Jesus' later Galilean ministry (especially as recounted in Mark 8 and 9) is a bit of a rollercoaster for his inner circle of disciples: Peter, James, and John. Peter, especially, can't seem to find any solid footing. First, of course, he is given the biggest "attaboy" in history after his divinely revealed confession of faith […]
5. Collegial Governing: The Senate Calvin argued long and hard that government should not and could not do everything; it had to be limited in its task and scope. If it was not, it would run aground as in the time of the Hebrew prophet Samuel. Calvin's sermon on 1 Samuel 8 addresses one of […]
How many times have we heard that relativism is synonymous with postmodernism? Whether celebrated by friends or assailed by critics, postmodernism is getting a lot more credit (and discredit) than it deserves in contemporary Christian conversations. On the more "Emergent Church" side of things, breaking out of an era of rigid dogmatism and religious intolerance […]
"Imagine"By John Lennon Imagine there's no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace Imagine […]
Nathan the Wise-Which One is the True Religion? is the title of a play written in 1778 by Gotthold Lessing (1729-81), an influential German writer of the Enlightenment era. Set in Jerusalem during the Third Crusade, with Christian crusaders threatening Muslim-controlled Palestine, the play has the Muslim leader Saladin asking Nathan the Wise which is […]
Just the other day I heard the song by George Harrison called "My Sweet Lord" on the radio. Beyond the simple delightfulness of the tune typical of a Beatle, there is something about this particular song that always makes me pause to focus and reflect. I think it has something to do with its honesty, […]
A Not-So-Straightforward Question In many cases, reasonable dialogue is stifled due to lack of clarity concerning key terms in a discussion. Consider the case of two disputants discussing whether or not the claim that "Fred and Carmen have the same car" is true. After listening to the discussion, an outside observer rightly asks for clarification. […]
There are several revisionist theories regarding the origins of Christianity peddled in popular academic culture. One of the more pervasive ones claims that a number of legitimate yet competing understandings of Jesus existed in the first century. Some viewed him as a great moral teacher. Others saw him as a political activist. Still others considered […]
Western Christians and non-Christians alike are spending more time and money than ever before combating the overwhelming tide of suffering in Africa. The level of dedication brings new life to nineteenth-century missionary David Livingstone’s view of service in Africa: “In this work I truly live; in this work I hope to die.” Although Africa is […]
No modern writer has gotten more Christian truth into more heads than C. S. Lewis. His works of popular apologetics are full of clarity, insight, and good sense; his fiction glows with high imagination and wholesome wisdom. No one is better at showing us the contours of the Christian worldview in all their sanity and […]
Little did I suspect when we walked toward King's Chapel in Boston on a hot and steamy Sunday morning in mid-July, that our few steps to the pew would take me back to the fourth century. As my wife and I approached King's Chapel, I scanned the church sign and noticed it was Unitarian. Architecturally, […]
Professor John Stackhouse, Jr., is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of seven books, the most recent of which is Making the Best of it: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford University Press, 2008). He is a senior advisory editor to […]
The interest Christians have taken in Islam has a long and tortuous history, dating back as far as the seventh century. And the vast amount of literature generated over the centuries has, as literature does, given birth to a variety of images of the Muslim world. None of it has been particularly flattering. Rarely has […]
As a lover of art in general and abstraction in particular, I have wrestled with a number of questions. What is art? What constitutes good art? What responsibilities does the artist bear in transmitting one's work to one's audience? What responsibilities (if any) does the audience have in receiving such work? And what happens when […]
Just over one hundred years ago, E. M. Bounds began his influential book Power Through Prayer by calling the Christian community of his day to abandon their reliance upon the latest church growth "techniques" and to concentrate instead on communing with Christ by way of massive doses of Word and prayer. Bounds insisted, The church […]
