Colin Kaepernick and Our Dysfunctional Public Square
The NAACP’s boycott of the NFL over Colin Kaepernick’s lack of a contract exemplifies in vivid focus the many ways that the American conversation about race and culture is dysfunctional. Admittedly, the stakes in this particular drama are low; whether...
10 Suggestions For New Bible College Students
From one Bible college graduate to another, here’s a brief word to students beginning their education this month: Do not use your school work on the Bible to replace your personal reading of the Bible. Even the most spiritually helpful...
How Christians Hate
One thing I am continually appalled at is how many professing Christians I know seem to think the following line of thinking is OK: “When I look at the people who dislike President Trump, that makes me like him all...
Writing Ourselves Off
Freddie deBoer explains why he’s planning to drop out of the freelance business: I just find, at this point, that the process of pitching, composing, shepherding through edits, promoting, and trying to get paid sucks the life out of me....
Jesus vs the Confederacy
Amidst the violence and brokenness in Charlottesville, Virginia, this picture (I’m unsure of the source) has been circulating widely: There’s a lot going on here, and probably nothing as striking as the image of a black police officer standing guard...
The Bible Is Not a Slideshow For Your Hot Take
The suicide of a public figure almost invariably triggers a cringe-worthy season in the evangelical blogosphere. Time after time, Christian writers succumb to the temptation to wring a tragedy for its newsworthiness, then smash out a 700-word blog about it....
Memo to my Fellow Southern Baptists: Might Is Not Right
First Baptist Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress’s comments about President Donald Trump (for whom he is an official surrogate) and North Korea are deeply irresponsible, even if interpreted in the most charitable light imaginable. In remarks to The Washington Post, Jeffress...
Orthodoxy, Sexuality, and the Local Church
James K.A. Smith’s post about orthodoxy, Christian creeds, and sexuality has provoked much commentary, most of it far more thoughtful than anything I could write here. I agree with Smith’s critics that his case against labeling revisionist sexual theology as...
No Divination Against Israel
When Balak the king of Moab sees the victory of the Israelites against the Amorites, he calls for one of his oracles, Balaam (Numbers 22-24). “Curse this people for me, ” he says, “since they are too mighty for me....
God Is & God Does
I’ve been reading Joe Rigney’s The Things of Earth: Treasuring God By Enjoying His Gifts, and cannot recommend it too highly. For me Joe’s contemplations have been like cold spring water on a thick August afternoon. For years I have...