I have a good friend named Ibrahim. He is a North African refugee and he works as a guard and compound manager at my home just outside the refugee camp. Nineteen years ago Ibrahim was a younger man living back in his home village across the border. One day his community was celebrating a traditional ceremony and everyone was gathered in the open, singing, dancing and eating together. And then the army showed up. Whether because of their skin color... Read more

Princeton’s new series of biographies of famous books includes a splendid history of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion by Bruce Gordon. To tell that story requires competency at many levels and Gordon exhibits those competencies in spades. Succinct and well-written, the book skips along with insight and perspective. The Institutes is a book to be lived (xiii). The Institutes is an extended hymn of praise by an exiled Frenchman to a saving God he believed never abandoned the faithful. It... Read more

All of us have some kind of worldview or philosophy of life. It may be a carefully reasoned position, or an organic entity that we grew into (or up in). In any event it can be helpful to examine the elements of our worldview and put them to the test. Truth should survive the test. I recently picked up a book by Kenneth Samples A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test. Kenneth Samples is a senior... Read more

The best way to sort out “what” an Anabaptist is is by finding the stories of Anabaptists. Peter Mommsen’s exceptional study, Homage to a Broken Man, the story of J. Heinrich Arnold, is one of the finest ways to learn what Anabaptism (really) is. In fact, the best an Anabaptism is found here and so too is the worst of Anabaptism. Before we get there, I repeat what has been said here a number of times, namely, the sketch of Anabaptism... Read more

By Glenn Pemberton, Professor at Abilene Christian University A Teacher’s Prayer Dear God, here they come, twenty, forty, sixty, and more. Oh God, steady my knees, and nail my feet to the floor. Help me radiate confidence, to look as if I know what I’m doing. Then, after all the adults have gone, leaving their charges behind, as I stand and look into their young faces, grant me wisdom, and a heart large enough to take in what I know;... Read more

Unintended Consequences of the Jesus Movement: The Big Decision By Michelle Van Loon, patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip, michellevanloon.com Earlier this year, I launched an occasional series on my blog looking back on the unintended consequences of the Jesus Movement. I’ve explored topics including our hand-clappin’ praise songs, the Rapture, our voting habits, and our worship services. Today, I’m picking up where I left off by talking about something that’s not a news flash to most reading these words: the Evangelical focus on decisions for Christ, often... Read more

Of all the terms available, which one did Jesus choose? Here is a list from John Nugent’s fine new book, Endangered Gospel: Salvation, Fullness of time, End of ages, Redemption, New era, End of days, Restoration, New creation, Day of the Lord, Reconciliation, New age, Year of the Lord, Renewal, New life, Times of refreshing, Fulfillment, Eternal life, Kingdom of heaven Jesus chooses “kingdom” and that makes a colossal difference. A week in Northern Ireland speaking about kingdom led me to a... Read more

Source: Sitting for hours has gotten a pretty bad rap of late, and by now most people know that a sedentary lifestyle leads to all sorts of health problems. But new research shows there’s at least one thing you can do during all that time off your feet that’s actually good for you: read a book. A study published online last month (July 18) in Social Science & Health shows that reading books has a significant relationship toincreased lifespan. A... Read more

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more