Sorting by

×
Skip to main content
Category

Magazine

As We See It

Never Enough

Gayle Boss This fading picture is of my mother and her three sons, from about 1966. It was in the boxes of my mom's papers and pictures that got sorted several weeks ago, after her death. I'm the one standing closest to her, the boy smiling too hard. I remember a day around the time this picture was taken, a school day when I discovered I didn't have a lunch. I was so angry. My little stomach rumbled and grumbled,…
Jeff Munroe
March 1, 2014
Reviews

Conflict and Covalent Bonds

Daniel Meeter This book is essential reading for those connected in any way to the Reformed Church in America. It fills a gap in the denomination's historiography, and its compelling analysis makes a first-rate case study of the travails of post-war American Protestantism. Lynn Japinga, who teaches religion at Hope College, has given us the story of 49 years, from the end of World War II to Wesley Granberg-Michaelson's debut as general secretary. Japinga has not intended a comprehensive history.…
Daniel Meeter
March 1, 2014
Reviews

Many Strands, Seamless Identity

Mwenda Ntarangwi After returning from a trip to Europe in 1961, a young Lamin Sanneh had a rare moment of clarity regarding his life's work, deciding that "the study of religion should determine the contribution I might make in life." Fifty years later, with the publication of Summoned from the Margin, Sanneh has not only lived up to his life's decision but has established himself internationally as one of the foremost scholars of world Christianity and interfaith understanding. Summoned from…
Mwenda Ntarangwi
March 1, 2014
Essays

Church: Equipped by Grace

Kory Plockmeyer For a pastor, the transition to a new church presents a fascinating challenge: the first sermon. What passage claims highest priority? What signals are sent with that first message? My wife and I recently moved to Sioux Center, Iowa, where we pastor Covenant Christian Reformed Church. I began my ministry there with the lectionary readings at the time, in 1 and 2 Timothy. Somehow it seemed fi tting. After all, as N. T. Wright says in Paul for…
Kory Plockmeyer
March 1, 2014
Essays

Merely a Line in the Sand: A Model for Christian-Muslim Dialogue

Robert Todd Wise The development of the church in Ethiopia has parallels in the Western world that fascinate any student of church history. The separate, similar relationship between ecclesiastical and secular authorities is one such parallel, and it resembles interactions that have taken place time and again in the history of Western Christianity. As well, the growth of Protestant movements in Ethiopia in recent times has the character of reformation movements, creating lively discourse among differing traditions. The complex meetings…
Robert Todd Wise
March 1, 2014
Inside Out

Humbled by Her Habits

Helen Luhrs On our way out of town that Sunday morning, we decided to stop at the nursing home to say goodbye to my mom before we headed back. When we got there, she was in the activity room folding bibs and towels. "Wow, Mom, " I said. "You're dressed up." She was wearing a summer dress, flowing and colorful, in sharp contrast to her fl esh-colored support hose and sensible white tennis shoes. She smiled. "Church starts soon. Right…
Helen Luhrs
March 1, 2014
As We See It

Shuffling the Team

Dawn Boelkins I've never understood the point of Fantasy Football. Why go to the trouble of investigating all the professional football teams, disassembling them, and realigning the players in made-up teams? Aren't there sufficient games? An abundance of statistics? Exuberant mascots? I have even less understanding now that we've done quite a bit of shuffling on the Perspectives editorial board. We're grateful for the unflagging enthusiasm of Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell who joined the editorial board in 2007 and — just one…
Dawn Boelkins
January 1, 2014
As We See It

Theme and Variation: Prayer, Enstrom’s Grace, and Calvin

Howard Schaap When I was in my early teens, my dad announced rather formally that he would no longer be praying before our family meals. Considering that, breakfast aside, he had prayed at virtually every family meal of my life up to that point, this was a significant announcement. Prayer could become just a rote exercise, went his explanation, and he didn't want to fall into the trap of the Pharisee in the parable, praying empty words. This did not…
Howard Schaap
January 1, 2014
Reviews

Whose Kuyper? Which Inheritance?

James K.A. Smith In certain sectors of North American Protestantism — sectors, I would say, that seem to have disproportional influence on public discussions — everyone wants to hitch their wagon to Abraham Kuyper. From Chuck Colson's How Now Shall We Live? to Mark Noll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, evangelicals have found in Father Abraham a model for robust public engagement rooted in unapologetic Christian orthodoxy. Kuyper is the exemplar of a Christian visionary and pragmatic scrapper, one who…
January 1, 2014