Carol Pipes: Here are four things extroverted leaders can do to help the introverts on their team. 1. Introverts need time to process information. Provide written information before staff meetings so introverted team members have time to reflect on the material and prepare for discussion. If big changes are on the horizon, try to give them as much advance notice as possible. 2. Introverts prefer one-on-one conversations. If you have to reprimand them, do it privately. 3. Give introverts an opportunity to... Read more

By John Frye Jesus as a Soprano We’re having a little fun with the Woman at the Well story, presenting Jesus as various media figures. Last week it was Oprah. Today Jesus is one of the Sopranos. The dark clouds cast a cool shade around Jacob’s Well. Jesus and his boys are tired from the walk into Samaria. Jesus: Yo, Mattie! You and Johnny take da boys inda town and get us some food, hey. No linguini with white clam... Read more

What is liberal theology? When did it start? Who are its major thinkers? Let’s remind ourselves once more how Christopher Evans, in his Liberalism without Illusions, defines it: Theological liberalism is a historical movement born in the nineteenth century that supports critical intellectual engagement with both Christian traditions and contemporary intellectual resources. As opposed to more traditional forms of Christian theology, liberalism has been characterized by an affirmation of personal and collective experience, systemic social analysis, and open theological inquiry (6).... Read more

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So the adjunct professor wants to join the all-too-gamey version of recording one’s religious experiments. One becomes what one worships. One is shaped by what one reads. One is formed by what one participates in. To participate in atheism is to become atheist. His move both abandons trust and relationship with God and enters into the absence and denial of God (isn’t that what atheism is?), and both moves will form him. It is one thing to process one’s doubts;... Read more

From Michelle Van Loon: She opens with Scott Emery’s post at Missio Alliance: Perhaps it is from the reading I’ve been doing. Perhaps it is from the community I’ve been attempting to cultivate. Perhaps it is from seeing pictures of my friends and family from yesteryear. Perhaps it was a simple contrast of a table of older friends with my younger family. But I wonder, what do we need to do to have a community that grows old together? What... Read more

The system is that American universities and (semi-)professional sports are joined at the hip, and (for some) the right hip of sports makes so much money for the university the system has no conscience about academic entrance requirements. The solution, in my view, is to remove the athletic programs from the universities and colleges, keep the sports teams in those towns but make them professionals, and make universities about education. That way the university can have a sports culture connected... Read more