This is a short sermon I preached recently. I’ve had to practice crafting and preaching short sermons recently. It’s difficult, but it is also extremely rewarding. Short sermons force me to really understand the biblical text well. You have to know it well enough to communicate the deep truths present in the text in concise format. I still prefer the 30-45 minute sermon as ideal, but these shorter ones do have their place. “The God Who Keeps His Promises” 13 But... Read more

I just received word the other day that I was first runner-up (it sounds better than second place) in a writing competition put on by Asbury Theological Seminary, my graduate school. The competition—the David Bauer Prize for Excellence in Writing—was a new attempt to allow masters-level students at Asbury present their research and writing to peers. The paper that I submitted is titled, “Holy Strangeness: Early Christian Distinctiveness and Public Witness in a Pluralistic World.” Essentially, the paper is a... Read more

This is a sermon I recently preached on Mark 4:35-41, the account of Jesus’s calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee. It is a short sermon, only about 12 minutes in length. In fact, this is the shortest sermon I’ve ever preached! Of course, I grew up Southern Baptist and 45 minute to hour-long sermons were par for the course. And since it is a sermon, you will probably notice several oral/aural cues throughout that make sense in... Read more

I am currently working my way through Matthew Bates’ brand new book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Baker Academic, 2017). So far it is proving to be excellent, and I will write a full-scale review of the book soon. Until then, here is a quote from Bates’ discussion of how understanding the Greek word pistis as “allegiance” (a concept that “welds mental agreement, professed fealty, and embodied loyalty”) instead of simply “faith” helps us... Read more

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, you’ve almost certainly heard about Orthodox journalist Rod Dreher’s new book, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in Post-Christian America (Sentinel, 2017). It has elicited no shortage of both praise and derision amongst reviewers. I just finished it up for myself a couple of days ago and wanted to write out a few of my initial reflections. As such, this is not a full-fledged review. There have... Read more

Do you ever wonder what exactly is going on the Bible when one of the biblical authors commands their audience to “Hear” or to “Listen”? Well, the awesome people over at The Bible Project have just put out a video in their new “Word Study” series on that topic.  “Hearing,” and “listening” for the biblical authors has much bigger connotation than simply listening to sounds waves produced by speech. Enjoy the video! Read more

I am recording an email conversation that a fellow seminary student and I had a few days ago. As you will read below, “John” (I’ve changed his name for privacy purposes) and I discussed why deep study of systematic and dogmatic theology seems to be lacking in Wesleyan circles. Of course, my response here is influenced by my own context within conservative, predominantly Methodist, Wesleyan circles. People in other contexts will of course have slightly different—though not utterly contradictory—experiences. John’s Initial... Read more

Over at The Atlantic Peter Beinart has a fantastic article on the fury and invective that rising secularism has brought about in socio-political discourse, particularly in the recent election. I won’t spoil the article for you (it really is a great piece) but, in essence, Beinart argues that the decline in religious participation—particularly traditionally Christian participation—has brought about what could be described as a sort of “post-Christendom neo-paganism.” At least that’s how I describe it. Beinart notes how ideologues on both the political right... Read more

The reality of space and place is often lost on us as post-Enlightenment Westerners. We forget that where we are from, where we are currently, and where we are going all have a formative role on us as persons. As Christians, you’d think we would be more aware of the importance of space and place on our formation. All throughout both the Old and New Testaments space and place play a key role in relation to the people of God.... Read more

Roger Scruton is consistently a breath of fresh air in the world of philosophical thought. In a world of voices like Daniel Dennett, who seek to deny the whole subjective, intentional “I” of human personhood (which of course undercuts Dennett’s own intentional statements in his writing; the assemblage of matter that has been labeled “Daniel Dennett” isn’t actually saying anything with intentional meaning and the assemblage of matter that has been labeled as an audience isn’t really thinking about any... Read more