Commentaries are at the heart of the expository preacher’s reading schedule. Commentaries multiply like rabbits, but they do so because (unlike rabbits) they are needed and scholarship continues to flourish. A commentary that is ten years old now seems dated, and that means pastors are trying to keep up their library by adding the best of commentaries as they are published. I’m happy to recommend two new ones. On the book of James, Dan McCartney, now at Redeemer Theological Seminary... Read more