Kris and I greet you from Greece, where we are on a short study break on the island of Naxos. During the week we will post some pictures. Thanks this week to JS for links. Congrats to pastor (and, yes, Northern grad, Tyone Hughes for inclusion in this wonderful picture of leaders. (Outlined in Carolina blue.) Helping kids (and others) to become critical thinkers: How can we encourage kids to think critically from an early age? Through an activity that... Read more

By Mike Glenn If you think about God long enough, sooner or later, you get to a point when your eyes go crossed, smoke comes out of your ears and your brain circuits are fried. This happens to me when I think about God and time. Time is an artificial construction. Time doesn’t happen in nature. Seasons do, but time doesn’t. We impose time on nature. That’s why we end up with an extra day every four years. Our concept... Read more

Sometimes St. Augustine makes my head ache. He is fascinating, faithful, and far from perfect. His literal interpretation of Genesis is not really what we would term literal in the modern sense. Craig Allert, in Chapter 7 of Early Christian Readings of Genesis One: Patristic Exegesis and Literal Interpretation digs into Augustine and his writings on the days of Genesis 1. To begin to understand Augustine it is necessary to look at his view of time and its relationship to... Read more

The newest resource for lectionary preachers is a wonderful new multi-volume series called Connections, and now volume 3, covering the season after Pentecost is now available, and it’s wonderful volume (with a contribution by yours truly, but that’s not what I say this!): Connections C: 3 Connections C: 1, Connections C: 2 Buy one volume each season in the church calendar and in three years you will have a complete commentary on the whole lectionary. You will also have a... Read more

My father, Alex McKnight (1928-2019), wore many shoes and not just the leather kind. He did have in his closet some white bucks and some blue suede shoes and some chukka boots but seemed to like his wing tips the most. Many shoes, however, also describes my father’s loves and life. My father was married to my mother, Lois, for more than 68 years. He was a steady consistent Christian witness and wonderful example to his family (us) and all... Read more

The final segment of the conversation between Heidi Lene Maibom and N. T. Wright addresses the solution to the previous question “what is wrong with the world?” The moderators narrows the question to consider what the solution means for personal responsibility. The  conversation covers several points worth consideration. Prof. Maibom emphasizes our obligation to our fellow humans. She begins with the idea that we should “each, in our own way do something every day to make the world a little... Read more

James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky, in their new book called Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality, sketch the results of 500 years of the “scientific” study of morality. Science can achieve Level One but is it overreaching to claim Level Two and Three ? Level One results would provide specific moral commands or claims about what is genuinely valuable. They would demonstrate with empirical confidence what, in fact, is good and bad, right and... Read more

The Gift of Renewal: A simple way that Church Leaders can Renew Their Pastor. By Tommy Phillips Tommy is a pastor in Tampa FL, well known musician and band leader, and leader of one creative church. Pastors spend allot of time reading, and reading widely from many Christian traditions and as well as trying to keep up with the academia. This is necessary because there are theological shifts that take place in Christendom, and these shifts usually start off in... Read more

It’s a short book and chapter three is not a long chapter but it may prove to be one of the most enduring chapters one can read. It’s flat-out that significant, or provocative — it depends where you stand. Buy the book just to read this chapter over and over. Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun, in For the Life of the World, contend for the following major ideas when it comes to what theology is or what it ought to be... Read more

The Collect: O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; 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 The Gospel John 20:1-18 Early on... Read more