Featured Articles
The Case for “Messed Up” Stories
There was a time in my career when the father of one of my students (in a different decade and a different state) requested a conference with me to advocate for the use of Christian biographies instead of fiction. His argument, although well-meaning, seemed designed to protect students instead of preparing them for life in a complicated world—and lacked any acknowledgement or awareness of the challenge of finding stories that students will actually read and engage with.
Featured Articles
Your Leap of Change
All of us spend much of our lives constructing the protection we think we need to survive and thrive. These layers of defense work well until crisis hits and they start to crumble. At this point you face a choice: double down on the defenses, or open yourselves to the pain and discover the life that is waiting to be revealed to you. In a book by Kelley Nikondeha I first read this truth, “Only the pain we name is available for transformation.”
Fact Checking the Reformed Journal
But Jeff wasn’t asking for a dissertation-level, academic deep dive on any of these claims. He was just curious about the general consensus out there
For Those Who Fret About It
For much of my pastoral life, I’ve conversed in living rooms, at park benches, and in bars and cafés with people wondering about Christian faith,
How Reading Calvin’s Institutes Made Sense of a Glioblastoma
Calvin probably wouldn’t agree with my assessment of the evil tumor. For Calvin, the providence of God both sent the tumor and provided the surgeon,
My Last Letter to Zak
Earlier this summer, I wrote my last letter to a boyhood friend. He was executed 11 days after I mailed it. In his letter to
My Friendship with Walter Brueggemann
Walter was one who lived at his own crossroads of shame and grace, light and dark, brokenness and redemption. In Jungian terms, he befriended his
Our Meeting with Gorbachev: When Moscow Asked American Christians for Help
I had never met either of the two Senators from Illinois, or the mayor of Chicago, or even the mayor of my hometown, Cicero, and
Latest from the Blog
Daily blog by our regular bloggers & guest contributors.
Day One Rant
Faith & Formation This year, I’ve started adjunct-teaching a class at Palm Beach Atlantic University, here in West Palm Beach, called Christian Faith & Formation.
Wrestle with your First Draft Thoughts, but Keep Them Offline
On September 11, 2025, the day after the Charlie Kirk assassination, I journaled about my intention to stay off social media as much as possible. The
Making America Inaccessible Again
Trump’s second term has included numerous orders threatening or nullifying advances of the Disability Rights Movement that have taken decades to achieve.
Putting the “Calvin” back in Calvinism
Over the next four Tuesdays, I will explore a few themes of Calvin that I think have resonance for Neo-Calvinist and Reformed communities today.
My Hand Over My Mouth
Job’s response is so fitting. “You have spoken of things too wonderful for me. I put my hand over my mouth.”
Sinners: This is Who We Are
Right on cue came the well-choreographed public dismay, along with one of the most well-rehearsed lines in our grotesque public liturgy: “This is not who
The Witness of the Witnesses
Who knew? This small Christian sect, considered heterodox by many, stood firm against an evil regime.
Don’t Hate Your Customer
I tend to call them campers. People without a home care more about finding a place to rest than what we call them.
Reviews
They Saw a Game: Review of The Unbiased Self by Erin Devers
When I taught Social Psychology in the spring, I began the semester with a story about a football game between Dartmouth and Princeton in 1951.
A Sustaining Vision: The Soulwork of Justice
In an era when social justice movements often burn bright and fast, leaving exhausted activists in their wake, Wes Granberg-Michaelson offers something desperately needed: a
A Crisis of Imagination: Spiritual Formation and Development
The opening words of Lanta Davis’ Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation led me to expect a much different kind
Where Science Meets the Soul: Exploring Integrating Psychology and Faith by Moes & Riek
Moes and Riek’s motivation to write Integrating Psychology and Faith stemmed from teaching the psychology and religion capstone course for their university’s psychology major. They
Searching for the Elusive
Socrates, who famously said that the unexamined life is not worth living, never met Doyle Shields, the main character in Thomas Lynch’s novel No Prisoners.
Bearing Witness to Scars
I was 21, unmarried, and pregnant the day I sat across from my pastor, asking for help. My voice was trembling, my future uncertain. He
Colonialism, Racism, and Empire
What if the Israeli-Palestinian war isn’t just a political dispute, but a colonial project with deep historical roots, and what if our understanding of Christian
In Equal Measure, His Heart Expanded
I started asking for a horse in the third grade. My parents, wary of what might be a passing fancy, wisely refused. As I grew
Poetry
A Famine of Words
It says right there in Amos chapter eight: “The time is surely coming,” syas the Lord …
After Denise Levertov’s Essays
My mind stops, one foot in the air …
Awake
An olive tree, aflame in my mind, awake in the wee hours …
On Absolution
I pass the big nursery on the way to see my father for the first time in a year …
Grafting Apple Shoots
Gashes in the green. Stumps and roots serve in …
Winterscape with Hair Gel and Citrus
Each day you wak to the same gray sky, snow covering the gass like scarves the women wear …
Podcasts
“A Famine of Words” by Steven Peterson
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviewed Steven Peterson about his poem “A Famine of Words.” Steven is
“After Denise Levertov’s Essays” by Caroline J. Simon
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Caroline J. Simon, PhD, about her poem “After Denise Levertov’s Essays.”
“On Absolution” by Lila Tindall
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Lila Robinett Tindall about her poem “On Absolution.” Lila is
“Grafting Apple Shoots” by Betsy Howard
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Betsy Howard about her poem “Grafting Apple Shoots.” Betsy serves
“Winterscape with Hair Gel and Citrus” by Marci Rae Johnson
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Marci Rae Johnson about her poem “Winterscape with Hair Gel and
“Annunication” by Janet Heller
In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the Poetry Edition, Rose Postma talks with Janet Ruth Heller about her poem “Annunication.” Heller is the