If you’ve ever felt parked in neutral, feeling as if the world is flowing by while you sit, helpless to re-engage, Kat Armstrong has something to tell you. Her new book, The In-Between Place: Where Jesus Changes Your Story, is for the person who feels lost and is not sure she is worth the effort to be found, for the person who feels overlooked and unfulfilled. Because sometimes Jesus saves our greatest spiritual breakthroughs for our in-between places. Kat writes with... Read more
Advent begins November 29, marking the end of the 2020 church year (can I get an “Amen”?!) and the start of the church season preceding Christmas. During these coming four weeks, believers look ahead to the coming of Christ, the promised Savior. Because the world focuses on Christmas, the remembrance of Christ’s first coming, even the church can get mixed up in exactly what Advent is about. Sure, we are looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ, the coming... Read more
2020 has been a doozy of a year for almost everyone. We all deal with life differently, and writers, well … we cope by writing. But some of us paint pictures with words, setting feelings and thoughts into a frame of free-flowing phrases. I am definitely not that kind of writer. So let me introduce you to Misty Hedrick, wordsmith. Her poem, titled 2020, tells a story you might find familiar. We hope you spend some time with it. ... Read more
In case you didn’t know, or had forgotten—because March took five months and the election won’t end—the church calendar will soon turn to Advent. This liturgical season, whose name comes from the Latin adventus (meaning coming or visit), is a time of waiting and preparation for the coming of Jesus the Messiah at Christmas. During these weeks, believers worldwide remember the birth of the savior and look forward to his return. In addition to traditions such as the Advent wreath and... Read more
Embed from Getty Images I don’t typically look at Supreme Court nominees and think, Wow, we have a lot in common. But Amy Coney Barrett is my age, and we are both moms and Christians. So there’s that. When I heard she was from New Orleans, I took another look. Judge Barrett attended St. Mary’s Dominican HS in New Orleans, LA, about an hour’s drive south of St. Joseph’s Academy – Baton Rouge, which I attended. We both graduated in 1990.... Read more
Nerd alert: History is fun! My History of Christian Thought class at LSU stands out as one of my top 3 classes there. At seminary, I took all the church history classes I could fit into my program. Combine all of that with a myth-busting formula, it’s no wonder I jumped at the chance to read this new book, Urban Legends of Church History: 40 Common Misconceptions. Both authors are professors at my alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary (and one... Read more
The foundational contract of the ancient Hebrews was their suzerain/vassal covenant with Yahweh, their God. In her excellent book The Epic of Eden, Dr. Sandra Richter describes this kind of treaty: The suzerain clearly holds more power than the other and therefore had the right to demand submission on the part of his weaker ally. As a result, in this sort of treaty the partners referred to each other either as “father and son” or as “lord and servant.” The suzerain... Read more
Can a Christian be an environmentalist? In this rich, compact biblical theology of creation care, Sandra Richter argues that once Christ-followers understand God’s perspective of his earth, they all should be environmentalists. An expert in ancient Israel and Old Testament theology, Richter argues that creation care is a biblical and moral issue that impacts not only the globe itself, but also the church’s witness to global humanity. How God’s people care for God’s earth is a reflection of their love... Read more
Dorothy Greco had already written a marriage book, but the professional photographer and writer found she had more to say. A mother of three young adults and wife for over twenty-five years, she realized her life-stage and experiences were not unique to her but that countless other couples—all over forty, with years of marriage behind them—struggled through the challenges that midlife brings. Marriage in the Middle offers frank honesty mixed with a profound hope for marriages that are struggling or just... Read more
The book title, Sanctified Sexuality: Valuing Sex in an Oversexed World, is also the theme of the book. Drs. Sandra Glahn and Gary Barnes bring together more than twenty Christian experts in relevant fields of study—such as biblical languages, counseling, theology, and medicine—to discuss many of the most challenging and controversial sexual issues that Christians face. Sanctified Sexuality provides an ideal handbook for Christian leaders who want to promote healing in one of the most crucial and debated aspects of human identity. Engaging contemporary... Read more
Kelley Mathews
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