When I wrote my most recent statement on how faith informs my work in language and literature, I chose this prompt from Calvin College’s faculty handbook: “Write an essay for the broader Christian community explaining what is at stake in the Christian engagement with your discipline … Incorporate examples from your own teaching and research.” In my Written Rhetoric class, I’ve recently begun teaching an essay titled “The Braindead Megaphone” from a book of the same name by commentator and…
When Israel asked for a king, the prophet Samuel warned them that the pomp and power of kingship would come at a high cost. A king would conscript their sons and daughters into his service, would take the best of their harvest and would make them his slaves. “And in that day,” Samuel predicted, “you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day” (1 Sam….
Americans of a certain age can think back to the days of their childhood and recall how “Cold War science” was built into their political system and social imagination. The consolidation of technology and power during those days stirred dark fears about the dehumanizing effects of industrialized militaries and computerized decision-making. Now, several decades later, we have become accustomed to such threats, just as we have grown comfortable with the default image of science that produced them. But this image…
When I was in graduate school, one of my professors had the habit of referring to that present time (the mid to late 70s) as “these late, bad times,” and many of us took up the chorus, seasoning our conversations with references to “these late, bad times.” We thought his assessment to be hyperbolic – he was old, and we were young, still preparing ourselves for the opportunities of work, career, vocation. Now that I am gradually approaching old age…
Lately I’ve noticed that even the way I waste time is less refreshing than it was before the internet and social media. I used to find myself staring out the window or doodling on paper. I still do these kinds of things, but much more often my allotment of bad time use is spent hitting a link from a relevant news story and finding myself, 20 minutes later, taking a quiz to find out which member of the Village People…
Being theologically Reformed is tremendously important to me. I’m a convert, and it’s always the converts that you have to watch! Those of us who come to the Reformed tradition from elsewhere are often the ones who are most passionate about it, and who want to say, “Wow! You have a real gift here! Treasure it!” When I first became a Christian, I had no idea the Reformed tradition existed. When I discovered it, I realized I had come home…
Anthropologist Paul Hiebert wrote an article in 1979 titled “Sets and Structures: A Study in Church Patterns.” Catchy title, isn’t it? Fortunately, his essay is far more interesting and informative than its name. Hiebert explains two ways of forming and understanding group belonging, specifically as it pertains to being a Christian. That is, two ways that a group – in this case the church – structures itself to determine who belongs to it. He uses the phrases bounded sets and…
Let me begin by warmly thanking Matthew Tuininga, who has become my good friend, for the generous spirit of his response to the talk I gave on same-sex marriage at Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, on October 13 last year. Would that all discussions of this intensely controversial topic breathed such a spirit of respect and friendship! It will help the reader understand my response to Tuininga if I briefly summarize what I said in my talk:…
A couple of months ago, philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff made big news when he delivered a speech at Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, in favor of same-sex marriage. The speech has evoked mixed reviews: Those who desire to see the church affirm monogamous same-sex sexual relationships are ecstatic to have a scholar of Wolterstorff’s stature on their side (however cautiously he may have presented his case), while those committed to the biblical conception of marriage as being between…
“You just can’t understand.” It frustrated me when my daughter would tell me, “You just don’t get it. You can’t get it.” I remember the day that she was born. My daughter was 23 hours old when she was placed in my arms by her birth mother. A literal waterfall, a sheet of tears, obscured my view. And when I could see again, I marveled at my miracle, this God-granted miracle girl. This act of love. Her birth mother had…
