Jesus Creed
If it landed, here were its options — runways sufficient to handle a Boeing 777. Read more
If it landed, here were its options — runways sufficient to handle a Boeing 777. Read more
Source New research on library users from the Pew Research Center suggests that people who report high engagement with libraries tend to be pretty tech savvy. The two groups identified by the Pew Internet and American Life Project as having the highest level of engagement with libraries, “library lovers” and “information omnivores” show higher levels of technology usage than the average American. “Library lovers” are about 10 percent of the general population according to Pew, and report “frequent personal use of public libraries, along... Read more
I shall begin with this: IVP’s Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity is a colossal and stunning achievement. 3220 separate dictionary entries, 266 contributors from 26 countries. There is nothing like it and there won’t be for decades… so every library has to have it, and every one who wants to study the patristics needs to have it at hand. Briefly, it began in Italian and then was expanded into a second Italian version; there have been two English editions, but this IVP... Read more
High school dances — going the way of high button shoes? (One of my favorite movies of all time in that pic.) Your high school may have had different names for them, but you probably recognize what they are: school dances. A staple of American culture, the dramatic climax of countless high-school movies, and the background of so many of teenage memories. The dances were something to look forward to. In 2001, more than 800 students gathered in clusters on the... Read more
Geoff Holsclaw, my colleague at Northern and friend, has a post on good news about churches: (Geoff is another good reason to consider studying for ministry at Northern seminary.) Headline news is usually bad news. Viral blog posts are usually polemical. And those “way-too-long” conversations on Facebook and Twitter are often based in controversy. Pain, division, and anger drive on-line traffic and often directs the content. And church news is little different: pastor so-and-so is embroiled in a moral failing; church such-and-such... Read more
Needless Casualties I am going to write about Tyler and Brenda, a son and his mother. I have heard for years that the creationism/evolution debate is putting many of our evangelical young people into a bind. Many young students from our churches head off to college and are presented with strong evidence for evolution. The evidence for evolution available today is vast, precise, and more sophisticated than when we “baby boomers” were in high school and college. Many of our... Read more
Ah, now that word authority is likely to get some to have a few things to say. Many of us might sympathize with Joseph Hellerman, Embracing Shared Ministry, when he says this: One Sunday I informed my congregation that I would not make a very good Democrat because I do not trust big government. Then I remarked that I would not make a very good Republican because I do not trust big business. Finally, I said that I probably do not make... Read more
The Atlantic: What product did you buy as a child but that you still purchase though you know it is not the wisest of choices? One paradox of advertising comes from a powerful inverse relationship between age and money. The people most likely to be swayed by most commercials are impressionable children (who have no money). Meanwhile, it’s incredibly difficult to persuade adults (who have all the money) to break from habit and buy a new product. A new study from the Journal... Read more
What does it mean to take scripture seriously? Is literalism the only faithful approach? The third chapter of Ronald E. Osborn’s new book Death Before the Fall: Biblical Literalism and the Problem of Animal Suffering looks at the unwholesome complexity (his chapter title) that can arise from a rigorously literal approach to scripture. He begins by pointing out that we all pick and choose when it comes to literalism. Many young earth creationists will point out that the Hebrew word... Read more
The Book of Revelation has perhaps the most radical vision of the Story of God in the whole Bible. But that Story counters the story told by Rome, which, as I wrote in our last post, The fundamental idea then is that the gods gave the world Rome; they gave the world Rome as a blessing and those who are in line with Rome will experience the blessings of the gods. Rome was all mighty and any rebellion was death... Read more
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