“I need to say something,” the seminarian said prior to giving a benediction to a surprised congregation. “I’ve led worship here three Sundays in a row and I detect an absence of Christian joy,” he declared from the top of…
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In one dream, I find the room and arrive on time, but the seats remain empty. In another I search pantingly for the room as the clock ticks relentlessly past the starting time. Still another has me arriving on time…
The Internet: full of promise, full of power. And full of hype. As a Christian pastor and theologian, and, until recently, a technology professional, I am disturbed by the fawning hype I frequently hear about the Internet. Some of that…
Recently I participated in a theological conference at Brigham Young University. It was called, “Salvation in Christ: Christian Perspectives.” Six Latter Day Saints (LDS) scholars participated as speakers, all of them impressive and serious faculty members in the Religious Studies…
These two recent studies by veteran faculty members take dramatically different approaches to the question of how colleges that are serious about maintaining their Christian identity can resist the temptations of secularization. One seeks an answer far back in the…
I work in a fairly ugly place: downtown Grand Rapids–where one finds cafes, specialty shops, and restaurants next to convenience stores to buy smokes, condoms, and booze. The doorways smell like urine; the sidewalks are littered with trash. And the…