The Importance of An Actual Personal Lecture

Last updated on: January 30, 2013 at 3:03 pm By Owen Strachan

Saw this in a terrific piece on class lecturing at The Atlantic. In an age gravitating toward online education, essays like this deserve careful consideration. Richard Gunderman, a professor at Indiana University, offers these thoughts on the unique contribution of a live, personal lecture: The core purpose of a great lecturer is not primarily to transmit information. To this end, other techniques, such as assigning a reading in a textbook or distributing an electronic copy of the notes, can be equally... Read more

Place Matters: What Do Millennials Want in a Home?

Last updated on: January 29, 2013 at 12:06 pm By Owen Strachan

The Wall Street Journal just ran a fun story on what millennials want in a home. Interesting to see how domestic priorities have changed in a few decades: Outdoor space is important—but please, just a place to put the grill and have some friends over. Lawn-mowing not desired. Amenities such as fitness centers, game rooms and party rooms are important (“Is the room big enough to host a baby shower?” a millennial might think). “Outdoor fire pits,” suggested Tony Weremeichik of... Read more

On Churchill: The Remarkable Story of a Biography 25 Years in the Making

Last updated on: January 28, 2013 at 1:20 pm By Owen Strachan

The New York Times published a piece a bit ago on the writing of the third volume of William Manchester’s biography of Winston Churchill. It’s quite a story. Here’s an excerpt: Manchester would have been a hard act to follow for even a much more seasoned writer. Back in the late 1970s, he began his biography of Churchill for what would end up being a $1 million advance. Then a writer in residence at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., Manchester... Read more

Q&A with Baptist Press on Women in Combat

Last updated on: January 26, 2013 at 8:51 am By Owen Strachan

The decision to place American women in combat has ignited a firestorm of debate. Note this arresting description of combat conditions in the Wall Street Journal by Ryan Smith, an infantryman who served in Iraq: When we did reach Baghdad, we were in shambles. We had not showered in well over a month and our chemical protective suits were covered in a mixture of filth and dried blood. We were told to strip and place our suits in pits to be... Read more

Lance Armstrong Heard the Gospel on a RAGBRAI Trip

Last updated on: January 26, 2013 at 10:33 am By Owen Strachan

My buddy Jed Coppenger, starting a church plant in Nashville, is a bold evangelist. I love it. He once witnessed to Jim Carrey. He’s also witnessed to Lance Armstrong, the figure who’s been justly and publicly shamed for his cheating at cycling. Here’s the story from Baptist Press: Armstrong, who was cycling in the annual 450-mile ride across Iowa known as RAGRAI, was in a pack of enthusiasts until a serendipitous crash left the brothers beside the cycling legend. “On... Read more

God’s Amazing Grace: From Lesbian Professor to Presbyterian Mother

Last updated on: January 25, 2013 at 11:40 am By Owen Strachan

I don’t know if by now you’ve heard of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. She recently wrote the book Secret Thoughts from an Unlikely Convert. A forum at Patrick Henry College (video above) featured Butterfield discussing her life story and her conversion. Without exaggeration, this is one of the most remarkable conversion stories I’ve ever heard. Some years ago, Butterfield was a lesbian in a committed relationship. She was a tenured professor of English and Women’s Studies at Syracuse University. She had a platform... Read more

Women Should Not Be in Combat (Says a Female Marine Captain)

Last updated on: January 24, 2013 at 1:24 pm By Owen Strachan

Complementarian Christians are the most pro-women people around. We love women. We rejoice in them. We celebrate them. Many of us in actual terms are “them,” of course! We know that God has created them with dignity and worth. We know that their structure and form display his ingenuity and creativity in a way that men do not, because men and women are fundamentally different (though we share much, naturally and spiritually). We want women to flourish and thrive and do things... Read more

History Cage-Match: Did Carl Henry or Harold Ockenga “Invent” Evangelicalism?

Last updated on: January 23, 2013 at 1:43 pm By Owen Strachan

In a new piece at Christianity Today, historian Timothy George writes of the significance of Baptist theologian Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry. George’s take is that Henry “invented post-war evangelicalism.” He explains himself: Henry did not invent post-war evangelicalism all by himself, of course. He had lots of help from Harold John Ockenga, the Strategist; Billy Graham, the Evangelist; Bill Bright, the Activist; Francis Schaeffer, the Apologist; and many others. But it was Henry more than anyone else who argued the case and... Read more

Dear Evangelicals: You Don’t Need to Be Quiet, You Need to Speak Up

Last updated on: February 4, 2013 at 5:56 pm By Owen Strachan

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When it comes to evangelical public engagement, many of us are metaphorically in rocking chairs. The culture’s sure shifting, we say as we gaze at the sunset. In twenty years, you might lose your pulpit. We whistle low and shake our head. Crazy world. When it comes to all that cultural rabble-rousing, we grimace. We don’t want to go all Moral Majority in our pastorates and our churches. We’re avoiding all those overheated controversies. We’re not going to lose our soul to... Read more

When SoulCycle Is Your Religion

Last updated on: January 21, 2013 at 12:17 pm By Owen Strachan

Caught this from a shocking New York profile of the SoulCycle phenomenon, the exercise company know for “spinning” and for religious devotion to its customers. Don’t believe me? Read the article and sections like this: “I would do anything that I could to afford these rides,” says 27-year-old Jaime, who often takes thirteen classes a week (estimated cost: $21,632 per year). She’s arranged her schedule to have Mondays off work so that she can always be at her computer the moment classes... Read more