Many of us were introduced to the Christ and Culture issue by reading H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture and it has stood the test of time as it is now still routinely purchased and read in its sixth decade. In his influentialism approach to Christ and Culture I saw the essential typology for American Christians — both liberal and conservative, evangelical and otherwise. So I read more of H. Richard Niebuhr’s books (though I confess I don’t think I’ve read... Read more

I am doing a series on the blog about why I became Anglican, and thefirst week I looked at the church calendar and last week at worship, and this week I want to dip into “worship,” by which I mean Sunday morning worship service. (I do not equate worship with Sunday morning worship, but Sunday morning worship is worship.) This week I look at the Lectionary. Image used with permission. I’m not a historian of the lectionary, and it is... Read more

By Northern Seminary student, Ben Davis. Ben begins his post about this book by talking about our connection, how he experienced typical recruitment by Northern professors (I have stories about other professors like this), and how that has altered the landscape of his life (and ours at Northern for every student influences every classroom), and how that provokes him to ask if God planned all that. A little over two years ago I had the opportunity to meet Scot McKnight.... Read more

This is the Third Sunday after the Epiphany Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Read more

What are the most important questions about heaven you have faced? Here are the top ten questions about heaven that I discuss in my book, The Heaven Promise. The paperback edition has a small group study guide that Tara Beth Leach developed. From a theology of heaven/kingdom, we can derive a vision of Christian living in the here and now. Ignoring a theology of heaven/kingdom diminishes themes of ultimacy and final justice and reconciliation and peace. What is being taught about... Read more

Good start to the weekend with David Gorn, and food as medicine: Nadeau is part of a small revolution brewing across California. The food-as-medicine movement has been around for decades, but it’s making inroads as physicians and medical institutions make food a formal part of treatment, rather than relying solely on medications. By prescribing nutritional changes or launching programs such as “Shop with Your Doc,” they’re trying to prevent, limit or even reverse disease by changing what patients eat. “There’s... Read more

From USA Today: A 2015 study by Microsoft revealed that the average person’s attention span in this wild world of technology and social media is down to eight seconds — which is less than that of a goldfish. If you’re an NBA fan and you’re still reading this (and kudos to you, if you are) …  there’s no need to worry. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has it covered…. “It’s something that I know all of sports are looking at right now, and that is... Read more

Ilana E. Strauss: What do you think of these ideas about co-housing? Instead of limiting their households to children, parents, and grandparents, plenty of people are going a step further, making homes with friends and even strangers. Cohousing, in which a large community lives together and shares household duties, is gaining popularity. In cohousing, individuals or families generally have their own houses, bedrooms, or apartments but share things like kitchens and community spaces. They’ll commonly trade off on responsibilities like... Read more

I wrote this prayer for President Obama, and I adjust it for President Trump. I am committed to praying for this our new President and for our country. I hope you will too. As Peter said during the time of Nero — “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” — and as Paul encouraged us to pray for our leaders — ” I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession... Read more

By John Frye Beyond the Tiny Gospel What if I said to you that the story of the movie The Sound of Music was about guitars? Would you disagree? What if I said the story of the movie Ben Hur is about chariot wheels? What if I said the story about the movie Titanic is about the north Atlantic ocean? You would think I was a little (or maybe hugely) short-sighted about these magnificent films. Why reduce the story of... Read more