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Barefoot on Holy Ground

By Featured, Old TestamentNo Comments

I have spent my life studying the Bible and trying to teach it in such a way that students could experience it as living and active in their lives. That is a high bar that more often than not I failed to clear; I was powerless to implement the deeper learning that I desired for my students. I could not make them love anything, or care for anyone, or open their hearts to the word of God. But I could invite them to follow me on a pilgrimage into the world of the Bible; I could invite them further up and further in (to borrow C.S. Lewis’s phrase) to this world where they might experience the glorious presence of God and feel convicted to live a glorious life. I would often invite my students to follow me into the world of Exodus 3, the narrative of Moses’ call and ordination.

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July 26, 2021
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Divorce, LGBTQ+ Inclusion, and Kicking the Can Down the Road

By Church, Featured8 Comments

How does a denomination resolve sharp differences of opinion? Can the denomination be a big tent where different views are tolerated? Some members insist that the RCA clearly articulate its beliefs about homosexuality, and make sure that all ministers act accordingly. Others insist that RCA members do not agree on this topic and that it is not the role of the denomination to make such statements. Should a denominational statement decide moral questions and church polity?

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July 12, 2021
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Subversion & Sabotage: The Right-to-Life Movement, the Consolidation of Conservsative Power, and the End of Compromise

By American History, Featured, Politics, White American Evangelicalism

Right-to-lifers understood the arguments and goals of the women’s movement and were willing to engage with feminists to a certain extent . . . Unfortunately, a growing conservative contingent in the antiabortion movement viewed the women’s movement as an existential threat to their larger goals and actively sabotaged and undermined attempts by right-to-lifers to work with feminist groups.

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June 7, 2021
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Ben’s Quad Aflame (Notes on Shame)

By Essays, Featured, Memoir

I’ve only been hunting once. It was, on the whole, a memorable experience for all of the right reasons: a handful of days in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with a few cherished family members, chief among them my grandfather, who was nearing the end of his hunting days; eating lots of junk food; sharing stories in the evenings; ripping through forest paths on my uncle’s four-wheel ATVs (“quads”); being “forced” to wear bunny ears at the restaurant for opening day’s dinner…

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May 31, 2021
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