Ian Paul’s post, “What does it mean to ‘love God with your mind’?” is really very good and deserves a careful and thoughtful read. Here’s a quote from one of my favorite books in this space: The believer is a critical adventurer, taking rationally responsible risks. If he or sheRead More
Short answer: Yes. However, and this may seem obvious and come as no surprise, it seems to me that for those who affirm and embrace Christianity, there is some measure of obligation to grow or mature in the faith. Consider how the image of “infant” or “children” is used inRead More
It’s been said that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I’m uncertain about the role of “sincere” flattery, but it’s more than clear that imitating others is an indication of their personal influence and impact. Imitation shows that what others do plays a significant role in our behavior and characterRead More
What follows is advice I gave when someone asked how I handled my anger. I don’t pretend to have it all together in this arena and certainly do fail periodically in keeping my anger under control. But, over the years, I have gleaned some wisdom and have learned a fewRead More
Being transformed by God’s grace into the image of God’s Son is the destiny of God’s people. But what does God say about the journey? On the one hand Scripture encourages all believers to rest in the hope that “he who began a good work in you will carry itRead More
Scot McKnight has a brief post pointing to Larry Hurtado‘s newest release Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World. There he highlights distinctions between political, cultural, and religious identities in the first century world and notes that a Christian religious identity was unique among them all.Read More
Slowly working through Craig Keener’s The Mind of the Spirit: Paul’s Approach to Transformed Thinking and finding it to be not only rigorous and thorough (who could expect anything less from Keener?) but personally penetrating and acute on many levels. He’s giving many reasons for me to think more carefullyRead More
THIS is IMPORTANT on so very many levels! I’m speechless after listening through. I hope you will do likewise. I really, really do!Read More
Joy and Human Flourishing: Essays on Theology, Culture, and the Good Life contains essays by Jürgen Moltmann, N. T. Wright, Marianne Meye Thompson, Mary Clark Moschella, Charles Mathewes, and Miroslav Volf. It ties joy with other biblical themes such as ecclesiology, happiness, pastoral counseling, creation, and, of course, suffering. The followingRead More
This is the last post in this series on Confucius for Christians by Gregg Ten Elshof (part 1 here and part 2 here). In many respects, chapter 4, “Ethics,” is preliminary. It does not “nail down” specifics or offer air-tight rules to live by. Instead it presents a framework in which toRead More
With tools like Google, social media, smart phones, etc., learning is no longer requisite for obtaining knowledge. Just one click of the mouse, one stroke of the keyboard, or one tap on the screen and an answer to our query is almost instantaneous. There is no striving, no process; only input/output. TheRead More