O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more

DEEP WORK: RULES FOR FOCUSED SUCCESS IN A DISTRACTED WORLD Cal Newport is the best-selling author of such books as So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for the Work you Love and How to Become a Straight-A Student: the Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less. Cal teaches computer science at Georgetown University in Washington DC. The following interview is over Newport’s latest book, Deep Work: Rules for... Read more

Not totally new, but worth new considerations: Dominican baseball and education: Baseball in the U.S. has become an international sport. This season about a quarter of the 800-plus players on Major League Baseball teams were born outside the United States. The country with the biggest number is the Dominican Republic, which had 83 players on opening day rosters last year. The success of Dominican major leaguers has been a boon for the Caribbean nation’s economy. But there’s also been controversy... Read more

Protestant Purgatory, by John Frye My best theological assessment for the purgatory view is, “Let’s not pussyfoot around about it.” Why? Let’s read what Jerry L. Walls, the author of the view in Four Views on Hell wrote. “…[W]here is the biblical support for this doctrine? The forthright answer to this question, one that is often conceded by the Roman Catholics as well, is that there is little explicit biblical support for the doctrine” (152). Burk writes in response, “This... Read more

Northern Seminary Launches Northern Live: Streaming Seminary to You Lombard, IL – Northern Seminary introduces Northern Live, a new way to receive seminary education via interactive Live Streaming. Northern Live utilizes the latest in audio-visual technology to create a real-time learning environment accessible from anywhere in the world. This innovative equipment will enable students to log in for vibrant, live engagement with Northern’s renowned faculty. Two of Northern’s newest Masters programs, the Master of Arts in New Testament and Master... Read more

By Alan Rudnick: Now, because of cost of graduate education, seminary graduates are saddled with debt. In the $40,000 to $60,000 range (on top of college debt). The pace of the rise of the cost of education has exceeded the rate of inflation: to the tune of 500% since 1985.  Usually, when a professional incurs such a debt, their boss gives them a raise because of their higher degree. Not the case with pastors. Many pastors have the same credit hours as school... Read more

There are a number of authors whom I can quote at length and whose ideas and words and lines have influenced me deeply — both spiritually and intellectually (not that I think there’s that much difference, but that’s another discussion). But today I want to throw open the front door to ask this: What is your favorite set of lines from Dallas Willard and why? Read more

Jason Micheli is a United Methodist pastor in DC who blogs at www.tamedcynic.org I’ve often thought that if John Wesley had been a Roman Catholic priest rather than an Anglican one he would have found a less disruptive outlet for his grace-centric revolution. Rather than taking steps that led inexorably to a rupture with the Church of England and to the creation of a distinct denomination, he might’ve simply initiated his own monastic order within the mother Church like Francis... Read more