By Mike Glenn We used to think our memories worked like computers. Information would come to us through our reading or someone telling a story and we would condense those facts into our own private code and store this data into our mental filing cabinet. When we needed those facts, we’d go to that filing case and pull out the facts we needed. What we’ve found out is the brain doesn’t work like that. The brain uses images a lot... Read more

The Godfather movie trilogy has one of my favorites takes on ethics with business: (insert best Brando voice here), “It’s not personal. It’s business.” And then there is the infamous tell-all Mayflower Madam from the 1980s, Sydney Biddle Barrows, who said, “I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity.” We chuckle at such rationalizations but it isn’t only mafiosos and madams that feel the need to compartmentalize. Many people in business feel the same pressure.... Read more

I’m excited to share that I am a series advisor on #JesusHisLife, airing beginning March 25th on @History. It’s an intimate look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of the biblical figures who knew him best. I’ll be sharing updates from time to time on this project – excited for you all to tune in!” Read more

Twelve Lies that Hold America Captive, by Geoff Holsclaw Geoff Holsclaw is a theology professor @ Northern Seminary & a local church pastor. Get his FREE “5 Ways for Finding God’s Presence” checklist. Jonathan Walton, in Twelve Lies that Hold America Captive and the Truth That Sets Us Free, delivers an honest—and many times, brutal—examination of the lies the American (Evangelical) Church has believed about America, and the disastrous place it has led us. Walton starts this way: Abraham Lincoln, Ronald... Read more

This series on the church and business people is by Michael Kruse. I hope every pastor reads this. Henri Nouwen once observed that when people came to him for counseling, most of them would open up and readily discuss the most intimate details of their sex lives. But when he began probing about personal finances, body postures became closed and people would want to know why he was getting so personal. Money is important to us. Today we continue our... Read more

Over the years I met many pastors/preachers who told me they were afraid to preach Romans. Why? Because the “new” perspective was attractive but they were both unsure of how to preach it that way and others were worried that some congregants would be disturbed. Because the scholarship on Paul and Romans both demonstrates fierce disagreements and lots and lots of reading to understand — starting with E.P. Sanders and J.C. Beker and James D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright and... Read more

Sometimes it is hard to know what to believe. After all, we can’t all be experts in everything, or very many things. Discussions surrounding science and Christian faith often involve a decision about who to trust and listen to. It helps when Christians who are also scientists, who have the expertise to understand the arguments, take the time and care to explain the evidence. A recent article Testing and Verifying Old Age Evidence: Lake Suigetsu Varves, Tree Rings, and Carbon-14... Read more

This post is by Michael Kruse, and deals with how the church and business people need to work together. The business world frequently hinders our integration of faith with work but the church creates its own obstacles as well. We continue today with John Knapp’s How the Church Fails Business People (and what can be done about it),. The previous post looked at how the business world contributes to the divide between faith and work. Now we are looking at Chapter... Read more

Review of John Goldingay’s The First Testament by David Lamb, OT (ahem FT) professor at Missio Seminary. What is your go-to translation for teaching, for preaching, for writing? How does FT compare with your go-to translation? I have 4-5 English translations that I use regularly (ESV, NAS, NIV, KJV), but my primary Bible is NRSV. If one compares all of the modern translations, the differences between them are usually very slight. Goldingay’s First Testament is distinct, fresh, almost shockingly so at... Read more

This post is the first in a series by this blog’s good friend, Michael Kruse, who has his own very active blog. Tina Turner once asked “What’s love got to do with it?” Today, many businesspeople are asking “What’s God got to do with it?” For some, the question is a facetious way of saying that God really has nothing to do with business, but for many Christians it is a very real question … a question for which the... Read more