We begin with a brand new cohort next Monday at Northern Seminary — they’re already quite active on the cohort FB page and it looks like an energizing group of students. Can’t wait. Bacteria-crushing ocean plastics: The high pollution in the oceans is a big problem on the planet. According to recent research, it is likely that in the year 2050 we will find more plastic than fish in the waters of the seas, and for this reason there are... Read more

If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a hundred times. When someone says “I’m a pacifist” (or something remotely close), the hands go up with a series of “What abouts.” Ron Sider, in If Jesus is Lord , has heard them all and responds to many of them. What about Jesus’s statement that he came to bring a sword? Or the fact that there are several stories about devout soldiers and none were told to stop being soldiers? Jesus used a... Read more

After a long hiatus, I return to look at Rebecca McLaughlin’s book Confronting Christianity. Bertrand Russell (Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization? in Why I am Not a Christian), and more recently Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything) have been quick to point out an apparent connection between religion and violence. Islamic conquest of the Holy Land and Christian Crusades to retake the land play a role in the conversation. Of course we can go... Read more

Pastor Paul: Nurturing a Culture of Christoformity in the Church Read more

Pastor Paul: Nurturing a Culture of Christoformity in the Church Read more

This begins a series on a book by one skilled in adjudication, Andrew Bartlett. He examines, in his new book Men and Women in Christ (MWiC), the relation between men and women in home and church on the basis of the Bible by adjudicating between competing claims. One more time, the issue at hand: Bible-based Christianity is threatened with a needless schism. Some complementarians say that their rivals are disobeying God’s design, undermining both family and society, and giving encouragement to sexual confusion... Read more

Pastor Paul: Nurturing a Culture of Christoformity in the Church Read more

Your gospel is too small IF __________________________________________. Read more

Let’s start at the very beginning. A very good place to start … The next chapter in Douglas and Jonathan Moo’ recent book Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World looks at Genesis 1 and a few other chapters that highlight creation. Jonathan begins with encouragement to read Genesis 1 through a couple of times and let it flow without dissection and study. In the beginning the earth was formless and void or empty. The story is unabashedly... Read more

So begins a new series on this blog by our friend Ruth Tucker. My favorite book on the Anabaptists is by Harold Bender, The Anabaptist Vision. What are your recommendations? Now to Ruth: Here is the first installment of a series on the history of Christianity. My thanks to Scot for jumping at the idea. There is no other field of history that features more crazy characters and captivating controversies. Thus, virtually all of my writing has found its footing... Read more