So many of us are lonely. Modern Western culture — Christian and not — has all but lost its rich heritage of friendship. Below is my first try at writing out an idea I call “Covenantal Friendship.” I wrote this piece to get out of an assignment for a seminary counseling course. I’d treasure your feedback. What’s Wrong? In a 2011 address to the Biola University student body, Dr. Matt Jenson argued, “The Church is...
Kanye West’s 7th album, The Life of Pablo (TLOP) was released a few weeks ago. On this album, Kanye gives his listeners a window into his life and thoughts. Furthermore, I believe this album gives us a picture of a particular type of Christianity that characterizes our american society. The Atlantic’s review of the album is spot on with its analysis of the individual tracks as it details Kanye’s struggle between family life and the...
“By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust. And to dust you will return” (Genesis 3.19). Ever since then, humanity has been faced with a choice regarding this decree: either ignore it, avoid it, and live as if death were just an old wives’ tale, or understand it, accept it, and embrace it as a fundamental...
I received this invite for a cool conference opportunity from my friend Andrew: Good morning, and greetings from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC! I hope you are doing well. We at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary are pleased to announce the 2016 SEBTS PhD Symposium Competition on A Theology of Faith, Work, and Economics. The Symposium Competition is available to all current PhD students and will be hosted on our campus in Wake...
I once attended a funeral for a man (lets call him “Joe-Bob”) who was renowned in our little town in South Dakota for his regular place at the local bar. It was a unique affair with testimonials that praised Joe-Bob’s happy outlook on life, his ability to hold his alcohol, and his consistent appearance at the third seat down from the tap. Joe-Bob’s widow poignantly pointed out that, even though Joe-Bob was dying of cirrhosis...
Donald Trump addressed a mandatory convocation at Liberty University this week, and the internet has been abuzz. The “big news”? Trump said “Two Corinthians” instead of “Second Corinthians”, seemingly revealing his true biblical illiteracy. Little attention has been paid, at least as far as Twitter is concerned, about the content of his quotation, or the use of the Bible itself. It would seem that if Trump had nailed the rhetoric he would have passed the...
2015 was a strange year for the world. Historic court decisions in the US, riots and political uprisings throughout the world, Wars, terrorism, political civil wars, and terrible tragedies. It seems that the world as we know is crumbling around us. The new year didn’t bring anything that new, but simply a pause to our heated discussions over race, violence, politics, and our very way of life. And it seems that there is no hope...
Darwin’s philosophy of aesthetics is exciting. History is the progression of creation from “so simple a beginning,” to “endless forms most beautiful and wonderful.” (On the Origin of Species, p. 507) If we have any capacity at all to appreciate the beauty we see in the world, we have to be thankful to whatever is responsible for making things the way they are. According to Darwin, Christian doctrine at the time maintained that all species...
I am pleased to say that my newest article has just appeared in the latest issue of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal—the only academic journal devoted exclusively to the life and work of C. S. Lewis. My article is on C. S. Lewis’ (arguably) greatest work of fiction, Till We Have Faces, and looks at the potential influence of the biblical book of Esther on the novel. Below is the title and the abstract...
I first received the news of Howard Marshall, one of the most influential New Testament scholars in the world, passing away late Saturday night. Several blog posts are cropping up containing tributes and summaries of his life and work. In this blog post, I thought I might add a few personal notes about my experience of I. Howard Marshall I came to the University of Aberdeen to do a PhD in New Testament knowing that...
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