Last week I took my eldest to Bethel University in St. Paul (well Arden Hills) where moving in was truly an experience. The President of the University and his wife, Jay and Barb Barnes, greeted each and every new student as they drove into the campus (the same conversation some 500-600 times or so). Cars were unloaded in less than 2 minutes each – as the students were checked into the dorms. Bethel is a Christian college, loosely denominational –... Read more
Bonhoeffer wrote Life Together in one month in 1938. It puts into written form the principles and practices that guided his time at Zingst and Finkenwalde, the underground seminaries of pious Lutherans who opposed Hitler’s ever-encroaching power in the Church and Germany. It is one of the seeds expressing what led to his arrest, imprisonment at Tegel (the picture to the right is from Tegel), constant interrogations and eventually, sadly, to his hanging at Flossenburg, not long before the concentration... Read more
I don’t know about you, but I like to study in my own library, which happens to be in the basement. Here is Kris working on the computer in my library … books galore and quiet in abundance and homemade bookshelves and books in the order I need them. Where do you prefer to study or read or write? Read more
We turn now to Acts 4 in our quest to read the Book of Acts together as we probe the missional theology of this early Christian witness to what God was doing — through the apostles — and through the community — to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world. As we read the Book of Acts in search of missional theology, we are reading The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries) as our guide.... Read more
Leszek Kolakowski, a Polish philosopher who weakened Marxism’s grip on Eastern Europe, recently died. Few, I suspect, knew who he was. I consider myself fortunate to have read some of Kolakowski, one book being his scintillating sketch of the history of ideas by probing the central idea of twenty-three thinkers. That book is called Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?: 23 Questions from Great Philosophers . My own reading of that book impressed me again with the connection of... Read more
In John Walton’s (professor at Wheaton) new book, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, we have yet another proposition to discuss: The difference between origin accounts in science and Scripture is metaphysical in nature. Many folks, Walton argues, think of the “origins” question as a pie: some pieces are “natural” and some pieces are “supernatural.” The more we learn, one needs to observe, the fewer are the number of supernatural pieces. The problem: the... Read more
We are concerned about 20somethings, or iGens, and this blog is devoted to discussions that can help with ministry to 20somethings. I am excited about two recent books I’ve read. So, in about a week we will begin discussions about how ancient saints can help postmoderns and then another discussion about the Third Way (beyond emerging and traditional). To aid us in these conversations, we will be reading: Chris R. Armstrong, Patron Saints for Postmoderns: Ten from the Past Who... Read more
Here’s Aksel inside watching the grass being mown … I was told he was much more interested in the lawn mower than the one pushing the lawn mower. The mower was his grandpa. Read more
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. Read more
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. Read more
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