Craig Allert is leading us through a careful consideration of the early church fathers and their interpretation of Genesis One. The most important guidelines are to (1) read the writings in their context and (2) avoid the temptation to proof-text. Reading in context means three things: the context of the work being read, the context of the author’s larger body of work, and the context of the christian and broader culture in which the author writes. The temptation to proof-text... Read more

Today we continue with John Knapp’sHow the Church Fails Business People (and what can be done about it),. We turn now to Chapter 6, “A Moral Theology of Work.” The business environment can often present significant ethical challenges. Where might we begin as we think about ethical behavior? Knapp suggests a good place to start is with Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice,... Read more

Yes, she’s right. Churches and denominations are busy at work on developing policies to prevent abuse, and that’s all to the good. They also need to develop transparent policies on how to respond to journalists, information gatherers, bloggers and social media. Without these folks, led by circumspect journalists, many of these abuses would still be hidden and others would be abused. Rachel Denadio: VATICAN CITY—Church officials reacted badly when investigative journalists at The Boston Globe in 2002 uncovered a pattern of sexual... Read more

A question will be asked in the coming months if this new book by John H. Walton, in his Lost World series, is his finest. His approach of showing how a major text or genre or theme were part of the Ancient Near East (ANE) and therefore needed to be understood from that world, and that once done the interpretation often changed — that approach is put on full display in this new book on the Torah. What he did... Read more

Real estate people say real estate is about three things: location, location, location. Well I suspect integrating business and faith is also about three things: vocation, vocation, vocation. “Vocation” comes from the Latin vocare meaning “to call.” “God calls each of us into the divine relationship, and we respond to this call through the living of our lives, including our work lives.” (89) You might say that vocation helps us understand our location within God’s mission. Today we move to... Read more

Read it, it’s a good one: Ben Zobrist climbed into his 1980 Ford pickup truck and cried. His Eureka High School team had just lost in the 2000 IHSA Class A regionals, but that’s not exactly why he broke down. “I said: That’s it,” Zobrist recalled. “No more baseball in my life.” More than 1,400 names had been called in the MLB draft, but not his. Bob Gold, his high school coach, received one recruiting inquiry, from a junior college.... Read more

USAToday: GREENVILLE, S.C. – Four months after South Carolina’s first Mega Millions jackpot win, the staggering $1.5 billion prize remains unclaimed. That leaves two months until the six-month deadline to cash in the winning lottery ticket – and more time to speculate on what’s taking the person so long to collect their winnings. The winning ticket for the Oct. 23 drawing was sold at Simpsonville’s KC Mart #7, and signs in the store window proclaim, “We sold a Mega Millions ticket worth … $1.5 billion.”... Read more

O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more

A good confession by Kirsten Powers: I recently took a hiatus from social media to reflect on what role I might be playing in our increasingly toxic public square. I was not proud of what I found. During this time, I reflected not just on my behavior on social media, but also in my public expressions both on TV and in my columns. I looked back over the past decade of my work with a clear eye to assess whether I... Read more

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