"Freedom" is a word that gets bandied about a lot, mostly by politicians and ideologues. They shroud it in historical nostalgia and glittering, indeterminate progressive garb, tapping into the subjective warmth and tempered patriotism it elicits in their hearers. What exactly we need to be freed from and what we'll do with that freedom once […]
My life is a mess. People are talking about having purpose-driven lives. That sounds better than what I have now. So much of what I do does not seem to have a real purpose. Get in the car. Go to work. Get frustrated in traffic. Spend too much time on the Internet when I get […]
Modern Reformation editors wanted to take a look at how hip-hop artists are exploring the life and ministry of Christ in their work. We were privileged to chat with Shai Linne on justification, racial reconciliation, and Kanye West. Shai Linne has appeared on numerous independent and national Christian hip-hop releases, including his 2005 full-length debut, […]
Duke historian Grant Wacker tells us that in the winter of 1887, a group calling itself the Evangelical Alliance for the United States met in Washington, DC. It was an appropriate site for a noble assemblage of scholars, pastors, college presidents, and other leaders who were intent on recapturing the moral, spiritual, and political clout […]
Apparently, the latest congregational survey story goes like this: Willow Creek Com-munity Church, a 5,000-member, five-campus nondenominational church in Illinois, has been surveying its members every three years since 1992; but the latest set of surveys from 2004 to 2007 have set off an alarm bell for senior minister Bill Hybels and his strategic planning […]
In seminary, my patristics professor once told my class that if someone claims to have read all of Augustine, they’re probably not being truthful. In his latest book, On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts, James K. A. Smith makes no such grandiose claim; in fact, his goals are refreshingly […]
(PART FIVE OF A FIVE-PART SERIES) How do you solve a problem like Maria?How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? Oscar Hammerstein wrote these words to introduce the character of Maria in The Sound of Music. It’s actually a song of frustration, sung by three nuns in the abbey where Maria is […]
MR: What is a good definition of worship? CF: The apostle Paul did a pretty good job in defining worship as action in Romans 12:1-2. The key word here is "therefore," which refers to Paul's meditation regarding the work of God in Jesus Christ in the previous chapter. Worship is a holy spiritual sacrifice involving […]
MR: Today the prevailing view is that church is boring and irrelevant. Would you be so kind as to address this?Dr. Boice: Yes, that is the prevailing view and I think it has a lot of justification. I am in a lot of churches that I find boring and irrelevant. How do you get a […]
Previously, I argued that American “woke” and “red-pill” tribes mirror one another’s motions. If the polls can be trusted, it would appear that an unusual percentage of our fellow countrymen are electing for one of the two main parties in November. And if the polls cannot be trusted, few would contest the myriad of subtle […]
Why go to church? According to a Pew Research Center survey, Christians answer that question in a variety of ways, with common responses being: to grow closer to God, to give children a moral foundation, to become a better person, and to meet a religious obligation. While none of these reasons are wrong per se, […]
It can sometimes appear as though Christians are threatened by questioning. Those who question must somehow be doubters or even unbelievers. The faithful need only believe and be silent. Enter Matthew Anderson and his new book, The End of Our Exploring: A Book About Questioning and the Confidence of Faith. Anderson argues persuasively that questioning […]