As the holiday season approaches, my inbox and our mailbox seems to fill quickly with Christmas greetings and with requests for money. We love getting Christmas cards and letters. After reading them, my wife displays them around the living room…
Singing faith: Hymns both praise and teach
By Ken Camp Last summer’s controversy over removal of the contemporary hymn “In Christ Alone” from a new Presbyterian hymnal over doctrinal differences on how to understand the atonement illustrates the importance of church music not only to celebrate but…
Where is God when bad stuff happens?
Where is God when bad things happen? Across the ages, this question has perplexed and frustrated those afflicted with suffering, grief, and pain. Theologians and philosophers have wrestled with scriptural texts and rational thought striving to make sense of the…
Finding God in the suffering
By Molly T. Marshall With relentless coverage, the world is caught up in the riveting images coming out of the Philippines. Our ever-warming world careens from one disaster to another, each described as of “epic proportion,” ostensibly meaning that they…
Theological reflections on a bulldog
By Julie Pennington-Russell Our dear English Bulldog, Willie Boy, died last week. Hearts are still at half-mast around here. Back in December of 2005, in a moment of temporary insanity, Tim and I decided to grant our daughter Lucy’s persistent…
Debating doctorates in a missional world
By Jeff Brumley Brian McLaren is recognized as one of the most influential shapers of progressive Christian thought and has revolutionized the way many conceive and practice evangelism, church planting, worship and spiritual formation. Yet McLaren, who is closely associated…
SBC leader says Halloween a moral issue
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist leader and scholar says Halloween is a good time for Christians to remember that evil spirits are real and to make decisions on whether or how to celebrate the holiday accordingly. Albert Mohler, president…
On serving God or money (and why Dave Ramsey should stick to personal finances)
When we as Christians formulate our opinions on social concerns, there are a number of Jesus’ teachings that we seem to forget. In the running for the top, most forgotten principle is Jesus’ quote in Matt 6:24/Luke 16:13: “You cannot…
A feast of ‘splendid nobodies’
By Molly T. Marshall Each fall I teach a course titled “Spirituality and Creativity” with the entering cohort in our create program, a rather up-tempo form of the master of divinity. We meet at Conception Abbey, a hospitable Benedictine monastery…