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Essays

The Heart of the Matter: Augustine of Hippo on the Will

In 1974, two scholars were scheduled to deliver prestigious lectures on opposite sides of the Atlantic. The political theorist Hannah Arendt, an American citizen, traveled to Scotland to give the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen. Meanwhile, the classical philologist Albrecht Dihle journeyed from Germany to the U.S. to give the Sather Lectures at California State University, Berkley. More striking even than the crossing of their paths across the ocean was a convergence in the content of their talks.…
February 29, 2016
Poetry

John 8: 1-11

Like a mat they beat her out, dragged her sorry ass to the court and called for Jesus. Jesus, Jesus. He washed his hands, slipped his feet into his sandals and went out. He watched her, folded, the red dirt combing the sides of her head, blood running into the streets. Angry men clanging, He knelt beside her, his finger dragging in the soil. Her eyes opened – Then, she saw the marble throne of God, the choir of angels…
February 29, 2016
Reviews

Calling Men to Be Fully Human

MAN ENOUGH: HOW JESUS REDEFINES MANHOOD NATE PYLE ZONDERVAN, 2015 $15.99 208 PAGES I cried as I read the last chapter of a book written about Christian manhood. Yes, you read that correctly. But, before I talk about the end, let me back up a bit. As a woman called into ordained ministry but having to struggle against ideas I had learned during my formative years about the place of women in church and home, I have had to unpack the…
February 29, 2016
As We See It

A Theological Community Speaks

We hear a lot these days about the impending demise of print media. Isn’t it remarkable that in such a difficult market, Perspectives keeps chugging along? There are two secrets to our success: On the expense side, the writing and production of the magazine are labors of love. Our writers don’t get paid, and our co-editors, review editors, poetry editors, board of editors and contributing editors all are volunteers. We pay a proofreader, and we do pay our managing editor…
February 29, 2016
Essays

Christianity and Whiteness

“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” – John 17:11, ESV The relationship between Christianity and people of color in the United States has been characterized by injustice. In his classic Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass described the Christianity of his…
February 29, 2016
Poetry

Walking Today

Walking gets me nowhere I walk to buy groceries I walk to the coffee shop I walk to be inspired I walk and remember that it takes lungs, muscles, neuron connections, and these lovely padded feet, for my body to move from somewhere to anywhere else. Walking gets me nowhere but to myself. Grace Miguel Cipriano is a senior at Western Theological Seminary. Photo: Stefanos Papachristou/Flickr, under CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
February 29, 2016
Inside Out

Look before You Tweet

As an undergraduate student, I was an editorial writer for the Dordt College newspaper. Together with a young band of know-it-all comrades, we took on the institution – the president, the board, the faculty – anyone in our line of sight who didn’t “get it” like we did. It was a revolutionary time. The Berlin Wall was coming down. Students were protesting in Tiananmen Square. Mandela was released from jail. We were living in the moment – participating! We felt…
February 29, 2016
Essays

A Friendship with Emil Brunner

Because I did my doctoral dissertation with Karl Barth at the University of Basel in Switzerland, it might seem strange that I had an even closer relationship with his Swiss Reformed contemporary in Zurich, Emil Brunner. (Once friendly, the two had a major falling out in the mid-1930s after Barth famously said “nein” to Brunner’s essay “Nature and Grace.”) I had a very good relationship with Barth, who was an exceptionally kind and helpful doctoral adviser, but my relationship with…
February 29, 2016
Essays

Memory Recall and Life with Dignity

Almost two decades ago, Bill Clinton, whose skill at fitting gesture to national mood at times rivaled Ronald Reagan’s, famously proposed a series of town-hall meetings to explore ways of preserving Social Security. About the same time “civility projects” – groups mobilized to discuss and solve community problems while modeling respect – were beginning to multiply in universities and municipalities across the country, much as learning circles had already replaced traditional classes in our more progressive schools. Even today any…
December 31, 2015