A Father’s Day reflection: Going through Dad’s wallet a couple years after his death was sure to carry me back. How far, I had no idea until I dove in.
Yes, my kids are ‘real’: adoption and the myth of children who are less
As we prepare for the birth of daughter, we have been struck by the differences between the response to her anticipated arrival and the response to our first two children. Kids welcomed into families through adoption are no less “real children” than biological children.
Three ways family ties hinder us in our faith
The “faith of our fathers” offers a nice American ideal, but it also has become one of the key reasons adults fail to respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in their own lives. Those are likely startling words…
Joyless about ‘Amoris Lætitia’
The Catholic Church, a multi-century institution, moves at glacier speed. Pope Francis’s recent post-synodal apostolic exhortation finally moved the Church into the 20th century. Like his earlier apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (EG), Francis attempts a joyful evangelical call for a…
Power of family on display in ‘Room’
The movie Room tells a story that rips at the heart of any parent of a young woman. We see a mother (Brie Larson), parenting a son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), in the tiny confines of a yard shed. As we…
A Christmas to remember
Earlier this week, Amy and I spent a very memorable day back in South Carolina. Over the course of those 24 hours, we experienced joy and celebration; uncertainty and apprehension; followed by relief and profound gratitude. It was the kind…
Santa, Elmo and Jesus
By R. Kevin Johnson Over Thanksgiving dinner this year, our friends asked my wife and me about striking a balance between secular and sacred influences during the holidays. They wanted to know about the “magical” part of this season and…
Pastor cites ‘feminist rebellion’ in moral decline
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist pastor said in a televised sermon Dec. 6 that today’s controversy over transgender rights has its roots in “feminist rebellion” against the Bible’s teaching on hierarchy within marriage. “The mayor of Houston says that…
Things forgotten: The unexpected experience of ‘coming home’
Written by Deborah Foulkes, Ph.D. During the summer of 2015, I had the opportunity to travel to Africa for the first time as part of Biblical Seminary’s Global Trauma Recovery Institute program. As the plane touched the Tarmac, I was…