What’s a pilgrim to do? The narrow way that leads to life has gotten a bit crowded recently. Merchants have set up shop selling guidebooks that promise the newest (and best) option for reaching the Celestial City. Hearing the sales pitch, one would be forgiven for thinking that “our” stage of the pilgrimage is more […]
Despite strong reviews and an impressive cast, Hail, Caesar!—the latest film from Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, True Grit, No Country for Old Men)—made only $30 million at the box office and hasn’t really scored with viewers. This is a shame, since it’s one of last year’s most fascinating films, particularly from a Christian standpoint. […]
The current moment in the Western church is a watershed in our history. Today, for the first time since antiquity, Western Christians inhabit a largely non-Christian society. For most of us, these changes take the form not of aggressive persecutions but of subtler social pressures. Regular church attendance is no longer a cultural expectation but, […]
While few will argue that Christendom was a glorious era of gospel proclamation and liberation from pagan superstition, it did have its occasional advantages—most notably the right (or the obligation) to worship without fear of molestation by either man or state. The Christian narrative of redemptive history was generally accepted as a rational position, rather […]
Many years ago, an article appearing in the United Airlines inflight magazine addressed a common problem among Americans today. “Not so long ago,” the author wrote, “I was just another harried mom, rushing through the day with one thought always in my mind: Why isn’t there any time?” After describing her crazy-busy life of managing […]
REMEMBER THAT WORSHIP PLEASES THE LORD. Too often, we are preoccupied with how we feel about worship. If we enjoy worship, then we’re more prone to go. If we think it’s dull and boring, then we find it easier to stay home or do something else. The problem with that attitude is that it is […]
For many evangelicals, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago was the benchmark for successful ministry in the latter decades of the twentieth century. But in 2007, after a survey of over thirty churches in the Willow Creek network, founding pastor Bill Hybels and Willow Creek leadership publicly admitted the failure of their approach to […]
(1) America (and indeed, the entire world) is in the midst of momentous change. I don’t mean that as a political slogan. It is change we must understand, because it will profoundly affect America’s prospects for renewal. The entire West is in the midst of deep convulsions relating to the death of East-West polarization and […]
James Eglinton, the Meldrum Lecturer of Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh, has given the church a much-needed translation of Herman Bavinck’s thoughts on preaching and of his only published sermon, “The World-Conquering Power of Faith.” Eglinton, whose dissertation, Trinity and Organism (T&T Clark, 2012), reinvigorated Bavinck studies, opens the door in this volume […]
Like it nor not, the smartphone is changing everything. Only a decade old, it is the most dominant culture-and-life-shaping technology in the world. With its myriad practical and compelling functions—Internet, phone, e-mail, texting, GPS, camera, photos, video, podcasts, music, social media, alarm clock, and so on—it has become virtually impossible to live without. This wouldn’t […]
“Culture” is one of those pesky, paradoxical concepts. Everyone knows what it means as long as they don’t have to define it. It’s a difficult word to define because it is multivocal—it labels many divergent phenomena and suggests relationships among seemingly unrelated items. We know intuitively what “culture” is, and we live within its bounds […]
As the father of three boys and a girl, I’m aware of how different it is growing up today in terms of gender roles. When I hit puberty during the feminist revolution of the seventies, it was tough enough. Raised to open the door for a lady, I discovered that (at least in L.A.) this […]
