Our staff is reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren right now. We’re blowing through it pretty fast, but today we finished with Chapter 17 – The Peaceable Kingdom, a chapter on non-violence. McLaren has a few interesting comments about Christian non-violence. “Those who are committed to non-violence based on the teachings of Jesus – if they are wrong now – will someday be right.” He’s saying that one day violence will be a thing of the past,... Read more

I miss the West Wing. Sorkin was such a killer writer, and the guys who came on to keep it going after he left were not too shabby either. One of my favorite things about the show while it was on, was that the actors, writers, and producers had a healthy sense of humor about some of the quirks of its characters. Jed Bartlett’s folksy wisdom and speeches about history, the walk and talk meetings in the hallways, finishing each... Read more

I confess that I almost stepped on a rattlesnake last week while running on the Mill Creek Trail (above) – literally a stride and a half from stepping on it. I confess that I immediately screamed like a little girl & nearly wet my pants. I have decided to name him “freaks” because as my youngest would say, “Snakes give me the freaks.” I confess that I have also decided that if I see freaks again I will either: kill,... Read more

Here are a couple more interesting articles on Rep. Paul Ryan. We had a discussion about this last week that you can read about here. The first article is from the Washington Post: Faith based lesson for Paul Ryan Paul Ryan is very vocal about his Catholic faith and the role it plays in his politics. Dana Milbank’s article notes that Ryan seems eager to cite his church and religious beliefs when it comes to topics like abortion or opposing coverage of... Read more

This is a photo of the truck I had to follow all the way down College Ave. today in traffic. If annoying people by displaying these little gems was the desired effect, then it was a highly successful endeavor. But something tells me that one does not put “Buck Ofama” or “Spay & Neuter Liberals” on their truck window merely to be annoying. These drive-by snipes are evidence that we have no idea how to speak about politics in our... Read more

Scot McKnight announced on his blog today that he is leaving North Park University to teach at Northern Seminary. McKnight wrote: For at least five years I have had an inner yearning to teach in a seminary, to concentrate on leaders, pastors and preparing folks to work in churches and in God’s mission in this world, and in fact almost left North Park some time back to join a seminary faculty. It seems increasingly that my natural audience has become... Read more

Scot McKnight announced on his blog today that he is leaving North Park University. He promises to make an announcement tomorrow regarding his plans… I’m guessing Duke, since they collect brilliant scholars like baseball cards… What’s your guess? McKnight is a fair minded scholar who has effectively critiqued neo-reformed folks (he calls them neo-puritan), and offered his own vision of theology, the bible, the kingdom of God, and the mission of God that has avoided the pitfalls of liberalism. I... Read more

Sorry, I’m not able to imbed the video for some reason – to watch it just click on this link:  http://vimeo.com/40538537    My 2nd book Public Jesus is slated to release June 1. You can help me spread the word about this project by linking to this post & to the video below. One of the reasons I was so eager to work with The House Studio on the book project is that they do such a great job of resourcing small... Read more

I confess that I took another pass at triaging my Amazon gift card dilemma. I’m still gripping, but I feel like there’s some significant internal progress being made. I confess that my top five is finally down to seven so it might be getting close to time to order: 1) Bethge’s biography of Bonhoeffer 2) I Thou – Buber 3) After Virtue – McIntyre 4) The Talmud 5) Hauerwas’s book on Bonhoeffer 6) Bonhoeffer’s Works vol. 7 7) Bonhoeffer’s Works... Read more

Today is Earth Day – or as most evangelicals call it – Sunday. Part of the baggage that was imported into evangelicalism through dispensationalism is a low view of creation. It’s going to burn anyway, so why care about the earth, right? Wrong… here’s an excerpt from An Evangelical Social Gospel? (a great Earth Day gift – btw), which alludes to our responsibility to care for the earth. Happy Earth Day! “This relational view of the image of God finds great... Read more