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Essays

The Lord’s Supper as Welcoming Sacrament? Reversing the Sequence of the Sacraments

Editors' note: In recent years, there has been increasing talk about the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a feast of welcome and hospitality. Perhaps originally associated with St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, this understanding has gained supporters around the North American church. It is said that in a post-Christian culture, the Lord's Supper is a sacrament to draw people to faith. Baptized or unbaptized, believer, seeker or skeptic, all who are drawn to the Table…
November 1, 2016
Essays

Moved by the Liturgy of Revival

I love high-church liturgy. Smells and bells, processions and litanies, choirs and acolytes – the more the merrier. It might be because of the sere Christian Reformed atmosphere in which I was reared. It might well be a function of my education and social class. (Final exam question for Liturgics 101: "All evangelical academics wind up Anglican. Discuss.") Doubtless a strong factor is my allergy to revivalism and its sundry assumptions, abstracting the person from history and context, subjecting her…
November 1, 2016
Essays

Do Sacraments Matter?

Sacraments are not important in our age of active shooters, terrorist bombings, NFL players sitting at the "wrong" time, reality-star politicians and constant reconstruction of our habits and behaviors according to the latest iPhone (no headphone jack?!).  Such dangers and demands for our time and attention – not debate over a liturgical ceremony – are the real, practical work of the church. The church should be thinking theologically about serious issues, such as the brutality within our social imagination aimed…
November 1, 2016
As We See It

Why I Am a Christian Democrat

A few years ago one of my granddaughters was told by her Christian school teacher that Christians voted Republican. Walking out of the classroom, one of my granddaughter’s friends said to her, “I’m sure glad my parents and grandparents are Republicans.” “But my grandpa is a Democrat,” she replied. “And he’s a Christian.” Most Reformed Christians in this part of the country hold views similar to those of my granddaughter’s teacher. To be a Christian and a Democrat hardly seems…
Dave Schelhaas
September 1, 2016
Essays

America’s Civic Christianity and Paul’s Solution

“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”  – Colossians 3:2 Americans have long expressed concern about the character of their high officials. Opinion polls show that until recently most would have rejected out of hand a presidential candidate lacking religion; many still do. Although a subset of those who insist on a professing executive and who think of the United States as a “Christian nation” recognize the need for religious diversity or speak loosely, small…
September 1, 2016
Essays

U.S. Politics and the Vote: How Can Christians Engage in Meaningful Citizenship?

I am a political science professor at a Christian university with ties to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a denomination in the Reformed tradition. My own background is Calvinist. When I was growing up, it was a given that Christians working in political life were considered to be as much involved in ministry as those going to seminary. The theme “all of life is religion” was a mantra at my college, and we were taught that politics belongs to God. But…
September 1, 2016
As We See It

Hillary Clinton and Christian America

Let’s start with a disclaimer. I’m a historian, and as such I have no particular skills when it comes to prognostication. Case in point: At the start of this election season, I would have placed my money on Scott Walker as the likely Republican nominee. For Clinton, bringing faith into politics isn’t anything new. But if history teaches us anything, it’s that anything can happen. This was first brought home to me in 1991. I was a high school student,…
September 1, 2016
Essays

The Maoist Moment in American Conservatism

As of this writing Donald Trump is the presumptive United States presidential nominee for the Republican Party. While it is unclear why Trump has enough popularity to be the nominee (no doubt social scientists and historians will be working on this for a while) the dominant narrative is something along the lines of angry voters tired of “business as usual” politics which do not seem to be paying off for them. So they want to “burn it all down.” What…
September 1, 2016
As We See It

‘Reading As If for Life’: My Debt to Frederick Buechner

In Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, David uses the evocative phrase “reading as if for life” to describe his comfort in certain books during a tragic childhood. When I left graduate school after my dissertation proposal was rejected, that is what I did: I read as if for life. At the time, I was a student at the University of Cambridge, and I had invested a year’s worth of research into the project. The rejection was demoralizing, and it meant I…
June 30, 2016
Essays

Do Not Be Afraid

I had no idea why tears so abruptly filled my eyes. I was crying before I understood why I might be crying. But the sense that the reaction meant something was as real to me as the tears. I was seated alone in a packed crowd at Duke University’s stunning neo-Gothic chapel, listening intently as Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan conducted his St. Luke Passion for choir and orchestra. The core text of the piece is taken word for word…
June 30, 2016