The apostle Paul provides a rough and ready list of (some of) the gifts God’s gives to the churches. I’m simply unpersuaded Paul thought to himself “Now what are all the gifts, now here they are, there are four of them, and that’s the complete list…” but instead this is a rough-and-ready list. Anyway, this is what Paul says: So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers … Since I’ve been in college I... Read more
From BioLogos by Ted Davis: Core Tenets or Assumptions of Theistic Evolution (1) The Bible is NOT a reliable source of scientific knowledge about the origin of the earth and the universe, including living things—because it was never intended to teach us about science. (2) The Bible IS a reliable source of knowledge about God and spiritual things. (3) Scientific evidence is irrelevant to the Bible—it is simply not a science book. (4) The creation story in Genesis 1 is a confession of faith in the... Read more
Ask any of us who travel around speaking at colleges and universities, and most of us will tell you the most challenging audience we encounter is the college chapel crowd. I believe you’ve got less than a minute to gain the attention … I did my best at Southeastern University but somehow that college chapel audience was, if not the best I’ve addressed, it was among the best. I received an invitation from Charlie Dawes, an enthusiastic, thoughtful and hard-working young... Read more
Herman Pontzer says No: DARWIN isn’t required reading for public health officials, but he should be. One reason that heart disease, diabetes and obesity have reached epidemic levels in the developed world is that our modern way of life is radically different from the hunter-gatherer environments in which our bodies evolved. But which modern changes are causing the most harm? Many in public health believe that a major culprit is our sedentary lifestyle. Faced with relatively few physical demands today,... Read more
Stuart Firestein, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University has recently published a book with the provocative title Ignorance: How It Drives Science. This book derives from a popular class that Dr. Firestein teaches at Columbia. Ignorance is essential to science, it is what we don’t know that leads to progress, not what we do know. According to a write-up about the book and course on the Columbia website: “I’m not talking about stupidity or... Read more
In her book Christianity after Religion Diana Butler Bass tells a story of sitting at a graduation listening to a strong-minded evangelical claim that someday everyone would bow before Jesus as the Lord because Jesus, like Caesar, was indeed Lord. Diana tells us the event was momentous for her and she fell into the “belief gap,” which I take to be a condition of ironic faith: she’s a Christian but traditional Christian beliefs are held at some distance. Her alternative is... Read more
From James Fallows, on the impact of the BCP on our consciousness — where we hear the claim that the BCP has influenced us more than any book written in English, including the Bible. Go to the link to see some examples and see the complete essay. I have provided an example at the bottom of this post: The Atlantic’s literary editor Benjamin Schwarz, who has read as much on as broad a range of topics as anyone I’ve known,... Read more
Genuine spiritual influence, or leadership, is not anchored in the gifts, abilities and strategies of the pastor or preacher or elder or leader. Genuine influence is anchored in the very opposite: in following. Mel Lawrenz, in fact, upends so much of leadership theory with these words: “The best leaders are the best followers” (Spiritual Influence, 37). Many pastors claim authority — and talk about it often — or they talk about leadership being imposing their will on others. But the... Read more
There is a major question we need to ask as a society, but the question will come after a brief listing. It is a listing of violence we Americans are both exposed to throughout culture and which we engage — engage so much companies can make lots and lots of money from us by producing violent images. (By the way, in Europe violent movies create an R rating. Is it the same in the USA?) Violent images are encountered in... Read more
By Max Fisher: As an American, or maybe just as a moral human being, it’s hard not to feel appalled, even outraged, that Norwegian far-right monster Anders Breivik only received 21 years in prison for his attacks last year, including a bombing in Oslo and a cold-blooded shooting spree, which claimed 77 lives. That’s just under 100 days per murder. The decision, reached by the court’s five-member panel, was unanimous. He will serve out his years (which can be extended) in a... Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Jesus Creed
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In