The Gospels have sometimes been described as Passion narratives with long introductions! Nowhere is this truer than in John’s Gospel. He spends more time than Matthew, Mark, or Luke on the life of Jesus. He quickly skips over the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, almost—it seems—in a rush to get Jesus to […]
The church I attend was born 140 years ago, a classic little white clapboard. The first time I saw her, I sighed at the thought of calling her home. The front is a blocky triangle, due to the addition of bathrooms on either side of the original facade (post-Victorian weaklings decided they were needed, and […]
When we think of the cross, we are not immediately to think of a pretty symbol. I think that’s a great danger: to think of it as a glamorized or bejeweled symbol that might adorn a person’s neck or home. Rather, we are to associate it in our mind with torture, with unrelieved thirst, with […]
God often uses hard providences to bring forth spiritual growth in the hearts and lives of his children. As the apostle Paul famously promised to followers of Jesus, “All things work together for good” (Rom. 8:28)—and by “all things,” Paul meant all things, including hard providences. Sometimes that “all” is quite turbulent and God’s children […]
Most people I know who are engaged in missions (overseas or at home) seem to reflect one of two orientations: either they are old-school colonial-era missionaries and the nationals who work with them, or they are postcolonial missionaries and nationals. I suggest that both options are a dead end. My conviction is that the only […]
Although the world may deny the reality of sin—and thus the need for salvation—as Christians, we face the reality of our own sin on a daily basis. We have come to Christ because we understand our need to be saved from God’s judgment. Sadly, though, too many of us are still tempted to address our […]
And by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. (1 Cor. 15:2) Christians throw the word gospel around a lot. Based on my experiences, however, as a high school teacher, campus minister, parish pastor, and college professor, and in my work […]
When thinking about the crucifixion, many people assume that since the Romans were in charge, Jesus was most likely taken to a Roman execution site somewhere outside the city wall of Jerusalem. But in John 19, we’re told that Pilate delivered Jesus over to the chief priests and that they were the ones who led […]
Keep Up Your Biblical Greek in Two Minutes a Day: Volume 1 / Volume 2 Keep Up Your Biblical Hebrew in Two Minutes a Day: Volume 1 / Volume 2 by Jonathan G. Kline Hendrickson, 2017 370 pages each (hardcover), $39.95 each When I turned forty years old, I crested the hill of my physical […]
Grounded in Heaven: Recentering Christian Hope and Life on God by Michael Allen Eerdmans, 2018 192 pages (paperback), $18.00 The central message of Michael Allen’s Grounded in Heaven: Recentering Christian Hope and Life on God might be summed up in one pithy axiom: The vertical empowers the horizontal. The more those who know the Lord […]
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King Harry N. Abrams, 2018 320 pages (hardback), $30.00 There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind. —Fred Rogers Earlier this year, PBS […]
The crucifixion. We say the words and immediately everyone knows what we are talking about. As Fleming Rutledge reminds us in The Crucifixion, “There have been many famous deaths in world history; we might think of John F. Kennedy, or Marie Antoinette, or Cleopatra, but we do not refer to ‘the assassination,’ ‘the guillotining,’ or […]
