Jean Twenge and Smartphones and iGen: Excerpted from her soon-to-appear book:  iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us I’ve been researching generational differences for 25 years, starting when I was a 22-year-old doctoral student in psychology. Typically, the characteristics that come to define a generation appear gradually, and along a continuum. Beliefs and behaviors that were already rising simply continue to... Read more

O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP Read more

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In his fine and wide-ranging post on fundamentalism, Roger proposes these: [My favorite book on fundamentalism is by George Marsden: Fundamentalism and American Culture.] Here is what I look for—a critical mass of spiritual-theological “symptoms” that I find common to and almost unique (in terms of emphasis and influence) among a particular tribe of American Protestant Christians. 1) A tendency to elevate doctrines historically considered “secondary” (non-essentials) to the status of dogmas such that anyone who questions them questions the... Read more

Is there evidence for design in biology? Or for that matter, what would constitute evidence of fine-tuning in biology? This is the next question arising as we continue on with Chapter 13 of Alister McGrath’s book A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology: If there is any question guaranteed to excite some controversy in the science/faith debate this is it. After all – fine-tuning leads to intelligent design and intelligent design to creationism. Well, in the... Read more

A plank of the new perspective on Paul — but only “a” plank and not the major weight-bearing plank — was that the Reformers got Paul wrong. Stephen Chester’s new book, Reading Paul with the Reformers, forces New Perspective scholars to stand on another plank while he cuts in at least half the plank of false interpretations of the Reformers. As I said in the previous post, some “fake news” stereotypes were used. Chester — toward the end of this post... Read more

If we begin with God — and not with our wants and needs and desires and hopes and wishes — but with God as Trinity, there are five dynamics of prayer. These are discussed in John Frye’s excellent little book on prayer called Liberate Your Praying Heart. What are they? Before answering, John takes us to the “real” Lord’s prayer, the prayer of Jesus in John 17. Unity, love, glory, joy, and communication. A word on each: Unity, or oneness, in... Read more