Resources from 2015
One of the hallmarks of a good storyteller is character development. While one-dimensional, predictable characters can derail a good plot, even a simple story can come alive if inhabited with characters written with depth and complexity. Many of us have forgotten that one of the best ways to approach the Bible is as a story […]
In his book on director Martin Scorsese, the late film critic Roger Ebert described the ominous context in which he previewed The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). Prior to its release, he was invited to a private screening and watched the film alone. "This was not a perk," he writes. "It was a security measure." […]
So, this is death. My son’s body, yesterday strong and lively, is lying listless and cold in a pool of blood. I have seen animals dying, even back in the Garden, when the Lord replaced our inadequate leaf coverings with animal skins, sacrificing an animal for our protection. But this is different. Death has come […]
My feet rarely stand idle when God is around. He's always telling me to go. It's been that way from the beginning, when he spoke to me in Ur: "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you." I remember hearing those first words as […]
I awoke to the sound of screaming. I sat up with a jerk, my throat knotted as the piercing cry filled the tent again. "A snake!" It was my wife, Adah. Grabbing my spear, I sat up. "Where is it?" "I don't know. Close!" I heard a rasping sound. My wife jumped, yelling and shaking […]
You have asked me to share my wisdom with you; you have come here to sit at my table in the hope that you will be enlightened. So I will share what I know. I have thought for a long time about all that our God has made’all of us wonderful creatures he has wrought, […]
I, King Ahaz, admit it. It didn’t turn out as I expected. But realistically, what alternative did I have? My administration and my nation were under military assault from all sides, and I needed to forge an alliance with a rising power, one with expansionistic aspirations and that would welcome a pretext for invading my […]
"Welcome to Babylon, Daniel," said Ashpenaz, bow?ng low before us. I stared numbly at Nebuchadnezzar's chief eunuch. So much had just happened to me and my friends. When Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and I were little more than boys, we had looked on in horror as the king's army destroyed Jerusalem. The city was sacked and […]
Promises are powerful. God made a promise, a worldwide, game-changing promise, and every story in the Bible finds its way back to this promise of hope. Yet, when we consider the Old Testament, it can be confusing to dip into one part of it, especially without knowing much about the other parts. The thread that […]
No amount of freedom is worth the compromise of biblical teachings” (52). This maxim can serve as a reminder of Christian priorities at a time when religious freedom remains under threat throughout the world. In Marie Durand, Simonetta Carr reflects on persecuted Protestants in eighteenth-century France. After the revocation of the right to peaceful worship, […]
Bonhoeffer's Seminary Vision: A Case for Costly Discipleship and Life Together by Paul R. House
Bonhoeffer's Seminary Vision arises out of the author's theological reflection over nearly two decades of seminary involvement in both teaching and administration. Paul House writes concerned for the shift in seminary education from face-to-face teaching in a community context to online distance learning. He is convinced that "a biblical theology of pastoral formation makes face-to-face […]
Honest Evangelism: How to Talk about Jesus Even When It's Tough by Rico Tice with Carl Laferton
When we consider our duties in evangelism, most of us have wondered what to say and how to engage people naturally. Rico Tice addresses these concerns in his new book, Honest Evangelism: How to Talk about Jesus Even When It's Tough. Tice's solutions are sensible and practical. Be a good listener. Play to your strengths. […]
Since the end of the nineteenth century in American churches, the pendulum has swung back and forth between saving souls (View A) and transforming culture (View B). As different as these approaches appear to be, both succumb to precisely the same error: the confusion of law and gospel. View A is worried about confusing evangelism […]
The good news is that Jesus is one of the most popular figures of history. A few years ago, a polling company asked Americans of all faiths and no faith who they thought was the most popular historical figure. Jesus, alas, didn’t come in first. He was beaten by Abraham Lincoln. But a 90 percent […]
Church historians have documented 1517, the year Martin Luther published his ninety-five theses, as a starting point of the Reformation and chronicled in depth his public persona and private life. But in depicting Reformation-era personalities and politics, they seemed to have overlooked the important role played by the Cranach family. The earlier creation of the […]
